In the Dragon Dance Theater production Two Weddings and an Assassination,  the viewer is assaulted with numerous oppositional devices,  all used in retelling the story of Frida Kahlo’s agonizing relationship with Diego Rivera.  Trotsky is there,  as a man,  as a torrent of words,  as an immensely tall puppet, and as victim in a stylized shadow play murder.  Frida is there as a strangely wooden yet graceful giant puppet.  At her feet,  a beautiful woman moves and speaks for her larger self.  Diego is also multiply depicted,  drinking,  boasting,  and womanizing as the story whirls along,  punctuated by bursts of music and pyrotechnics.
    Theater time,  especially puppet theater time,  is more elastic than clock time. When the proverbial Punch clobbers Judy,  puppet time speeds up,  but generally, puppet time is slower.  Slow takes on new dimensions when giant puppets are the focus.  Taking forever to cross a stage,  to lift an arm,  time just has to wind down down as they progress,  ponderously swaying ,  from point to point.

"Two Weddings and an Assassination"

A tragicomic, melodrama based on the historic experiences of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, in Mexico in the 1930s

 Performed in the plaza of the Franciscan Mission of Jalapn, Declared by Unesco, Heritage of Mankind . April 14, 2004.... 

The show went very well. We built and rehearsed during a two week residential workshop. We built puppets in Papier Maché; devils, women's torsos, Diego large and small and Frida large, sculpted mounted and costumed by Janice Walrafen, and a small Frida and Trotsky large, including three pairs of large hands and costumes.

 The night was warm and luscious and the space gorgeous. Four of the stages had trees on each side, like parenthesis, one stage was in front of the entrance to the church with it's great arch and baroque ornamentation, two were against walls.

 Our work appeared like an ancient theatrical event, black and red and white, in the shadows, but modestly lighted by the tech crew from the museum. The show featured very spontaneous and authentic representations of character from the performers. Especially strong were Katah as Frida, Susanna in her various roles and Bernardo who spoke the Neruda poem “Night on the Island”. Vincente lead the devils, Hector was the narrator, Wilmer was an extraordinary Diego, Janice managed the stages and played Frida's angry mother.

 We created eight scenes: the First Wedding, the Arrival of Trotsky in Mexico, Diego's Women, here is where we used the devils, Medical Terrors, the First Attempt on Trotsky's Life, the Divorce, the Murder of Trotsky and the Second Wedding. The scenes were arranged on the stage so as to come full circle, the second wedding was on the same stage as the first. Our final scenario was very close to our original proposal.

 Marriage, Life and Death and Love and Betrayal were the big dynamic forces, the main themes.

 The audience of more than two hundred stampeded from stage to stage, there were eight stages, in the dark, a very exciting movement in itself. A trio of young Huapangueros, mountain singers, marked the next stage with their songs.

 We used fireworks, a long string of one hundred petards, like M-80s. We startled everyone in the attempt on Trotsky's life, a clear and distinct difference between acting and leaping for shelter. In the finale we used two coronas, crowns, which spin and rise hundreds of feet in the night sky, showers of red and blue streaming behind them, we launched them from the roof top of the church, manually.

 The night setting, the low light, the mobile crowd created a theatre feeling just as we like, reminding me of a Goya painting, but one I have never seen, representing itinerant puppeteers working in the sacred grove under the starlight, or against the yellow walls outside the Church.

 from the journals of the Dragon...April 16, 2004

Dos Bodas y un Asesinato

    Jalpan De Serra, Querétaro.--  Abril 2004.

                Grandes, grandes como los  sueños que valen la pena; así eran las mascaras de Diego y Frida, dos vidas, dos sueños…”Dos Bodas y un Asesinato.”
 Mas de 15 personas trabajando en un solo proyecto: escultura, pintura, títeres, teatro…arte; todos uno. Jalpan de Serra, Querétaro: el lugar elegido por Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera y León Trotsky para reencarnar; para revivir el amor, la traición, el dolor y la muerte.
 Yo,  pintaba; mientras Ene y Raquel demostraban que nadie más podía pegar tanto papel como ellas; mientras Janice hacia posible conocer los rostros de  Frida y  los verdugos;  mientras Sam y Katah intentaban competir contra Ene y Raquel; mientras Héctor cosía los brazos de los títeres Diego y  Frida; mientras en la cocina la comida  estaba lista.  Mientras la fecha esperada llegara…
             …Y el día llego;  Sam  preparaba  los “cuetes”, que acabarían mas tarde con un designio fallido de un ejército de Stalinistas.  Verdaderas bombas cerrarían un primer intento de muerte.  Explosión inesperada, casi tan inesperada como que Frida de pronto empezara a hablar francés; divertida sorpresa; mas divertido ver a Diego hablar de melones y sandias, diablos y mujeres….Por que así fue esa noche, llena de explosiones inesperadas, divertidas sorpresas, diablos y mujeres, bombas y melones, miradas y risas…la noche de Diego y Frida,  ; de Sam y Katah…la noche en que celebramos  …dos bodas y  un asesinato.

*Por: Vicente Jimenez Desales, Estudiante de Architectura, Universidad de Oaxaca, y participante regular  en los talleres de Dragon Dance desde ‘02