Keep the Questions Coming: Tori Talks!

By Bryan Kerr, Arden Professional Apprentice

Recently, we received an audio clip from one of our visitors on Opening Night of The Borrowers. She sat down with her daughter, Tori, who is 5 and talked a bit about the show they had just seen. Tori really enjoyed the show, especially Spiller and his battle with the wasp. And who doesn’t, am I right? As someone who has seen the show many times, that scene is quite the crowd pleaser and usually gets a rousing round of applause.

But she did have one question that was bothering her a bit. How did Eggletina escape? And how did her parents do the same when she realized she had left? What a great question! As she pointed out, we spend the whole play thinking that this awful thing has happened to this poor girl just to find out that she was able to make some fantastic escape…but how? Unfortunately, I can’t really answer that question. I know! You’re thinking that the whole reason I set this up is to answer questions just like this when you have them. True. But the answer to this question lies not in asking a director or someone who helped to build the set, or even with the person who wrote the story. No, the answer lies only in your own imagination.

So what I can answer for you is why the writer might have left this unanswered for us all to think about. As an aspiring writer myself, I know the value of not giving everything away to the audience. Readers and theatregoers alike need something to think about after the story is told. Something that they can fill in the blanks on, so to speak. Perhaps the writer offers up Arrietty’s story of adventure first in the hopes that those watching will pull from that to create a story of Eggletina’s amazing escape from the cat! The great thing about storytelling is how it continues beyond the actual story itself. It inspires us all to create more adventure, work through more conflict, and discover our own solutions…

Inspired by this idea, then, I offer up a few places to start some really great stories!

What was Spiller like as a little boy?

How could you make Mrs. Driver really happy?

Where would Arrietty go on her summer vacation?

The possibilities are endless! Start a story here for everyone to see and then finish it up on your own. Storytelling can be exciting, fun, and really easy if you just go for it!