To sit in solemn silence, in a dull, dark, dock in a pestilential prison with a lifelong lock. Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block. To count how many times I’ve recited this tongue twister would be impossible: ever since I was 10 or 11, my director at school and my counselor at summer camp, Mr. Ryan, would have us recite it every warm-up before rehearsal began. The sharp consonants and crisp syllables made readying our voices for line delivery a fun activity, and brought us together in a way that other warmups simply didn’t.
We often talked about the words amongst ourselves during our free time. What did it mean? Was it nonsense? Researching this post, I found the poem’s origins super interesting! It comes from The Mikado, an 1885 operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. The poem, as implied, describes a prisoner awaiting execution, and is sung by multiple characters contemplating which member of the village must be executed to meet a quota. As the absurdity of that implies, the opera is a comedy, although it deals with dark themes.
Successively, we would say it quicker and quicker, the intensity building, until all of us failed. It was hilarious and fun, just like this poem and the many others. I will never forget it. I went on to work the same camp myself, working as Mr. Ryan’s assistant counselor, and whenever he would be late or otherwise busy, I would take his role and lead the warm-ups just as he had.
In this digital assignment, I recorded myself reciting the poem at progressively faster speeds and layered it with some summer camp audio I found on FreeSound. Have you heard this one before? What’s your favorite? Share below!