Cockatrice - Edward Gordon Craig

Cockatrice

On the Road to Rome

Edward Gordon Craig | 1916 | Marina di Pisa, Italy
Genre (as defined by the author)
Interlude
Characters
Cockatrice, Brickle-Brit, A Peasant
Number of acts
1
Note

The Drama for Fools is a large-scale dramatic cycle containing multiple puppet plays. This cycle kept Craig exceedingly busy between 1916 and 1918. It was supposed to hold 365 short plays and be performed like a traveling show: each night, from 31 April to 31 March, a new play would be shown in a new location. Craig, who wrote his plays under the pen name Tom Fool, stopped writing before the cycle was finished and gave up on performing the play himself. Nonetheless, he stored his drafts in three cardboard boxes, as a collection of typewritten notebooks containing many illustrations and whose covers display words written in colourful calligraphy. He cared immensely for these notebooks, as he improved, corrected, and supplemented them until the 1950s. This collection is today held at the Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières.

This interlude is placed between part one and part two of The Roman Adventure.

Plot summary

The protagonist reflects as he travels

Cockatrice, riding the magic donkey Brickle-Brit, is on his way to Rome. He envisions himself impersonating Charlie Chaplin in the inn where he has planned to meet his friends Blind-Boy and Columbus the Parrot. He complains about Brickle-Brit, thinks about his relationship with Blind-Boy, and ponders over different events in his life.

Related works
The Drama for Fools, Edward Gordon Craig1914-1918
Composition date
1916

Publications and translations

Publication

Edward Gordon Craig, The Drama for Fools / Le Théâtre des fous. Montpellier: L'Entretemps, 2012.

Translations
  • Edward Gordon Craig, The Drama for Fools / Le Théâtre des fous. Montpellier: L'Entretemps, 2012.

    (French)

Conservation place

Institut International de la Marionnette - Charleville-Mézières, France
Language
English
Literary tones
Satirical, Comical
Animations techniques
String marionette
Audience
Not specified
Licence
Institut International de la Marionnette & Edward Gordon Craig Estate

Key-words

Theatrical techniques

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Written by

Didier Plassard