stringless

I've taken an interest in different traditional forms of drama, which include to some extent puppetry. Not necessarily the American, Western hemisphere type but the Oriental, Eastern variety, although we share some similar traits. Puppetry has in many ways become an art estranged from its psyche, perhaps because, like most things, it attracts the attention and imagination of children, so we decide to clean & shape it up so that it will better serve our purposes as a training tool. Add to that the dissolution we've taken upon ourselves to nullify religious subjects in our art & entertainment and we are left with, well, shadows. Shadows which don't permit any contrast, opacity or illumination. The traditional tales & characters from the East seem better equipped psychologically- thus reflecting an aptitude of it's creators & community- to deal with a greater scope of life in a common measure. Here the sacred commingle with the profane & the crude interact with the cultured, all in high spirits & good fun, with little self censoring or obfuscation of the truth, whether divinely inspired or deviously fabricated. The world is complicated nexus of possible worlds & penetrable precepts which are not exclusive or limited to a select few. Puppetry has found its niche, one of simplicity before the courts and alleys of the commonwealth where all alike are invited to celebrate the joys & woes, the victories & defeats found in our book of days, where we rub shoulders equally with the God of Holiness as well as the Lord of misrule. That is the threshold & thrust of our stage in life for we all are shadows, ever changing apertures which permit & obscure, reflect & transcend light and truth.