I sent a couple of mailings to Dale a while back regarding Wm. Blake’s Inn. For the record, here’s the gist:

One was a photo which evoked a Blakean world for me, a background awash in a characteristic watercolor and a colorful costume choice, both from a design firm’s ad in Dance Magazine of all things. I can’t do the HTML magic to make the picture appear in this post, however….(Dale? Help? Dale, too, has been collecting images at his website.)

The other mailing was the pursuit of an idea:

Let me know if I’m imposing too much concept without re-acquainting (fully acquainting) myself with the songs.

Blake and the children running the Inn. The audience watches the children hide their fantastical creative activities under the noses of the dour adult guests. But the children are also playful and draw the guests into their imaginative games (and invite them to sing the characters, etc). The guests are led, consequently, as a result of things they catch disappearing around corners and spy during their condescending cooperation with the children, to question their sanity, imagine they are having uncanny and mystical experiences, visions, perhaps DT’s in one case, etc.

I’m imagining, as an example, the guest who will sing the Tyger (or is there also a Cat…) being brought hot water by one of the Inn’s staff children and led by the child to a table and mirror; the child even supplies a straight razor since our adult is very out of sorts, perhaps hung over, and lacks rudimentary supplies. As our guest sits and begins to try and shave, the children appear with a Tyger (or Cat) puppet and perch it on a stool on the other side of the mirror. As our guest shakily tries to shave, he can almost swear he sees in the mirror the Tyger (Cat) attempt to trim his whiskers with a pair of scissors…

I’m imagining these activities fitting somehow into the life of each song. No explanatory dialogue. We make the vast playful conspiracy readily apparent in such a way that the children in the audience will tune in immediately and appreciatively to the charade perpetuated at the guests’ expense…

I encourage all who are interested to seek out a copy of book and/or music from Dale and indulge in your own flights and imaginings. Our workshop will give us the opportunity to play through a variety of approaches.