insights via children’s theatre

This morning, as a birthday present for a our oldest daughter, we attended a performance of the children’s books Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. They artfully produced an enthralling performance. There were many things that I found rather interesting, such as the set design was simply beautiful, while the intense focus of the puppeteers was mesmerizing.

Above all there were two things which I quickly saw as a deep metaphor for things much greater.

The Runaway Bunny

Neither me nor my wife had read this story prior to this performance. Essentially the story revolves around two characters, mother & child bunny. The child, for reason I wasn’t clear on (not sure if I missed it, or it just simply wasn’t stated), has this intense desire to runaway from the mother bunny. So the child bunny names off all the places which he will run to, and the reply of the mother bunny is always the same—I will follow you, I will pursue you till the end.

This story line is so very similar to the parables that Christ tells his disciples about the relationship between God & man. I was captured by the persistent nature of the mother—always chasing the wanna-be rebel of a child. The story ends rather beautifully. The child finally concedes, he says something along the lines of “well if you are going to chase after me in whatever pursuit of escape I attempt, I just ’sume give up and concede that I’m a baby bunny and you’re my mother bunny.”

I think I could learn a thing or two about parenting but also God as father, from this story.

Two Ways to Move

The puppets this theatre crew use are made as such, so that you use manipulate them using two sticks, instead of the standard image of many wires or a hand up the back controlling them. Each puppet was designed slightly different depending on what it was supposed to portray: size, materials, movement styles, etc. The standard control feature on just about all the puppets they used were two sticks for control: one at the back of the head, the other at the end of the back (the arse).

So maybe there is a correlation to us, though I don’t want to say we are exactly puppets {I would like to hold to at least some amount of freewill.} we are rather similar to these puppets.

1. the head
   We can be guided by rational thought. If someone wants to convince us of something, they may try to give us an thoughtful argument for why they should believe X or do X. the other alternative is…
2. the arse
   If we can’t be moved by the rationale of the subject then the alternative method must be used: a good kick in the pants. Sometimes when we are stubborn towards God or circumstances in the world, the best way to get us to move is simply to kick us in the pants.

These days we as a family don’t get out very often. To purchase tickets to the theatre and attend a performance with the whole family was a especially nice. I had sadly forgotten how nice & necessary it is to get out into the world and live is. The past month or two have been rather wet and cold, causing us to hole up as a family and not get out to do anything. It is so necessary to live, I hope we never take it for granted again. Thanks again Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia.