Meet Edward. Edward is a mouse with a god complex.

Edward is also the namesake of Drawde Productions.

Now. How Edward came to be... 

A few years back I was taking a course on puppetry. The first assignment was shadow puppets. So I had to come up with a story that would work well with this form. I decided that I was going to tell the story of 'How the Wildebeast Came to Be" according to Kenyan folklore. 

The story, in short, is that when God was creating the world he made all these beautiful, strong, amazing, fascinating animals to full fill his fancy. But when he was finished and he had everything that he wanted he had a few pieces left over. Now not wanting to waste anything God pulled all the pieces together and thus he created the Wildebeast. 

Now this is the story that I sat down to write. But Edward emerged with his own ideas. This is the story that actually ended up on the page:

(Booming voice)

In the beginning there was nothing.   Then god came along, and for our purposes today god will be played by a small field mouse named Edward

(Enter Edward)

Eddie: oh hello, my it is dark in here, I am Edward, I will be playing god today

Boom: anyways as I was saying in the beginning there was nothing, it was dark and god came along and said…

Eddie: Oh this is my part! Let there be light.

B: and (light on) there was.  Then God wandered around a bit.

(Edward fidgets trying to wander)

E: Oh wander, wander wander

Boom: And...?

(Edward is still wandering as best he can)

E: Oh sorry!

(Edward stops wandering abruptly)

Boom: He found nothing; God became bored and decided to invent man to entertain him.

E: Actually right now I don’t need man for entertainment, as much as I need someone to scratch my left ear.  It's a terrible itch and I just can’t reach

Boom: Edward stick to the story

E: Oh pardon me.       Hey I am god I am supposed to tell you what to do! S, so, soo you get back to the story!  Or I’ll, I’ll strike you down by lightening...

(Boom clears his throat)

E: ...sorry

Boom:  As I was saying God created man and more importantly woman,

(Man and Woman Appear)

W: Oh this is a jolly good spot to settle down, isn’t Marvin

M: Yes darling, it is quit respectable, you know they always say that location is everything

Boom: And yes in this show the first people were British, because well they believe that they did everything first.

W: Oh Marvin what is that?  Bloody hell is that a mouse, oh god a mouse, a mouse, Marvin run

(Man and Woman Exit followed by Ed)

E: Pardon me!... I am not a mouse...today I am God.

Boom: And man and woman feared God. Now that God had man to entertain him God wanted something beautiful to look at. So God created the zebra

(Enter Zebra)

E: oh I was quit right in this decision; you are a pretty one aren’t you

(Zebra snorts at "God" and exits)

E: Oh...oh good bye. It was awfully nice to meet you

Boom: Then god wanted an animal that was great in strength and magnificent in speed.  God created the lion

(Enter Lion)

E: uh, oh, no body told me there was a lion in this play, shiiiit!!!!

(Lion starts stalking Ed)

Boom: Luckily god is not actually a field mouse named Edward because at this creation god would have ceased to exist.

E: nice kitty, nice kitty, oh Mr. lion, please, please, oh the zebra went that way.

(Lion Exits)

E: That was close. Thank god...oh thank me (giggle)

Boom: And then because there is one in every family, God created the warthog

E: Oh my you are a smelly one aren’t you? You know there is a lion who just past by who said that he is just dieing to meet you.

(Warthog exits)

E: yes that is it just that way he will be thrilled to see you. Oh my I wont be able to smell for a week.

Boom: When god was finished creating all the animals, he looked around and found he had some parts left over. And since God was the first to believe in the 3 Rs reduce, reuse, recycle, he did not want to leave them to waste. 

E: So I think that I will start with these zebra stripes, yes they will make a wonderful body, oh I have a warthog type head and I have a bit of extra lions mane and a bit of tail, oh yes that will do quit nicely

Boom: And this is how the wildebeast was created.  Not the prettiest or the fastest animal, but nothing went to waste. And God was happy

E: YIPEEEE!!!!, Oh look at all the things I have made! How beautiful. How fast. How ... err... kinda stinky, kinda ugly ...  But it works!

B: With everything put to use God went out to admire and enjoy his creations. And there you have how the wildebeast came to be.

E: ANNND... next I will invent cheese!

Boom:  EDWARD!!!

E: Oh right...yes.. exit ...good-bye

And that was the story. Not the most enlightening or hilarious but it was Edward. And despite that it was just a fun little show done on the side Edward stuck around.

My parents had decided that Edward was in fact my alter ego...

a mouse with a god complex.