‘Stomp’ is short on words
but long on action

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes a review of Stomp; a cryptogram; and some precious words.

STOMP
Stomp was performed at the Merriam Theater, located at 250 S. Broad St., from Dec. 20 to Jan. 2. Stomp began as a street performance in the United Kingdom and has been considered an international phenomenon for 10 years. This production has performed in more than 350 cities in 36 countries worldwide.
I had a chance to see it on Dec. 20. This is the second time in my life I have seen this production. The only comment I have is, if you haven’t seen it, you need to see it next time.
The stage setting was a two-story junkyard scene with two large ladders. It had your very basics: an Interstate 69 sign, railroad crossing parts, a crutch, a liquor sign, trash cans, Michigan Avenue sign, six large blue barrels, brooms, a blinking red light hand sign, and other various odd pieces of junk.
What is totally amazing is that there are basically no words spoken through this whole production, which lasted about an hour and a half. However, you did understand every funny skit they were conveying to us. They do promote audience participation, by clapping on demand. You can see from the performers this is a very physical type of production.
It starts out real quiet, with one person sweeping the stage and then seven other performers come out sweeping. All of a sudden there is a sweeping beat with the brooms. You actually see the dust flying up from the stage. By the way, you could smell the dust at one point.
It is amazing how they throw the broom without dropping them or breaking the concentration of the other performers. They had a box routine, hand and foot routine, dust pan and a brush routine, banging rubber pipes, newspapers, flipping open and closed lighters, putty knives, basketballs and wearing trash cans as stilts.
My favorite routine started out with just metal pails sitting on stage. The performers came out wearing yellow gloves on their hands, wearing a metal sink hanging from their neck filled with water. At the end, they kicked the pails under them and released the water from the sink. Yes, it looked like exactly what you are thinking — it was hysterical.
Stomp has won the Olivier Award for Best Choreography (London’s Tony Award), a New York Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatre Experience, and a Special Citation from Best Plays. The bottom line: whatever junk they find, they can make a rhythm.

PRECIOUS WORDS
This was sent in by a reader. I thought this was nice so I wanted to share it with you:
The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her 5-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and said, "This is for you, Momma."
The mother was embarrassed by her earlier overreaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty. She spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner — "Don’t you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there’s supposed to be something inside the package?"
She had tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Momma, it’s not empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full." The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, and she begged her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box by her bed for all the years of her life. Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems, she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, have been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family and friends. There is no more precious possessions anyone could hold.

CRYPTOGRAM

I CSK PSIW JSLXCZ
Hints: C is N; P is Y; J is B; L is G
Answer to the Dec. 22 cryptogram: HAPPY HOLIDAYS
William Feldman is an eighth-grade student at the Joseph J. Greenberg Elementary School in Bustleton. Send all e-mails to wmkidscolumn@aol.com