kings journey

sharda, nandini, ajay, mukul and me went for a show of shadow puppet theater from germany at prithvi with an audience of 6 year olds and adults. the kids were terrified and fascinated by the expressionistic imagery of holes through the center of the earth, new york, a stormy sea and the rest of the fairy tale like journey across the world that the king has to undertake to get back to his kingdom along with his maid. the low tech handmade quality of the production was part of the act. the narrative was not merely that of the king and his life changing journey but also about the making of the shadows, the light, the way that the actors interacted with the audience, the puppets and the paraphernalia on stage. so there they were all- the actors, the puppets and the shadows playing with each other in front of and behind a trampoline turned on its edge. when the silhouettes became unhinged from their conventional story telling role they floated in reams of light as if in the haze of a dream to form swirling distorted landscapes. it was very beautiful.