Category: The Humble Little Doll Theater

Going to a club was once so easy…You could meet with friends or go with your lover, see lots of different people there, hear the latest music and have some fun!

There was love and drama, quarreling, drinking and dancing, latest fashions and a bit of vanity (or a lot!)…The whole human spectrum. Loud and colorful.

Then the lights went out and the music became silent.

Now, Clubs are still closed at the moment. And when they re-open, it might be like this for a while:

“Dancing? With masks on? Do you want me to suffocate?”

But club life will come back…We only have to be patient!

STAY SAFE!

Had only a few hours to provide the stage, but couldn´t wait any longer to work with the sound lounge.  I got it second hand a while ago, but never had time to play with it.

First thing I recognized was: It was meant for 12″ dolls…But actually, it´s a bit to low for them. The dolls can´t dance underneath the curtain-area.

Maybe the “stage” was never meant for dancing…Just to put the seat and table on and let the dolls sit there, while they listen to the music…

Second thing was: The WWE´s pumps fit my “BanQuette”! So the guy could finally have his dress and high heels !

Third thing: I don´t have any props for cocktails! So my dolls had to stay “sober”.

In January 2020, in a world before COVID, I visited one of the fantastic museums, we have in our capital city. Usually, I enjoy that a lot. But this time, it was weird!

The museum was empty, only a few visitors, but lots and lots of black-dressed guards hanging around, bored and looking for some distraction. So they started to follow the visitors, as soon as they entered a room, tried to make conversation and observed every move, a visitor made. Some came very close, almost touched,  when a person stopped, to look at the content of a display case.

Others exchanged secret messages with signs and gestures, when someone passed them by…It started to get a bit creepy,  I felt more and more stalked with every hall I passed, until I finally left and ran off to another museum.

But it gave me the idea for this little play….Curtains up!

NIGHTMARE AT THE MUSEUM

You love to visit a Museum on Sundays? You enjoy artefacts and ancient art? That´s nice. But be aware, there might be hostile eyes, staring at you!

You feel a bit awkward? So you leave the room, pass the hall to get to another section…But there are steps behind you…And you still feel the hostile eyes in your back!

You search for shelter at the Egyptians department….Only to find some more trouble waiting there for you!

Now you have to deal with four of them. They watch your every move, don´t let you go out of their sight for just a moment!

You pass another hallway, entering the stairs to the lower level, but the eyes still follow you. More of them have crept from the dark corners of the corridors, to join the haunting crowd.

You walk faster, try to escape, your heart sounds like a drum…But there´s no chance! They´re like shadows, waiting until you pass and then start to follow, driven by a silent command.

You can hear their footsteps close behind you, but you´re too afraid to turn and face the chasers, because you know: There will be some more of them!

And if you stop, their steps will stop as well…

Panic is flooding your system. You start to run. Another hall, some more shadows lurking and joyning the black crowd behind you!

Suddenly the sound of the footsteps stop. Did they let you escape? You don´t care for the reasons! All you want right now, is to leave the museum. You chase down the stairs, desparately try to find the exit, but every door you pass, is locked.

The only possible entrance leads you to a the museums cellar and you soon realize, that you´ve been herded there.

They wait for you down there, try to catch you…But you luckily escape and run to another room, still looking for a way out!

But do you think, they let you get away that easy?

Another room, deeper in the old building´s dungeons. They´re waiting for you in the dark!  You climb up a platform, but this time, you can´t escape.

They drag you down like an animal….You lose balance… the feeling of suffocation grows stronger….And then….

“Excuse me, madame…”

“NO! LET ME GO! TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF ME!”

“…Sorry…I didn´t mean to frighten you…We´re closing in 10 minutes and you have to leave the museum now!”

So it was just a nightmare…One should never fall asleep in a room full of  cold-eyed statues and mumies! You leave and a few minutes later, you´re out in the open with the towns buildings, crowded places, birds singing and the wind whispering in the park trees… It was just a bad dream…Everything´s alright….

But is it? Is it really…….?

 

Working with narrow backdrops and 13 dolls at the same time, was a nightmare of its own.

I had to use a few stands, because some of the dolls always tipped the other ones over in a domino-effect. If you look close, you can see parts of the stands in some scenes…

Another problem wasn´t that easy to solve…A backdrop, hanging from a stand is a great pleasure to every cat in the room….And if there is more than one…Some scratches and little holes in the fabric from cat´s teeth are the result. Also stranges “bows” and uneven spots in the background of the scenes, where cat´s paws tried to explore the secrets behind the curtain, while you try to shoot…

Some dolls did a great job. I never knew, how CREEPY Brother Dreary can be, if you place him in the background and my Cullen twins and Bella were absolutely perfect!

Biggest surprise was Lee. Without a wig and in a black hood, he really looks weird!

 

 

 

THIS IS A SATIRE!

This time, I was hired as a “contract killer”….Yes, other people have “bad neighbors” too!

Curtains up!

You work hard all day and when you finally get home, you don´t collapse on the couch, but take care for your loved ones and work in the garden, to make your dream of a private little paradise come true.

But we have another saying here: “The devil always has his slippery tail in between!” And so he sends the “neighbors from hell”!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They lurk behind the shrubs with eyes full of hate and envy!

Then they come to complain about all and everything…

And if they don´t come in person, they wait until you´re outside, then open all doors and windows and turn on the radio, to drive you crazy…With hit songs and yodeling…

You take it as long as you can, but in the end, you have to run to your house and hide. But there´s no escape from the endless yodeling! 

So your desperation grows…And you´re looking for some help!

In a situation like this, it´s always good to have a friend who has…well…”some experience” in things like that…

A person, who exactly knows, what to do…

“First, you need to buy a lot of foil!” And then…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“…there are some jobs, better done by men!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“…And others done by women!”

“Isn´t that venomous spider lovely? I just milked it!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“All you have to do now, is let the neighbor come close enough, to let him have our little surprise….Make sure, he won´t scream!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Well done! It´s always good, if one does the job thoroughly!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Meanwhile, your spouse will put on her best little black dress and “socialize” a bit…She´ll give the neighbor´s wife a nice “conciliation gift” and encourage her, to consume it now, before her husband comes in….That woman will be greedy enough, to take her advice. Then we just have to wait for a little while…

“Success! Now all we have to do, is a good, efficient wrapping! If you don´t want a flower-stone bed in your own garden, just take the cart and wheel them into the woods! But be careful: Don´t let the surviving neighbors see you! It might give them ideas! Now you have to dig as deep as possible…And don´t forget to burry the radio as well!”

” Finish your work with some lovely stones, you might find in the woods!”

The yodeling became silent. Peace is back. Hopefully this time forever…Well… there is some foil left, just in case….

Recently, somewhere on this planet….

“Now listen honey, you don´t need a mask, when you´re just making a phone call! Using a cell phone is NOT infectious!”

 

Meanwhile, “on the other side of the line”…

“Child, I can´t barely hear you…I don´t understand a word…you´re mumbling…Like you´re wearing a mask or something!”

 

“Darling, I think our granddaughter´s gone mad….Does that COVID have an effect on the brain?”