The North Georgia Gazette and the Arctic Theatre Royal

image courtesy of the Providence Athenaeum

The Wonder Show will be touring a performance in late spring based on the content from Parry’s journals which are held at the Providence Athenaeum.  Below is a description of the exploration.

On the 16th of January 1819, Captain Parry was appointed to the command of his Majesty’s ship Hecla and the Griper. The object of the expedition was to discover a northwest passage into the pacific. Everyone engaged was to receive double pay. Each man on board took in provisions of essence of malt and hops, limeade, fresh meats and soups preserved in tin cans –an invention so new that can openers were not yet  invented!

Blocked by heavy ice, they went south for more than 100 miles into Prince Regent Inlet before turning back. Continuing west they passed 600 miles west of Lancaster Strait which entitled them to a £5,000 reward offered by Parliament. Finally blocked by ice they turned back to a place Parry called Winter Harbour on the south shore of Melville Island. Cutting their way through new ice the ships reached anchorage on September 26^th, 1819. Covering both ships in a heavy burlap material, the crew was frozen in for the next 10 months, three of which were in total darkness and reached a temperature of −54° F.Captain Parry kept the men busy with the introduction of a theater and newspaper. Theatrical entertainments took place regularly once a fortnight and continued to prove a source of infinite amusement to the men. The North Georgia Gazette was a source of great amusement as well. On November 4^th 1819, the sun made its last appearance above the horizon for three months and on the evening of the next day the doors of the Arctic Theatre Royal were opened at half-past six, with a performance to begin at seven, “Miss in Her Teens.” Parry played Fribble and lieutenant Beechey, the lovely Miss Biddy.

Parry’s journals show how alive he was to the mysterious influence of the mind upon the body. For him, the truest defense against scurvy, depression, and decline was to keep the mind creatively engaged:

“The astonishing effects produced by the passions of the mind, in inducing or removing scorbutic symptoms, are too well known to need confirmation or to admit of doubt; those calculated to excite hope, and to impart a sensation of pleasure to the mind having been invariably found to aid in a surprising manner the cure of this extraordinary disease, and those of an opposite nature to aggravate its fatal malignity.”  -Captain Parry

image courtesy of the Providence Athenaeum

 

Arctic Theatre Royal

During a voyage to find a northwest passage through the polar sea, Captain William Parry created a publication, The North Georgia Gazette, as well as an impromptu performance space, The Arctic Theatre Royal, where plays were performed on board the ships, the Hecla and Griper every fortnight.  Inspired by these arctic voyages, the Wonder Show is developing a new performance piece that presents stories, anecdotes, and illustrations derived from the Athenaeum’s collection of Captain Parry’s journals and newspapers during the years 1819-1825.

The original inspiration for this arctic story comes from the re-interpretation of the original newspaper from the publishers at  Green Lantern Press. It’s founder, Caroline Picard, a Chicago-based artist, writer and curator was first introduced to me at AS220 during her artist residency in Providence. Working within the Athenaeum’s special collections I have been able look at both Parry’s original journals, the original newspaper, and the contemporary edition from the Green Lantern Press, all side by side.

The archival material from the Athenaeum comes out of their travel and exploration collection.  Kate Woodhouse, Collections Librarian has provided invaluable insight and information on these collections. Below are images from my last visit:

Images courtesy of the Providence Athenaeum

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The Romantic search for Buoyancy

179 CE, in his book, On the Natural Faculties, physician and philosopher Claudius Galen explains the growth of animal organisms by using the image of an inflated balloon, or rather a balloon of antiquity that of an inflated animal bladder which was also used as toy for many children during that time.

Since our performance at the RISD Museum, the Wonder Show has been busy developing new performance ideas, slide making techniques, and partnerships.

In early May the Wonder Show was invited to perform at the Adams Memorial Library in Central Falls as part of the Central Falls Museum Project, conceived by Emily Leighton, an Interior Architecture graduate of RISD. The project included an exhibition of local artists, in addition to a week of creative programming.

Performing in the style of a magic lantern lecture, Carolyn created and performed a show on the topic of balloons. This Illuminated lecture, as they were once called, delineated the history of balloons and ended with the invitation to make your own balloon animal. Below is an excerpt from the script with accompanying images.

“In 1824, a scientist whose soul was as great as his mind discovered the secret to inflatables while admiring jellyfishes in a tank. After studying the way jellies wrap themselves around the food they eat, Michael Faraday walked back to his lab located in the Southwark borough of London, daydreaming of the delicate inflated sea creatures he had just seen.  While in his lab working out chemistry experiments that would liquefy various gases, Faraday powdered two sheets of sticky rubber together with flour before cutting and pressing together the edges to form an airtight pocket for the purpose of holding hydrogen. Inflating the rubber pocket with more and more hydrogen gas, Faraday watched the rubber pouch slowly drift up towards the ceiling and he smiled thinking back to the jellies. It is at this moment at the London’s Royal Institution, that the rubber balloon is born. 

In the 1930s, he started working as a vaudeville entertainer — performing as a magician in the Chicago/Milwaukee-areas. His “calling card” to agents on Wabash Avenue was to take a balloon and turn it into an apple, writing his phone number on it with an eyebrow pencil.

The invention of the balloon introduced the noble art of balloon entertaining. The 30’s hosted a slew of balloonists of the likes of Herman J. “Balloons” Bonnert and Henry Maar, better known as “The Sultan of Balloons”. These performers brought something different to the stage; the balloon was now a sculptural device that could share the same arena as magicians, circus performers, and comedians.

Yes, the Sultan of Balloons paved the way for balloon magic and as balloon technology advanced, new and improved balloons ranging in color, size, and durability opened up a whole new world of individuals dedicated to creating increasingly complex balloon forms, better known today as balloon “twisters”.  After Marvin Hardy’s 1983 kit, “Balloon Magic”—the first balloon modeling kit, complete with pump—the world of twisting was now democratized…. anyone could enter the world of balloon entertainment.”