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A blog, reflection or arguments on the marionette
Argy-Bargy
argy-bargy [ahr-gee-bahr-gee]
-noun, plural -gies. Chiefly British Slang
1. a lively or disputatious discussion.
2. a verbal dispute; a wrangling argument
The Marionettist
Edward Gordon Craig
The pioneer seldom finds an easy road, and as your way does
not end in becoming a celebrated marionettist but is a much longer
and an untrodden way leading to a very different end, you will
have all the advantages and the disadvantages of pioneering;
but keep in mind what I have told you: that your aim is not to
become a celebrated marionettist, it is not to become the
manager of a so-called successful theatre; it is not to become
the producer of elaborate and much-talked-of plays; it is to
become an artist of the Theatre; and as a base to all this you
must, as I have said, serve your term of apprenticeship as a
marionettist faithfully and well. If at the end of five years as
a marionettist you are convinced that you know what your
future will be; if, in fact, you are succeeding, you may give
yourself up for lost.
Short cuts lead nowhere in this world. Did you think when the
longing came upon you and when you told your family that you
must go upon the stage that such a great longing was to be so
soon satisfied? Is satisfaction so small a thing? Is desire a thing
of nothing, that a five years' quest can make a parody of it? But
of course not. Your whole life is not too long, and then only at
the very end will some small atom of what you have desired
come to you. And so you will be still young when you are full
of years.
The pioneer seldom finds an easy road, and as your way does
not end in becoming a celebrated marionettist but is a much
longer and an untrodden way leading to a very different end,
you will have all the advantages and the disadvantages of
pioneering; but keep in mind what I have told you: that your
aim is not to become a celebrated marionettist, it is not to
become the manager of a so-called successful theatre; it is not
to become the producer of elaborate and much-talked-of plays;
it is to become an artist of the Theatre; and as a base to all this
you must, as I have said, serve your term of apprenticeship as
a marionettist faithfully and well.