OBJECTIVE:
To show the struggle between the CONSCIOUS and the SUBCONSCIOUS of a paranoid schizophrenic. Her mind has split to force her to re-learn healthy patterns of dealing with conflict and confrontation. These remain, however, within the web of paranoia she cannot escape, though which becomes visible to her; at the end, she is aware of WHY her mind split. In the reconciliation, or re-alignment-to-their-natural-place, of the "departments" of her mind comes the consequent restoration of the whole person's "normal" functioning state.
SOURCE: Barbara O'Brien: "Operators and Things: The inner life of a schizophrenic"
MOVEMENT SOURCE: Bunraku puppetry
INSPIRATION:
The separate functions and their definition of the performers on the Bunraku stage.
The several operators to a single puppet, OPERATORS and PUPPET being the key words.
puppet: BARBARA / Eugenia
head(+right arm) puppeteer: The CONSCIOUS / Katerina
hooded(masked)operators: The SUBCONSCIOUS / Panni
narrator + his orchestra: Their story / stereo
The narrator tells, in abbreviated sounds and text, the story of Barbara's six month visit to the State of Schizophrenia, courtesy of United States public transport, interspersed with brief periods in rented lodgings, and most importantly, in the zealous and "yappy" company of her own, personalized set of operators.
