July 18 – August 20, 2024: A month-long creative residency and fruitful intercultural collaboration resulted in an ingenious puppet play, focusing on conflict resolution, non violent communication, and peace building: “The pot rolled and found its lid” (named after an Arabic, Greek and many other cultures’ proverb). The play was created by Tamara Keldany (Les Amis des Marionnettes – Lebanon), who has been working in interactive puppet plays for 40 years, using “applied puppet theatre”, theatre in education/participatory pedagogy, and theatre in war and refugee camps.  During her creative residency in Greece, Mrs Keldany was inspired by elements of the Greek culture and history introduced by hosts Aspasia Protogerou and Yannis Sourelis (FOTOESSA – Greece). The play’s story tackles the emergence of pseudo-needs, futile expectations and greed creating a conflict; a story of two Kingdoms trying to cheat on each other to acquire the other’s possession. The prevailing of ego and entitlement and the lack of communication escalate hostility, leading to the nonsense of violence and war. Nevertheless, in the end, the art of dialogue and sharing, foster peace and abundance.

The play can be premiered mid 2025 and will serve as a tool for intercultural dialogue and educational interaction. The table puppet format and minimal text script allow for the plays easy adaptation to different languages and cultural contexts.

“The pot rolled and found its lid”:

The story

Once upon a time there were two kingdoms separated by a mountain and a prickly pear field. Each one knew of the existence of the other but the mountain between them was so big and steep and the prickly pear field so dense that they had no contact.

In both kingdoms the queens gave birth simultaneously, the one to a boy and the other to a girl. The two kings and two queens were very happy and celebrated the joyous event with glorious celebrations in their palaces.

To play a joke on the two kingdoms, the King/Queen Prickly pear offered a present for each newborn royalty. The left royal couple with the baby girl was offered a pot, and advised that if they would find its matching lid, they would have abundance for life. The right royal couple with the baby boy, was offered a lid, and advised that if they would find its matching pot, they would have abundance for life.

The two royal couples were perplexed. They searched for the missing part all over the world, except in the neighboring kingdom (too difficult to reach to think of it), did not find the right part and put the gift away in the cabinet of diplomatic gifts.

As the years pass by, the young prince and the young princess on their discovery of the world surrounding them, meet at the top of mountain. They get to know each other, play together and become friends.  One day they speak about the weird diplomatic gifts received and decide to put the lid on the pot.

The royal parents are flabbergasted, speechless, shocked: how can their child be so undiplomatic!

A feeling of greed emerges inside them. Both sides start thinking how they can get the other’s part for their sole use. They both send simultaneously a bird with a white letter, asking the other couple to let them have the missing part. Both couples get annoyed by this and give a negative answer. Then they both send simultaneously a bird with an orange letter, asking the other couple to let them buy the missing part. Again, both couples get angry and give a negative answer. Then they both send simultaneously a bird with a red letter, ordering the other couple to give the missing part. Both couples were furious by this and gave a negative answer. Obsessed by the need to possess both the pot and the lid, both couples send simultaneously a thief to steal the other’s belonging. When they discover the other’s behavior they decide to go to war against each other. Each kingdom gathers their army and leaves to conquer the adversaries.

 Meanwhile, the prince and the princess flee, taking the pot and the lid. They meet at the top of the mountain; put the lid on the pot which instantly fills.

Back in the base of the mountain, one army takes the road in front of the mountain and the other takes the road behind the mountain. Subsequently, the two armies don’t meet. They put to fire each others’ kingdom, destroy it, and go back home only to see that what they did to the other has be done to themselves.

Both royal couples are miserable, their land devastated, and their population hungry. They suddenly realize that their children are missing. So they both start searching for them in vain. In despair, both sides send a bird with a white letter asking for their children. Searching for a neutral ground to meet, they choose the top of the mountain… where they find their lost prince and princess together, happy and well.

The prince and the princess get married and live in a new palace built at the top of the mountain, while their parents have their own part on each side. On the top of the palace they put a new flag, made from both flags of the two previous kingdoms, forming a heart in the middle. Sharing brings abundance.

 Methodology

• Formation of a parable so as to address different ages, cultural and other backgrounds
• No specific language used in order to address wider audiences
• Use of mixed media: puppets and shadow playing to express two different “realities” (conflict / peace)
• Creative inspiration from diverse cultural elements leading to an intercultural artistic synthesis

Concept

Duality: In order to transcend the message of division – conflict and togetherness-peace more directly, all the play is based on the idea of duality and complementarity: right/left, low/high, day/night, complementary colors, table-top puppets/shadow puppets.

The concept of the play is based on a loose interpretation and adaptation of “The story of the bowl and the Spoon” 1990, a children’s picture book by German author Michael Ende.

Positive outcomes

• Both parties launched a fruitful, ongoing collaboration with highly promising creative and educational prospects
• We achieved creating a table puppet format allowing the play to be easily performed in various Euro-Mediterranean countries, within the region’s diverse cultural landscape
• We established the power of puppetry to express and address hot issues in a multicultural environment, transcending language barriers
• We set the base for the use of puppetry in intercultural dialogue and intercultural citizenship education, as a precious tool for reflection, audience interaction, communication and collaboration in overcoming cultural differences and building a more peaceful world
• We succeeded in the formation of a “third place”, both in our play’s story but, moreover, in our common living for a month: that means the creation of a safe space of sincere communication, mutual respect and acceptance, interaction and inspiration, where both parties contributed their diverse cultural, social and creative luggage and allowed intercultural synthesis and growth

Addressed issues (and potential educational interaction)

Focusing on:

the emerge of pseudo-needs and futile expectations

the addictive spiraling of greed

the creation of conflict (us vs them)

the prevailing of ego and entitlement

the lack of communication

the escalation of hostility

the nonsense of violence and war

the simplicity of trust and sharing

the art of dialogue and non violent communication

the power of love

the mutual fostering of togetherness, peace and abundance

 Reflection

• Is greed part of human nature?
• “Insecurity is the mother of greed.” Will Durant: What is the root of greed?
• What is entitlement?
• “Divide and conquer”
• Against greed: Introspection – Self Control – Contentment
• Greed vs Growth
• The principles of dialogue – Non Violent Communication
• Conflict management

This project enables the reflecting power of puppetry, promoting a captivating puppet show that can be extended with interactive workshops and build innovative educational tools to overcome cultural differences and building a more peaceful world.