I saw Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet movie when I was 11. 55 years later I still remember the line, "Drawn with a team of little atomies," from Mercutio's description of Queen Mab and her carriage. This project is loosely based on that speech. Six deceased rhinocerous beetles, turkey bones, mylar sheet, ball-bearing. Model airplane mechanic figure plays Mab, the midwife of fairies and dreams.
MERCUTIO: ... I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Over men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs,
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;
Her traces, of the smallest spider web;
Her collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams;
Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film;
Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid;
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut,
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love...
