Hair Accessories: Pythons are the new pink

That's my reaction to the startling photo above of Dani Rose wearing two ball pythons in her coif.

Long story short: Ms. Rose is a stagehand with the Shakespeare Theater Company, currently performing Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" at Sidney Harman Hall in Washington, D.C.

This past April she began training three 18"-22"-long ball pythons named Mortimer, Cassani and Coco to play the scene where "The deadly worm of Nilus slithers out of the basket and into the hands of Cleopatra as she contemplates her doom," wrote Moira E. McLaughlin in today's Washington Post article about the thespian reptiles.

The story follows.

Snake Corner

Picture this: The deadly worm of Nilus slithers out of the basket and into the hands of Cleopatra as she contemplates her doom. The dramatic scene is played in "Antony and Cleopatra" by trained actors with the Shakespeare Theater Company. We don't mean Cleopatra; the snake's role is shared by three ball pythons.

Mortimer, Cassani and Coco are anything but deadly, according to stagehand Dani Rose, who trained them. The nonpoisonous snakes, which range from 18 to 22 inches long, are affectionate and take direction well, she says.

When Rose began training them in April for their big break, she handled them a lot so they would get used to the way she smelled and would feel at ease.

"They understand a lot," Rose says. "That's why they're responsive so much to the affection, because they understand that's a good thing."

To rehearse their brief scene in the show, Rose had each snake rise out of the basket over and over again. They were rewarded not with food, but with vocal encouragement. Snakes can't hear, but they can feel the vibrations caused by someone's voice, she says. Rose changes her tone of voice when she communicates with them.

The snakes take turns performing their role and do not appear when they are shedding or after they have eaten (which they do roughly once a week). Rose says she doesn't choose which snake will perform until right before a show, and the decision is up to them: "It's all about what mood they're in."

Like all successful actors, the snakes like to be greeted by their fans. Rose can be found after a show interacting with theatergoers as one snake weaves through her brown hair, another slides around her neck and a third peeks out from her pocket.

Catch them yourself slithering in action at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. Northwest) through July 6.

...................