Prop: Mouse King marionette
Appearing in: “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” Incurable Theater
Anyone who has ever seen the Tchaikovsky ballet “The Nutcracker” can remember the scary Mouse King. But when E.T.A. Hoffman wrote the original story in 1816 that inspired the ballet adaptation, he envisioned a Mouse King that was much more terrifying–a creature with seven heads.
When Incurable Theater decided to do a puppet version of the tale, they thought of doing a many-headed King of the Mice. Realizing that seven heads would be too top-heavy for a 2-foot-tall marionette, they ended up with five. “The faces of the heads look angry and sinister, but very regal and powerful,” says Meredith Miller, who co-designed the puppets with Damien Hinojosa. “And we painted them white and gave them red eyes for an albino look.”
The mouse has only one tail, but it was hard to create one that was just right. A wire version and another one made from Latex were too stiff, but one about 6 inches long and jointed about every half inch, like a toy snake, fit the bill.
“The tail flips back and forth, and has a very realistic tail movement,” says Miller. “It really helps to bring the puppet to life.”
Christopher Provyn, who designs costumes for human actors, dressed the King of Mice in Renaissance-style finery. Lindsay Porter created the king’s voice. “We wanted it to be sinister but rather than being manly, we wanted it to be rodentlike,” Miller says, “so she laughs and shrieks and squeaks.”
The tale ends when the King of the Mice is killed offstage in a sword fight with the Nutcracker, who liberates himself from the rodent’s curse. “We wanted to emphasize the victory, not the violence,” says Miller. “We leave it up to the viewers to imagine whatever horrors they want to.”
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“The Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” through Jan. 8, Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., $15; 773-635-0109.
