INGRID HANSEN'S AUDIENCE

A sloping plane of heads and bodies
wholly engrossed
inclined with a pure wonder
towards the puppeteer on the stage
three hundred punters
a full-to-bursting house
sat alert
a higgledy of faces in rows
directed down
at Ingrid Hansen
at her consummate and crazy
words and face and motion and image
with all clearly aware
like no audience i ever seen
they have never seen anything like that
and
they are in the presence of a talent
so colossal as to
change everyone
to repoise them
relaxed yet eager
intent yet leisured
focused
towards the stage
for Ingrid and her dazzle have
polished them shiny
they beam and glow
and shine
in eyes and cheeks and smile and laugh
a serried array of happy
sat
knowing they are lucky
waiting for the next new wonder
vocally, or rather breathily, astonished at the
precision of the movement
the two nuns each made of a knuckle
millimetering towards each other
where somehow
how?
Ingrid has given these white-scarved nun-knuckles
a growing passion
everyone can sense it yet
the nuns are just talking knuckles yet
the pinky as the jaw yet
we, the bank of heads
know the nuns are increasingly unable to
resist each other
are about to
kissingly merge
did anyone ever do this before?

and if so, did they do it this well?
its gob-smacking
hilarious
crazy
charming

human
beautiful
and it keeps coming
one marvel after another
a concatenation of unique madcappery
for an hour of suspended time
where the thrilledness is palpable
yet there is zero agitation or
edge in this
excitement
with the heads and torsos of the
amazed
shifting in tiny curves
the roundish heads bobbing on the
plane of human bodies
in rising delight
in surging laughter
has anything else they've seen this week been this good?
this original?
this fantastically together?
the fast words
the serially striking super-exact motions
the tiniest modulations of voice
the littlest motion of mouth and
gleaming eye
cumulating through the minutes
in the gleeful heads
of the lucky-lucky three hundred
some leant forward in eagerness
some popping up and down
some relaxed back in ease
all caught, held, here
all directed in focus and energy
at the wonders unfolding below them
with each set-piece building to a
wondrous culmination
and then quickly shifting
on that camera-caught desk
filmed onto the huge screen
transforming to
more novelty
more newness
more wowing
for an hour
with the audience
amazing and amazed
until soon
was it an hour?longer?less?
I don't know
does everyone else?
until its over and
the liquid of heads and bodies

pours down the racked slope and
out the two exits
streaming away from the Arts Barns
in glee and wonder and smiles
and amazement
with easy curves in the cheeks
and the lips
and the motion
and with the
inner warmth from the
astounding minutes we
all just experienced
became something else during
went beyond ourselves in
and where the
outside world is a
kind of disappointment

that it is still very much the same
is still so usual
so daily
so unchanged
after that expert super-strangeness
that thing
that barely wordable Thing
we all went through
…
...
so its
SNAFU'S SEXY PUPPET SHOW: EPIDERMIS CIRCUS 2
best show i seen this year
and i can't recommend it enough
…
...
the idea you can see this for twenty dollars is
amongst other things
pretty fabulous
…
…
…
…
in other news
seeing what the reason for existence of this substack site is
and how the eventual writing that will be revealed is going to be presented
the length of this
and the last post is
somewhat amiss
appealing off-message
…
cheers
…
j