So before I give like a rundown of last weeks theatre lessons I want to talk about how Maria and I spent our Friday night. And that is to say in great stylleee. We went to go and see The Rocky Horror Picture Show (if you don't know what that is go and buy the film now).
In the true spirit of things me and my sister dressed up, Maria dressed very prettily but not really anywhere near Rocky Horror enough for me. Maria had been to see the show last year and knew what to expect, I've watched the film before but did not know what to expect really other than a naked man running around. When we arrived Maria was right and other people were staring at us (not used to our outfits, but some other people did dress up). We went to the toilet to check makeup etc. when a security guard came up to us and said if we went upstairs it would be quicker. Once we got upstairs we were asked if we were artists, Maria actually contemplated saying yes before deciding to tell the truth haha.
The actual performance was incredible and gave me some fantastic ideas. It started as soon as you arrived, in the sort of lobby of the theatre was a dressing table with wigs and things on it, a couch with a pink guitar on it, and the entrance to the theatre was made to look like the entrance to a massive castle. A man would come out at intervals in costume and tell the milling audience that it was very hot inside and that you should take of your coats and leave them upstairs. The fact that Rocky Horror is a cult thing and people dress up etc. also helps add to the atmosphere as you're waiting and during the performance.
When you enter the theatre you are put into groups and given a tour guide, with a little umbrella to guide you around. All the seats have been taken out of the theatre and instead there are little stations you walk around. Milling around are actors who come up to you and start hugging you untill your tour guide makes them let go, they are dressed in suits but have corsets on underneath (even the men.)
There were two little stages either side of the theatre and this is where you were first taken. You were put into a line and massaged by a person on the stage wearing a doctors coat. Next you were taken to a little room off the side of the theatre were you were sat on the floor with another group and are read stories about sex (I think) by these three women. Then we were taken into this other corridor that we had to answer a riddle to gain access too, we were then led into a room the size of a small toilet with a man with an electric guitar inside. We were then made to sing the refrain of Hot Patootie. our final station was at the back of theatre, were another mini stage had been set up, at the back were a row of chairs and two girls dressed up as ballerinas who showed us how to dance the time warp. Our guide then said we were allowed to walk around at our own leisure. We decided to go and watch and talk to the two people who were mud wrestling in the middle of the theatre (an apron so long it was like a catwalk had been set up) and then the man on the actual stage at the front of the theatre (who turned out to be the narrator) with a little girl sat next to him.
Then the actual performace began. I have been able to take so many things away from this performace. The lack of chairs meant the audience could dance, sing and join in. It also meant that as the performace moved around the stages you could follow the action. Interspersed into the audience were actors, who at moments shined torches on the actors on stage, sung, and danced with the audience. When Brad and Janet entered there was a video played live of them entering the theatre from outside, projected onto a screen for the audience to watch. The story was told by a man at the side of the stage, as if it was a bedtime story to his little girl sat next to him. He also led the audience with his telling of the story, for example ooohhhs, ahhsss, songs and dances. Also at the end of the performace he said we had to leave the theatre quietly as his daughter had fallen asleep, we were then herded out of the theatre by the actors as they sang sonftly. Then there was final song in the lobby and that was it. Wow, it was incredible. I want to go back.
Now onto last weeks theatre work.
Maria took Mondays lesson, in which she gave a practical to give Richard and me more of an introduction into Artaud. I found the first exercise incredibily difficult, it reminded me of the vibes exercise we had done with Stan which I found I was equally as bad at. Richard and I had to stand face to face with our eyes closed and using humming sense each others energy and know when to move our hand up and down. It took us a few attempts to do it and even then we never fully mastered it. I think part of our problem was focus. Both of us struggled to focus on the task and as soon as one person lost focus the exercise was impossible to do. Mr Fearnehough then suggested we take a break and try a different exercise instead. We then counted to twenty as a group, with our backs to one another and taking turns to say number, not being allowed to speak over each other. It took a few attempts to do but we managed it. Afterwards we talked about what allowed us to do it. Richard and Maria gave answers like you listened to one another and just sort of felt you knew when your turn was. I'm not 100% sure how it is that you just know when to take your turn but you do just get this feeling that it is meant to be your turn. Richard and I then returned to the humming exercise, but we still didn't succeed. I still blame me, I just am not good with vibes and energy.
Tuesday is our double lesson and we spent the first hour discussing religon and how it can relate to Artaud. We talked about symbolism and ritual within the Church. It is like there are certain signs inside the mass that show things. For example the ringing of the bell to show the host turning to the body of Jesus Christ. There is the use of candles as a visual aid to peoples prayer. The smell and sight of inscence. In the second half of Tuesdays lesson we put post it notes on our body to show where we though different emotions from. Some emotions were quite similar, for example Maria and I had fear in our stomach. But others were completely different, I had happiness coming from my chest whereas Richards and Marias came from their feet and legs. We then moved onto showing different emotions, we sat in a line and would be given an emotion and would have to exaggerate the person before us. As with Mondays task I found this one very difficult. I tried to use noise and exaggerate my gesture. I kept hitting a wall where I just could not do any more than the person before me. I just did not know what I had to do or could do more of.
On Fridays lesson we talked some more about the tabboo subjects that Artuad believed were the truth of reality. We also talked about the differences between Artaud and his Theatre of Cruelty/Total theatre also known as the Rich Theatre and Growtoski and his Poor Theatre. Whereas they contrast in staging, Artaud believed in a total theatre where every theatre device was thrown at the audience and Growtoski believed in a Holy Actor, the actor was more important than the audience, there are also some big similarities. Both artists believed that the actors should be pushed beyond their absolute limits and in doing so would find something new. Part of the tabboo subjects that we discussed were dreams that we have, I don't really remember many of my dreams and I can not think of any that are particularly tabboo. We also mentioned day dreams as part of our subconscieus, again I don't really have incredibly voilent daydreams, I will like sometimes think I really don't like you and could imagine killing someone but never like too much detail. I do understand this whole sort of liking for the gruesome though, and as Artaud would call it reality, there are films such as Hostel and Saw that people enjoy watching, stories written by Stephen King about horrible subjects.
We spent the last few minutes talking about Surrealist artwork and how it influenced Artaud.
http://www.artmovements.co.uk/surrealism.htm describes Surrealism as
"A literary and art movement, dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control of reason and convention. Surrealism inherited its anti-rationalist sensibility from Dada, but was lighter in spirit than that movement. Like Dada, it was shaped by emerging theories on our perception of reality, the most obvious influence being Freud's model of the subconscious."
I don't particularly like Surrealist work but I can understand Artauds interest in it as it deals with the subconscieus, a dream like world, a different sort of reality.
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