Scene Five: The Puppets

A POLICE OFFICER (PO) and an ARMED FORCES OFFICER (AO) stand in the middle of the room, facing each other. They wear masks. There are strings tied to their arms and legs. Maybe they are puppets?

Along the sides of the room, there are more actors who look like puppets. They too wear masks, and there are strings tied to their hands and feet that are then tethered to the ceiling; to the walls. Some of the actor-puppets might be dressed in police/army uniforms/as rebels. Others are dressed as civilians. As politicians. As particular media personalities. The strings from these puppets are also connected to AO and PO’s strings. Every performer in the room is enmeshed within a complex, seemingly connected, web of strings that has no identifiable source.

When the spectators are all seated, we hear the sound of heartbeats. Mechanical. Automated.

AO and PO do the mirror exercise where both performers coordinate movements while only looking in each other’s eyes. For a time, the AO and PO’s movements are effectively coordinated, and it is impossible to see which puppet is leading the other. Suddenly though, their movements become jerky and uncoordinated. We don’t know who is making the mistake, the PO or the AO.

AO and PO try, a few more times, with unsuccessful results. Every time they fail, the sound of the heartbeats stops — only to restart a few seconds later, when they make a fresh attempt. With every failure to coordinate, however, AO and PO’s frustration builds.

They keep trying till LEADER enters.

AO & PO: Good morning, sir.

LEADER: How is it coming along?

AO: We’re having some trouble sir. It starts off well and then… then it all collapses.

LEADER: Show me.

AO and PO try the mirror exercise again and fail again.

LEADER: Let’s try this.

LEADER stands behind AO and guides his hands. This time, the synchronization works perfectly.

LEADER: See? It works.

AO: With your help it works, sir, but…

PO: But how can we do it without you?

LEADER: You’ll never have to. Don’t you know that?

AO and PO freeze. The LEADER looks at the audience.

LEADER: With my command, anyone can do this — let’s try with those two (pointing at the GUIDES).

LEADER gives the GUIDES similar masks to those worn by the AO, PO, and actor puppets. LEADER stands behind GUIDE #1 and tries to make sure that both GUIDES synchronize their actions. However, this time, the LEADER’s efforts don’t work so well, and the two GUIDES are unable to synchronize.

Throughout the GUIDES’ attempts and all those that follow — until mentioned otherwise— the sound of the mechanical heartbeat stops every time the mirror-exercise partners fail to coordinate, restarting when new attempts are made, and continuing only if/when coordination succeeds.

Each pair of mirror-exercise partners is given masks before they try the activity. If the pair succeeds, they get to keep their masks. If they fail, the LEADER takes their masks back.

So, when the GUIDES fail to coordinate, the LEADER takes their masks away and the sound stops:

LEADER: Something is wrong with these two. Let me try with someone else. Who would like to try this? I can pay you if you want…

Two ACTORS in AUDIENCE volunteer immediately. The LEADER gives them masks, the sound starts, and the LEADER does the exercise with them. It works!

LEADER: See, it works as long as you are willing to accept my help.

The two ACTORS in AUDIENCE join the other two background actor/puppets.

LEADER: Anyone else?

Audience members are given a chance to volunteer. The LEADER performs the exercise with them. If they succeed, they join the two ACTORS in AUDIENCE within the puppet image (the LEADER shows them how). If the audience members cannot manage to coordinate, they do not get to join the image. In this case, like the GUIDES, they are told that something is wrong with them. The LEADER continues this activity as long as there are volunteers from the audience.

Once there are no more volunteers, the recording of the heartbeat gets louder and begins to morph. The heartbeat, at the beginning, still sounds extremely artificial. However, the sound changes almost imperceptibly, and becomes more ‘human’ by the end of the sequence described below.

In this sequence, the LEADER ‘activates’ the puppets individually, by touching them on the head. As soon as they are activated, the actors begin to move in jerky movements. The puppet-audience members are activated too, and they can choose to follow what the actors are doing. Or not. Eventually, one of the puppets starts to jerk free from the ropes that tie him to the ceiling. His strings start to break. The puppet is breaking free.

AO and PO begin efforts to control him. The actor-puppet resists. In response to his resistance, some of the other puppets start to act more aggressively too, as if they are trying to break out of their strings. The AO and PO eventually manage to hold down the resisting puppet and ‘deactivate’ him by touching him on the head in the same way that the LEADER activated him.

As soon as this actor has been suppressed, all the other puppets go back to behaving as they were before the resistance: simply making jerky movements. There is no more resistance. AO and PO also return to their own movements. Unbeknownst to everyone, the LEADER has quietly left the room during the actor-puppet’s resistance. No one knows/should notice when he disappears.

The sounds stop. Silence.

GUIDE #1 slowly get up, takes out a pair of scissors and cuts the strings holding each puppet. As he does, he asks each one “What if they did not control you?” Each time he is met with silence and a blank stare before the puppet walks out of the room.

GUIDE #1 cuts the puppet-spectators’ strings as well, asks them the same question, and directs them back to their seats.

Finally, GUIDE #1 reaches the last puppet, the one who resisted. When the actor asks this puppet “What if they did not control you?” the puppet looks back at him and replies, “Then maybe…”

The last puppet smiles, and in a bizarre image covered in string, this actor hands out stone souvenirs to the audience while the GUIDES watch him with curiosity: these souvenirs are wrapped with a paper that has pictorial instructions for how to build a puppet drawn on it.

The GUIDES invite the audience to follow them to the next space by walking down a path that is evocatively designed with puppets.