Prelude: The Book
3 mins – looped
An oversized book stands on the street outside the Cochrane Theatre. Inside we see a little by journeying to far-off lands. He travels faster and faster until the chaos mounts to its maximum. Then from behind the next page a little boy steps out of the book and leads us into the Theatre. He has traveled so far and so fast that he is discombobulated. He seems confused as to not only where he is, but who he is.
Music: World references speeding up to reach a chaotic level
Introduction: Lobby Installation
10 mins looped
Story: When you’re young and lost you look for signs. You are
superstitious. The boy recites the poem about crows “One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told, eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a time of joyous bliss.” As the boy continues to count the crows a sense of clausterphobia, closeness and warmth overwhelms us. We feel as though we are inside a pack of crows. We feel unsure as to what our next move should be. We are superstitious. We wait for a sign. We are lead (by a trail of feather?) into the theatre and into our seats.
Music: Breathing, flapping of wings, bells, sense of clausterphobia. Text from the poem if you can incorporate in a beautiful way. “One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told, eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a time of joyous bliss.”
Chapter 1: A Man
Minimal – 2 mins transitioning to Chapter 2
Night time
Story: The Unraveller stands in a field. In his veins years of history rest undisturbed. Mesmerized by birds. He has grown roots into ground. Lonely standing in a field (white surrounds him). He has been there for a long time. He rocks slightly in the wind, held firm by his roots. This scene is in black white and grey. We should not know that the roots are people.
Music: I hear drones. It is very still. He has been this way for ages. This is the first thing we hear when we enter the theatre.
Chapter 2: Arrival
3 mins
Crack of dawn
Story: Film: One evening a golden orb appears on the horizon. It looks like the sun is rising at night, but as she draws nearer we realize that it is a woman. As the projected woman drops down behind a hill (created by dancers wearing cages under her dress) the live Traveller appears. Wearing a long white dress, she makes a long journey from upstage to down stage. The dress is so heavy that it gives her the posture of a very old woman.
Music: As the woman appears the music should change. She is sunshine and light and movement. This should be subtle as first as she takes 3 mins to arrive downstage.
Chapter 3: Doves From Above
4 mins
Story: Text “I have traveled so far and I am so tired” is projected. She sets her very heavy dress down at the man's feet, as she does so, we see that she is in fact a beautiful young woman. The man cracks open, revealing fault-lines of his inner colorings. He offers his birds to take weight of dress – The crows that have become a part of him disappear in a flash, appearing as doves from inside her dress, lifting it into the air. She is thrilled by this sensation of lightness and runs off the stage, taking with her all of her dress, which covers the backdrop of the stage. He is left alone. His only company is gone.
Music: 3 mins in when Traveller sets down her dress her posture changes from that of an old woman, to that of a beautiful young woman. Unraveller cracks open the air is electric between them. (20 secs.) then he gives her his crows – rush of wind, flapping wings (40 secs) she laughs and runs away (20secs) he is left alone he is lonely, sad (30 secs).
Chapter 4: The String
3 mins
Story: The man falls to his knees where he discovers . . . a thread! Gripping it, its insistent tug pulls him clumsily forward bringing great clumps of dusty earth with him to reveal a green paradise beneath. The roots are flung offstage with him, revealing their undergrowth, which is naturally colored, rather than the stark black and white of their upper appearance.
Music: He falls to his knees and finds a string. It fills him with hope. It tugs at his hand and pulls him forwards uprooting him. Years of time fall away. He is pulled across the stage with layers of dirt coming away with him.
Chapter 5: Lightness
5 mins
Sunrise
Story: Backdrop should be blue. Traveller’s hair has hints of pastel in it. Woman wanders onstage her dress is now a miniskirt and an undercaging (the undercage could also be pastel – we are at sunrise). There is a long thread that dangles from the edge of her skirt and leads offstage. As she enters the stage we see her dress growing shorter.
Film: There is a close-up on film of the dress unraveling.
The doves surround her, perhaps attached by wires to her dress so they dance along with her as she moves. Her laughter and the melody of the bird song gives melody to the rhythm of her footfalls. She had never felt such lightness. She is used to traveling alone, but now the bird’s song give melody to the rhythm of her footfalls. She uses the undercage of her dress to blow bubbles.
Film: Animation of bubbles that appear to be coming out of her mouth as she hiccups.
Chapter 6: Cat’s Cradle
7 mins
midday - heat
Story: The Unraveler is following the thread from Traveler’s dress to try to find her. He becomes confused when other clues come his way from unexpected directions. He tries to follow a string of what he thinks is her hair, something that looks like the lace of her gown. His confusion is compounded by the mischievous String People. The String people have costumes that restrict them in unusual ways creating interesting postures. Unraveller gets caught in web of string. Big nobly string men come and bundle him. He can’t move (think crumpled spider with legs tangled!)
Music: Discord. Starts with mild confusion and builds. He gets tossed around by trouble-makers in the middle. By the end of the scene he is completely immobile. Wrapped up in a web. Imagery: Spiders, string, playful, but discordant.
Chapter 7: Bubble Belles
6 mins
4 O’clock – reflective surfaces - lighting
Story: She is disoriented by such close self-examination. The Traveller finds her legs replaced by a large bubble. She is surrounded by other woman who have large bubbles instead of bellies or bums. These bubbles magnify parts and reflect parts. Telling the story of who the woman is inside. Stories of lands she’s seen and heartbreaks she’s suffered. Warped spooky, gets too much for her.
Music: Very off-balance. There is a lightness and feminity, especially at first. She is introspective. As the scene progresses she gets more and more absorbed into herself. The sounds should be really warm and resonant. Everything should feel as if it is coming from inside the body. Near the end it becomes a bit warped and spooky
Chapter 8: Pin People “POP”
5 mins
6 O’clock
Story: A musical metallic army comes to burst Traveler's bubble. The pin people are feminine, yet aggressive. They are directional, metallic and magnetic. They move in unison. Their costumes make sound and make different shapes as they make different war-cries. They put an end to the Traveller’s self-infatuation by bursting her bubble. There is a film to create an army of Pin People multiplied to infinity
Music: metallic, pin army, reaching a climax at POP
Chapter 9 “POP”- Nimbus Nymphs
7 O’clock
4 mins
Story: The bubbles belles come back onstage and are burst by the metallic army. On film we can perhaps use sugar glass that can shatter for a one-time effect. On stage we see the bubbles turning into nimbus nymphs. This is accentuated by a strong bursting sound in the score and a smoke machine on stage.
Music: Strong sound for bubbles being burst and then the aftermath of them being torn apart by the pins people and turning to smoke.
Chapter: 10 Storm
Film 6 mins
8 O’clock
Story: On film we see the cloud women raining colors and stories down on the Unraveller. The Unraveller finally gives up. He’s wrapped in string and drenched in a rain of colours. He looks down to find one last crow still trapped within the weave of his shirt. (Maybe he has thought up until this point that it is his waistcoat.) He frees it and the crow takes a piece of thread from the Unraveller’s cocoon and unravels it and flies with it in its beak to unravels a bit of thread that is entrapping the man and flies to the bottom of the ladder. The string that the bird has pulled from the man forms the bottom rung of a ladder-like form within the cat’s cradle that the rain has revealed by coloring all the same colour. It leads him upwards.. He follows it. As he goes up the ladder he passes the Bubble belles. These could be contained in large droplets of rain, or he could look down to see their reflections within the puddles on the ground. He sees the Traveller’s experience with the bubble belles. Feels her sense of disorientation and her introspection. Perhaps one of their magnifying surfaces becomes part of his costume. He travels further up the ladder and encounters the pin people. Perhaps their needles help to sew together a part of his costume. He passes through the remains of the popped skins of the bubble belles and through the nimbus nymphs, who help him up up up.
Music: This is the climax of he work. It is a storm of colors and words. You could use your voice. Maybe a made up language.
Chapter 11: Nest
Dusk
4 mins
Story: Exhausted, the girl has collapsed on a cloud, clothed by the doves that hide her from sight. The man arrives, colored from the rain, dressed in her stories. Out of tangled mess unraveling man is freed as he looses clothes revealing patterned skin. As the man approaches the girl he sets the great nest of string he has amassed at her feet. The doves flock to it revealing her.
Music: They are high in the sky. It’s post storm. We are coming back to chapter one. Maybe when the doves reveal her we hear the same sound we heard when the Traveller first appeared.
Chapter 12: Light Installation
5 mins
Night
Story: A sea sparkling light radiates around the man and woman. The man’s colors travel onto the woman. They share light, electricity. Static travels between their hair.
Music: This should grow as they dance more closely together. It should end with a feeling of resonance that all is well with the universe.
