Dragon

I have just arrived home after watching a theatre production titled Dragon which was showing at Dundee Rep. The reason I went to see this particular show was based on the fact that it was wordless.
The story centres around the themes of loss, fear and anger. The central character loses his mother, and to some sense also his father and sister after the mothers death. They never speak about the issue, which leads to the appearance of the dragon. The physical dragon represents the boys anger and pain and progressively grows through out the story. The sister seems to take no notice of him, she tends to fend and protect herself as shown through her greed for any food that lies within the household. He then begins to experience fear through the female neighbour befriending his father which in turn increases his anger. Being bullied both at and out with school play on his fears and also built up a rage within him. He tries to escape these emotions when he is flying on the back of the dragon. Help is on offer from a girl that seems to like him but fear pushes her away although unbeknown to him she is actually going through a very similar pain as one of her parents lies in hospital. After receiving a beating from the bully we see that the sister does notice and look after him. His dad does try to bring up the topic of his mother but cannot seem to start the conversation. The presence of the neighbour is driving between the boy and father in an already fragile relationship. He cannot accept her into their lives and displays this several times, most prominently when she offers a biscuit a he crushes it into crumbs that spill on the floor. Finally the dragon grows so big he cannot contain it any longer. An explosion of fury puts an end to the bully, he breaks down in his fathers arms, the anger and pain released slowly turns into acceptance of the female neighbour as he takes a biscuit and eats it. The friendship that had been on offer from the girl all along was now something he wanted. He finally asks to hang out with her at the very end of the play. This is the only time words are actually spoken throughout. At first I found it strange that he spoke but then I realised that this was to emphasise that without talking everyone of us may let our fears, worries, pain and angers build up within just like the dragon. The point is then clear that it is good to talk about all things especially with the people closest to you. This production actually surprised me with the topics that it dealt with as I had imagined this was more of a fantasy type play as it is promoted as a children's production. This shows the shift in what taboo topics are now influencing the stage. I feel that this is definite progress and was encouraged by a conversation I could over hear as I left the premises. A child and her grandmother discussing the topics within the play, the child understood clearly what it had been about. The grandmother even said that it was about something we don't normally talk about, death, it would have been interesting to hear more and if this had opened up such a topic as they grandmother is more than likely to realise that her granddaughter will one day have to learn how to deal with her death and that it is not something she should fear or be angry about. These are the types of topics I am going to review in picture books and see how others have dealt with such issues.
The reason I wished to see such a play was the fact that it was wordless and I wanted to see the difference or similarities to a wordless picture book. I went with an idea that I could possibly break the story down into a storyboard then convert into a picture book just as an exercise. I'm not sure exactly what I would gain out of it but I think I might try. The hardest thing will be that there was so much in the play, it would be more likely a graphic novel although I could always try my own version based upon what I seen tonight. I had hoped that they may be selling DVD's of the performance to allow me to do this but it might work better and allow me to transform the story how I wish without trying to just copy.
The production highlighted the use of colours through the lighting, the transitions which are essentially sequential images in term of books. The body language and facial expressions were more exaggerated to show the emotion in each scene which could be transferred into picture book format. One thing that struck me was by how using recognisable props the viewer knew exactly where we were situated within their world. The boys bedsheets and curtains told us we were in his bedroom, the linoleum on the floor instantly moved us into the living room. Also the wonder of how our minds can fill in the rest of the missing details, by bringing a door, bed and window onto the stage your mind fills in the missing walls or a smoking chimney takes us onto a roof. This can be transferred to picture books by keeping characters in the same clothing, making recognisable settings if being used in multiple images or least leading into each other so that the reader know where they are within the world they are now a part of. The use of music and sound effects was crucial in the telling of the story and also used fantastically to show the slowing down of time, coming back into reality etc. This is a tool that could only come into play through a digital version of a book.
Overall all I felt that this was probably one of the best stage productions I have ever seen. The methods used in transitions were seamless and pretty ingenious. The audience were captivated throughout and recognised by the applause received at the end. The most impressive fact was that there must have only been seven or eight in the full production as each had major roles not only in the acting sense but also by the constant arrival and removal of new props used to tell the story. I would highly recommend this production to anyone of any age.