“Burkett as a playwright and master storyteller, exploring profound themes with insight, affection, whimsy, curiosity but above all compassion. 10 Days On Earth is all of this. Do you weep or do you applaud? Either way, you do it on your feet; you know you are in the presence of genius.”
—Vancouver Courier
• • •
“It’s simply a remarkable piece of theatre.”
—BBC Radio, UK
• • •
“Innocence is at the heart of Ronnie Burkett’s latest theatrical triumph, and rarely is it treated so maturely. The result is something that inspires both intense longing for a simpler world and a forlorn acceptance of losing our rose-coloured glasses, and was the best thing to come across Edmonton stages this year.”
—Vue Weekly, Edmonton
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“A beautiful and chilling tale that will take you on a journey across a range of emotions and leave you questioning how a cast of puppets could be so emotionally disarming.”
—Australian Stage Online
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“The premise of 10 Days on Earth is a heartbreaking one, but Burkett’s nonhuman actors transcend and transform grief in a profound affirmation of human resilience.”
—The Georgia Straight, Vancouver
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“A theatrical miracle.”
—CBC Radio, Calgary
“Burkett combines the spell of a consummate storyteller with a playwright’s craft. Populated by a typically broad range of searchers, survivors and misfits, 10 Days on Earth is one of his most finely constructed scripts.”
—The Times, London
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“10 Days on Earth is art of the highest order… Burkett is an artist. And having painted the marionette equivalent of the Sistine Chapel in all its flash and colour, he’s now content to step back and show us the delight and humanity he can find in a single piece of stone.”
—The Toronto Sun
• • •
“There’s no one in the world like Burkett. The puppets live; we share their humanity… and Burkett’s marionettes seem able, somehow, to convey things no mere human actor can.”
—The Edmonton Journal
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“10 Days on Earth is simply, simply wonderful.”
—Eye Weekly, Toronto
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“Enormously imaginative, improbably moving and wonderfully life-affirming, 10 Days On Earth shows Burkett is still pulling all the right strings in splendid style.”
— Manchester Evening News, Manchester
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“10 Days on Earth is an edifying, unforgettable theatrical experience. Days later, it still haunts one’s imagination.”
—The Compulsive Reader
Ronnie Burkett
Playwrights Canada Press
Toronto • Canada
10 Days on Earth © Copyright 2006 Ronnie Burkett
Playwrights Canada Press
269 Richmond St. W., Suite 202, Toronto, ON M5V 1X1
416.703.0013 • info@playwrightscanada.com • www.playwrightscanada.com
No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca
For professional or amateur production rights, please contact:
John Lambert & Associates Inc.
2141 Boul. St-Joseph E., Montreal, Quebec H2H 1E6
phone 514.982.6825 fax 514.982.6118 email info@johnlambert.ca
We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
Front cover photo, and all inside production photos by Trudie Lee Photography www.trudielee.ca.
Production Editor: JLArt
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Burkett, Ronnie, 1957-
10 days on earth / Ronnie Burkett.
A play.
ISBN 978-0-88754-737-9
I. Title. II. Title: Ten days on earth.
PS8553.U639T45 2007 | C812’.6 | C2007-906895-2 |
First edition: November 2007
Second printing: October 2012
Printed and bound in Canada by Marquis Book Printing, Montreal
In memory of
Marie Zimmermann
1955–2007
A great champion of these puppets, and a rare friend to this puppeteer.
The set for 10 Days on Earth is a wide wooden structure painted in an oak finish to suggest an old house, 22 feet wide by 8 feet deep by 12 feet high. Flanking the shallow centre acting area are two sets of puppet scale stairs leading to landings and hallways at both stage right and stage left. These serve as interiors leading to unseen bedrooms, as well as becoming exterior locations such as Darrel’s shoeshine stand and a bus stop.
Two large panels dominate the central area, continuing the oak finish style of the house. At the top of the panels are stained glass windows in an art nouveau depiction of a treetop. These panels slide open to reveal the continuous 75-foot painted backdrop for the Honeydog and Little Burp story episodes.
Atop the stage, and incorporated into its design and structure, are three “bridges” referencing traditional marionette stages. All marionette action and scene changes are manipulated from these, with the puppeteer straddling or crossing bridges as necessary. A metal skeleton running upstage and on either side of the stage provides hanging positions for the marionettes, who enter in alleys between the bridges or from the hallways on either side of the landings.
The marionettes are long-strung at a floor-to-control height of 92 inches. Various characters are represented by a number of duplicate marionettes. To facilitate costume changes, Darrel is shown in nine versions at present age, with two additional marionettes of him in childhood. There are five marionettes representing Ivy at different ages.
Stage directions herein are kept to a minimum. Cathy Nosaty’s score and Bill Williams’ lighting design are integral to the overall design and performance, although lighting and sound notes within this text are referred to only when necessary to the reading.
The play is performed without an interval, with a running time of approximately 1 hour, 47 minutes.
10 Days on Earth premiered at The Canadian Stage Company in Toronto on April 6, 2006. Subsequent runs include Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary, Alberta), Theatre Network (Edmonton, Alberta), the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (Vancouver, British Columbia), the Sydney Opera House (Australia), Auckland Festival (New Zealand), BITE 07, the Barbican Centre (London, UK), queerupnorth (Manchester, UK), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna, Austria) and Place des Arts (Montreal, Quebec).
Produced by Rink-A-Dink Inc./Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes
The original production of 10 Days on Earth was co-commissioned by CanStage (Toronto, Canada), queerupnorth (Manchester, UK), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna, Austria), and Barbican Bite 07 (London, UK).
Written and Performed by Ronnie Burkett
Music and Sound Design by Cathy Nosaty
Lighting Design by Bill Williams
Artistic Associate/Production Manager: Terri Gillis
Associate Producer: John Lambert
Dramaturge: Iris Turcott
Stage Managed by Maria Popoff
Director of Lighting: Kevin Humphrey
Technical Director: Shanna Miller
Marionettes, Costumes and Set Designed by Ronnie Burkett
• • •
Marionettes by Ronnie Burkett
Head Puppet Builder/Assistant Designer: Dina Meschkuleit
Principal puppet sculpture: Angela Talbot
Puppet Builders: Robin Fisher and Darren Pickering, assisted by Gemma Smith, Cami Koo, Joy LaChica, Sheila Dietrich, Kevin Smith
Costumes built by Kim Crossley, assisted by Meaghan Renner, Katri Tahvanainen, Monica Podvezko, Gina Schellenberg, Katarzyna Maxine
Puppet controls and stringing consultant: Luman Coad
Studio supervisors: Charles “Honeydog” Ruggles and Daisy Padunkles
Scenic carpenter: Martin Herbert
Scenic painter: Jennifer Hedge
Honeydog and Little Burp backgrounds by Robin Fisher
Little Burp’s egg by John Allen
Moving scenery devised by Kevin Humphrey
Welder: Wendy Hogan
“An Angel With Just One Wing” (Hymn and Art Song versions)
Music by John Alcorn, Words by Ronnie Burkett
“Angel”
Music and words by John Alcorn
Produced and arranged by John Alcorn
Vocal by Laura Hubert
Brass arrangements by Jamie Hopkings
• • •
Louise Jeffreys, Martin Bragg, Tanja Farman, John Malpass, Kyra Millan, Joy LaChica, Hotel Meschkuleit, Eileen and Ray Burkett, Barbara Singer, Sara Newman, Jan Dorland, Paul, Josef, Cora and John, Rosemary Harbrecht, Vertigo Theatre, Calgary Animated Objects Society, Calgary Opera, University of Calgary, Claire Chouinard, Mark Korven and especially John Lambert and Associates, Inc.
All production photographs by
Trudie Lee Photography