DON’T IGNORE THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN

By The Mad Hatter, quill dipped in rainbow ink for What’s Up Duloc

My dear creatures of Duloc, do sit down (or stand on your heads, whichever suits you) while I spill a little secret. When Lord Farquaad struts upon the stage, bathed in a glow more glorious than a buttered crumpet at teatime, it is not merely royal charisma you are seeing. Oh no, no, no. That brilliance is brewed and bottled by the man at the console, our very own Lighting Designer and Technical Director, Sir Jamwell Brightspark.

Yes, you heard me. Jam. Not the strawberry sort you spread on toast, but the sort who spreads light across the kingdom with the precision of a master painter. With a flick of his finger, dawn breaks on Duloc. With a push of a button, thunder rumbles and shadows creep. He paints Farquaad’s every royal pout and pompous pose in golden light, ensuring His Lordship always looks like the tallest man in the room (even if… well, you know).

And as Technical Director, Sir Jamwell Brightspark is more than a keeper of lamps. He is the guardian of gears, the steward of curtains, the overseer of all things that click, creak, or crash upon cue. Without him, the stage would wobble like a teacup with no saucer, and Farquaad’s decrees would echo in embarrassing silence.

Some say “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” I say fiddle faddle! Pay him all the attention you can spare, for without his artistry and wizardry, Duloc’s darling despot would be prancing in the dark.

So the next time you swoon at Farquaad’s spotlight, remember: it is not the crown that makes him shine, but Sir Jamwell Brightspark, Keeper of the Lamps and Sovereign of the Sliders. And that, my friends, is the real magic of the theater.