It's called "Sepulchre of Songs." It's about a 16-year-old girl, Elaine, who survived an explosion as a small child. The explosion took her arms, her legs, and her parents. The conflict is between the forces within. Should she stay in the world that really has no place for her, or should she retreat into madness?
She has a collection of imaginary friends; leftovers from her happy childhood before the explosion. Into the little family comes Anansa, who is "Other." Anansa is the pilot of a starship (think of "The Ship Who Sang"). Anansa is mentally drawing Elaine to her, on a thread of song. It's left to the audience to decide if Elaine has invented Anansa, or if we have entered an Anne McCaffrey novel.
Carrie Green, who played Imogene Herdman for me in "Christmas Pageant," plays the girl. It's the first really grown-up acting she has had to do. This is the show in which Carrie becomes an actress, as opposed to playing roles.
The play has really made me think about being disabled, and about each of us finding our place in the world. Or, out of it.
It's a one-act, written by Emily Janice Card, and based on a short story by her father, Orson Scott Card. I have not yet read the story.
The play rocks.
Orson Scott Card is one of the better post-golden-age science fiction authors.
ReplyDeleteSo, if he's a SciFi writer, then it's entirely possible that Anansa is intended to be an independent entity, and not a secondary personality.
ReplyDeleteSee, everyone in the show seems to think the latter, but I'm such a McCaffrey fan that I just assumed the former.
Maybe I'm on the brink, myself, but it makes perfect sense to me.
Yeah, I'm a sci-fi geek too, and it therefore was wholly possible for me to believe in Anansa being 'real', so to speak. I love the undefined nature of Anansa though, it's one of the things that makes this such a powerful script!
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll get to come and see it.
ReplyDelete