2019-06-07
At the time of this story, I was regularly facilitating a series of improv game sessions called Go Make Play at a library with a fantastic childrens' programming space. There's something about being given explicit permission to make loud noises and run amok in a quiet space intended for children which reliably brought out the wild and whimsical best in the participating adults.
When we arrived at Go Make Play, there was a small dry-erase board in the room with the nursery rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle" written on it.
Hey Diddle Diddle, The cat and the fiddle The cow jumped over the moon The little dog laughed, To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.
I suggested that, as a game, we take turns replacing words. Our friend Beth was the last one to arrive, and so we invited her to perform a dramatic reading. She did not let us down. With gusto, she proclaimed:
Burp fiddle maudlin, the bunny and the tyrannosaur Their zebra wiggled into green spaghetti The blur monkey hoped, to taste such a ritual, and the mind danced around with the keys?
I think the replacement of the period at the end with a question mark was arguably the most brilliant substitution of all.