festival

I was at a festival, camping with others. I sorted through my bag, finding the most suitable items of clothing to wear for an all-night concert and a chance of a swim. I put on layers of clothes, ready for anything. We lay on the grass, listening to music and later, in an arena with raked audience seating stretching right around the performance space, watched an amazing theatre piece. Toward the end of the show, two characters transformed into intricate wooden puppets - a boy and a girl - and the set turned to wood. The girl puppet - with no strings or obvious means of movement - ran up the wooden staircase, her wooden dress fanning behind her, away from the boy who stood below looking up at her. The stairs became the entrance to her palatial home and she continued running, the sound of wooden shoes tapping on wooden streets filling the space. As she passed through the rooms of the home, the set continued to change so that she ran through the house, out into the street, under street lamps, past towers and into the city, all the while running around the arena stage. I was mystified as to how the puppets moved and the set changed, seemingly without human interference. It was magic. The show over, the huge audience prepared to leave. I realised that I was utterly exhausted and found it difficult to keep my eyes open. I sorted through my bag, looking for something, but fell asleep, tumbling out of my chair and down the aisle. Though I was aware that I was lying on the stairs, I wanted to stay there and sleep, but because of the crowd, I stood and we left the arena. Next we went into a building where a security guard was checking ID on the way in. I noticed that everyone was wearing a festival badge with their name and photograph displayed. I found my badge in my bag, but the photograph was missing. I was worried about not being able to get in so sifted through my bag to find another photo or form of identification. The security guard reassured me that we would find matching ID and I would be able to enter.