On Turtles……
by Randall Wise
One of the Rear Column Turtles
On pretty much every front The Rear Column is a hard play to do. It requires an extremely talented cast, a large detailed set, a ton of period props and costumes, an elaborate sound plot and live turtles.
Yes, live turtles. Plays like this often make one wonder if the playwright is just trying to make a props person crazy. Live turtles are marginally easier than some of the other live animals Iron Age has had onstage in past shows (including a live sheep, an iguana, a couple of dogs), but are still a challenge.
While not critical to the action of the play, they do symbolize a number of ideas in the play (creatures in captivity being a primary one), plus they set up a killer final line in the show.
Bonny shows Stanley the turtles.
Doing the show means you need turtles, so at my wife’s suggestion I stopped in at a large local aquarium store that carries turtles. I talked to the very understanding reptile person (Sarah at Captain Nemo’s Aquarium Superstore in East Norriton) who didn’t blink (to much) at my request to “rent” two large turtles for the run of the show. One of the other odd things about this job at times is asking “civilians” some pretty strange things in the name of theater.
In any case Sarah was fine with the idea (my only criteria was that when the show was over I could bring the turtles back – I grew up with a turtle and didn’t want to have one again!) and so I walked out with a tank heater, turtle food, a sun lamp and two large Red Eared Sliders.
Joh Henry, Jameson and the Turtles.
When not onstage they live on the 2nd floor of the theater in a big tank. Onstage they are in a large bamboo enclosure built to keep them from roaming all over the stage. After the first night we realized that Herman and King (the turtles names in the play) were anxious to get out, and crawled, climbed and scratched in their compound, nearly making it over the lip! The next day I built it several inches higher and padded it with cloth and towels (to muffle the scratching sounds as the turtles crawled around).
When they make their appearance onstage it always draws a gasp as the audience realizes they are alive. Talk about upstaging the human actors! Fortunately they are quickly back in their cage until the end (with the occasional turtle head popping up above the bamboo).
So it has been an interesting experience with the critters, who do have distinct personalities (Herman being much more active and “wriggly”). The cast is pretty much amused and fond of them – it is certainly an unusual stage experience!
