Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Telling tales

Last night I had a gig at Club Passim, telling the Adventures of Crazy Jane and Red-haired Annie. These two characters are my own creation, inspired by various people I know, Yeats and the odd myth-fed depths of my own imagination. They have various adventures in no-where, no-when.

I love these stories. The characters are robust and individual, the plots are intricate and multi-layered without excessive complexity and they are simply a lot of fun to tell. I wish more people had been present to hear the stories, though it was my own fault for falling down on pre-event marketing.

It felt so good venturing into those odd places for an hour-and-a-half. Besting the King of Mirrors, walking from pond to lake to sea, and getting to share these stories with good listeners.

What strikes me about telling these stories in particular is how the veil between character and creator becomes so thin. I know that each story I create is mine, that the characters are products of mining my own joy, sorrow, darkness, hope, etc. But with these characters I see it so clearly.

Crazy Jane's madness, wildness and occasional accidental wisdom tastes right in my mouth. Red-haired Annie's loyalty, hope and quiet courage are echoes of what I imagine I could be on a very good day. Whenever I tell these stories I have to breath deeply so I won't cry at the end, not because the ending is so sad, but because it feels so right, so true, so incredibly personal and real. When I tell them I am telling my own story more than when I tell a personal story. So what if I've never met the Queen of Faeries face-to-face? I've met what she represents. I know that cool gaze. And when I tell about her capturing what Crazy Jane loves best the fear that shakes my character's voice is my own.

How could I not love these characters when they let me give voice to what I cannot easily say in the here and now.

No-where and no-when is a far safer and more honest place.

(c) 2008 Laura S. Packer

p.s. I recorded the set in the hopes that it might become my next CD. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.
Creative Commons License

No comments:

Post a Comment

True Stories, Honest Lies by Laura S. Packer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.truestorieshonestlies.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.laurapacker.com.
Related Posts with Thumbnails