Out of the Mold and Into the Event pg. 2
by Heather Donahoe LaForge
The Production
At its core, CARTOON is a response to society – to violence, to corrupt leadership, to twisted romance—and these themes are addressed through the use of cartoon characters. A bit more traditional than some of Out of Hand’s previous productions, the characters appear to be stereotypes or, more specifically, archetypal cartoon characters; they are the cartoons we have grown up with and, although they are not necessarily specific characters (for example Wylie Coyote and The Roadrunner do not show up on stage), they are recognizable. They are: Winston Puppet, a marionette puppet complete with strings; Suitor, a “hopeful boy clown” and his love Damsel, a “bashful girl clown,” who both rarely speak; the two Japanese Anime schoolgirls Yumi and Akane; Rockstar, a giant bear rockstar with claws; Esther, the supreme dictator in Cartoonland; and Trouble, a young man who instigates the conflict in the play by stealing Esther’s giant hammer, her tool for maintaining control over the others. “This was the first time,” Yockey commented, that [he] “ventured into the realm of social commentary. Cartoons are a good way to address violence in society and where those impulses come from. But they also provide a solid canvas for exploring the rampant coalescing of consumer culture, mass media and politics into on entity.” The caricatures successfully provide a means to address those larger issues that Yockey wanted to talk about in a manner that would not be too invasive to audiences. Yockey expands on this idea saying: “I think people often find it easier to look at themselves through a skewed lens rather than actual realistic representations. This is like the funhouse version of my thoughts about what’s going on in the world.”
The play is structured like a commedia dell arte piece, with recognizable characters, lazzis, and songs. In addition, like commedia, the show is an ensemble piece. The plot begins with the characters all together in a world run by the higher power Esther, who we discover through the course of the play is only the most recent in a long line of dictators. Esther controls when the characters sleep, when they play, and essentially how the Cartoon world runs. As the “theme song” that opens the show says of her, “Then there’s Esther, she’s in charge, She’s kind of small, but very large!” (6). The large hammer that Esther uses to show her authority in the world is stolen in the first scene by Trouble, the young mischievous boy who has decided, “The time has come for a change!” (8). He informs the audience, “For too long we have been captive to the will of a dictator! To these whims, these flights of fancy…. Just like this, over and over and over, everyone asleep, up to perform, back to sleep. The insidious tedium and monotony eating away at our freedoms” (8). This line challenges the audience members to examine their own lives and the freedoms they may, or may not, have. Once the hammer has been stolen the play is set into motion and the characters begin their search of Trouble and the hammer. During the search, which spans the majority of the show, the audience is given glimpses of life in Cartoonland and comes to realize that what one might watch on Saturday morning does not make such a pretty picture when performed live.
Although the characters seem to be stereotypes, their depth is revealed throughout the play and in this depth the spectators are offered new insights about the play. For example, Rockstar, the giant bear star who attracts the attention of those around him the way a Hollywood celebrity might, only says “Rahr” for most of the play, a choice that paints a very one dimensional portrait of him. Yet near the end of the play he turns to the audience and speaks a soliloquy revealing, “People like me. So when I turn on them, it always seems to come as a surprise. It’s funny how they always look surprised, even though I have these big claws and they don’t really know me. But that’s all about what we allow ourselves to believe about other people. And when I say ourselves, I really mean you.” (44). His one line during the play offers commentary on society’s warped perception of reality. Said in an almost monotone voice without physical movement staring straight at the audience, the line quietly asks the audience members how well they know those around them, and why they seemed surprised when violence, death, and terror strike. Although pessimistic, the soliloquy stands apart from the rest of the play in its simplicity and its starkness.