Just a Crazy Cannibal

I've been in Stuttgart for nearly two weeks now. I had hoped I'd be writing of our rehearsals more. Little did I know how much time it would take for the first 50 pages to be staged.

Finally today I got an opportunity to stage my entrance. Calixto had previously toyed with the idea of having me onstage for the beginning of the piece, but just between you and me, I think he was trying to make me feel useful. That, or simply to put more bodies onstage. If I were a cynical man, I'd suspect the latter. Good thing I'm not. :-)

And so stripped down to my pants and socks I made a very unheroic entrance. Slipped on the ramp and fell completely on my hindquarters. Calixto loved it and thought I was being dramatic. I showed him the skinned up knees to prove I was only being a klutz. They got me some different socks with grip on them.

Take two.

The rest of the day was quite....uh...interesting. I found out in this apocalyptic society that not only are we a bit loony from the radiation poisoning, we're REALLY HUNGRY. Think "A Boy and His Dog" by Harlan Ellison. Or "The Eating of Flesh" by Poul Anderson (The same guy who wrote the story behind Cameron's movie "Avatar.") THAT hungry.

One portion of the story being told addresses so many stories, predominantly in Germany right now, about child abuse and how people of power shifted blame to others, making others feel shame and guilt, leaving them damaged for life. How does this fit into Parsifal, you ask? Well, give me some more time with the director and I'll (non-specifically) try to write it. I don't want to give away all the inner workings of what promises to be a very controversial telling of Wagner's opera. Where would the fun of that be?

The second rehearsal of the day was spent staging the Blumenmädchen scene in the beginning of Act Two. Um....Erm....I'm really glad the TV camera's didn't film that rehearsal. I feel nearly unclean. But that's the point of Act Two, isn't it?

Yes. It is.