The first play of Kaliana’s I saw was Hooray for Hollywood a while back. It told the story of her own horrific childhood in the child sex industry. The play showed adult actors from the waist down (just jean legs, skirts and overheard dialogue) and focused on the level – both emotionally and physically – of the children, who were portrayed with puppets.
I first saw Hooray for Hollywood in July 2010 and wrote about it then for feminist mag Fat Quarter. More recently an abridged version of the play has been filmed for wider distribution and showed at an event on ending child pornography held at Amnesty International Headquarters. The work is powerful, brave, and through ingenious staging conveys what it would be near-impossible to bring out for open discussion any other way. Frequently Hooray for Hollywood is played with a talk afterwards, hosted by various child protection charities.
Puppet (R)Evolution’s current play, Fragile/Sacred, was on as part of the Suspense puppetry festival.
Whereas Hooray for Hollywood was already an extremely creatively-presented play, Fragile/Sacred pushes the boundary further and forms more of an art piece. Once again part of Kaliana’s autobiography, and drawing this time from her teens, the entire performance is wordless, and uses four live actors along with a minimal number of puppets.
The set is a large, square tunnel – with each side draped in a different material, used to great effect to convey everything from undergrowth to water to a hospital ward. The opening sequence of the abusive father figure holding a light-up model of a home and pushing his hand into it and licking his hand – clearly getting a sexual kick out of it – set up the creepiness of the story’s homelife, and was one of the most uncomfortable few minutes of stagetime I have ever seen.
I feel I very much benefited from seeing Hooray for Hollywood first, and feel the two plays could, perhaps, complement each other on a double-bill. As it was, I’m not sure if those coming to Fragile/Sacred afresh would have understood all of it.
However, that said, the play is as much about atmosphere as it is about plot. The father figure character (opening scene aside) is oddly inexpressive – tightly-wound and capable of violence, but the actor playing him nonetheless gives little away facially. I say ‘the actor’ as the part is also sometimes played by a puppet for the longer-range scenes.
Compared to Hooray for Hollywood, Fragile/Sacred is very light on puppetry. It has a father puppet, a rabbit and a raven, as well as some shadow-puppets, but the play also makes good use of models and toys to convey the larger scenes. Puppetry in this play is just one element in a large range of innovative techniques used to convey the story.
Watching adult actors move toy cars or toy helicopters around added a layer of non-optional make-believe to the production. I occasionally found the lines between characters playing and representation of wider plot a little difficult to discern, but that in a way added to the dreamlike quality of the piece.
I found the complete lack of dialogue a little difficult, but – as in the earlier play – this is about a protagonist who sees a lot, but is often scared to speak or act. The character seemed on the surface to be very passive, yet was making brave and bold moves throughout the play. The dreamlike quality of the production conveyed a kind of inner sanctuary that the protagonist retreated to and drew strength from.
A fascinating, artful and thoughtful production – and an absolute must for lovers of physical theatre, as well as anyone working in fields which touch on the themes of abuse. But, strange as it feels to say, I found Fragile/Sacred – the gentler of the two plays I’ve seen – was slightly more difficult for me than Hooray for Hollywood with its more straightforward plot. While Hooray for Hollywood was entirely viewed from the protagonist’s (physical) point of view, Fragile/Sacred seems to be viewed from mostly inside the protagonist’s mind, where there is an often luscious stillness while horrors swirl around her and worlds blend together. That said, the two pieces do inform each other hugely, and I repeat my call for a double-bill.
- ravenkaliana.com
- Puppet (R)Evolution
Photos by Emma Leishman and Tinka Slavicek
]]>I should take the opportunity to say that we originally applied the “Revolting Women” title in a moment of Pythonesque humour at a point when we were thinking more of protests of past centuries. But it seemed disingenuous to only post about firmly historical examples; surely we should also be connecting the dots forward to events of the present. With this in mind, I hope the “revolting” tag isn’t in poor taste here – irreverence aside, protest can be dangerous, and never arises when there’s genuinely much to laugh about at the heart of the matter. So the links below are about campaigns and lobbies happening right now, which you can get involved with yourself.
- No Women No Peace: a campaign by Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS UK).“Women are a prime target in conflict. Yet when it comes to building peace, women are excluded. Launched at the 10th anniversary of a groundbreaking UN resolution that calls for women’s inclusion in peacebuilding, our campaign is simple. You can’t build peace leaving half the people out.”
- Amnesty International: Why We Work For Women’s Human Rights, Women’s Human Rights Defenders, Women’s Human Rights In Egypt, and Stop Violence Against Women.
- Education For Choice: supporting young people’s right to informed choice on abortion. Follow their blog and keep informed about the latest developments in the UK’s emerging Reproductive Justice movement – we’ve written about them and the need to make our voices heard on these issues more here, here, here and here.
- Forward UK’s End FGM Campaign “The Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development – FORWARD – is an African Diaspora women’s campaign and support charity (registered in the UK). We exist to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights as central to the wellbeing of African women and girls.” ]]>
Then there is human rights charity Amnesty International, which I will happily preach about and never stop. They’re a human rights campaign group who work to peacefully protect the rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for everyone in the world.
Every year around Christmas time they run their Greeting Cards Campaign. This isn’t about wishing prisoners of conscience a Merry Christmas – not all of these countries celebrate Christmas. It’s about encouraging supporters, at a time when lots of people are sending cards anyway, to send messages of support to someone who is in danger or unjustly imprisoned, or otherwise in need of Amnesty’s help.
A criticism I’ve often heard is “What can a simple Christmas card do?” A fair question – when some of these people are being tortured or under threat of execution, what good is a piece of folded card with a picture of a kitten wearing a Santa hat really going to do for them?
Well, for a method of peaceful protest, quite a lot, actually. Especially when that card is in a post bag with one thousand, two thousand others.
Some of these people are trapped in prison cells, with very little contact with the outside world, and these cards tell them, “We’re here, we care, we support you, and we’re doing what we can to get you out.”
Some of these people, the campaign groups under threat of violence, the families of those who have disappeared or been unjustly killed, are already working with Amnesty International. They know who we are, they’ve met Amnesty representatives in their country, but these messages will show them just how many people they’ve got on their side.
Some of these people may not even SEE their cards. The prison may not deliver them. But for the prison staff, the regime, the guards who might be having doubts about whether this is right or good or whether they’re going to get blamed for this one day if the people in power change, the message will have been delivered. “The rest of the world is watching.”
Watch this interview with former Guantánamo Bay prisoner Omar Deghayes, The Power of Letter-Writing, if you’re not convinced.
There have been thirty-two individuals and groups highlighted this year who need your support. Each has a page on the website dedicated to them, with an address for sending cards, so you can pick one address or several. Cases of particular interest to Bad Reputation readers might be the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre in Nepal (WOREC) or Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) or the Seven Prisoners of Conscience in Syria in prison for five to seven years for -oh wait- publishing pro-democracy articles on the internet. That’s Bad Reputation: The Syria Edition put to rest, then.
You might not agree with all thirty-two cases; activism against the death penalty (as in the case of Troy Davis) is an issue that divides many people, but remember the right to life and the right to be free from inhuman, cruel and degrading punishment are important parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It may be too late now to send a card that will arrive in time for the 25th of December, but a general message of support will be appreciated at any time. If you have already sent a card, there are links on every page, (Already Sent A Card?) where you can write to politicians, ambassadors, and other people with power over the lives of others and express your thoughts on each case.
To find out more about Amnesty’s work, check out their website, follow them on Twitter @AmnestyUK or subscribe to one of their RSS feeds, such as this one on Women’s Rights or this one on LGBT rights all over the world.
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