When Foxy Lady got out of the suitcase at dawn, Mole, one of the Lil”Dedes was just packing up all the robes the Dedes had thrown on the floor. “Ah, great” Foxy Lady said “will you take them to the dry clearners?” Mole got a big fright, grabbed what he could and ran while muttering “I will take you to the cleaners, but not the dry ones.”
The Dedes agreed on one thing yesterday evening. Devil has to get off the phone. He defended his behaviour by saying it was all research for the Dedes at large. They didn’t believe him and decided on a phone-free Tuesday (every week from now on). Then, one of the other puppets will babysit the phone and Devil has to do chores around the house and garden. Today he has to help Mouse plait the garlic she harvested earlier. He is not a happy chappy. “Hang on,” he said. “Didn’t we all say we should agree on a decision? I haven’t!” “Overruled!” “So much for decision by consent!”
Mouse is extremely annoyed with Devil at the moment, though she will not admit it. They used to be such good friends and worked together brilliantly. Honestly, they were a fabulous team. Devil has the big ideas and Mouse ties up all the loose ends he leaves along the way. But lately he is too negative for her liking and naturally she keeps a wide berth from him. She desperately wants to have her old mate back and really would love to tell him to snap out of it. But she has no idea how. Any suggestions? She is not a particularly straight talker but rather a quiet worker. The best therapy for her is immersing herself in work. Naturally she held her hand up to edit the film they did on the 10th day. I have to admit it wasn’t the best idea. Repeatedly watching the footage over and over made her even more angry with Devil. He so wanted to be the director, but then he just sat in his director’s chair and did nothing much except nod from time to time. It starts to chew Mouse up and this is truly dangerous. We all know that it gets too much for her at regular intervals and then she screams at everyone because she feels all the work is just dumped on her. It might be coming soon!
…my true love brought to me Four thrown-off frocks, three strange friends, two purple gloves and a chicken in a dread tree.
These four chums threw away their beautiful and very useful black robes, sorry Rae! (Rae made the frocks for the Dedes, so they got bodies). And now they are sitting once again heads only on their sticks, just as they were invented. Three of them seem to be very happy to be No bodies again. Only Bad Conscience, the one in the front, looks uncomfortable. But why do they bring me their frocks? Does this mean they want to slip back into oblivion. Do I push them too hard?
Previous presents
It’s so typical. First the Dedes insult me, then they send a peacemaker to say they are sorry. Obviously they weren’t entirely serious about sacking me as an artist. I am not sure whether they had a meeting last night, as I was out with real friends. So they had the chance to discuss our relationship without running the risk of me eavesdropping. Anyway, today Fairy Godmother brought me a bunch of flowers she picked from the garden. She apologised for the rude behaviour of her peers yesterday. At first I thought it was very sweet, but then I had the feeling it wasn’t heartfelt. They must realise that they need me as much as I need them. Maybe they are aware that I might drop them if they continue to treat me as if I was their lackey. We are in it together. Sure enough, she then added “but there is a bit of truth in what they said yesterday.”
“I know” I admitted. “But honestly, I don’t know what to do anymore. You guys expect the impossible.”
“Look, I can see where you are coming from” said Fairy Godmother in a conciliatory voice. “I’m in the same boat. Everybody expects me to work wonders too, but it is evident that I have hit a brick wall on more than one occasion” and she pointed to her forehead. “You simply have to keep going!”
“I need more support from you, though. You have all these wonderful ideas but you just dump them on me and you never stick to anything!”
“What do you mean?” Fairy Godmother asked surprised. “Don’t forget we are only puppets!”
Now my dear readers. What do you think? Are they an ungrateful bunch or what? Does anyone have an idea what I should do with them?
The other day I did a presentation about my work. It was basically a Pecha Kucha presentation, although we couldn’t call it that, as the term is trademarked. In case you don’t know how this type of presentation works, it consists of 20 slides and the presenter has exactly 20 seconds to speak to each slide. That is a bit of a challenge. 20 seconds is not very long. Anyway, it was a good exercise to revisit what I do with my Dedes and I will put up the presentation over the next month. The format is pretty much the format of my blog anyway. However, I might add more text than 20 seconds worth.
The title of the presentation was: Why I play with puppets.
I arrived at puppetry from the visual arts angle, not performance, and I immediately appreciated the use of my Dedes for self-exploration. For me, they are magical problem-solvers and I often call them my “voodoo dolls gone mellow.” Since Devil started his new job in an environment with a bullying culture, I have also became aware that these puppets are brilliant for developing emotional intelligence. This is a term I only discovered recently, but all of a sudden everything makes perfect sense.
Harvey, the rabbit, knew all along that his time to contribute to the Artist’s Survival cookbook will come at Easter. For months he had told the Dedes he is going to make a yeast plait. His mum made one every year, as it was traditionally eaten where his ancestors came from. Where exactly that is, he doesn’t know. “Somewhere in the East” his mum would say. ‘East of what?’, he still wonders, as every place is East of somewhere else.
“You live in New Zealand now” said his partner Pavlova snobbishly. “You should make Hot Cross Buns as it is the custom here”. Pavlova is obviously not from around here either but is very keen to fit in. Harvey choose to ignore her, as he has done more and more often lately. They have been together for a little over a year now and it is so sad watching Harvey slip back into his old habits. But that aside.
Last night when everybody had gone to bed he set out to do his job. He even organised a few raisins to add, an ingredient that is usually not on the list, but they are important for a hint of sweetness. It is Easter after all. As the dough is a yeast dough it needs time to rise. This wasn’t a problem as Harvey could use the down time to hide the Easter eggs around the house. Still, he only finished in the wee hours. And as a result he slept in this morning. Oh, what a surprise when he came into the kitchen …half the plait was gone.
“Please don’t get angry” said Mouse.” We were all so curious and couldn’t wait any longer.”
“And,” Harvey asked nervously,” is it good enough to be included in the book?”
“Of course it is!” said Mouse. “Where is the recipe?”
“In my memory!”
Mouse looked at him and wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. She has an inkling that Harvey is dyslexic. She has never seen anything in his handwriting. Though he claims he writes regularly to his sponsor Mr XL, Mr XL complains bitterly that he hardly hears from his buddy. Mouse doesn’t quite know who to believe.
“Well” commented Pavlova with a snide untertone, “that thing is not too different from Hot Cross Buns. So what’s the big deal?”
Harvey threw his arms in the air. “Leave it out then!” he shouted and left.
Mouse looked at Pavlova. Why do some have to make their lives miserable when they fall out of love? she asked herself and said to Pavlova “I will get his recipe and it goes into the book.”
“No need for me to make Hot Cross Buns today then?”
As you might know, the Dedes help their artist to understand the world at large, and specific situations and people. But sometimes there is nothing to understand, it is just plain absurd. For the first time in their existence some Dedes have to exit. They have to go because they become more trouble than they are worth. There is no other solution. The artist declares defeat. It isn’t the first time that Dedes leave. No, other Dedes have left voluntarily, like Punch too, who is now known by his stage name Han the Vere. Others are sponsored, like Harvey, the obnoxious womaniser. A sponsored puppet is one that has been sold, but still lives with the Dedes in the art cupboard and takes part in films and contributes to the blog.
Today another puppet will leave. This time it will be the lil’Dede Empress in Waiting. EIW, as she is known for short, doesn’t have much grey matter in her little head. Not enough space I guess. She is a selfish little creature and has always been attracted to Top Dog. Well, not so much to Top Dog himself, but the perceived power he has. With Top Dog out in the garden, poor little EIW is now nothing more than a shrinking violet. So she went to the artist and asked, no demanded, to be re-homed. As it happens, a friend of the artist is getting married in a few weeks and for reasons not to be elaborated on, she’ll appreciate receiving EIW’s head on a platter as the perfect wedding present.
So EIW went into the garden to wave good-bye to her old comrade in arms, obviously as happy as can be that she dodged a bullet once more. Ah well, that’s the benefit of being “in waiting”… you are never in the firing line :)
This is no good. It is more than a month since I have written on my blog. Honestly, the Artist’s survival cookbook is progressing. Not fast, but it is moving forward. It is currently at the design stage. The Dedes had millions of boring meetings to figure out how they should publish it. You know, those kind of meetings where the discussion goes round and round in circles. Then the meeting is declared over without a tenable outcome and a new meeting has to be called another time. And very quickly a week, then a month, passes by.
You might find it hard to believe, but the Dedes are usually good decision makers. Even though they banter a lot, they know each other’s strength and weaknesses and trust the next Dede implicitly. But then there is Top Dog. Top Dog entered the scene sometime last year and never fitted in. He is adamant he is the best, knows everything better and is not interested in anybody’s opinion unless it coincides with his own. He loves to manage but not in a co-operative kind of way, more like a despot. In short, he wants to run the show and is not interested in what others with arguably more expererience can contribute – unless he directs them to do so. The Dedes quickly figured out his cocksure behaviour was to cover up his own inadequacies. They avoided saying anything that could be construed as disagreement. When he has the feeling he is being criticised he gets extremely aggressive and loses the plot. Ultimately, the Dedes keep to themselves as they don’t like unnecessary arguments, so they let him do his own thing and he could feel important in front of the mirror. It’s by no means the first time they have had to deal with a difficult compatriot. Though usually the difficult ones come round once they realise the Dedes are a knowledgeable and peaceful bunch who work towards building a comfortable, non-threatening environment. Top Dog, however, hasn’t settled. Instead he constantly complains about how he isn’t respected enough. Well, as Philosopher always says: “Respect can’t be demanded, it has to be earned.”
There is a point when even the most patient Dedes has to say “enough is enough”. So, the other day the core team of Dedes, Mouse, Devil and Witch, along with a handful of others got together to discuss what on earth they could do. They realised the presence of Top Dog undermines their work. Their plans have slowed to a near stand – still and the only way to get back on track is if he goes. As it happens, tomorrow is the Scarecrow in the Garden competition here in Beach Haven and Mouse, the keen gardener, suggested to nominate Top Dog to become their representative in the competition. That will make him feel very important, but of course, as it will rain on and off tomorrow, the weather will see to his demise very quickly.
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