The Reptile Under the Flowers, 2009
Performance

The Reptile Under the Flowers (in-progress) is a multimedia peepshow/diorama/performance with miniature puppetry and live video.

In The Reptile Under the Flowers, the elliptical narrative is constructed through the accumulation of scenes and events, most of which are contained in performed dioramas, single or multiple viewer peepshows, puppet attractions, and shadow plays. The Reptile Under the Flowers suggests two overlapping narratives.  In one, a white collar criminal returns home, only to remain an absent presence, living in the top floor of his home, his pacing a constant reminder to the family below (inspired by the title character of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman). The second narrative involves his son, who becomes a soldier, experiences unknown horrors, and goes awol.  The son slowly travels across the world to return home---when he returns, he can never enter the house.  In the end, their world crumbles under the weight of the winter snows, shrouding longing and desire in a soft, smothering denial.

Scene 10: Looking through the peephole, the audience sees a scene with a spinning house; the son is circling the house, the father (projection) is pacing above, and the wife/mother looks for the son.

Music by Valerie Opielski