Printed
1 page
Author(s)
Cockatrice
On the Road to Rome
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.
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.
Publications and translations
Edward Gordon Craig, The Drama for Fools / Le Théâtre des fous. Montpellier: L'Entretemps, 2012.
Edward Gordon Craig, The Drama for Fools / Le Théâtre des fous. Montpellier: L'Entretemps, 2012.
(French)