THE REDEMPTION OF WOLF MASK - PART FOUR

 By Rita Grimaldi

Introduction: The Trinity of Story, Mask and Teller

In mask storytelling, there is a trinity that is always in play. It goes like this: the story, the teller and the mask. This trinity forms a oneness.

 

And in that oneness, sometimes different parts of the trinity come to the forefront.

In Part Four of ‘The Redemption of Wolf Mask’, Story is in the forefront. Part Four is about the teller (me) and Wolf mask who is my telling persona, absorbing the truths of the rewritten story of Iron Wolf.

See how this is the case as you read what follows.

Rehearsing and Coming to a Stop the First Time

All good art produces the unexpected. Rewriting the story of ‘The Iron Wolf’ was a mostly conscious act for me. But once I became Wolf - once I put on the wolf mask - only a small part of my memory mind was in play. The rest of my mind belonged to becoming and being Wolf. To my surprise, as I rehearsed the story, words that I had not written began to come out of my Wolf’s mouth.

My Wolf began to say, “I wanted my side of the bargain completed. Fair is fair.”

My Wolf wanted to repeat this set of words several times over the four days he pursued the young man.

It did not matter to Wolf if the bargain was one that should have been made. In other words, did Wolf have the right to strike a bargain to eat the young man at the time of the man’s marriage?  It only matters to Wolf that what he agreed to do he actually does. But as the term of the bargain comes due at the marriage, the young man refuses to do what he had earlier agreed with Wolf to do. That is, to be eaten by Wolf.

Twice during rehearsal, at the point where the young man runs away (thus not honoring his side of the bargain) my rehearsal came to a dead stop.

The first time when I was stopped, I took off the mask and walked out of the room.

A friend of mine, upon hearing Parts Two and Three, said that there were two stories going on – my story and Wolf’s story. Reflecting on my story, I realized that this is perhaps the truth - that in real life, I cannot tolerate bargains not being kept. And equally important was my realization that both Wolf and I have to learn that there are times in life when you just have to cut your losses.

The Performance

Before I put on the mask for the performance, I spoke to the audience about changes in the mask’s physical features and the story line.

I talked about how these changes would mirror Wolf’s ability to learn from his experience. I warned the audience that Wolf would die in the story, but that he would put himself back together again. And finally, and this is an important change to the original story, Wolf would consider the learning from his experience.

Performance and Coming to a Stop the Second Time

Earlier I said that when the young man refuses to keep his side of the bargain, I stopped rehearsing twice. Here is the second stopping point in my process of absorbing the revised story.

Two days after my performance, I wrote the following.

This morning I woke early and began to think about the performance.

I saw in my mind’s eye, Wolf telling his story.

I saw him tell about his death.

I saw him remove his sash and wristlets.

He stops.

There is a time of silence.

  

This is the second stopping place.

It is a place where I, as Wolf, could choose to stop learning from the experience of being torn apart by the young man’s dogs.

It’s a place where I, as Wolf, could let the horrific experience overcome me and remain dead.

But then Wolf begins to tell his story again.

When the young man and his three dogs are gone, Wolf tells how he puts himself back together. Once again, he becomes alive in this world.

And Wolf goes on to tell the audience how he decides, by reasoning out his situation, not to follow the man and his dogs, choosing his personal safety. So he deliberately goes off in the opposite direction to avoid another deadly encounter with the dogs.

Conclusion to The Redemption of Wolf Mask Series

Rewriting and performing ‘The Iron Wolf’ in mask has been a difficult process for me.

It has been what I call a ‘hard learning’ experience. Hard learning forces a person to take a hard look at what their situation truly is. Wolf does this in his rewritten ending. He says “These dogs have killed me once. It is better not to follow them.”

Like many of us, it’s sometimes hard for me to look at the way things really are. Becoming Wolf, and experiencing his extremely violent death, taught me that consciously choosing personal safety is sometimes the best option.

It is an option that is not always fair

and sometimes does not have bargains fulfilled

but sometimes it is the best option.

Postscript

For the duration of the story, Wolf and I belonged together. We resided in the wolf’s world and the wolf’s reality. Together, Wolf and I learned to assess situations the way they truly are.

January 15, 2016

THE REDEMPTION OF WOLF MASK - PART THREE

By Rita Grimaldi

Developing A Costume To Reflect Wolf’s Inner Changes

My Changes To The Wolf Mask

In Part Two, I talked about rewriting the story of ‘The Iron Wolf’ in a way that would allow the wolf to choose reason over instinct.

Now wishing to reflect this change in the mask itself, I choose to see fur as representing instinct – the animal side, and cloth as representing reason – the more human side.

Here is Wolf mask redone for the story.

See how Wolf now has cloth on both sides of his lower face. I have also given him an extra piece of fur to each side of the lower face. By making these changes, I want to say that in my revised story, Wolf now has a choice to follow either instinct or reason.

My Choice Of Clothing For ‘The Iron Wolf’ Story

The original story of ‘The Iron Wolf’ is a Russian fairy tale.

So for my base clothing, I chose traditional Russian male clothing. But I also wanted to reflect the balancing of instinct and reason in some way in the clothing costume. So I took the tie that goes around the hips and added to it. On one side, both fur (instinct) and cloth (reason). On the other side, I added only fur.

Finally, I added the last part of the costume - fur wristlets for each arm.

The amount of fur and cloth in these last pieces is not balanced. There is more fur (instinct) than cloth (reason) because in the new story, Wolf is stronger in instinct than in reason.

At the end of the story, after Wolf’s death and reconstruction - when Wolf chooses to function by reason - I will remove the sash and the wristlets.

THIS ACT WILL BE A SIGN THAT WOLF IS NOW READY TO CHOOSE TO FUNCTION BY EITHER REASON OR INSTINCT.

And, as I have rewritten the story, his choice is reason.

This is the right choice because it keeps all the characters in the story alive including Wolf.

January 3, 2016

To be continued…

Part Four will be about the rehearsal and the performance of Rita's version of 'The Iron Wolf'.

THE REDEMPTION OF WOLF MASK - PART TWO

By Rita Grimaldi

                            

Rewriting ‘The Iron Wolf’ for Telling in Wolf Mask

Telling a story in mask requires that the story be told as if it were the experience of the mask character itself. 

So as I rewrite the original story, I imagine myself as Wolf. I feel what the story’s chain of events would be like if I were Wolf thinking in human language. In this frame of mind, I see right away that as Wolf, I am an adversary to the human man, the hero of the story.

In the story of The Iron Wolf, wolf makes a deal with this male hero.  The hero is given a magic egg in return for 12 years of service to a holy man.  Instructions are given that the egg must not be broken until a strong cattle pen is built. The hero goes against these instructions, cracking the egg open without the pen. Cattle pour out - too many for him to round up. This is when the Iron Wolf appears.

Wolf offers to put the cattle back into the egg and to make the egg whole again in return for the hero agreeing to be eaten on his wedding day by the wolf.  The hero agrees to this bargain, accepts his magically restored egg and becomes rich because of it.

The Question of Wolf Eating his Adversaries

In many wolf stories, Wolf is portrayed as wanting to eat his adversaries. For example, he eats two of the three little pigs and he also eats Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.

And in this traditional story, Wolf gets agreement to eat the young man.

Food is perhaps the ultimate human resource. In primitive times, wolves competed with people for this resource.

But in storytelling traditions, being eaten may represent winning the game. So this is why Grandma has to be restored from the wolf’s stomach and the third little pig has to kill the wolf.

In my original story, Wolf is torn apart by three dogs.

But I am rewriting the story.

I am redeeming Wolf.

So I don’t have to follow the traditional story pattern.

In my rewrite, Wolf will die but he will come back to life. He will learn. And then Wolf will prosper from this learning.

So here is what I did.

I followed the story pattern. At the beginning, I wrote in Wolf’s feelings and Wolf’s desire to make a bargain that is advantageous to him.

Wolf says, “I will collect the cattle and drive them back into the egg for you. And then I will patch the egg so it will be quite whole. But in return for that, whenever you sit on the bridal bench I will come and eat you.”

In my story, I will write that Wolf watches and waits for the time when his bargain will be fulfilled - when the young man marries and then tries to escape. I will write of Wolf’s feelings and desires to have the justice of getting his side of the bargain fulfilled. These feelings will be apparent over the four days of Wolf’s pursuit of the young man. They will end when Wolf is killed by the three dogs given to the young man by old men and old women.

This is how the traditional story ends but in my version, I will not end it there.

I will continue the story.

I will allow my Wolf the redemption of learning from his experience.

Here is my new ending, beginning at Wolf’s death.

The New Ending

In my mask, being Wolf, I will say:

Chutko sounded the alarm.

Vazhko pinned me to the earth.

And Barry tore me to pieces.

I died in great pain.

And from another place – away from this world – I saw the young man gather his three dogs around him, mount his horse and ride away.

When they were gone,

I put myself back together again.

I did this just as I had put the red egg back together again.

And then I considered my situation.

Well, I thought, now the young man has three dogs.

And these dogs have killed me once.

It is better not to follow them.

So I let the young man live in peace.

And I went about my own business.

And In Conclusion…

Wolf becomes a learning creature. He learns from his experience. He becomes less bound by his instinctual desire to eat his adversaries. Contrary to the traditional pattern, Wolf is now able to choose his own behaviour and in doing so, keep himself safe.

December 28, 2015

To be continued…

Part Three will discuss how Rita changes Wolf’s costume to reflect his inner changes.

Part Four will discuss the public performance of Wolf in mask and a debrief of Rita’s experience with the Wolf mask.

THE REDEMPTION OF WOLF MASK

by Rita Grimaldi

In most traditional stories the wolf is a negative force.

But what if I could see Wolf as I see Coyote?

What if Wolf, like Coyote, had two types of behaviour?

What if Wolf is able to have both good and bad behaviour?

Taking that line of thought a step further, what if Wolf was able to redeem himself from his own bad behavior? In other words, what if Wolf was able to learn from his bad behavior and choose to use his abilities and personality for good acts?

So here is what I will do for my Wolf mask.

In January, I will tell another Wolf story. For me, this will be the third story in this mask.

But this time, I will rewrite the story so that Wolf recovers from his bad behaviour. But first, Wolf will die then bring himself back to life and behave in a positive manner.

In this way, I will experience Wolf as having all psychological aspects:

• ·         Strengths and weaknesses
• ·         Good and bad behaviour
• ·         A physical being and a supernatural one
• ·         Both adversarial and protector roles

For me, Wolf will become a deeper being - beyond opposites while containing his opposites.

And best of all, my Wolf mask will become able to tell stories in all aspects of its being.

In three subsequent posts, please join me in seeing how this redemption of Wolf comes to pass.

To be continued…

Rita Grimaldi is a mask maker and performance artist skilled in the art of oral storytelling. Several of her mask diaries appear in earlier posts on this blog. Rita is a member of Peterborough Storytellers in Ontario, Canada. 

She can be contacted at peterboroughstorytellers@cogeco.ca

THE LITANY OF THE SHAMAN MOTHER MASK

By Rita Grimaldi

Beginning After The End

Five days after the performance of the Shaman Mother story I woke up thinking about the three shaman workshops I have gone to. I thought about how the telling of the Shaman Mother story was at least equivalent to being at those workshops in terms of an experience of shaman reality. Perhaps even telling it may be superior to being at the workshops. 

What follows is the documentation, in present time, of my preparation and performance of the Shaman Mother story.

Come follow me in my journey toward a deep personal experience of shaman reality.

I Prepare …

1.    I find a National Geographic story of Shaman Mother’s tribe, the Reindeer Chukchee. The article has pictures of her people and text about the importance of the reindeer to her people. I also find pictures of an ancient burial. A horse is being buried to be with the dead person in the land of the dead. Both these elements are part of Shaman Mother’s story.

2.    I research clothing worn by Reindeer Chukchee woman. It happens that I have elements of this clothing. I set these aside for the costume.

3.    I rewrite Shaman Mother’s story twice. I choose, discard and add what feels right for my telling of the story.

4.    I learn the story as I have written it.

I Rehearse …

I am teaching storytelling and have other storytelling commitments. So I have no time to rehearse in costume until the afternoon before the performance.

I rehearse once. I decide to use the drum when Shaman Mother uses the drum in the story.

I Perform …

I show the audience the pictures I found of the Reindeer Chukchee and the ancient burial of the horse. I read aloud text on the role of the shaman in his or her society. I want the audience as embedded into the world of Shaman Mother as I will be when I transform into her through my use of mask and drum.

Then I have one of my storytelling students drum the heart beat while I change behind a screen. I come out as Shaman Mother. In her clothing. In her face. In her fur head dress. In her boots. I begin to speak her story.

The litany of Shaman Mother’s words pours out of me.

Some Of The Litany Of Shaman Mother’s Words

“I know from his words that my son is dead.”

“A great wail rises from my throat.”

“Let me rest, I say.”

“Rest?” says my husband. “You are a shaman. You have no need of rest. Do something!”

“I beat my drum and go to the land of the dead. But I cannot find my son’s soul body.”

“I tell my husband to slaughter one of the reindeer teams so that I can travel on them in the land of the dead.”

“Then I drum and travel on the reindeer team.”

“I find my son’s soul body. It is in the house of a female monster. She has trapped him.”

“I free my son and take him with me.”

“The female monster comes after us. She says, ‘I will break your bones and swallow both of you.’”

“My brave son says, “Mother let me fall and she will come after me and you will be safe.”

“No!” I say. “If we die, we die together.”

“The sky is blood red. My animal allies have killed the female monster. I go back to my village and begin to drum over my son’s body.”

“When his body is restored, I snatch his soul and place it in his body.”

“‘Wake up! Wake up!’” I say. “You have slept long enough.”

“My boy wakes, alive and well.”

“I embrace him and I tell him how proud I was of his courage against the female monster.”

“I am tired. Now I go to sleep.”

The End …

I leave the performance area.

I remove the costume and the mask.

I become Rita again.

______________________

How I Felt During The Telling Of Shaman Mother’s Story

Five days after the performance, I wrote in the present tense, the following words. It is as I remember it.

The words of the story are like a river I ride on. I travel down it.

When I come to the word ‘diver’ I remember that I had wanted to explain this word to the audience and that I had forgotten to do so. So I added the explanation, saying “diver - a water bird who dives under the water”. The word ‘diver’ was like a stone in the river of words.

I allow the river of words to flow through me. I accept the feeling of these words.

Not my words but the real Shaman Mother’s Words.

That is the important part of the experience. That She/I feel the words.

She/I feel desperate and tired when I say “A great wail rises from my throat.”

She/I feel determination and sorrow when “I beat my drum and go to the land of the dead to find my son’s soul body.”

And most of all. Best of all ...

She/I feel strength and rightness when I say “No! If we die, we die together.”

And finally, when She/I bring the boy back to life and praise him for his courage in the face of the monster.

She/I feel love and caring and pride in knowing this son.

For me, Shaman Mother was a real woman and a real shaman.  Shaman reality was her real existence. So becoming her, through mask, made shaman reality my real existence. Whatever she felt in the two worlds she traveled in, I felt too.

These feelings were so powerful that they will never ever leave me. My experience of her realities - the world of the living and the world of the dead - were so powerful, that they will never ever leave me.

The power of mask is to enter another world and to bring part of it back with you.

______________________

Rita Grimaldi is a founding member of Peterborough Storytellers.

Rita welcomes your comments on this posting 
and her many other articles posted here on 'Tales and Tips' 

about the art of preparing and performing in mask.

Rita's contact information is: 

peterboroughstorytellers@cogeco.ca