Hello again, everyone! I have a storytelling video for you from my Fringe fest show last June, Myth Mirrors Punk. This is the first myth story from that show, Cassis Daemonis:
Those of you who have read the first of my Liminaris stories, Ferentes Draconem, might recognize this story as a version of the myths surrounding the Cassians in that fantasy world on which the main character ponders. Originally, I had thought that I would never decide on true ‘canon’ or ‘true’ version of the myth, the events at the origin of the Cassian family legend. But when I was coming up with the stories I would use in Myth Mirrors Punk, to go along with Carole’s spoken word pieces, the story of how the Lady Cassius came to be seemed an appropriate parallel to her little girl who liked animals and who liked to wander and who experienced dark things. In my mind, the young priestess who becomes the Lady Cassius is more of an adolescent than a child, but their mental state is similar.
I also drew inspiration from Greek mythology: the references to sacred springs, daemonic serpents, sky gods, and prophecy, are meant to evoke the delphic oracle (such as that found in the homeric hymn to Apollo, for example). However, I pictured it happening rather in a mythical Boeotia (the area in central Greece which I studied for my masters thesis) which, historically, was also rich in oracles of Apollo, sacred springs, and a few mentions of daemonic serpents. I’m still not sure if the tone came out right in the telling, but it was quite the fun experiment! As a student of classical history and culture, I enjoy studying the variations in how certain myths are told over time. Often enough, the differences tell us a good deal about the context in which these stories were told — seems fitting to do the same with my origin story for the Cassian lineage of the fantasy-mythpunk Liminaris world.
After the festival, I had put up the last of the myth stories, The Shadow’s Words, from that show up on the blog — as well as Carole TenBrink’s last punk monologue from the show, Elder Punk (a masterpiece of spoken word, in my opinion). I had the rest of the show on my computer, so it seemed fitting, at the start of this year’s Montreal Fringe festival, to give you another look back. AND, for those of you who, like me, absolutely loved Carole’s performance in our show last year, she is doing another spoken word show at the Fring this year! Introducing Extreme States, with Carole TenBrink and Stephanie Lawrence (get your tickets here)! I am heading to Montreal this evening for the premier, to support my fellow poets and storytellers! But they will have 5 more shows in the next week or so. Oh, and I made the poster and logo art for this one as well:
A review of the show will surely follow some time next week, and maybe one for another Fringe show I plan to see on Saturday called Wasteland — the latest show by the ever popular and hilarious Sex T-Rex company. They are awesome. Unfortunately, that’s it for me as far as Fringe recommendations go for this year; I won’t be able to go to more shows than that, and so I have intentionally avoided looking through the catalogue so far (to avoid torturing myself with dreams of shows I will never see). Do enjoy the Fringe for me, though, if you pass through Montreal this month. It really is a treat!
*On an unrelated note, I’ve recently changed the look of the blog around a bit, to make it easier for newcomers to navigate. Hope it won’t be too confusing for my more experienced readers. Hope to have some new stuff for you all to read soon, since I am working on a new few stories.
— R.K. Magali
Tales from the Unfinished Library 