Blue Lias - or the Fish Lizard's Whore: Another look at history

Dear Dr. Stevens,

Reading the title of your recent piece “Blue Lias - or the Fish Lizard’s Whore,” I had little idea of what to expect. Of course, I had read the description of the event, which described it as “an interactive piece...[with] enchanting visual representations...[and an] imaginative score,” but I still entered Garrison Theater this past Thursday night with few concrete ideas as to what to anticipate. The performance sounded like an intriguing and unconventional event - a true “one of a kind” that tends to leave a memorable impression on its audience members. Thus, I was drawn in - eager to experience a break in the monotony of a predictable week.

Much to my delight, that is exactly what “Blue Lias - or the Fish Lizard’s Whore” was. It was at once a visual, musical, and literary performance in which all of the distinctive performance devices were inseparable from each other. Different types of verbal, tonal, and visual repetition cued each other and tied together the many personas, settings, and types of audiences to which each character presented itself.

First, the audience was introduced to Claudia Stevens - a contemporary paleontologist delivering a presentation about the deceased and revered (though historically unrecognized and under-appreciated) paleontologist Mary Anning. To me, Dr. Stevens, this role was a dual representation of not only you as the author and performer of this piece (making it more “interactive”), but also as a representation of a modern female in the field of science. The latter was particularly important as a contrast to the character of Mary Anning - a female scientist in the early and middle 19th century.

Claudia Stevens came forth as a learned and respected woman who did not have waste time appeasing or sweet talking her audience feigning delicacy and docility. First off - I want to remark that I loved the sense of improvisation that was present in this initial scene. I do not now how much of the introduction had been written and rehearsed, but I admired your humor in commenting that many of us “paleontologists” had obviously “left the convention early.” It seems the majority of people on campus were content with their more predictable Thursday nights.

The fact that our “presenter” was dressed in pants, a floral top, and a slim necktie showed the disintegration of the divisive lines that exist between gender and professionalism. Your outfit was a visual blurring of the stereotypes and rules regarding gender that are often enforced in clothing attire.

Mary Anning on the other hand, was clothed in a long cloak and hat, showing that a progressive and unorthodox woman was still restricted to the social norms of her time. As opposed to Dr. Steven’s energetic, humorous, and assertive presentation, Miss Mary Anning was careful to speak politely and gracefully as she practiced her acceptance of the small award bestowed to her by the “gentlemen” of the scientific society after all this time.

I really enjoyed how you integrated both language and music to signal scene and time shifts as well as stress important themes throughout the play. The initial three or four notes struck on the autoharp as well as the striking of the hammer were reiterated again and again - both literally by the instruments themselves, but also in your vocal impressions of them. Little Mary Anning was described as being “struck” by lightening, the youthful Mary Anning was constantly “striking” the dirt and sand in hopes of uncovering something unknown, and the older Mary Anning was often attempting to “strike” down the preconceptions and prejudices that she faced being an academic woman. The repetition of the phrase “look up” was used to snap Mary Anning out of her dreamy recollections and to force her back into a more “appropriate” state of delivery. I loved the play on these phrases because they were so contrary to the immediate connotations of “up” and “down.” In this production, “up” was restrictive; it was the direction that society demands be followed in the majority of circumstances. “Down,” on the other hand, often allowed for extra space to and reconstruction of the “norms.”

“Blue Lias - or the Fish Lizard’s Whore” is the type of the production that could be viewed multiple times and still hold more jewels to interpret. But then again, as Mary Anning relates, “happiness exists in being misunderstood.” As long as a few questions remain, there will always be something to dig up from under the surface, thus allowing for the congealed standards to be undone and refitted.

Thank you for sharing this production with us Dr. Stevens. Your production was, just as Scripps College requested, provocative, insightful, and artistic. I hope I will be lucky enough to see another one of your pieces in the coming years. I can’t imagine what’s coming next!

Sincerely,

Julie McAleer
Pitzer College ‘12