Childrenof Eden PerformanceResponse
TheChildren of Eden display provides two main acts that indicate thefather`sact of mercy. The first story as demonstrated in act one showsthe story of Adam and Eve as well as Cain and Abel, their sons. Thesecond story displaysthe story of Noah and how the floods swept the entire world. However,in the two accounts, there is one story line which isbased on the themeof faith, independence,and forgiveness. As shown from act one, the fathergives life, free will and love to the children. Father in thisdisplay watches the children in grief as they choose sin resulting infailure. In act two, the internal conflict of the father ismade as manifestedin Noah’s struggles with the entire generation and his children whohave already disobeyed the will of their father. The grace of theFatherismanifested byshowing redemption when the floodcomes.
Inthe two acts, there are two animal characters presentthese are the doveand the snake. In act one, the animal character from the productionis a snake.The snake in this story isseen as thereflection of evil and sin to the world, the snake by use ofdeception makes Eve pursueknowledge by eating the fruit of knowledge. The snake in this act istherefore revealedas the cause of sin and separation between Father and his children.The second animal is a dove,and features in act two. After forty days and night of rains, thedove is sent to find land. The dove from this story unlike snake isviewed as anoble animal thatcan beentrusted with thelives of others animals in the ark.
Inthe two acts, the storytellers servedas narrators and characters at the same time to build cast for thestory. First, the creation story in act one isnarrated inthe form of musicby the characters where they act as the storytellersand also demonstrated how the creation happened. Again, the actorsfeatured as narrators by taking part in the music which was the mainversion used to explain the story and used actions to demonstrate thereactions of the narrators. For instance, Adam act of shame isdemonstrated byhiding from God after eating from the tree of knowledge.
Further,the Lobby Display showed that the cast operated as an ensemblein casting the story. For instance, when naming the animals, it wasevident thatlike Adam, Eve andGod narrated the story through music, the other cast acted as animalswhere they came to the stage as different types of animals even asthey danced to the music. The devised/planned theatertechnique prevented confusion and use of music where the actors tookpart in the music created space for them to feature as differentanimals. Again, the use of ensemble technique allowed them to havefew casts on the stage for clarity.
Finally,the use of music in the Children of Eden story helped theactors/dancers work together toestablish the circumstances. Thiscreated room forthe caststo operate as different characters by using dance as a strategy ofchanging their cast identity. First, during creation, the casts actas the co-workers to the creationby demonstrating different things that the father created. Then,during the animals naming, the cast is changed by music and actorscomes inas animalsand the dance creates an opportunityto change identity from one animal to the other.