| Presenting
the Story of War A Report By Grannie Pat  Everything came together for us last Saturday, May 7th. The weather was warm and sunny (though a bit windy for the sheets). Thanks to Jo, who came up with a reconfiguration of who was to do what, we managed to rehearse enough to think we could do this new thing: a contestoria, which looks easy but requires preparation. And we had that, thanks to everyone pitching in.  Our artistic committee, Rosalie, Ria and Jan,
outdid themselves with the pictographs on the bed sheets, which were
easy to see and understand, not to mention the outsized banner
saying: Wage Peace, Not War; the stalwart Grannies like Judy who
held up those sheets; Virginia's husband, Vernon, who carted,
stored and delivered the props and Virginia; the three
songwriters, Alma, Pat and Corinne; and Alma, who led us to her
rehearsal garden, then to the Museum grounds, when none of us knew how
to get there.This method of presenting a subject is very attention-getting, and people seemed very receptive to our Story of War, which we tried to depict as war in general. We tried to show it as an alien might see it, an earth species excelling in killing its own. We tried to make it look, not just evil, but insane, ridiculous. With our songs, we pointed out the irony of Mother's Day, which originated as a day of peace, falling on the opening day of a Museum of War. We had no intention of impugning the wonderful war vets who were to march there to be honoured, so we showed up with our perspective the day before all the ceremonies, when open house was held.  One young woman was heard to mutter that our
performance was an "insult to the War Museum" but I don't think she
stayed to hear what we were doing. Mostly we saw smiles and nods
of agreement. After presenting our street theatre three times,
our voices shot and, calling it a day, we were complimented by the
director of the peace section of the museum, and Ria and Rosalie were
asked by someone in charge of the educational programs if we might
present it for one of these.So, all in all, we suspect our part in the day was a success. Click here to see the presentation. |
Ottawa
Raging Grannies