HOL Ravenclaw

Darkness. Then a flare of fire as shadows leap to life.

You’re sitting cross-legged beneath a paper lantern, surrounded by quiet watchers. Before you, a curtain glows with the silhouettes of children, warriors wielding long swords, snakelike dragons, and spirits.

A wizened figure narrates, telling a story about a boy who wandered too far and became lost between worlds. A shadow-Pipkin dances across the screen chased by wolves made of hurricane.

This is the story you’re living. Or maybe it’s every story, you consider.
The puppets fight. Fall. Rise again. At the end, the same boy leaves a light behind him, a lantern for others to follow.

You’re handed one too. Small and red. You carry it to the edge of the stage and release it to the wind.

It lifts, joining a sky of floating lights.

Another pumpkin on the tree brightens, its face soft and flickering.

Task:
For this task, in 100+ words, tell us about what your own shadow puppet show would be about.

Alternatively, you can draw or describe in 75+ words your own shadow puppet.

This task is worth 10 beans, with an additional 13 bonus beans for completing all Week Two tasks by end of activity. Deadline is 11:59pm (HOL time) on Friday November 21st.

I'm on a reading cycle of dark fantasy books, and my current obsession is Frankenstein. With that in mind, my puppet show draws inspiration from Mary Shelley's wonderful novel, with a few added twists of my own, of course.

The puppets would be those of a young girl, an ogre, and a dragon. It is a rather introspective play despite its fantasy elements. The ogre is terrorizing the young girl, and nothing she ever does seems to please him. Repeatedly, she runs away, only to be brought back time and time again. Eventually, however, the young girl runs away successfully and is seen sinking to the ground. In her place, a dragon arises. The dragon stalks the ogre, devouring him at last. Moral of the story: Beware the hidden dragon/beast!

My show would have two ballerinas and a dark blob of darkness, except for a single eye hole. One ballerina sabotages the other to steal the spotlight, with the cycle repeating itself over and over once the sabotaged ballerina recovers and begins to gain attention again.
After the first sabotage, the dark blob begins to follow the guilty ballerina, appearing whenever she turns away, freezing only when she looks at it. Each new act of sabotage makes the blob grow faster and closer, affecting the ballerina's performances. Eventually, in her final dance, the ballerina can no longer escape her own creation, too slow in finding the blob and looking at it. The blob overtakes her, and the two merge into one silhouette as the light fades.
The moral of the show is how greed consumes you, and can come with consequences you may not have considered before.

My shadow puppet would be a polar bear, made to move like it’s walking through the snow. I’d craft it carefully using dark black cloth stretched over thin cardboard, giving the shape both depth and some flexibility. The cardboard would form the bear’s outline, broad shoulders, rounded back, and thick legs, while the cloth would soften its edges, so its shadow looks smooth against the light.

I’d cut small slits into the cloth near the bear’s chest and muzzle, letting faint glimmers of light pass through. A thin bamboo stick would be attached to each paw, allowing me to make the bear move slowly. When I tilt it forward, the bear would look like it’s sniffing. When I raise the sticks, it would rear up.