In Search of the Magic Theater by Karla Huebner

Author:Karla Huebner [Huebner, Karla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Humorous, General, Women
ISBN: 9781646031917
Google: KeK2zgEACAAJ
Amazon: B09C7K8BGD
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2022-06-01T18:30:00+00:00

Kari

Endymion and I began to plan out our play, or performance art, or theater piece, or whatever it was, in earnest. We decided to steep ourselves in anything and everything that might possibly relate, or be made to relate, or could inspire us; and at the same time, to leave ourselves open to whatever might strike us as useful, no matter how odd.

I began, for instance, to hunt up artists’ depictions of the myth, which I carefully photographed out of art books. That is, I photocopied the first few for reference, and then realized that what I wanted was slides so that we could project these pictures as part of the set and lighting design. This meant I had to get hold of an old friend who had a camera stand and special lights, so that the results would be good and not have to be redone. My friend, who showed some signs of hoping to renew a long-dead affair between us, regarded my project with a mild curiosity but did not ask terribly many questions about it, which was exactly what I wanted at this stage of things, when the project was still relatively inchoate and difficult to discuss with anyone but Endymion.

Initially, as I looked at these pictures, it seemed obvious that the Girodet Endymion, even if lacking some details that might add to his perfection for the present-day viewer, was decidedly the most appealing of the artistic renditions. Compare it, for instance, to the baroque ceiling fresco by Orelli, which although charming enough in its rendering, shows a fully clothed and nearly awake Endymion curling himself around some boulders in a manner unlike any sleeping male I have ever seen. And Ricci’s baroque painting removes most of the clothing but makes it seem that Endymion has collapsed in a heap at Selene’s feet, with grotesquely contorted limbs that attempt to give the impression of languor but which merely look as though someone (perhaps a disciple of Pontormo) has bent him out of shape. Furthermore, I do not find that the addition of putti at all adds to the eroticism. The one hovering above in the Ricci painting looks poised to drop a seagull-like splodge on Endymion’s head. Ugh.

As if these were not disappointing enough, there was Godward’s unspeakable confection of 1893, which turns Endymion into a girl sleeping on a pile of skins on a palace floor. This travesty, while not utterly devoid of sex appeal, has no hint of masculinity and at most suggests a transgender torch singer sleeping it off after a show. But then, Godward’s numerous Greek women all have faces like twelve-year-old boys, so what can I say. Their androgyny is sexier than that of the feminized Endymion.

The seventeenth-century gravure by Chauveau, on the other hand, has considerable emblematic appeal with its dramatic figure of Selene flinging up her hands in amazement, but Endymion himself is nothing special. Still, I thought Chauveau’s image might work well on the program cover. But in my

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