October 2022 Prep Docs (Adherennium)

Day 29: Plot Background

The Magic Theatre

Though its name suggests otherwise, the Magical Theatre is a process and not a physical place. Specifically, it is a process whereby an individual who has potential to realise a certain view of reality is coaxed, pushed and cajoled into doing so.

You might ask, "What is this certain view of reality?"

Firstly, there must be an assumption of immortality, though this not of the linear variety, that one simply lives forever throughout all of history. There must also be an acceptance of the eternal now, a realisation that 'time' is a point of view, and moreover, not the only possible point of view.

It is useful to recognise that patterns exist at many levels, and knowing this presents possibilities. Possibilities are not endless. I used to think so, but now I have concluded that just as there are combinations of letters that don't make words, or combinations of genes that don't make a viable creature, there are combinations of potentialities that don't add up to a viable reality.

In other places, and in other times the theatre has alternative names. I have taken the name used by Herman Hesse in his book 'Steppenwolf'. In the book 'The Glass Bead Game', he alludes to the titular activity as being related, or perhaps developed from The Magical Theatre.

In creating it I have added some of my own thoughts on how it might work. Drawing on my no doubt simplistic understanding of C.G. Jung's work, I have populated my version of the Magical Theatre with archetypes. Philomena/Philip is the anima/animus, the Devil is the Shadow, and also the Wise Old Man.

There is the mysterious Cairo Cat. Before it moved to Cheshire, perhaps it resides in Cairo. It was almost certainly the Cat that Schrödinger talked about in his thought experiment, for it likes to talk about collapsing potentials. This too is an important lesson to be learned in The Magical Theatre, that reality is manipulable.

It, (reality), can be played with, and here we notice that humour underlies much of what the immortals who have caused the Theatre to exist, do. The Magical Theatre stands outside of Plato's cave, and somewhere in Wonderland. It is even possible that it might be found in Portmeirion, which once housed 'The Village', that Prisoner Number Six tried to escape from.