Author: Andre Coleman

What does sensory theatre mean to the modern audience?

Asone of the oldest art forms and as one of the primeval kinds of humanexpression, the nature of theatre is as varied across the continents aspainting, pottery, sculpture or any of the classic art-forms. Each civilization, each society, each gathering of humankind has had its personalform of theatrical performance from street artists to court jesters to nomadicplayers. Many would say that this variety at the very core of theatrical achievement is what has permitted theatre to take such a respected and crucialpart of our modern societies. Too often it is claimed that our present daylifestyles leave little time for abstract thinking and artistic appreciation orachievement. This is lamentable but thankfully not usually true. One need only observe the continuation of events such as the Welsh National Eisteddfod forhundreds of years to realize that the human desire and need for theatre willnever diminish.

However, this is not to say that modern society has not changed theatre. It is only natural that artistic output should be modeled by the lifestyle surrounding it. After all, warlike civilizations such as the Vikings delighted in the narrating of age-old sagas whereas more enlightened peoples like the Ancient Greeks would draw inspiration from mythical dramas which detailed the flaws at the heart of humanity and their relationships with their gods, representing a search for elements greater than themselves.

However,we can take it as certain that the theatrical productions of the last fiftyyears have overwhelmingly been part of a resurgence of theatrical diversity. Asthe free market has made nations more accessible to each other, a rise ininterest for all sorts of artistic expression has been felt around the world.Herein, we shall focus on the analysis and comprehension of one of these.Sensory theatre, or at least the old meaning of the term, is not a new concept.At its very core, much of what constitutes theatre relies heavily on the senses,both those of the audience and that of the actors. Nevertheless, at a time whenour fast-paced lifestyle seems to reject anything out of the ordinary or whichcan be labeled as different, it is refreshing to feel that this resurgence hasregenerated one of the truly great aspects of theatre, oft labeled as post-modernistbut one which links so much of relatively recent artistic output across theboundaries of different art forms:

‘Post-modernity,in attacking the perceived elitist approach of Modernism, sought greaterconnection with broader audiences. This is often labelled ‘accessibility’ andis a central point of dispute in the question of the value of postmodern art.It has also embraced the mixing of words with art, collage and other movementsin modernity, in an attempt to create more multiplicity of medium and message.Much of this centers on a shift of basic subject matter: postmodern artistsregard the mass media as a fundamental subject for art, and use forms, tropes,and materials – such as banks of video monitors, found art, and depictions ofmedia objects – as focal points for their artPostmodernism’s critical stance isinterlinked with presenting new appraisals of previous works. As implied abovethe works of the “Dada” movement received greater attention, as didcollagists such as Robert Rauschenberg, whose works were initiallyconsidered unimportant in the context of the modernism of the 1950s, but who, bythe 1980s, beganto be seen as seminal. Post-modernism also elevated the importance of cinema in artisticdiscussions, placing it on a peer level with the other fine arts. This is bothbecause of the blurring of distinctions between “high” and”low” forms, and because of the recognition that cinema representedthe creation of simulacra which was later duplicated in the other arts.’ (Wikipedia,2005)

Inthis dissertation, we shall be analyzing aspects of sensory theatre as has beenexplored and toyed with by some great artisans of the craft. Despite anyproblems we have with wholesale rejection of this type of theatre, in the interestof fair-minded and complete research, we shall pay due attention to theAristotelian school of thought. That which claims that theatre is a particulartype of experience, one from which the audience member should feel cleansed andhave learnt a lesson. This is a valid point of view, one which we shallthoroughly explore in order to see if it is indeed more artisticallyjustifiable than sensory theatre.

Afterexploring Aristotle’s opinions, we shall look in further depth at the nature ofsensory theatre. What does this term mean? How is each sense tapped? Can themelding of experiences of several senses which are simultaneously stimulatedprovide an elevating experience? For this exploration, we shall use the casestudy of Dwr (water in Welsh), a sensory piece of theatre put on in2003, using water, light and various materials to explore reactions amongst itsaudience. The reasons for using this play are that it was an audiovisualexperience as well as a mere theatrical one as projections and cameras were anintegral part of the performance. Furthermore, the sensory effect of theaudience can be better analyzed as members of the audience were also used inthe play, their reactions helping to define the type of sensory experience.

However, Dwr also gives us a good example of Brechtian theatre for the number of levels the play takes on. The actors themselves act as facilitators for the audience to receive personal sensory experiences. With only a minority of audience members taking part in the play, we can gain two further levels of emotional depth and complexity. The general background of the audience will see their emotions and senses assailed by the movements, gestures and decisions of those taking part while this minority will be subjected to sensory input and emit feedback with no room for forethought or planning ahead.

Thus, we shall provide a very definite and interesting example to back up any clear defining of sensory theatre we come to. We shall also look at how Dwr fits into the patterns of sensory theatre created by Brecht and Artaud and how its attitude towards its audience defines this multi-tiered theatre as one of the crucial points of sensory theatre.

However,no analysis of sensory theatre without detailed research into the works ofpioneers of the genre. Here, we have chosen to look at Bertolt Brecht andAntonin Artaud, each for specific reasons. Brecht’s attitude, utterly inconflict with the age-old Aristotelian views of theatre, helped build hisreputation as an agitateur who decided to stamp his own distinctive markupon an art form he viewed as static. Thus, the habits of Brechtian theatre oftotal acknowledgement of the audience caused as much mirth as it did anger. Onthe other hand, Artaud provided his audience with a completely integralexperience. By using sensory theatre to deny audience members their usual rightto involve themselves in a performance to a degree of their choice, Artaud madesure his plays would deeply shock his audiences. We will be exploring Artaud’stechniques as well as his reasons for providing this kind of theatre.

It is the goal of this dissertation to highlight the differences that make sensory theatre an integral genre of its own, containing so many outlets for creativity, expression and emotional impact as to make it not only an interesting part of theatre but an essential one. Its recent resurgence will thus provide us with an ideal platform from which to assess its meaning to a modern audience.

TheAristotelian view of theatrical norms

Goodoratory can blow the walls off brick buildings. Not just in the real world ofpolitical speeches or rallies but in the arts as well. As one of the only formsof human expression where no point of view is unheard, no eventuality unconsidered,no leaf left unturned, theatre has throughout its history naturally overthrownand shrugged off any shackles or conventions attached to it. This idea couldgive rise to an impression of mayhem and anarchy in an art form that had runaway with its own importance. As one of the leading figures in the history ofliterature, Aristotle’s views on the nature and importance of theatre arewell-documented and naturally thought of as still relevant today.

‘Aristotlehad the very human characteristic of harking back to the good old days, andthinking them much better than the days in which he lived. Taking scant accountof Aeschylus,he regarded Sophoclesand Euripidesas models in tragedy. His chief complaints were that the poets of his own timespoiled their work by rhetorical display; that the actor was often of moreimportance than the play; and that the poets tampered with the plot in order togive a favorite actor an opportunity of displaying his special talent. He saidthat the poets were deficient in the power of portraying character, and that itwas not even fair to compare them with the giants of the former era.’ (FletcherBellinger, pp.61, 1967)

However,in the matter of sensory theatre, we run into an area of some problems. Beingof a conservative mind-set which appreciated theatre for the moral lessonscontained within the narrative, Aristotle worshipped Sophocles with hisstraight and narrow approach to theatrical drama whilst eschewing the work ofhis contemporaries as being too popular, too watered down to meet the needs ofa public desirous of less preaching and more fun within the theatre.

Aristotlepossessed perhaps what could be interpreted as a rather narrow view in that hesaw tragedy as the greatest form of dramatic expression, almost utterly passingoff on comedy as mere fluff as compared to tragedy with the great lessonscontained within it. Furthermore, Aristotle also considered tragedy to bemagnificent when it also contained a clear and well constructed narrativeframework and mythological references to the deeds of greater men and gods in anobler past. Although Aristotle’s writings on these topics did make a lot ofsense, they are considered somewhat restrictive and far too imbued with theirown authority to be seen as of much use today. After all, in a society wherethe possibilities of theatre are slowly catching up with those of television orcinema as directors, playwrights and stage designers are always exploring newavenues of performance, Aristotle’s three unities of time, place and actionseem ready to be retired. Their far-too stringent requirements of both cast andcrew make them almost impossible to operate in the modern world of freetheatre.

This is no longer a society where the writings of one man, whoever he may be, carry enough influence to truly make as significant an impact as in Ancient Greece. It is not to say that Aristotle should be disregarded but concerning sensory theatre, rules relating how plot should be more important than character and how all the action in a tragedy should be centered around a personage of importance to better capture the attention of a fickle audience seem slightly moot. Its relevance is in the fact that much of what is known of theatrical conventions among a lay audience is heavily based on Ancient Greek theatrical philosophy, particularly Aristotle. It is precisely this philosophy that sensory theatre will have to overcome in order to claim its place as a rightful and deserving genre of theatrical achievement across the globe.

Visual,auditory, tactileDwr

Choosingan example to illustrate the nature of sensory theatre is a tricky balancingact as one must therefore, in some way at least, pre-define one’s understandingof the genre. How do we choose between the senses? After all, since the name ofsensory theatre does not make any kind of distinction, do we consider thesenses of sight and hearing more important than the other three since they areoverwhelmingly the most stimulated in matters of theatre? A distinction such asthis would make sense certainly but since sensory theatre is often seen asstanding alone from usual theatre, perhaps it would be unfair to appraise itthanks to assumptions based on more conventional modes of theatre. Instead,the best way to gain a true idea of sensory theatre’s range of potentialimpacts would be to base an example upon several criteria. Firstly, although itwould be somewhat over-expectant to try and find a play which could tap allfive of our senses, several attempts at sensory theatre have successfullyengaged audiences on three senses, if not four. Herein has been chosen Dwr,a Welsh piece put on in 2003 in Aberystwyth and then broadcast on S4C on thearts programme, Croma.

Theset-up of the piece was simple. The audience were seated on one side of thestage on a raised-up area, overlooking a long perpendicular dinner table. Theinside of the table, rather than being an ordinary flat surface, had beenhollowed in order to form a shallow pool about six inches deep along thetable’s entire length. The pool was filled with a level amount of clear waterat the bottom of which a table had been set ready for dinner, complete withplates, cutlery, glasses and napkins. Above the audience, shining down upon thetable was a strong projector which reflected the pool of water onto a backprojection screen in a way which magnified and increased the shadows cast byany ripples in the water. Six audience members were asked to be seated at thetable, as if for dinner before being submitted to a range of experiences by theactors whilst cameras recorded their reactions. These sensory experiments allinvolved stimulation of an audience member in matters of sight, sound, taste orfeeling. We shall look at the manner in which each of these senses was tappedas well as Dwr‘s technical set-up.

Firstof all, if one were to ask any theatre-goers, it would be certain that even themost intermittent of these would claim the two most stimulated senses in thetheatre are that of sight and hearing. Whilst conventional thinking would allowthis to be true, a cynical perspective would add that since our behinds orfeet, depending on posture, contribute much to the enjoyment of a theatricalperformance three senses, not two, must all be satisfied for a performance tobe considered praise-worthy. After all, although stage design is an oftforgotten art among those who are not privileged to the inner workings oftheatre, the choice of venue often signifies how an audience will feel duringthe performance. Stage design is often considered only in terms of sets, propsand technical apparatus whilst the idea of crowd comfort is often overlooked.

In the case of Dwr, the crowd comfort was adequate but the truly interesting phenomenon for the audience of this play was that their peers were submitted to the action contained within it. The stage design was such that the light poured onto the water was bright enough to cause the right amount of shadow reflection whilst not blinding either the audience or the actors. This careful use of projection in order to achieve the desired effect was a technique made famous of Josef Svoboda who pioneered the use of audiovisual projection in theatre to enhance the general experience. The stimulation capabilities of a performance, when combined with camera and sound equipment, is vastly heightened thus cementing Svoboda as one of the great names of sensory theatre.

Asfar as the audience members who became a part of the performance itself, thesenses stimulated were done so in a way which gave every sense the time tofully absorb the impact of its experience. First of all, each audience memberwas seated at the table in the guise of a dinner guest but asked not to talk toeach other or carry out any action except if indicated to do so by one of thesurrounding cast. First of all, each dinner guest was asked to remove theirshoes and socks before climbing onto the table into the water. The stage itselfwas kept at a warm temperature in contrast to the cold water, making the changein surroundings quite drastic. Then, the audience member was asked to burst aplastic bag full of water with a long hooked pole. The water would thus droponto the audience member along with a fake plaster egg.

The audience member would then be lead back to their seat, given a towel to dry off before being given two chopsticks. After breaking the egg on the side of the table, the contents would then be spilt onto the plate just below the surface of the water. Each egg contained some food coloring, spreading across the table along with the ripples, along with a small piece of paper. Each piece of paper showed the face of a man, wearing different emotions, whilst a brief poem on the back seemed to explain the expression, a poem that would be read by one of the surrounding cast to the relevant audience member. The relationship between the pictures and the poems may not have been immediately obvious but the reactions of the audience members were still assured to be both personal, if not natural due to unusual surroundings and odd experiences.

These reactions were filmed by the technical crew on video cameras, adding another level of complexity to the performance as the traditional boundaries between cast and crew become blurred. Furthermore, Dwr‘s entire performance was played out under a constantly shifting pattern of music which although always instrumental would speed up in tone or gently slow down in function of events happening in the play.

Thepurpose of using Dwr as an illustration of the modern applications ofsensory theatre and its meaning to a present-day audience is threefold. Firstof all, the timing of the piece and its broadcasting on a national channelalong with subsequent interviews with the chosen audience members proves theinterest placed in it by a major broadcaster as the BBC has major impact uponS4C scheduling. Secondly, the sensual experience of the show provided afascinating outlet for the audience members, both for those who took an activepart or a passive part, to find out more about what constitutes modern sensorytheatre.

Although the audience numbers for this show were relatively small and thus can only provide us with a minor cross-section of theatre-goers, the positive feedback gained at the end during the interviews can give a lot of hope as to the future of sensory theatre. Finally, to use an example such as Dwr gives us a view as to what kind of reaction this genre of theatre would meet with. Dwr covers a broad base of sensory theatre as its performance, not only stimulating several of the senses themselves, dealt with a range of theatrical theories and ideologies which we shall look at in further detail. By separating audience members from each other, creating many layers of reality between crew and cast, audience and cast and audience and crew, Dwr rejectedmany traditional aspects of theatrical performance.

However, by engaging its audience/cast members with an individual experience through the messages contained within the eggshells and filming their response, Dwr could be said to have engaged with a more conservative Aristotelian version of theatre. Each audience member not involved with the show directly as a dinner guest will have experience the play as a visual and auditive experience but it is for the six members of the audience at each performance that Dwr transcended the limits of ordinary theatre and became a emotional and sensory journey felt by each in their own individual way.

Below, we will be casting an eye at the ways in which theatrical pioneers such as Brecht and Artaud tackled the rigours and the conventions of an art form that they viewed as being a free form, lacking in any structural restrictions. Before doing so, we can still observe that even if Dwr did pander even the slightest bit towards an Aristotelian theatre, the main body of its performance was firmly in the territory of Artaud as we can see when applying this passage to precisely the type of theatre Dwr tries to avoid.

‘If people are out of thehabit of going to the theater, if we have all finally come to think of theateras an inferior art, a means of popular distraction, and to use it as an outletfor our worst instincts, it is because we have learned too well what thetheater has been, namely, falsehood and illusion. It is because we have beenaccustomed for four hundred years, that is since the Renaissance, to a purelydescriptive and narrative theater – storytelling psychology; it is becauseevery possible ingenuity has been exerted in bringing to life on the stageplausible but detached beings, with the spectacle on one side, the public onthe other – and because the public is no longer shown anything but the mirrorof itself. Shakespeare himself is responsible for this aberration and decline,this disinterested idea of the theater which wishes a theatrical performance toleave the public intact, without setting off one image that will shake theorganism to its foundations and leave an ineffaceable scar. If, in Shakespeare,man is sometimes preoccupied with what transcends him, it is always in order todetermine the ultimate consequences of this preoccupation within him, i.e.,psychology.’ (Artaud,No More Masterpieces, 1976)

Evensuch divides as between audience and actors, theatrical conventions that are sohabitual as to often be altogether forgotten, were not sacrosanct enough fordirectors, playwrights and actors such as Brecht, Artaud and Svoboda.

TheBrechtian impact or the alienation of theatrical tradition

Earlierin this dissertation, it was suggested that Aristotle’s views on theatre andsubsequent impact thereon had diminished somewhat with the dawn of a time wherethe philosophies of the Ancient Greeks mattered little. However, the centuriesthat his views transcended have signified that they could not dissipate soquickly. Many modern opinions on theatre, however avant-garde or post-modernistthey wish or claim to be, are still formed largely on the back of the opinionsof men such as Aristotle. However, this obstacle would be taken to piece by menand women like Brecht, who wished not to merely co-exist with existing viewsbut confront their defenders and destroy the ideological entrenchment that manytheatre critics had resorted to in the face of the changes sweeping throughtheir beloved art form.

‘In his early plays, Brechtexperimented with dada and expressionism, but in his later work, he developed astyle more suited his own unique vision. He detested the”Aristotelian” drama and its attempts to lure the spectator into akind of trance-like state, a total identification with the hero to the point ofcomplete self-oblivion, resulting in feelings of terror and pity and,ultimately, an emotional catharsis. He didn’t want his audience to feelemotions–he wanted them to think–and towards this end, he determined todestroy the theatrical illusion, and, thus, that dull trance-like state he sodespised. The result of Brecht’s research was a technique known as”verfremdungseffekt” or the “alienation effect”. It wasdesigned to encourage the audience to retain their critical detachment.’ (Imagi-nation,2003)

Thisis not to say though that to achieve such an accomplishment was possible formerely any theatrical commentator. It took men of special gumption, gravitasand guts to dare attack such a powerful establishment as that of traditionaltheatre. Bertolt Brecht was one of these. Blessed with the ability to fightbattles on several fronts whilst still maintaining a clear head, Brecht beganto cause controversy early on in his career. Looking to fulfill a desire formore relevant and modern theatre amongst German theatre-going audiences,Brecht, through plays such as Drums in the Night and with therecognition of director Erich Engel, flirted with an expressionistic style thatbefitted his rising status but left Brecht himself feeling uncomfortable.Although his style was becoming fashionable and it would undoubtedly havebrought him his time in the spotlight, Brecht felt that he should discover aplaywriting identity which was his own and not borrowed from anybody else. Ifwe consider that at this time Brecht was writing in post World War I Germany,we can observe the bravery it must have taken for him to make this type ofdecision.

Duringthe turbulent years of the socialist rise in Germany and the Weimar Republic,Brecht knew a modest amount of success in both theatre and literature thanks toplays such as In the Jungle of the Cities and his partnership with Engeland Hans Eisler but he was only just beginning to find his feet in a style allof his own. The final step in this direction would be his years with his owncollective of writers, the most famous fruit of which would be the Lehrstuckewhich would form the root of the theatrical changes and theories we thinkof as Brechtian today. Lehrstucke propounded that passive audiences werea thing of the past in matters of theatre and that it was necessary foraudiences to become more actively involved in a performance whilst keeping astrong level of emotional distance in order to remain capable of rational thoughtand criticism. This collection of thoughts would slowly pass into commonpractice in theatrical troupes and communities around the world, a practiceknown as ‘epic theatre’.

Epictheatre today may seem as historical and passAA© as Aristotle’s views did forBrecht but the truth is that the numerous and varied adaptations of epictheatre have formed much of today’s common theatrical practices. Before Brecht,the demarcation between the audience and the actors was sacrosanct. SinceAristotle, the status of the star actor had risen so much that now actors wouldmerely be cast in a role that was known to be in their repertoire, a fact whichcould lead to truly spectacular levels of diva treatment or ridiculouscastings. Take for example Sarah Bernhardt whose notoriety had reached suchproportions that she cast herself as Hamlet. This is not to say there isanything wrong with female actors playing traditionally male Shakespeareanparts but it is the manner in which Bernhardt carried out this casting that madethe situation ridiculous. Aristotle lamented this type of situation as beingone of the great plagues striking tragedy theatre whilst Brecht merely laughedat it and lambasted it in his own style.

His patented Verfremdungseffekt (or estrangement effect) was a sweepingly original style which not only acknowledged the audience as a part of a theatrical production and encouraged them to change their own attitudes to theatre. Instead of allowing traditional suspension of disbelief and letting audiences feel as if they were watching a truthful event, Brecht went out of his way to remind them that what they saw was a representation, a mirror onto reality and never reality itself. This was carried out by having actors suddenly break character and address the audience to explain the plot, grossly over-exaggerated props or sets in the middle of an otherwise serious play or great placards on the stage asking the audience to behave in a certain way by ignoring a particular happening or to stare less romantically. These unusual situations for an audience confused them and alienated them from the play, hence the name alienation or estrangement effect. This separation from conventional theatrical theory became very fashionable after the war in both America where he lived until being pestered by HUAC and in communist East Germany where he resided until his death in 1953. The appeal of Brecht’s type of theatre across the globe speaks volumes about how the traditions of theatre were rejected by a large section of theatre going audiences.

The sensory feel of the Verfremdungseffekt were indirect but by creating this new separation of audience and stage in an allegorical as well as in a physical sense, Brechtian theatre enabled its audiences and directors to experiment with new sensations. The greatest example of this is in some of Brecht’s later plays such as The Good Person of Szechwan and Galileo. For example, in Galileo, the portrait he paints of the astronomer is of a tortured soul wracked between his scientific duty to tell the truth to an unsuspecting world and the threat of vengeance from the dark figure of the Grand Inquisitor. This moral dilemma was planned by Brecht as a way to get his audience to think rationally about the situation and contemplate what they would do in such a situation rather than feeling sorry for Galileo.

However, if Brecht had one failing, it was that despite his ability to meld together a myriad of sources into a convincing single narrative, he did not understand the human nature of his public. Persuaded that with the right play, he could force his audience into abandoning their emotional side, whether he realized it or not Brecht was asking people to set aside the precise reason most of them came to the theatre.

His theories resulted in a number of “epic” dramas, among them Mother Courage and Her Children which tells the story of a travelling merchant who earns her living by following the Swedish and Imperial armies with her covered wagon and selling them supplies: clothing, food, brandy, etc… As the war grows heated, Mother Courage finds that this profession has put her and her children in danger, but the old woman doggedly refuses to give up her wagon. Mother Courage and Her Children was both a triumph and a failure for Brecht. Although the play was a great success, he never managed to achieve in his audience the unemotional, analytical response he desired. Audiences never fail to be moved by the plight of the stubborn old woman. (Imagi-nation, 2003)

Anemotional journey where characters could and should be empathized with orcondemned was much of what has always constituted theatre’s engagement. Eventhe averagely smart and aware audience member does not need the moral absolutesof right and wrong as claimed by Aristotle but the desire to identify with oneor more of the central characters instead of merely rationalizing about theirfates without feeling was too strong in the vast majority of theatre-goers.

Brechtis claimed doubly to be both a modernist or one of the first post-modernists.Although some claims have been made that a taste for his kind of theatre quicklyinspires in the face of so much cynicism, his importance and the size of hisimpact upon world theatre cannot be underplayed. Today, many of his conventionsare so common as to be taken for granted whilst a collective of ‘Brechtians’still operates and remains as long-standing proof to the glory of his genius.

Conventionalrelief in theatre and Artaud’s rejection of it

Everygeneration is locked in a perpetual struggle with those that come both beforeand after to break free from the shackles of their ancestral traditions, carvetheir own identity and thus prepare the way for a similar fight with thegenerations that are to follow. Although social morays may seem to remain stilland constant, this is only an illusion, one that can only too easily be piercedby artistic expression. Artists have often been marginalized as second-ratemembers of society, ones that are not indispensable to the everyday running ofour lives. Seen as not producing useful since all their efforts did not feed,clothe or warm anybody, it became a painful reality that if actors or musicianswanted to survive, they were required to curtail any creativity and pander toprecisely what their audiences desired.

While this unfortunate turn of events could be passed off as a mere passage in the history of theatre, it left behind some highly tell-tale signs. The simplest of these is that from the Renaissance onward through the Classical period, theatre had become significant with escapism. The majority of plays, and here one cannot deny Aristotle’s continuing influence, harked back to former days lamenting a fallen age of glory, honour and noble deeds. Whilst this fond reminiscing was unimpeachable in its desire to awaken a better side of humanity in audiences, it often met with boredom and

Discuss Samuel Beckett’s handling of identity in his plays Waiting for Godot and Happy Days.

The work of Samuel Beckett can be seen to span both the Modernist and Postmodernist paradigms (Bradbury and McFarlane, 1991; Green and LeBihan, 1996), on the one hand being influenced by such canonical Modernist writers as James Joyce and Luigi Pirandello (Knowlson, 1996) and on the other relying heavily on Postmodern notions such as the transgression of the body, the performative identity and the failure of grand narratives such as language and truth. This point is made by Richard Begam in his study Samuel Beckett and the End of Modernity (1996):

“Beckett’s conception of his undertaking, what we would now call his postmodernism, recognized that an absolute break with the past, a complete supersession of what had gone before, was itself the product of a teleological or modern form of thinking. Proust and Joyce therefore became not figures to be replaced or surmounted but telling points of reference in an ongoing dialogue between past and present.” (Begam, 1996: 14)

Beckett’s position as a liminal writer, spanning two distinctly different but obviously connected intellectual regimes, allows us to examine not only his work but the larger context of critical and performance theory. With this in mind, in this essay I would like to look at two main areas of Beckett’s work that are both metonymous with changes in post-War theatre (and perhaps literature) as a whole. Firstly I would like to concentrate on the notion of Postmodernism as it relates to performance, looking at leitmotifs and tropes as they appear in Waiting for Godot (1955) and Happy Days (1961), and secondly I would like to go on to look at the whole notion of identity and its dissolution in these same texts before drawing conclusions as to what this treatment says about the place of performance in contemporary theatre and, perhaps, the wider context of society itself.

First of all, however and as a foundation for my later exposition, I would like to offer a brief summary of Postmodernism.

Postmodernism, as Fredric Jameson points out, can be best understood through its relationship and difference to Modernism, a philosophical and artistic concept that had it roots in the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century (Bradbury and McFarlane, 1991). In an artistic sense, the Modernist work was characterised by experiment and a rejection of the Romantic subjective self. Works such as T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1989) and James Joyce’s Ulysses (1977) exemplify both the Modernist propensity for innovation and the removed authorial voice and we can certainly see this in many, if not all of Beckett’s theatrical works.

Postmodernism, as Jean Francois Lyotard declared in his essay “The Postmodern Condition” (1991) reflected the breakdown and disillusionment felt by the failure of the very foundations of Modernism; foundations that included such hitherto accepted givens as truth, the self, the homogeneity of Literature and the Arts and many of the other systems of thought that Lyotard termed the ‘metanarratives’ (Lyotard, 1991: 36). Whereas Modernism sought newness and innovation, Postmodernism resulted in the adoption of style over content (Robertson, 1996: 3), the questioning of accepted constructs of knowledge (Foucault, 1989) and the language (Derrida, 2004) and, as we shall see with Beckett the exposure of the artistic machinery.

This last point, I think, is crucial to an understanding of Beckett’s place as both a Modernist and a Postmodern writer. As I have already stated, we can recognise certain Modernist images and leitmotifs in Beckett’s work (Eagleton, 1992: 186): the starkly bare characterisation, the dour vision of humanity that we also find in Eliot and Woolf and the conscious effort to experiment and innovate but, underneath this, we also detect a distinctly Postmodern sensibility; one that delights in the deliberate exposure of the performative nature of both the theatre and life.

In Waiting for Godot, for instance, there is a constant comic antagonism created between actor and audience, as ideas and lines of narrative are picked up and abandoned without the usual dramatic sense of resolution (Schechner, 1988). In the first Act for example, Estragon begins a joke that is never finished:

“Estragon: Tell it tome!
Vladimir: Ah, stop it!
Estragon: An Englishman having drunk a little more than usual goes to a brothel. The bawd asks him if he wants a fair one, a dark one, or a red-haired one. Go on.
Vladimir: Stop it!” (Beckett, 1955: 16)

The antagonism and frustration engendered by this un-ended joke is more than a mere literary device it is also a performance device that sets up a markedly different actor/audience relationship. Unlike, say, classical Aristotelian dramatic theory that asserts the imperative of the “incentive moment” (Hartley and Ladu, 1948: 14) the “rising action” (Hartley and Ladu, 1948: 14) and the resolution, here Beckett (as indeed he does throughout the play) creates a deliberate anti-climax that immediately calls in to question the binary between reality and performance.

The same also could be said about much of the dramatic structure of Happy Days, as the workings of the performance are constantly exposed to the gaze of the audience. Here, for instance, Winnie second guesses the thoughts of the audience members as she talks to a passer-by:

“Winnie:…What’s she doing? He says – What’s the idea? He says – stuck up to her diddies in the bleeding ground – coarse fellow – What does it mean? He says – what’s it meant to mean – and so on.” (Beckett, 1961: 32)

Here Beckett deconstructs the very essence of the performance itself, exposing the bewildered reaction of the audience to his own drama. In a Postmodern dissolution of identity boundaries, the performer here becomes playwright, audience, character and actor as not only are the thoughts of the character exposed but so too the thoughts of the audience. This is not the only deconstruction of performance Beckett employs in the play. We see, for instance, the questioning of dramatic convention; Happy Days is, for all intents, a monologue but it features two characters, it is about the movement of time but, ironically, the main actor is static throughout and although it is primarily a play about words and not actions it is peppered with pauses and space. All factors that point to both plays as being as much rooted in Postmodernism as Modernism.

We have touched upon it already but the overriding sense in both Waiting for Godot and Happy Days is the search and struggle for identity and this also, as we shall see, has a marked impact on the performance of the play and what it means regarding the audience/actor dialectic.

The social background to Happy Days was described, in an affective way by Harold Clurman in an early review:

“Beckett is the poet of a morally stagnant society. In this society fear, dismay and a sort of a stunned absent-mindedness prevail in the dark of our consciousness, while a flashy, noisy, bumptious, thick-headed complacency flourishes in the open.” (Clurman, 1998: 235)

It is against this backdrop that the characters in the play struggle to maintain their scant identities. Even before the action begins we are made witness to the difficulties in establishing an individual existence as the characters’, names, Winnie and Willie, straightway blur their respective personal boundaries. We see this also to a greater extent in Waiting for Godot, as Gogo, Pozzo and Godot, combine to form a linguistic homogeneity that suggests a group rather than an individual identity.

The mise en scene of Happy Days is part Eliotesque wasteland:

“Expanse of scorched grass rising centre to low mound. Gentle slopes downto front and either of stage. Back an abrupter fall to stage level” (Beckett, 1961: 9)

part Postmodern irony, as the backdrop reveals itself to be a self conscious trompe-l’oeil that represents “unbroken plain and sky receding to meet in far distance.” (Beckett, 1961: 9). Within this, Winnie literally stands as part of the scenery, only half visible that is, in itself, a symbolic representation of both time passing and the extent that she has already lost a great deal of her personal identity.

As I have already hinted at, Winnie deconstructs the notion of movement and stasis; on a psychological level she moves quickly between times as in this passage where she and us are taken back into her personal history prompted by the news of a death of a friend:

“Winnie: Charlie Hunter! (Pause) I close my eyes – (she takes off spectacles and does s, hot in one hand, spectacles in other, Willie turns page) – and am sitting on his knees again, in the back garden at Borough Green, under the horse-beech.” (Beckett, 1961: 14)

Physically however she is literally trapped, unable to move or stop the flowing of time swallowing her completely. Her identity becomes fashioned by her memories as at first, in the initial Act, they form a reasonable homogeneity and then, in Act Two become more and more diffuse, more and more fractured until by the end of the play she exists as merely snapshots of a life that has been:

“Winnie: Win! (pause)Oh this is a happy days, this will have been another happy day! (Pause) After all (Pause) So far.
Pause. She hums tentatively beginning of song, then sings softly, musical box tune.” (Beckett, 1961: 47)

As John Pilling suggests in his study of Samuel Beckett (1976: 85), the playwright twins the enormity of the search for identity in an alienating world with the minutiae of everyday living, as Winnie spends a great deal of the play’s time conducting worthless searches for toothbrushes, or lipsticks or many of the other incidental objects of existence.

Ultimately, her search for a personal identity is proved fruitless as she becomes subsumed in that which surrounds her, perhaps a particularly twentieth century vision of the struggle of the personal psychology in the face of the modern city. Waiting for Godot, I think, concerns itself with similar themes and similar characters.

Martin Esslin characterised Beckett’s Waiting for Godot as “concerned with the hope of salvation through the workings of grace” (Esslin, 1968: 55) and we can see that is certainly a major thread in the play. However, we can also note that it concerns itself not with a general salvation but with a very a personal one, with each character desperately searching for their own identity amid the alienation and ennui of the surrounding environment. Most of the play’s linguistic rhythm arises out of the characters’ attempt to assert their own identity in the face of the others:

“Vladimir: Charming evening we’re having.
Estragon: Unforgettable.
Vladimir: And its not over.
Estragon: Apparently not.
Vladimir: Its only beginning.
Estragon: Its awful.
Vladimir: Its worse than being in the theatre.” (Beckett, 1955: 34)

The tooing and froing of the dialogue here is a perfect example of this point, with neither Vladimir nor Estragon willing to surrender themselves to the other. The same can be seen in a more graphic sense with the Pozzo/Lucky relationship that is, at its heart a Hegelian dialectic of the master and slave, with each party attempting (and failing) to break away from the other.

In the comic scene towards the end of the play that depicts Vladimir and Estragon exchanging symbolic identities in the form of their hats (Beckett, 1961: 71-72) we can note Beckett’s observation on the ironies of Postmodern life:

“Vladimir takes puts on Lucky’s hat in place of his own which he hands to Estragon. Estragon takes Vladimir’s hat. Vladimir adjusts Lucky’s hat on his head. Estragon hands Vladimir’s hat back to Vladimir who takes it and hands it back to Estragon who takes it and hands it back to Vladimir who takes it and throws it down.” (Beckett, 1955: 72)

The absurdity of this scene arises from the fact that each hat is the same, or at least very similar, so that it makes very little difference which hat ends up on which head. This is, I think, symbolic of the larger treatment of identity within the play; with the playwright suggesting the absurdity of the search for personal individuation. Are not identities much like hats, asks Beckett, remarkably the same?

If Happy Days is a study of the search for identity under the crushing weight of time passing, Waiting for Godot is the search for identity within the lightness of forgetfulness. Time in the latter is meaningless, it passes with no affect in fact Estragon can not even remember the events of the day before. Within this, the characters desperately cling to the remnants of their identities whether that be in the form of an oppressive relationship to another, an item of clothing or the feint hope of someone who will never arrive.

We can see then that the treatment of identity within Beckett’s two major plays mirrors the questions arising out of Postmodernism, questions that concern the nature of identity and the Self. For Postmodern theorists like Judith Butler (1999) and Michel Foucault (1990) the Self is a performative construct, both given to us by society and adopted as a mask and we note some of this sense in Beckett. Ultimately, then, Beckett’s work deconstructs the very notion of a theatrical performance, suggesting that this is merely one of a number of performances that occurs at any one time.

The relationship, then, between the audience and the actor changes from one of passivity to one of dialogue as the former is exposed as relying as much on performance as the latter. This can be seen to be a reflection of Antonin Artaud’s assertions on the Theatre of Cruelty in his second manifesto:

“…just as there are to be no empty spatial areas, there must be no let up, no vacuum in the audience’s mind or sensitivity. That is to say there will be no distinct divisions, no gap between life and theatre.” (Artaud, 1985: 84)

Beckett’s work says as much about the identities of the audience as the characters and as much about the performative nature of the wider society as the performance of the theatre.

References

Artaud, Antonin (1985), The Theatre and its Double, (London: John Calder)
Beckett, Samuel (1961), Happy Days, (London: Faber and Faber)
Beckett, Samuel (1955), Waiting for Godot, (London: Faber and Faber)
Begam, Richard (1996), Samuel Beckett and the End of Modernity, (Stanford: Stanford University Press)
Bradbury, Malcolm and McFarlane, James (eds) (1991), Modernism: A Guide to European Literature 1890-1930, (London: Penguin)
Butler, Judith (1999), Gender Trouble, (London: Taylor and Francis)
Cormier, Ramona and Pallister, Janis (1998), “En Attendent Godot: Tragedy or Comedy?”, published in Culotta Andonian, Cathleen (ed), The Critical Responses to Samuel Beckett, (London: Greenwood Press)
Clurman, Harold (1998), “Happy Days: Review”, published in Culotta Andonian, Cathleen (ed), The Critical Responses to Samuel Beckett, (London: Greenwood Press)
Eagleton, Terry (1992), Literary Theory: An Introduction, (London: Blackwell)
Esslin, Martin (1968), The Theatre of the Absurd, (London: Pelican)
Foucault, Michel (1990), The History of Sexuality: Volume 1, (London: Penguin)
Green, Keith and LeBihan (1996), Critical Theory and Practice: A Coursebook, (London: Routledge)
Hartley, Lodwick and Ladu, Arthur (1948), Patterns in Modern Drama, (London: Prentice Hill)
Jameson, Fredric (1991), Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, (London: Duke University)
Kenner, Hugh (1973), A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett, (London: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
Knowlson, James (1996), Dammed to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett, (London: Bloomsbury)
Lyotard, Jean Francois (1991), “The Postmodern Condition”, published in Jenkins, Keith (ed), The Postmodern History Reader, (London: Routledge)
Pilling, John (1976), Samuel Beckett, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul)
Robertson, Pamela (1996), Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna, (London: Duke University)
Schechner, Richard (1988), Performance Theory, (London: Routledge)

An analysis of the life and works of the choreographers Jerome Robbins and Agnes de Mille and therole of dance in musical theatre

Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins worked in musical theatre in what is widely regarded to be the industry’s Golden Era. Many would say that it was their innovative approach to choreography in musical theatre that brought an energy and a dynamism to the musical, accounting for its surge in popularity. It is certainly true that they did much to elevate the role of dance in musical theatre, which was previously largely merely as an accessory to the main dramatic event; pretty women with bare flesh parading around the stage. Robbins and De Mille regarded dance as a serious art form and strove to portray it as such on the stage.

Musical theatre, as we know it today, did not come into being until the twentieth century, but song and dance have been a part of theatre for thousands ofyears. From as early as the 5^th century BC the Ancient Greeks employed music and dance in many of their comedies and tragedies to entertain the public. The Romans carried on this tradition from the 3^rdcentury BC, with many plays by Plautus including song and dance. They invented the first tap shoes by attaching metal plates to their shoes so that the entire audience, who would sit in a colossal open-air theatre, could hear the dancesteps (1). In the Middle Ages travelling minstrels and troupes of actors, dancers and singers performed popular songs and slapstick comedy. The religious dramas of the 12^th and 13^th centuries also included liturgical songs, although no dancing. In the French court of the Renaissance Louis XIV insisted that song and dance be incorporated into his entertainments.

In America, some of the first dramatic roles to be performed by dancers were in melodrama, which is unsurprising considering the highly stylised movement of melodramatic actors lends itself more to dance than to anything else. Mlle Celeste, who was later to become one of the most famous dancers of the nineteenth century, was first billed in America as the celebrated melodramatic actress (2). Across the nineteenth century, circuses, showboats and pantomimes all included dance in some form. Stars such as Mlle Celeste and Fanny Essler helped create a popular demand for dance and companies began to include more elaborate dances in their evening’s bill. Melodrama and pantomimes would often incorporate complex ballets into their entertainments. In England the most popular form of entertainment for the working- and middle-classes was the music hall, which staged vaudeville entertainment in the way of singers, dancers and speciality acts. Vaudeville was also extremely popular in America in the nineteenth century, and by the 1890s dance acts were ever more in demand. Dances were still, however, largely performed in between the acts of the main production or before the end-piece to fill the gaps. The role of dance in the theatre at that time was limited mainly to entr’actes. They existed purely to appease the audience, to show piece a star, or to titillate predominantly male audiences with allowing spectacle of female limbs in tights(3). Jack Cole referred to the dances and the dancers in theatre at this timeas wallpaper (4).

It wasn’t really until the 1930s that dance began to be an important part of the musical. George Balanchine, who trained at the Russian Imperial Ballet School before working with Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, regarded dance as a legitimate and important component in musical theatre. He believed dance to be the greatest expressive medium and first introduced ballet onto the popular musical stage with Ziegfeld Follies. Dancers in the theatre began to be taken seriously, rather than regarded merely as pretty girls baring a lot of leg; Into a choreographic world that was a mA©lange of decorative movement, legs and taps,Balanchine opened the door and ballet leapt on to the popular musical stage,directed by a supreme artist (5). Whereas previously only routines had been performed on the theatrical stage, Balanchine choreographed dances.He refused for his dances to be merely bite-size slices of entertainment sandwiched between the main attraction and insisted that they be part of the plot, integrated seamlessly into the action. For the first time in a musical the dances in Balanchine’s On Your Toes actually helped to advance the plot. When, in 1982, On Your Toes returned to Broadway, Carol Lawson of the New York Times wrote;

On YourToes was a turning point in the history of musical comedy, for Mr.Balanchine’s dances were more than mere interludes. Instead they served as essential aspects of the plot, and were thoroughly integrated parts of the production.(6)

Balanchine paved the way for AgnesDe Mille and Jerome Robbins to totally change the dynamics of dance in musical theatre, and thereby in musicals has a whole. De Mille introduced the concept of using dance as a vehicle for story-telling and Robbins transformed the role of choreographer in a musical to being director of the entire show, making dance the driving force.

Agnes De Mille

Asa child, although she came from a theatrical family, De Mille was not permitted formal dance training, but would improvise pieces to perform to guests and nightly improvised to the accompaniment of her mother on the Orchestrelle (7).She would practice her melodramatic acting skills every night before performing flexibility exercises to limber up her body in readiness for the stage. When in Hollywood with her family her true dancer’s instinct became evident as she fell in love with the wide open spaces of the country surrounding the town;this would be a recurring theme in her later choreography. In her autobiography, Dance to the Piper, she exclaimed;

The descendinggrassy slopes filled me with a passion to run, to roll in delirium, to wreck

mybody on the earth. Space means this to a dancer – or to a child! The descentthrough

theair, the finding of earth-footage, the embracing and struggle with thefundamental

ground.These are to a dancer what strong scents are to an animal. (8)

Theday De Mille first watched Anna Pavlova perform only increased her desire tobecome a dancer. She was enthralled, awed, and dumbstruck, and describes thatmoment with passion and gusto (9). It was this that encouraged de Mille toorganise her first dance show with a group of other girls but she was still notallowed dance lessons and became frustrated with the limited dancing she coulddo. It wasn’t until her sister was advised by an orthopaedist to start balletdancing that she too was permitted to attend the Theodore Kosloff School ofImperial Russian Ballet. Whilst there she learnt technique and poise andtrained her body into that of a dancer’s. She worked feverishly hard, perhapseven more so because her parents would not allow her to have lessons more thantwice a week, leaving her lagging behind the rest of the class. She resortedto practicing in her mother’s bathroom, where she had installed a barre for her.

Bythe time De Mille had finished high school however, she had grown to loath therigours of daily practice and decided to abandon her classes and her solitarypractices and go to college. During her time at UCLA De Mille occasionallystaged dances for student rallies and towards the end of her college life shestarted exercising with the mind to getting back up on her points. She decidedto dance professionally after meeting Douglass Montgomery, who convinced herthat she could. Things were never going to be easy for her though. She movedto New York at a time when dancers [were] hired on the sheen of the stockingand the wink of their agent, and when the few dance companies that existed onBroadway were small and dedicated to the personal exploitation of some star(10). I have mentioned earlier the limited opportunities a dancer had in thistime, where no ‘pure’ ballet was being performed in either music shows ormoving picture shows and there was no such word as ‘choreography’. Whenrehearsing for a concert of her own choreography Montgomery taught De Mille howto act through her dancing; he taught me that every gesture must have someexplicit meaning (11). She decided to perform character studies whereby thedancing revealed personality and was natural in the course of the story. Rightfrom the start she wanted to employ dance as more than light entertainment, asa vital story-telling vehicle. These first attempts, being only charactersketches, were quite light by nature, and the style was folk rather thanballet, but it was different to what anybody else had done on the stage before.When she performed some of these at a concert she was received well but whenshe auditioned for Charles Cochran and Noel Coward they told her that she wasmore suited to the concert hall, and that she would never make it in thetheatre.

Aftertouring with Adolph Bolm, she was commissioned as a dancer-choreographer on ChristopherMorley’s revival of The Black Crook but the drunken, noisy audience madeher hand her notice in. It was in the thirties that the dance scene in NewYork began to stir. Every Sunday a couple of dance concerts were given, withsoloists experimenting with every dance form imaginable. De Mille remembers,we were out remodel our entire craft there were no rules we struck sparksfrom one another (12). For five years De Mille taught herself to choreograph,but she was trying to learn to compose dances, not pantomimes, nor dramaticstories, nor character studies, but planned sequences of sustained movementwhich would be original and compelling (13). She viewed dance as a seriousart form and wanted to choreograph dances that would present it as such, butwith barely any formal training behind her she found this very difficult.After disastrously choreographing Flying Colours De Mille and her mothermoved to London where, as in New York, she choreographed and danced in her ownrecitals to critical acclaim but with no financial gain. At one recital though,Marie Rambert and Arnold Haskell were amongst the audience and were impressedenough to ask her to stay in London to continue her recitals and be taught atThe Ballet Club.

Itwas at The Ballet Club that De Mille met Anthony Tudor and Fredrick Ashton,both of whom would go on to become important choreographers and who, with her,would revolutionise the dance world. In 1933 she choreographed the dances forCharles B. Cochran’s Nymph Errant in London but during the thirties DeMille returned to America several times, dancing in her uncle’s production of Cleopatrain 1934 and choreographing Irving Thalburg’s film-version of Romeo andJuliet. On the latter project she had to endure her dances being cut topieces as the camera cut out most of the group work and showed only snippets ofthe rest. The custom at the time was not to show a whole dance but to providelight entertainment with cuttings of dances.

OnHooray for What De Mille came up against the type of men that insisteddancers were hired for their sex appeal and that dances were performed to sellsex. These were the sort of men that were keeping dance from becoming aserious, important art form and that issued it with only a decorative functionin theatre and films. The management wanted the girls exposed as much aspossible, face front always, bosom bared, legs just visible to the waist, DeMille recalls (14). As she refused to conform exactly, wanting her owncreative input, she was fired with one word, before her choreography was rippedto shreds. Without the security of Equity many of the dancers and actors werefired without warning as the Business Manager exacted his vision of abosoms-and-legs chorus-line extravaganza. At this time on Broadway dances, attheir best, were slick and well-formed, but with no great moments of dramaticrevelation (15). When De Mille returned to Broadway some years later she wasto dramatically change this notion.

In1940 Ballet Theatre was formed and De Mille was invited to become one of thechoreographers, on the understanding that she was not to dance herself. It wasa highly creative time for De Mille and she was able to work with some of thefinest dancers and choreographers of the time. It was at Ballet Theatre thatDe Mille created her first ballet, Black Ritual, a controversial piecewith black dancers; the first time this had ever been attempted by a seriousballet company. Having had only brief and frenzied flurries with commercialtroupes of mixed prostitutes and chorus dancers she had not had the experienceof setting a schedule of choreographing and rehearsing and was extremelynervous. Her dancers did not help matters by being consistently late and byarriving unprepared. The ballet was not received well but shortly after shewas hired by a successful booking manager for a national tour. De Mille andher dancers prepared for the tour through blood, sweat and tears but it was atotal success, and De Mille discovered something vital: although the managersmay not, the public liked and appreciated her work.

Notlong after returning to New York, De Mille was asked by Ballet Theatre tocreate Three Virgins and a Devil, which was a huge hit and dA©buted theyoung Jerome Robbins. In 1942 she was commissioned to create a ballet for theBallet Russe de Monte Carlo. She extended a piece she had partly choreographedyears earlier, and Rodeo was the result. The ballet formed the basisfor a uniquely American dance style, using folk themes, tap dance andenergetic, fast-paced movements, capturing the essence of a cowboy’s manner.Teaching male dancers who were used to the precision and elegance of balletproved to be difficult so De Mille resorted to acting lessons to help herdancers find their characters. She wanted them to be cowboys; shewanted them to communicate dramatic meaning. Come opening night they wereprepared and the audience adored them. De Mille had created an entirely newand exciting dance style; it was the first of its kind, and the moment wasquick with birth (16). De Mille successfully turned ballet into musicalcomedy, and gave the form real energy and gusto, with movements never beforeseen in this very precise of dance forms.

Wehad breached the bulwarks De Mille exclaims in Dance to the Piper (17).She, with a few choreographers before her, had created a new tradition, onewith a different root impulse to traditional ballet. She asserts that tocreate a style that truly differs from ballet one must base that style onanother technique. De Mille integrated folk dances into her work, withoutlowering the performances to comedy caricatures. Her work, like that of fellowchoreographer Anthony Tudor, conveyed theatrical meaning through dance steps;the line between actor and dancer was blurred. Rather than dancers usingtraditional technique and performing well-known steps, where the human bodiesare used merely as units of design, grouped, lumped, and directed intopredetermined masses, De Mille strove for originality and dramaticcommunication in her choreography. She writes of Tudor’s work;

Tudordeveloped the story-telling quality of his choreography to such a degree thateach gesture, formed out of the emotional components of the moment, is almostas explicit as though the dancers spoke. The new choreography does not arrangeold steps into new patterns; the emotion evolves steps, gestures, and rhythms. (18)

Reading De Mille’sexplanation of her method for creating dance in Dance to the Piper, oneis reminded of a director beginning to stage a play. She spends much time oncharacterisation; finding the right gestures and stance for each character actsas a stimulus for the choreographic process (19). De Mille did not createimpersonal dancers but characters acting out, through dance, a story.

Fromthe success of Rodeo, as well as for its all-American style and theme,De Mille was asked by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein to choreographdances for their new production, Oklahoma! De Mille knew the projectwas going to be difficult as, unlike ballet where the choreographer is themaster and ruler of the show, many elements other than dance contribute to formmusical theatre. The performers must take direction from the director, thecomposer, the author of the book, and the producer. The dance director gotlittle say in the arrangement. Singing and acting were the main components inmusical theatre at the time; dance was merely for decoration. When casting thedancers, De Mille insisted on talent and personality, Rodgers wanted faces,although his idea of a face had frequently to do with the character in it,but Mamoulian, the director, wanted slim legs above all (20). It was assumedthat the public, also, were far more interested in the singing and the dramathan the dancing. The numbers of dances were therefore limited. De Milleinsisted, however, that every dancer was hired for just one reason – that heor she was the best available performer for the role (21). She did not cavein to the whim of the director; she wanted her dancers to be seriousprofessionals, and Rodgers agreed. Once, during rehearsals, a note was playedout of tune and one of the chorus’ faces winced with pain, but it was notannoyance or amusement, it was agonised concern. When Rodgers saw herexpression – one he had never seen cross a chorus girl’s face – he realisedthat responsible artists had entered the ranks (22). The chorus dancers wereno longer pretty faces, good legs but nothing between the ears; everyperformer, including the dancers, knew their craft. Another difficulty DeMille would have was that the dances would have to be created from the impetusof the book, they would have to build the author’s line and develop his action(23), rather than being created from scratch from characters developed by her.De Mille was also faced with the problem of swiftly travelling from dialogue,to song, to dance, and back to dialogue again without it looking farcical. Asthe choreographer she was going to have to learn surgery, to graft and splice(23).

DeMille achieved all this and more. She succeeded in elevating her role aschoreographer to that of equal importance with the playwright, the composer andthe lyricist, and she did what no choreographer had successfully done before -she integrated the ballets into the story. Her dancers were not merelydecoration but characters, and she worked with them to achieve depth ofcharacter, motivation and emotion. Dancers could no longer project theirpersonal response to a piece of music. They needed to move as the charactersthey were portraying. Their reactions, their facial expressions, all needed tofurther the audience’s understanding of their character. This requiredin-depth script readings and analysis of character motivations, just as adirector would insist on for his or her actors. De Mille realised that this canreally help the dancer. Whereas in ballet the dancer has to rely on what theyfeel to give the dance energy and dynamism, they now had the singing and actingto give them background and motivation to help give their dancing, as thesecharacters, expressive movement (24). If the role of dance in Oklahoma!was to communicate dramatic meaning to the audience, and to further the plot,the dancer had to become the character, and know it inside-out.

AsDe Mille herself notes, it was Anthony Tudor who first shocked audiences intoviewing a ballet dancer as an individual capable of dramatic communicationthrough her body, by clothing them in long Edwardian dresses (25). No longerwas the ballet dancer the stylised, typical image that made it acceptable forwomen to bare their legs and arms and wrap their limbs around a man. She wasnow familiar; like their mothers and aunties. They could now communicate humantruths and take part in the telling of a story. Dressed as the characters of aSouth-western town, rather than tights and a tutu, the audience was able to seethe dancers as humans with a story to tell.

Thecrowning glory of De Mille’s choreography on Oklahoma! was without doubtthe dream-ballet which occurs at the end of Act 1. With this De Milleexperimented with something entirely new in musical theatre, and for many yearsto come barely a musical was made without it containing a dream ballet. Inthis extended ballet Laurie acts out her quandary through dance; a highlyimaginative method of moving the story forward. Dance was inextricably boundto the plot of the musical. Whereas in previous musicals dance was merely aside entertainment and could be cut without the story losing any of itsmeaning, one could not take the dream ballet out of Oklahoma! withoutruining the plot. By using dance the thoughts and feelings in the mind and theheart of Laurie could be conveyed and explored far more effectively thanthrough straight dialogue. The dances were intended to strengthen theaudience’s understanding of the characters and further the plot, as well ascomplement the lyrics and the dialogue, and it worked. Now, as well as singingand acting, dancing added to the dramatic impact of the musical on theaudience.

AsKislan notes, dance also adds to the important theme of open space in Oklahoma.It is the guiding metaphor for the promise of the American Dream and thelimitless opportunities for the ‘brand new state’ the lovers are destined tolive in (26). The audience is always aware of the physical space on stage asthe dancers never seem crowded, no matter how many occupy the space. In thedream ballet Curly lifts Laurie up in the air, reaching for the sky, and theballetic style danced in constantly opens the body up, extending arms and legsto give the impression of limitless space. In Dance to the Piper DeMille writes of the sense of space ballet dancers work with; Every joint andsinew is pulled long, the arms are wide and free the stretching up and out,the liberating jump, the racing over and away from the earth (27). Thefeeling of space conveyed on stage through dance complements the songs, withlyrics such as plenty of room to swing a rope/plenty of heart and plenty ofhope (28).

Atlast dance as more than an accessory, but as a serious art form, had arrivedonto the popular stage, and the audience were roaring. They were howling.People hadn’t seen girls and boys dance like this in so long. Of course, theyhad been dancing like this, but not just where this audience could see them(29). Perhaps the most important accomplishment for dance in Oklahoma!was that De Mille was a choreographer on the show, not a dance director. Thedifference being that dance directors worked for audience approval;choreographers work for audience enlightenment (30). Her dances were integralto the story – they added and enlightened rather than decorated. This was anew role for dance in musical theatre.

DeMille went on to choreograph the dances for many more Broadway musicals in the1940s and 1950s, including One Touch of Venus in 1943, Carousel in 1945, Brigadoon in1947, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949, and Paint Your Wagon in1951. Tally-Ho(1944) and FallRiver Legend (1948) provided her with the opportunity to further herrevolutionary style. She continued to cast dancers that were skilled at projectingcharacter as well as performing the correct steps. Kislan records that dancersthat worked with De Mille have testified to her fantastic ability to sense eventhe smallest dramatic quality in their dancing, and, together, manage to set itfree and integrate it into the choreography so that the dance is alwaysexpressive of the drama (31).

De Mille was still responsible to the director, the lyricist andthe author of the book though. Her choreography had to fit the other elementsof the musical, and dance was often of secondary importance to those elements.Choreographers such as Jerome Robbins were to change the role of thechoreographer, and thus the role of dance in musical theatre, forever. Banishedwas the mindless aesthetics that enslaved dance to the colossal, opulent, andlavish needs of the producer, the star, or the specialty act (32). Dance wasto be given the highest status of the production. The choreographer was torule the show. Indeed, the choreographer would no longer be merely the dancecreator, but the director-choreographer; the dance-director follows, thechoreographer adapts, but the director-choreographer leads (32). JeromeRobbins was a pioneer of this change in status for the role of dance in musicaltheatre.

Jerome Robbins

Robbinswas born into a devoutly Jewish family in 1918, but resented being Jewish, withits conservatism and old ways. His large family, however, provided him withmany theatrical contacts and influences. His uncle, Jack Silverman, startedout as a ballroom dancer with the two men he was living with, Bing Crosby andGeorge Raft. Edward G. Robinson was also related, and another of Robbins’uncles, Daniel Davenport, owned a chain of vaudeville and burlesque theatres.Davenport’s father and his brother performed on the vaudeville circuit underthe name of the Davenport Brothers, staging acrobatic acts. It is to this partof the family that Robbins owes his zest for vaudeville-comedy.

Robbins’parents ensured that both their children were educated in the arts, and this iswhere Jerome shone. He saw it as an escape route, a way by which he could haveaccess to the possibilities which lay beyond his community; When I was a childart seemed like a tunnel to me. At the end of that tunnel, I could see lightwhere the world opened up, waiting for me (33). Both he and his sister,Sonia, were strongly encouraged by their mother to aspire to the stage. Soniatook dance lessons and Jerome music lessons, and by the time he was three and ahalf he was composing pieces and giving recitals on the piano. Indeed, heexcelled in anything creative that he tried, but admitted that this wasbecause, the only world that was really exciting for me was the world in whichI could make believe that things were not the way they were (33). The worldof musical theatre was therefore the perfect world for him, later, to live in.

Robbinshad to keep his love of dance a secret from his parents, especially his father,and his school friends, who were all into sports. As his sister danced her wayinto the spotlight Jerome was left practicing in private, often with the helpof Sonia. At the Weehawken schools he attended Robbins performed in manyschool plays, but it was at his summer camps that he fell in love with Gilbertand Sullivan musicals, and played the comic leads in HMS Pinafore, TheMikado, and Pirates of Penzance. Jerome’s knack for comedy was madeevident through his performances in these roles. A fellow camper latercommented, Jerry had a tremendous sense of humour in everything he did (34).He still kept his dancing a secret though. At one parent’s day at the camphowever, Robbins performed a dance on the table-tennis table and, as anothercamper remembers, had the adults in tears. Furthermore, This was a bigaudience and he was completely uninhibited (34).

Robbinseventually took dance lessons with Sonia’s dance teacher in modern dance, theform that was the emerging trend in the Depression years of the 1930s, whenpeople wanted a dance form that could more readily express the social realismsof the time than could ballet. Jerome witnessed many pioneering greats of thedance stage, such as Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, and Doris Humphrey, but in1932 he was to meet the man he would later call his ‘guru’, Gluck Sandor (35).Sandor directed, choreographed and danced in many of the productions staged atthe Dance Centre, at which Sonia danced. He worked in vaudeville and onBroadway in the 1920s and was a tremendously expressive dancer, manipulatingevery gesture for dramatic effect, which was to a have profound influence onRobbins’ future work. As Robbins himself has cited, We dancers were taught toperform with the concentration of an actor (36). Anzia Kubicek, a dancer,remembers that Sandor, preferred to do things with a story line hisimagination would just go a mile a minute, and he worked with the bodies he hadto work with, which were sometimes very limited (37). Robbins would work withboth principles in his choreography, starting with a story from which hisdancers could develop their characters, and therefore their movements.

Aftergraduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1935 Robbins entered New YorkUniversity to study Chemistry, but in his second year his father’s corsetbusiness was in danger of going bankrupt and he could no longer fullyfinancially support Jerome’s education. Jerome was by this point desperate todrop out and follow his dream of becoming a professional dancer and, throughhis sister, he managed to successfully audition for an apprenticeship withSandor’s company. With the help of Sandor, Jerome convinced his parents tolet him try to make it as dancer, and he left the university. Sandor persuadedan unconvinced Robbins to concentrate on ballet rather than modern dance but itwasn’t until he saw Alexandra Danilova perform with the Ballet Russes that Robbinsagreed that ballet held many opportunities for him. Jerome progressed quicklyand Sandor recognised him as a natural dancer, recalling years later;

Oncehe saw something, he could do it backward. Before I would do a thing he had it.He could anticipate what was to come. He was sensitive and he was musical. (38)

In1937 Robbins secured his first part in The Brothers Ashkenazi, whichintensified his passion for the theatre. Throughout its run he would practiceon the barre, much to the bewilderment of the Yiddish cast of the play. Hisfellow performers recall him constantly dancing (39). After two years trainingat the Dance Centre, and having procured roles in various plays, Robbins leftthe company in search of more commercial work. He found work in the chorus ofa number of musicals which, in the thirties, were largely comic. AlthoughRobbins went on to choreograph and dance in such musicals, he also wanted totake the medium further, and use musical theatre as a vehicle for explorationinto the human psyche. He would later say, Musicals tend to be facetious. Noone has ever used them as a medium to depict deep personal struggle, and Ithink this can be done (40). He would go on to do just that.

Aswell as his brief encounters with Broadway, in the summer of 1937 Robbins startedworking as part of the entertainment staff at Camp Tamiment, a summer job hewould have for five years. The resort played host to many up-and-comingtalents, such as Danny Kaye, Imogene Coca, and Carol Channing. It was avirtual breeding ground for musicians, comedians, singers and dancers. Robbinschoreographed and danced in many of the performances held in the social hall.It was a very creative atmosphere, with new productions performed every week.Max Lieberman, director of the entertainment program at Tamiment, strove forBroadway-quality pieces, and with only a week to create and rehearse each one,ideas had to flow. Robbins’ work was of two extremes; burlesque sketches onthe one hand and socially serious dramatic dances such as Strange Fruit andDeath of a Loyalist on the other. Some of his pieces were performed atthe 92^nd Street YMHA, under the auspices of the Theatre ArtsCommittee, as well as in the Straw Hat Revue, which Tamiment opened onBroadway in 1939. The revue was an amalgamation of many of the sketchesperformed at that summer’s camp but, due to the sensitive atmosphere followingthe outbreak of war in Europe, they were only allowed to include the comedysketches. Robbins suffered a huge blow to his ego when Jerome Andrews, who hadbeen brought in by the backers to supervise the dances, was given sole crediton the billing for the choreography. It did however give him a determinationto be wholly in charge of

After reading and researching into Raymond William’s quotation, this essay will produce the main outlines of the naturalistic movement within Theatre and how important it is in modern day society. The main outlines discussed in this essay are the social and technological change after the Restoration period, what is the content of naturalistic plays, the audience’s response to naturalism and its future development and dominance within society today. At the end of the nineteenth centaury, naturalism became a revolt against previous conventions of theatre, and it strived to destroy everything the world thought was true; naturalism was the revolution of man. However, prior to this was both the Renaissance and Restoration periods; these both had a considerable impact on theatre. This essay will argue that without these generations of theatre, Naturalism could not of developed.

The Renaissance period held Elizabethan Theatre, which composed of the most famous playwright even today, William Shakespeare however considered to being Shakespeare’s superior was Christopher Marlowe who was another successful playwright within the sixteenth centaury. The early plays of this period were performed almost anywhere, mainly courtyards and Inns. During the end of the sixteenth century, performances eventually advanced into being presented in established Theatres, as we know them today; the most famous of these early buildings being the Globe:

“This entailed daytime performances without lights or a stage curtain and very few, if any, props, thought the actors were dressed in rich costumes. There were no scene changes in the modern sense and the action moved fluidly from one scene to the next without an apparent break.” (The Routledge history of literature in English: Britain and Ireland, 2001, p67)

This contrasts competently to the major outlines of the naturalism movement, without the technological change of lighting through the nineteenth century naturalistic theatre would not have been possible to convey on stage. Before gas lighting and the limelight, the only light used with indoor theatres was candlelight, however many performances were presented outdoors in the daylight. Using only candlelight indoors would make it impossible to portray naturalism on stage. Another clear difference to where theatrical naturalism progressed from Renaissance theatre is through scenery and props. The Elizabethan’s used as little props as possible and relied on backdrops to convey a sense of place, however naturalistic theatre moved from backdrops to three-dimensional scenery and highlighted props as being highly important to make the space look real and lived in:

“August Strindberg, in his preface to Miss Julie, complained of canvas walls that shook when doors were slammed, and painted pots and pans on the walls instead of real ones.” (The Cambridge guide to Theatre, 1995, p1096)

Thus suggesting that when the curtains opened to these detailed naturalistic sets Strindberg wanted a reaction to occur from the middle class audience as it reflects their homes; the use of canvas’ within naturalistic performances wouldn’t have given the audience anything to relate to.

Another major contribution to the movement of Naturalism is the role of women. During the Renaissance period, it was unheard of for a woman to perform professionally on stage alongside men; young adolescent men would perform women’s roles. Conversely, during the late seventeenth century, the beginning of the Restoration Period, Women began to act professionally in Theatres; without women performing on stage, naturalism could not have taken place.

Another contrast before naturalism, is the restoration’s Pantomime’s and Melodrama’s, these two genres are both established by stereotypical characters with exaggerated emotions. Pantomimes were hugely associated with cross-dressing and stock characters, singing songs and breaking down the fourth wall by talking to the audience. Melodramas were publicly taken more seriously although they to included stock characters and songs; naturalism advances away from these exaggerated performances and developed characters on stage. Characters were becoming more naturalistic, psychologically complex and were people the middle class audience could relate.

However, it was not only the transition through the Renaissance and Restoration period creating Naturalism, but the influence of science and scientists:

“Its origin owes much to Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, based in turn on his theory of natural selection. Darwin created context that made naturalism – with its emphasis upon theories of heredity and environment – a convincing way to explain the nature of reality for the late nineteenth century.” (The Cambridge companion to American realism and naturalism: Howells to London, 1995, P47)

Science explains human behaviour and this is why Darwin’s evolutionary theories are a big influence on Naturalism; his theories determine someone’s character through social environment and heredity. Sigmund Freud was also another influence of Naturalism; his studies excogitate human psychological behaviour and how humans function. Karl Marx also had an input to the movement; his studies were the economical and industrial analysis on society. Without these theories characters could not have developed in Naturalistic plays being written as well as performed.

Naturalism became an atheistic revolt against previous theatre conventions; plays and performances contrasted from Renaissance and Restoration where they were solely devout, to being irreligious in the late nineteenth century. Naturalism sought to abolish what society believed and changed the revolution of man, society and morals. The four acknowledged playwrights who determined and developed theatrical naturalism are Henrik Isben, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg and Emile Zola (Who was also a well established novelist in naturalistic literacy). Constantin Stanislavski helped intensify and direct these plays so the audience would encounter lifelike productions on stage. These distinguished playwrights composed scripts would consist of particular attributes. The first feature of these plays this essay is going to elaborate on is the use of contemporary issues within these naturalistic pieces such as contraception, women’s rights, adultery, and sexual diseases, the key issue however is female identity within society. One clear example of this feature exists in Strindberg’s preface to Miss Julie where he outlines his ideas for his play:

“The passionate character of her mother; the upbringing misguidedly inflicted on her by her father; her own character; and the suggestive effect of her fiance upon her weak and degenerated brain.” (Miss Julie, 2006, Preface Ixxxix)

The main theme of this play is the degeneration of women, and throughout the play, we see the different beliefs Miss Julie’s parents brought upon her upbringing and how they have torn her apart to being psychologically distracted. Her mother who was a highly obsessive feminist believing in equality between men and women and opposingly her father who brought her upon his own beliefs that women and men are not equal, that women are lower than men. Through the influence of Sigmund Freud and Darwin, Strindberg had a high interest in human psychology and evolutionary history; the scientific research on humans is another clear feature within naturalistic plays. Two relevant psychological paths are relevant to Miss Julie that are relevant to when Strindberg wrote this play, hysteria and feminine masochism. Women throughout this movement were being represented in a much different manner than during Restoration period; women became considered as sexually assertive and independent. Miss Julie is clearly both sexually assertive and independent to a certain extent but she is psychologically preoccupied. With this, it is apparent to say that all naturalistic pieces of theatre include psychologically complex characters, which the actors themselves are required to understand. The actors performing naturalistic plays would have researched through subtext and the text to find out who their characters are and how they can run the character through their own emotions. Stanislavski had an acknowledged impact of directing the actors through the Stanislavski system whilst producing naturalistic plays:

“While he himself was often at pains to demonstrate that his system was not limited to naturalistic plays, Stanislavski’s theory and practice clearly articulated a response to the development of naturalism as a major movement in Western drama.” (The purpose of playing: modern acting theories in perspective, 2006, p37)

Gordon expresses that Stanislavski’s theories linked and worked better with naturalism, and through his methods, he helped to influence the naturalism movement.

Another feature of naturalistic theatre is the detail of sets, each of the playwrights set out to mirroring the bourgeoisie audience; as noted earlier on in the essay, the sets were to be three-dimensional without the use of painted backcloths. The directions for how the set is to be on each scene is outlined with as much detail as possible within the scripts:

“A large kitchen, the roof and side walls of which are concealed by drapes and borders. The rear wall rises at an angle from the left; on it, to the left are two shelves with utensils of copper, iron and pewter.” (Miss Julie, 2006, p3)

It is clear to see from the beginning of a very long detailed extract on the stage setting that everything has to be as it is written in the script. Strindberg would not have written such detailed descriptions of the scenery if he had no reason, and his reason was to represent and mirror the middle class audiences homes. He directly points to which materials should be used and how things are arranged on the stage; these props are meant to be there to make the life on stage as real as possible creating a tangible presence for the audience to watch.

The bourgeoisie audience were middle or merchant class people known for their ownership of capital and related culture; they benefited out of capitalism. Naturalistic plays sought to mirror the bourgeoisie’s lives and homes on stage; capitalism became scrutinized. These audiences contrasted highly to the classical audiences of the Renaissance and Restoration theatre, the audiences became silent, as conventionally they would be today; there was no more booing and hissing within the audiences. Another attribute to the social classes within theatrical naturalism was the lower working class and social outcasts becoming the protagonists thus moving away from the aristocrat protagonists of classical drama. This can be argued in Miss Julie, as there are two protagonists both from different social backgrounds, the two being Miss Julie who is an aristocrat and Jean who is a lower class servant; despite their social status’, they are both outcasts. When it comes to morality Jean is Julie’s superior as he is a man and she is a degenerated woman.

There is also a clear theme of family life; there was more emphasis on family than the wider society and characters were individualised and shown in their social and economical contexts. Miss Julie again clearly represents those naturalistic attributes and themes:

“There have been many family tragedies, and Julie is the Count’s only heir; the family name will die with her.” (Strindberg and the poetry of myth, 1982, p71)

This suggests that there is no males in this play that control family life, and the family’s fate is down to Julie. From this also arises the theme of female identity in society once again, and dramatises the deterioration of men as a dominating figure of society as well as their authority in the home.

There have been playwrights and practitioners who have criticized naturalism, one of the most famous being Bertolt Brecht who has formed the practice of epic theatre. He disagreed with the illusion of reality on stage and he disliked Stanislavski’s practices of staying close to the characters on stage in order to represent real life, and through his own theory, he believed in distancing the actor from the character using the verfremdungseffekt.

Even in today’s society, naturalism throughout the arts is still used vastly. Playwrights are still producing naturalistic performances, for stage, film and television. Raymond Williams quotation explores the main outlines of naturalism and through researching this I have discovered that before the naturalism movement there was minimal or no attempt to show a sense of place on stage or any development of character; Naturalism sought to explore what was real, real characters, real homes, real life.

I choose the musical Cabaret as it is a very powerful story, set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis were rising to power; it focuses on different controversial issues of its time period. A number of issues are explored throughout the unfolding story of the cabaret such as sexual freedom, politics and anti-semitism

I feel audiences will be attracted to this Musical because of its powerful lyrics and storyline, in particular, the two love stories: Cliff Bradshaw and Sally Bowles; Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, and the way the different characters are portrayed in the musical.

2. Text: What are the ideas the playwright/ librettist is trying to express? What is the relevance of the musical to contemporary Australian audiences?

The romantic love stories of two couples and the impact society has on their relationships: the story of a young English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her relationship with the young American writer Cliff Bradshaw; and the other story of a German boarding house owner Fraulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Both relationships are doomed to failure.

The musical is very relevant to contemporary Australian audiences

Audience will want to see this production, not only does it have excellent music but it portrays some very strong controversial issue of the time period. These issues are still present in our time. It is also important that we as Australians are reminded of the historical past and what we can learn to fight intolerance.

3. Costume, Sets and Props: What requirements are there in each of these areas?

Costume

Emcee wearing a long black leather coat and boots, eyes highlighted with blue eye shadow, lips coloured blood red, bowtie attached to parachute harness

Each cabaret girl to portray a distinct personality need to sing, dance, act and play musical instrument, they do not have to look spectacular, look like scanky low class girls. Cabaret girls wear scant lacy undergarments with holes and ladders in the stockings. The figures onstage look ghoulish.

Sally Bowles various – refer to photograph images below:

Ernst Ludwig dressed in trench coat in Act 1, Scene 2, and brown suite, etc.

Cliff Bradshaw dressed in woollen suit and vest + tie.

Herr Schultz -see photograph images below

Fraulein Schneider -see photograph images below

Fraulein Kost -see photograph images below

Sets

Act 1 Scene 1: Cabaret Scene – Broken light bulbs surrounding stage – see model.

Act 1 Scene 2: Train Carriage – Front of stage

Act 1 Scene 3: Fraulein Schneider Boarding House – Backdrop of 3 doors – with light fixture dropped from ceiling, see model.

Act 1 Scene 4: Cabaret Scene – Kit Kat Klub – full stage

Act 1 Scene 5: Cabaret Scene – Kit Kat Klub near spiral staircase – Sally’s dressing room

Act 1 Scene 6: Cliff’s room -backdrop of 3 doors – left side of stage

Act 1 Scene 7: Cabaret Scene – full stage again, focus on kit kat klub

Act 1 Scene 8: Living Room of Fraulein Schneider’s boarding house – right side of stage

Act 1 Scene 9: Front of Stage

Act 1 Scene 10: Cliff’s room -backdrop of 3 doors – left side of stage

Act 1 Scene 11: Living Room of Fraulein Schneider’s boarding house – right side of stage

Act 1 Scene 12: The Fruit Shop – window suspended

Act 2 Scene 1: Cabaret Scene

Act 2 Scene 2: The Fruit Shop

Act 2 Scene 3: Front of Stage

Act 2 Scene 4: Cliff’s room -backdrop of 3 doors – left side of stage

Act 2 Scene 5: Cabaret Scene – Kit Kat Klub

Act 2 Scene 6: Cliff’s room -backdrop of 3 doors – left side of stage

Act 2 Scene 7: Railway Station / Cabaret Scene

Props

Optional – 6 tables with telephones in cabaret scene

Train carriage bench seat or 3 chairs

Brown suitcase x 2

Black briefcase

Typewriter and case

Newspaper

Table or large trunk and 2 chairs

Optional – dressing table, mirror to one side near stage left spiral staircase front of stage

Suitcase (Sally) + 3 more

Sally wearing fur coat

6 chairs. Girls dance on them for caberet scene

Brown paper bag containing pineapple

Small wind-up gramophone

Table and 2 chairs

Bottle of Gin + 2 glass

Large gift-wrapped package

Envelope with money

Box containing fruit bowl

Suitcase (Schultz)

4. Briefly outline how lighting and sound will contribute to your production. Prepare a list of the sound and light effects you would like and indicate when they occur in the production.

Lighting Design –

A single normal house bayonet light hanging down in the centre of stage, this would be used for a symbolism of inside a room and the lighting which would normally illuminate the room.

For this musical, the lighting design will have to be very carefully planned, in terms of position such as, angles and thrust distance. As well as fixture selection taking into consideration the physical characteristics such as beam size, wattage, luminosity, fixture type, etc.

To light this stage effectively the stage will be broken up into a grid and each part of the stage will be illuminated

I would like to use intelligent fixtures with conventional fixtures. The intelligent fixtures would be great for scenes like the Kit Kat Club as this scene depends on colours and shadows to give the audience the right illusion of a seedy night club. Also, the beam of an intelligent fixture is quite sharp and doesn’t really produce much spill on stage so it would be fantastic for solo spots.

I would incorporate the use of follow spots, as I would like to keep the show in its traditional form and in keeping with the historical context. Follow spots are good for things like the Emcee as he moves around the stage.

For the cabaret scenes, use of deep blues, purples and pinks colours silhouetting the Kit Kat Club girls on stage. Lightings surrounding the stage and suspended window, door arches (e.g. I have included photos from previous shows I have designed to illustrate my ideas – see at the end of this report), and the second stage level floor will be bordered with festoon lights. These lights can then be chased. I want to portray a very dingy, run down club where some of the globes will be broken or missing, at the same time as the girls on stage will look sexy, as well as giving the set a very seedy appearance.

There are three main different sets common in this production: train scene, inside Fraulein Schneider’s boarding house, and inside the Kit Kat Klub. Each one of these different sets has a different appearance where the lighting is used to highlight and mark the difference to the set. For the train scenes, the lighting on stage will be focused mainly in front of the proscenium line with the rest of the stage in darkness. The colours used for this particular scene will consist of open white, fixtures will not be at full intensity as I want to achieve a dull Tuscan amber appearance. Lighting in the train carriage is not really bright and the majority of the light source will be coming from windows letting in the outside light from outside lights.

The second set scene is inside Fraulein Schneider’s boarding house – the lighting will be very much the same as in the first scene inside the train carriage. However, more of the stage will be lit, up to the back walls revealing three doors. Top level of the set remains in darkness as it is for the cabaret scenes for the Kit Kat Klub. There will be at least 3 hot spots for the boarding house scene where both Cliff and Fraulein Schneider move in most of the scenes. These hot spots will be located along the front proscenium line along the edge of the stage, and 3 lighting hotspots along in front of each door. Colours used will remain dim; most of the light on stage will look like its coming from the one hanging lighting batten as a light fixture which is incorporated into the set. The lighting will aim to show an old run-down boarding house where maintenance has been neglected.

The final set is inside the Kit Kat Klub, the entire stage will be washed in purples, pinks, reds, blues and a bit of white thrusters to illuminate faces. The scene is set in a seedy and dirty-looking night club. For the lighting of this scene I want the lighting to cast a silhouette effect on the girls dancing for the cabaret numbers. As the music changes and different scenes are set in different parts of the Kit Kat Klub the lighting changes with the mood. The majority of the lighting for these scenes will be coming from sources side, top, and behind of stage. The lighting creates a powerful perspective illustrating the emotions portrayed on stage. An effect only seen when we are inside the Kit Kat Klub is the festoon lights surrounding the edges of the stage and the suspended mirror in the backdrop of the set. When inside the Kit Kat Klub these lights are just on still, but when during song numbers these lights will be chasing forward, the classic Broadway lighting effect.

Main actors will be lit with use of the follow spot, the rest will remain in silhouette.

Sound Design –

All the music for the songs would be performed live by the band/orchestra which I intend to incorporate into the production by having them seen by the audience and positioned in acting blocked areas – framed upstairs in the suspended picture frame.

Various sound effects will be used to help portray to the audience realism. For Act 1 Scene 2 Cliff is on a train to Berlin – a screeching sound effect of a steam train travelling is used as background sound as if they are actually in a train carriage. To mark the opening of scene 2, a train whistle sound effect is used. Another effect used is of a crashing symbol to mark the change of scene. A sound effect used for act one scene 9, is of a voice of a young boy singing beautifully and the sound of a steam train in the background. Another sound effect is of a window shattering to mark the end of Act 2 scene 2.

5. Characters and actors: what kind of people are the characters of the musical? In what kind of world do they exist? If you had complete freedom of choice, what actors would you cast in your production?

Emcee

Sally Bowles

Cliff Bradshaw

Fraulein Schneider

Herr Schultz

Fraulein Kost

Ernst Ludwig is a member of the Nazi Party and befriends Cliff

Cabaret Girls

Cabaret Boys are homosexual and work at the Kit Kat Klub

6. How many production crew/ staff are required to stage this production (during the season – ignore pre-production)? Draw up a running crew list, with a description of what each person will be responsible for.

Title

Quantity

Description of responsibility

S7tage manager

1

Production week

ensure all set building, lighting equipment, props, costumes, furniture and equipment ready.

Do cue sheets, prop settings and running order

Prepare assistant stage managers running plot

Do lighting and sound synopsis

Organise time fro technical rehearsal and dress rehearsal

At technical rehearsal, make all final checks and discuss all effects with Director

Time cues and calls in prompt book

Finalize all elements of prompt book

Attend dress rehearsal and note any problems.

First night and performance run

– Check everything

– Remain calm

– Reset play after performances

– Give calls and check all actors and crew present

– Liaise with front of house staff

– Note any alterations or repairs necessary.

Lighting Designer

1

Rehearsal: Go though the musical scene-by-scene with the Director to plan precise lighting details.

Work out presets and cues and help stage manager to mark the prompt book

Buy or hire equipment as needed

Work out a lighting synopsis with the stage manager

Production week: Rig and focus lighting fixtures

Attend technical rehearsal and test lighting and solve problems

Make final adjustments and prepare controls

Lighting Operator

1

Program lighting cues as discussed during rehearsals with stage manager and director.

Attend technical and dress rehearsals.

Fix any problems with lighting designer.

Assist with lighting designer with making final adjustments.

Makes sure has all cues written in script

Operate the lighting console for the session

Sound Engineer/ operator

2

Attend Production meetings and rehearsals

Research, planning and purchasing sound effects recordings, equipment, supplies

Met with Director

Hire and rig sound equipment

Sound plot, mark in script with Director

Attend final dress and technical rehearsals

Operate the sound console for the session

Orchestra

8 – 12

Rehearsal all music parts from the score with all members of the orchestra

Conductor meets with director, stage manager and sound engineer to discuss cues for lead in and out. Organise the running of the show

Attend all shows of the session,

Stage Hands

4-6

Assist the stage manager.

Move props and set pieces around the stage for each scene change.

Organise the actors and escort and cues actors to when to come onto stage and off.

Director

1

Is to organise and meet with every department to ensure that everyone is ready for the upcoming session week leading up to the opening night

Polish final rehearsals.

Make sure all problems have been solved before show commences.

Attend light and sound plotting sessions

Attend all rehearsal leading up to the show discuss notes.

Set Designer

2

Attend Dress And Technical Rehearsals

Make minor alterations

Load in the set and help with the construction

Supervise the Set Builders.

Organise props

Make notes of any problems in the last rehearsals leading up to opening night

Make sure all props and sets have been finished been built and ready to be put in place on stage

Transport set from work shop to theatre venue

Costume Designer

And makeup artist

6

Check all costumes are finished

Make sure any last minute orders have arrived ready in time for opening night, eg wigs

Attend all rehearsals leading up to show opening

Have all actors in costume for the dress rehearsals

Check make up, and add suggestions to individual makeup artist, check how all actors look on stage.

Administration

10-12

Organise the box office

Sell tickets

Work in FOH; sales, bar, ushering

Organise and arrange FOH displays,

Print Programs

Look after the audience.

Organise the theatre ready for the audience members

Attend final rehearsals

Set Builder

6

Install the set

Repair any wear and tear damagers

Fix all the minor details and finishing touches to the set.

Paint the set

Assist the set designer

7. Design: How would you describe the imaginative world of the musical? What is its Location? What is the period of your production?

The period of this production is set in Pre-World War Two – 1930’s in Berlin, the capital city of Germany.

This should be a minimum of 300 words, and rather than giving a synopsis of the productions. Should give an understanding of what you liked about it – why it inspired you. It should be a personal response to the production, and should at least touch on how the technical elements of the production supported the narrative.

Wicked

My experience in theatre has been with amateur productions – it was exciting to see a professional show of the magnitude of Wicked. The stage for Wicked was imaginative and impressive. The lighting in Wicked was particularly inspiring and I could easily make connections to my past lighting experience such as in Wizard of Oz, an amateur production I was involved in with a similar storyline. I can see how aspects of Wicked could be incorporated into the Wizard of Oz production to make it more professional.

Special effects were projected throughout the production to add to the set and properties, to portray illusions into the audience. The image of Glinda opening entrance when she descended in a bubble onto the stage was fabulous. Another example was seen in the creating of rain. I was awed by the lighting effects produced by the projectors to create the backdrop of the magical green sparkle on the backdrop of the map of Oz which was seen as the opening and closing of the production.

In the final scene in Act one – during the song ‘Defining Gravity’, Glinda is singing about her feelings of being scared, after she was tricked by the wizard to use her magical powers to turn the talking monkey into an evil flying monkey unable to talk. She uses her flying broom stick to escape, I was inspired by the lighting as it was used in a dramatic way as she rises into the air, use of prism scattered gobos in all 5 intelligent fixtures focuses on her as she ascended into the sky, creating a powerful silhouette of colour and rays of light in all directions, ending in a quick blackout to end the song a very powerful ending using the lighting.

The use of lighting elements such as colours to create mood, gobos to add patterns and shapes allows the audience to move from reality to the imaginary world of Oz. In Wicked the attention to detail was very obvious. The use of fairy lights built into the set and the use of tracks to move sets on and off stage was amazing and resulted in an impressive production. My goal is to produce theatre as amazing and as professional as what I saw in this production especially in lighting and sound.

Discuss how the choreography of Martha Graham or Merce Cunningham reflected the changing contexts in which her/his work was produced.

Martha Graham (1894-1991) was a truly inspirational and revolutionary performer and choreographer throughout the 20th century. Her work was a great influence to people from all aspects of the arts, from famous stage actors to painters, composers, sculptors and of course choreographers. Over Graham’s seventy year long career she created a great many one hundred and eighty one pieces. (States http://www.innovationpark.psu.edu/coolblue/events/martha-graham-dance-company-clytemnestra – last accessed 05/01/2010) These were an important influence for many people. She changed the way many perceive and interpret dance.

It was 1910 when Graham was sixteen that she first laid eyes on an enthralling dance piece. It was seeing Ruth St. Denis at a performance of her famous solos “The Cobras“, “Radha“, “Nautch” and “Egypta, in Los Angeles that caught her attention. Graham knew from this point on that this new, defining concept of dance with bare feet and natural flow is what she wanted to devote her life to. Due to her persistent and determined nature, she refused to conform to the social normalities of ballet within ‘contemporary’ dance. It was 1926 when Graham formed the ‘Martha Graham Dance Company’. She veered off from the strict form of traditional ballet and led the way for a new language of dance which was based on her own principles of dance as an inner expression. With this ideology she focused more on significant movement than on classical technique, the likes of which ballet demands. She loved the form of precise movements of the body and she was set to facade classical dance moves. She would go on to do this through her expressionistic work. Many of her performances would involve a rather racy theme, or something that was very rare for the period in which it was created. She also reflected what was going on around her socially. When discussing Graham’s use of contraction and release, for which she was so well known, Susie Cooper (2009) states, ‘Graham developed the movements of breathing – contraction and release – as the basis for her movement vocabulary and technique.’ When breaking down the dance of Graham I think Merle Armitage said it best;

‘The dance of Martha Graham is neither literally (story telling in the allegorical sense) nor is it symbolic. It is a pure art of the dance…a play of form which in itself is significant and provocative…a language of its own, not a hand-maiden of another art form. Perhaps it is the first uninfluenced American dance expression, wholly disarming in its simplicity but curiously profound in its complexity.’
(Armitage, M. 1969 Martha Graham the early years. Da Capo Press, Inc.)

Graham was greatly influenced by her father. Dr Graham was a physician who showed particular interest in the way people moved and used their bodies. This state of mind was passed on to his daughter and later on in her life she used to state his favoured dictum ‘movement never lies’.
Graham was inspired by many different sources ranging from paintings and artwork to Greek mythology, Native American ceremonies and the American Frontier. Most of her truly memorable roles depict grand and significant women in history. Such as Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Medea, Phaedra and Joan of Arc.
Lamentation is Graham’s dance from 1930. It is a solo choreography which shows the struggle of human emotion and is a visual counterpart to the contemporary architecture that was beginning to grace the skyline of New York in a new and exciting way. Graham describes her piece as;

‘a solo piece in which I wear a long tube of material to indicate the tragedy that obsesses the body, the ability to stretch inside your own skin, to witness and test the perimeters and boundaries of grief, which is honourable and universal.’ (Graham, M. 1991 Blood Memory: An Autobiography. Doubleday; 1st edition.)

Many of her movements in this piece are from a grounded position and slowly contract and release to an upward position, much like the building and construction of a skyscraper. For example she is sitting on the edge of a bench and contracts from side to side and then arches into a high release which represents the rise of a building. As the dance progresses Grahams’ movements become a lot faster and angular. This shows the speed and contemporary design that the buildings were being built.

‘It seems safe to assume that her fundamental aim is to allow the power and energy of the living world to filter through and animate her work.’ (Armitage, M. 1969 Martha Graham the early years. Da Capo Press, Inc.)

Chronicle (1936) brought upon a new period of contemporary dance. Completely danced by women, serious issues were brought to light for the first time. It is a preface to war, devastation, destruction and seclusion. It showed Graham’s anti-war stance. It was a counterpart to events such as the great depression. It was an iconic step forward in modern dance.
Clytemnestra (1958) was considered by many to be Graham’s masterpiece. It was an evening long performance, her largest scale work that she ever produced. Composed by Halim El-Dabh. The piece is based on an ancient Greek story about Queen Clytemnestra. It involves love affairs and sacrifice of her daughter. This was a very symbolic piece, use of red material as costume and props for the entrance to the Queen’s bedchamber. Graham had used material before in Lamentation but not in a design way, so Isamu Noguchi incorporated it within the design. (Graham, M. 1991 Blood Memory: An Autobiography. Doubleday; 1st edition.)
Graham collaborated with many artists and visionaries alike. (The following are just to name a few.) Many of whom influenced her work and she in turn influenced them. Isamu Noguchi was a famous sculptor and was a good friend of Grahams and created many of her sets for her pieces. Graham was often compared to many famous artists by society. Her affect on dance was thought upon like Stravinsky’s music, Picasso’s paintings or Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. One of the foremost composers of the time, Aaron Copland, worked with Graham. Copland was known to incorporate jazz music and folk music into his compositions, a revolutionary design for the time. This was then shown through Graham’s pieces, for example, Appalachian Spring (1944), one of Graham’s well known dances, had a brand new score created for it by Copland. This was a revolutionary piece both in the style of the choreography and of the music. Appalachian Spring was Graham’s piece based on a springtime celebration of the American pioneers of the 19th century after they build a new farmhouse. Other composers were William Schuman, who composed Night Journey (1947) for Graham, Samuel Barber composed Frescoes (1978/79). Louis Horst was another of Graham’s most valued composers, also known to be Graham’s closest adviser on choreographic and creative issues. Graham collaborated with the famous designer Roy Halston Frowick, who created the costumes for some of her later works. He was one of the most proclaimed designers of the seventies. The first time Graham collaborated with Halston was on her work Lucifer (1975), which starred Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Lucifer was a reference to the ‘light bearer’ of biblical times. When talking about this piece Graham states;

‘Many people have asked me why I did Lucifer with Rudolf Nureyev. Lucifer is the bringer of light. When he fell from grace he mocked Gosh. He became half god, half man. As half man, he knew men’s fears, anguish, and challenges. He became the god of light. Any artist is the bringer of light. That’s why I did with Nureyev. He’s a god of light.
And Margot Fonteyn was such a glorious complement to him at it. Luminous as night. When I first saw Margot Fonteyn she was a great and beautiful figure. The magic of Margot’s presence is an elusiveness of spirit that defies description’
(Graham, M. 1991. Blood Memory: An Autobiography. Doubleday; 1st edition.)

Graham’s final performance in which she danced was her work Cortege of Eagles (1967). It is one of her Greek mythology drawn pieces. It is about Hecuba reliving the massacre of the Trojan War. It is a very dramatic based piece focusing on the internal actions and ideals of Hecuba. It is not as investigative as her earlier Greek mythology drawn pieces. It has a focus to emotions and presence more than movement of Graham herself. Instead the actions are carried out by the chorus of dancers. As if they were playing out Hecuba’s memories.

Martha Graham is still celebrated today as one of the most important performers and choreographers of all time. Maple Leaf Rag (1990) was Grahams last choreographed work with a score by Scott Joplin and Calvin Klein’s costumes. Graham was working on a piece called The Eye of the Goddess before her death in 1991. It was her new ballet for the Olympic Games in Barcelona.
So many of her students became choreographers and company leaders and took a certain aspect of her work with them. Merce Cunningham is a prime example, and this is one of the reasons why we still get to see a lot of her style of work today. Graham changed the concept of what we know as ‘contemporary/modern dance’. If not for her, many ideas of how we perceive dance would not exist in the present day. Some found Graham’s work ugly and hateful; others called it a revolutionary masterpiece.

‘People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life. ‘
(Graham, M. 1991. Blood Memory: An Autobiography. Doubleday; 1st edition.)

Bibliography

Books

Horosko, M. 2002 Martha Graham: The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and Training. University press of Florida.

Armitage, M. 1969 Martha Graham the Early Years. Da Capo Press, Inc.

Graham, M. 1991 Blood Memory: An Autobiography. Doubleday; 1st edition.

DVDs/Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEvcP-vXk4M (Last accessed on – 13/11/09)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgf3xgbKYko (Last accessed on – 12/11/09)

DVD Martha Graham in Performance. Kultur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFNsKeMbW20 (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://community.ovationtv.com/_Martha-Graham-A-Dancer-Revealed/video/251083/16878.html (Last accessed on – 06/01/10)

Websites

http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2006/01/07 (Last accessed on – 13/11/09)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham (Last accessed on – 13/11/09)

http://www.cmi.univ-mrs.fr/~esouche/dance/Lamentation.html (Last accessed on – 12/11/09)

http://www.dancehelp.com/articles/modern-dance/martha-graham.aspx (Last accessed on – 13/11/09)

http://www.pitt.edu/~gillis/dance/martha.html (Last accessed on – 26/11/09)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/aaron-copland/about-the-composer/475/ (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/martha-graham/about-the-dancer/497/ (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/isamu-noguchi/about-isamu-noguchi/675/ (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Spring (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2006/01/07 (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-horst-1 (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Schuman (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://marthagraham.org/resources/about_martha_graham.php (Last accessed on – 19/12/09)

http://www.innovationpark.psu.edu/coolblue/events/martha-graham-dance-company-clytemnestra (Last accessed on – 05/01/10)

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/06/arts/the-dance-martha-graham-s-cortege-of-eagles.html?&pagewanted=1 (Last accessed on – (05/01/10)

http://www.exploredance.com/marthagraham2103.php (Last accessed on – 05/01/10)

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/47790.Martha_Graham (Last accessed on – 06/01/10)

To demonstrate how a practitioner influenced the development of Musical Theatre, there will be an in depth analysis of Jonathan Larson’s works Rent and Tick, Tick…Boom, which will show how his style influenced other modern practitioners that got some of their ideas based on his works and how his works were influenced by other practitioners in the beginning.

Jonathan Larson was indeed a remarkable writer and composer who had his own stories to tell. Although his death came too early, his success can still be seen in his greatest work, the musical Rent and it may be said that As an artist, Jonathan Larson’s discovered his passion for music following Elton John and Billy Joel, but it was musical theatre that caught his eye while his parents introduced him to the musical Fiddler on the Roof. As he later on said by himself, he always wanted to write music that could incorporate all of these influences.

The path lead him to a four year drama major, but it was the composing that was his main interest and soon enough he started writing music for school productions. During his college years Jonathan Larson got in contract with the composer Stephen Sondheim, who was also his strongest musical theatre influence and later on his mentor. Sondheim told him later that Never the less he didn’t go on as an actor and took a step into the composing world,he was still a struggling artist who spend years living his life working as a waiter just to pay his bills, while writing numerous theatrical pieces with a poor success story. With the musical Tick, Tick…Boom, which was an autobiographical work of Larson’s life and was reflecting his alter ego, he finally got recognized, but still not the way he wanted to. As Siegel describes the show in New York times The songs and stories were half-funny and half-bitter tales of bad readings and waiting tables. He addressed his disappointment with putting the show of in 1994. But there was still no reason for him to give up, especially when he got into collaboration with Billy Aronson, a playwrighter who played around with the idea of updating Puccini’s opera La Boheme. The project didn’t get started until 1991, when Larson felt the need to tell the story about his friends who were diagnosed with AIDS. Larson stated himself while he was still alive and that truly represent the path that Rent went since the beginning of the show till this day. Many links between the big success of the show and Larson’s death have been made during the time, but it is not said for sure that his death is the cause for such a big success of the musical Rent. The only thing that can be said for sure is, that the show is popular as the numerous amounts of awards that the show won present. , said by Wilson Jermaine Heredi, an actor of the original cast from Rent, shows that Rent really was a new era in theatre. Never before was there a musical telling a story about HIV infected people, drugs and homosexuals. The reviews for the show were well received, as reported in New York times. But it was the audience who gave Jonathan Larson a chance and made Rent to what it is today, an award winning musicals. A musical that is different to others, because it represents Even though Rent is a parallel to Puccini’s 1896 opera La Boheme, Jonathan Larson took the idea and collaborated with Billy Areson and transformed it into a contemporary story that was never told before. The audience can get the chance to watch two pieces back-to back in a one repertoire and see the show not only as a good composers work but as an artistic creation. Artistic creation which illuminates Jonathan Larson’s brilliance, never the less Rent owes a lot to Stephen Sondheim’s work. Not that he was reproducing his ideas in his style, There are many similarities to Stephen Sondheim’s work Company, but they show the extreme contrast. The setting was changed from Upper West side to the Lower East side, as well as the characters which are presented as a poverty line of multicultural young people that are homosexual, drug addicts or over the top minded. It can be said that the shows are similar in the way how Stephen Sondheim and Jonathan Larson presented New York and their ideas. Not only did Sondheim’s influence reflect in Jonathan Larson’s Rent in the comparison to Company, but also his musical Sunday in the Park with George. There’s a common theme in both shows which demonstrate a central character that has went away from finishing something that is important forbidden personal relationship. Both shows describe that Never the less, nothing can take Larson’s accomplishment away. He was a great composer and writer who was able to take Sondheim’s ideas and recreate them with his own style. This indicates how big of an impact Stephen Sondheim made on Larson. In an interview for New York Times, Stephen Sondheim later spoke about Jonathan Larson and said that a great musical theatre composer . Stephen Sondheim as his mentor encouraged him while he was still alive to get involved with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Jonathan Larson described it as , but he appreciated the experience later, because it gave him a chance to meet new composers and that gave him more confidence in his work. At the point when he has later written more material he said

Rent is classified as a rock musical, because of its rock influence. Examples of such musicals are Hair and Spring Awakening, which are both linked to Rent. It can be said that Hair was a big influence on Rent, because of the impact it made in that era, when people weren’t talking about drugs and hippies. Hair made a big statement at that time as did Rent. Both musicals told a story of confusion in each generation. Both works may be seen as generational anthems. Not because of the protest, but of it’s finally, youthful enthusiasm, even when the youth in question is at risk. Hair can be seen as a mile stone for Rent, which later impacted on Spring Awakening. Although Spring Awakening was already written in 1891 as a play, it s shocking story of acknowledgement of adolescent sexuality broke ground aesthetically, going beyond naturalism to presage expressionism. Since times have changed and today society is more open minded to the ethnological, sexual, and all other controversial aspects of human life, the effects of Spring Awakening as well as Rent have changed. In Spring Awakening the characters are still experiencing their awakening spring of sexuality and a couple of scenes might still surprise the audience, but in general today’s community is more used to that on stage now. As Rent made theatrical history with transporting Puccini’s La Boheme to New York, Spring Awakening made its own kind of history by putting a modern spin on a controversial play. It can be said that Rent had its influences and went on passing that to other musicals.

Although Jonathan Larson didn’t get the chance to witness the success of his life’s work, he left behind two remarkable musicals, which are both in subject matter unmistakable. Similarity’s in Tick, tick…Boom, especially in the characters, for which may seem they are sometimes show that Jonathan Larson’s work had a deeper meaning and a thought of memories of his lost friends. As a composer his answer to the acknowledgement that he has just lost people that he loves was to write something in response. He later on said,Despite the fact that he never got the chance to see how his words and music inspired people, the musical Rent still goes on filling theatres with his story and the affect that he left behind may be seen in new works appearing on the stage. Jonathan Larson wanted to give all a lesson about how to go on in the time of great loss and not anything for granted.

“Jasmin Vardimon Company (JVC) is one of Britain’s most pioneering physical dance theatre companies, creating work that excites both the eye and the mind by pushing the boundaries of human physicality whilst engaging in universal, contemporary themes that strike an emotional chord.”[1]

In this piece of work I will be discussing one of Britain’s leading Contemporary Choreographers, Jasmin Vardimon. I will discuss her history, how she rose from the Kibbutz in Israel, to become one of the most influential and dynamic choreographers in Britain today. I will discuss her company’s origin, her most important work to date, achievements and awards that she has received and how she is influencing the contemporary dance world in Britain and abroad today.

Biography

Born and raised on a Kibbutz in central Israel, Jasmin Vardimon has become a significant element within the British dance scene. Before turning to dance, Vardimon done military service at the age of 18 for two years, she also worked as a psychological “interviewer”, studying and interviewing people.

She has made a name for herself throughout the years after first joining the Kibbutz Dance Company, which is one of Israel’s principal dance companies, before going on to win the British Council “On the Way to London” award in 1995. After moving to London in 1997, Jasmin Vardimon founded her own company Zbang, which is now know as Jasmin Vardimon Company.

Influences

Throughout the past decade Jasmin Vardimon has developed a strong recognisable artistic voice in the contemporary world. Vardimon’s work is centred around the human behaviour, which is portrayed through the storyline of each piece. Vardmons’ choreography is “Renowned for dynamic, funky and highly physical choreography that is thrilling to watch”[2]. From personal experience of seeing Jasmin Vardimon show called Yesterday in the McRoberts Theatre, Stirling, I felt the performance was one of the few shows that I have seen, were I was unable to take my eyes off the dancers.

The physical demands that the dancers face, such as the fluidity of the complex movements and how all the dancers have each series of sequences in perfect unison, also the way they were able to interpret each characters. The characterisation made the choreography and storyline so believable. In my opinion the show was absolutely breath taking.

“I read see and hear all the time and get influences from many little things, mostly from real life.”[3]

Human behaviour is a big influence in Jasmin Vardimons work, and this is strongly seen in her choreography. I believe that the psychological work that she did previous is one of her main inspiration when creating as she has a great understanding of the human psyche. Vardimons style merges together physical theatre and dance, with the outcome being energetic, explosive, beautiful with quirky character. Another influence in Jasmin Vardimons work is multimedia technology. In many of her works strong visual effects have been used to make the pieces come to life. Video recordings, video playback, special effects and complex lighting have been used to create the mood and atmosphere for the setting.

When creating movement, Vardimon works hand in hand with her dancers giving them a chance to help create material, from which she will develop further, “I work, a lot, with task orientated techniques so I would give [the dancers] a task and see how they react to my idea and then I’ll take it from there.”[4]

Important works

One of Jasmin Vardimons most important works to date I believe would have to be “Yesterday”. This production was choreographed for her company, Jasmin Vardimon Company, for their 10th anniversary tour, which began touring in Autumn 2008, and is still touring at present.

“YESTERDAY is a retrospective new piece featuring some of the most breath-taking duets, striking solos andiconic moments selected from the company’s repertoire: Justitia, Park, Lullaby, Tete, Lurelurelure and Ticklish.”[5]

As well as using material from those previous works, Vardimon has added in new highly convincing, exciting and complicated choreography to make the show come alive. With a wide range of multimedia technology being used to enhance the effect the audience will perceive, this show as having phenomenal reviews from critics.

Jasmin Vardimon explains in an interview with Neil Nisbet in article 19, that this piece is not a new piece of work, but a collaboration of all her previous work she has done with her company Jasmin Vardimon Company, (JVC).

As well as having and choreographing for her own company, Jasmin Vardimon has worked with many other companies “Hellenic Dance (Athens), CandoCo, WID, Bare Bones, Transitions and curated the Dance Ballads Festival at the Oval House”[7]. In 1998 Vardimon was Associate Artist at The place and from 1999 to 1005 she was a Yorkshire Dance Partner. She is currently Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells in London since 2006.

During the past decade Jasmin Vardimon as receive numerous awards for her choreography and contribution to the contemporary dance world. Some of the many awards she has won are, Jerwood Choreography Award (2000), the London Art Board “new Choreographers” Award in 1998. She was also nominated for the “Best Female Artist award at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award in 2003.

Jasmin Vardimon Company, is a international company performing in some of the highly profiled theatres around the world. The 10th anniversary tour is the biggest tour, the company has done to date, performing nationally and internationally in Europe and Asia. The company is based in Brighton though does not have a permanent residence there.

The contribution Jasmin Vardimon is giving back to the contemporary world is through her educational outreach programme. There are two main workshops given, choreography and Repertoire, which is adapted for all levels. The workshops help to give dancers, amitoure and professional the chance to see how Vardimon works, also giving the dancers the chance to develop dance and theatre skills. The workshops can be tailored for the participants. They can be pure dance and physical theatre, or have a deeper look at social contents and problems such as bullying and illness.

The workshops are run by members of the JVC giving the chance to learn first hand what its like to work in such a inspirational company.

Adolph Appia (pictured left) 1862 – 1928, was a Swiss theorist, pioneer in modern stage design and is most famous for his scenic designs for Wagner’s operas (Design for act I of Parsifal Pictured left). What set Appia aside from other stage designers was his rejection of painted two dimensional sets. He created three dimensional ‘living’ sets, which he believed created different shades of light which were necessary as light was important for actors to engage in the setting, time and space. Instead of using the conventional way of lighting from the floor, Appia lit the stage from above and the sides of the stage, thus creating depth and a three dimensional set. Light intensity and colour helped Appia to gain a new perspective of scene design and stage lighting. This helped to set the mood and create an authentic stage set.

Appia believed that the reason sets weren’t successful during his time, was because of a lack of connection between the director and the set designer. He believed that there should be an artistic harmony especially between these two people in order for his theory to be successful.

There are three core points which Appia uses to help define mise-en-scene:

Dynamic and three dimensional movements by actors.

Perpendicular scenery.

Using depth and the horizontal dynamics of the performance space.

Light, space and the actor are all malleable commodities which should all be intertwined to create a successful mise-en-scene. He used steps, platforms and columns to create depth and manipulated light in order to make the set look real. Light was considered to be the primary element which linked together all the other aspects of the production and Appia was one of the first designers to realise its potential, more than to merely illuminate actors and the painted backdrop behind. This was shown in his staging of Tristan und Isolde (1923). Notice the steps, columns and ramps. Directors and designers of the present day have taken great inspiration from Adolph Appia’s theory. Perhaps the main reason being the huge advance in technology, which was only just emerging in the late 19th century.

Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) also like Adolph Appia was an English theatre practitioner. Unlike Appia however he believed actors had no more importance than marionettes. Gentlemen, the Marionette is a writing in which Craig explains how the actors are merely puppets on strings. He had a great interest in marionettes claiming they were ‘the only true actors who have the soul of a dramatic poet, serving as a true and loyal interpreter with the virtues of silence and obedience.’ (Innes, Christopher, (1998) Edward Gordon Craig: A Vision of Theatre).

He built elaborate and symbolic sets, for example his set for the Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet (1909) consisted of movable screens. And like Appia, he broke the stage floor with platforms, steps and ramps. He replaced the parallel rows of canvas with an elaborate series of tall screens.

Craig left a promising career in acting in order to concentrate on directing and developing ideas about ‘the theatre of the future’, which was inspired by Hubert von Herkomer’s scenic experiments with auditorium lighting and three dimensional scenery in productions at the Bushy Art School. Craig’s idea of ‘new total theatre’ drew on the imagination to create a vision of colour harmony, visual simplicity and an atmospheric effect under the sole control of a single artist. Also inspired by his partner Isadora Duncan, a dancer which inspired him to look into the concept of the rhythms and movements in nature acting as a vehicle for an emotional and aesthetic experience. Craig was very interested in electrical light, something new and only just emerging in his time. An example of this can be seen when he worked on Dido and Aeneas. Craig used a single colour back cloth with a gauze stretched at an angle in front of it onto which light of another colour was projected, ‘ an astoundingly three dimensional effect was achieved’ (Innes, Christopher, 1998, Edward Gordon Craig: A Vision of Theatre, P. 46). He intensively researched theatre of the past in order to create his ‘new’ theatre. He imagined a theatre which was a fusion of poetry, performer, colour and movement designed to appeal to the emotions. As he progressed through his work, he followed his symbolist views using movement to create mood and in his studies in 1906 talked of removing elements of sets or props and replacing them with symbolic gestures. For example a man battling through a snowstorm, Craig questioned whether the snow was necessary. Would the actors’ movements be sufficient to convey what was happening?

In 1900 after Craig had developed himself as a set designer he worked on a production of Dido and Aeneas which was ground breaking as a set for theatre design. Due to certain limitations Craig was able to break away from the elaborate Victorian stage designs and experiment with abstract and simpler designs. Craig himself believed that what he was creating was ‘new’ theatre and wouldn’t be widely accepted until the future and this was true. During the 1950’s Kenneth Tynan wrote of how Craig’s ‘ideas that he expounded fifty years ago, in his breathless poetic prose, are nowadays bearing fruit all over Europe’. Craig has influenced practitioners such as Constantin Stanislavsky, Meyerhold and Bertolt Brecht, and he also still impacts many designers and practitioners of the modern day.

Although both of these designers worked independently from one and other, they arrived at similar conclusions. They both criticised realistic theatre, arguing against the photographic reproduction as a primary function of scene design. Appia didn’t agree with Stanislavsky’s theory of the ‘fourth wall’ so he discarded it and designed a theatre building which became the first theatre in the modern era without a proscenium arch. Both theorists believed that the settings should suggest and not reproduce the location. Both also broke the two dimensional view on sets by using platforms and different levels, designing spaces that were practical and functional for performers. Also with the advance in technology, both took advantage of electricity which made it possible for the stage to be lit using bulbs. This helps to develop as an art and both used light as an important part of their visual elements. Appia’s and Craig’s designs focus heavily on stressing contrasts between light and dark creating heavily atmospheric sets.

Appia and Craig shared a lot of the same opinions; however they were not in total agreement. Appia Believed that the director, fused theatrical elements and the designer was an interpretive artist, bringing an author’s work to life from page to, stage forming a functional environment for the actors. Craig believed that theatre needed a master artist who would create all of the production elements. His designs were frequently thought to be on a larger scale than Appia’s. Appia’s designs usually required a set change for each location in the performance, whereas Craig used the modern unit using one basic setting which can represent various locations throughout the movement of its elements with only the need of slight changes such as lighting, props etc.

Both Appia and Craig have greatly influenced the way theatre has evolved. Not only as technology has advanced but also at the way the directors, set designers and production teams in general are working. There is a lot more communication and discussion between the director’s and the set designer’s vision into how a set should look. Also Sets on stage are predominantly three dimensional using levels, ramps, stairs and depth. The use of light has perhaps changed the most dramatically moving from the floor to lighting rigs in the ceiling and along the side of the stage. It is safe to say without the ideas and theories that the two had, theatre may not be where it is today.

The La Boite Theatre Company’s production of Adam J. A. Cass’s I Love You, Bro , directed by David Bethold, is a play which masterfully engages and captivates the audience. It effectively tells an enthralling tale of love, deceit and manipulation. The play’s protagonist, Johnny, is a troubled teen who is desperate for love. Devoid of any power in reality, online chatrooms are his only escape. It is here, on the virtual stage, where Johnny meets, seduces and manipulates the unwitting ‘Markymark’, who through the lies of Johnny, becomes a tool in an incitement of murder. Although on the surface, I Love You, Bro may seem a twisted story of devious treachery, it is in fact a simple, yet tragic anecdote of a boy whose desire to be loved supersedes any other. The play successfully engrossed the audience through its skilled use of dramatic elements. The tension which existed in the play was well cultivated by the roles and relationships excellently portrayed by a single actor. Some of the success in this regard can be attributed to the highly creative use of the stage, and the combination of lighting and effects, designed by Renee Mulder, Carolyn Emerson and Guy Webster.

Behind the many masks which he creates, Johnny (played by Leon Cain) himself is just as intriguing a character as any he invents. Coming from a world of domestic violence, lacking any who sincerely love him, it is little wonder that he reaches out in the only way he has available to him; virtually. Early on in the play, Johnny tells the audience he was never an outgoing personality; however, as the story develops, so too does Johnny’s confidence. As the main protagonist, the story follows Johnny’s struggle to connect with someone, and the gradual transformation of this struggle into an unhealthy obsession. The subject of this obsession is the oblivious teen footballer, Mark. When Mark first begins conversing online with Johnny, he mistakenly believes him to be a female. Johnny plays along, eager to satisfy his desire to be needed by someone. As time progresses, the relationship between the two grows exponentially, to the point wherein Johnny believes himself to be in love with Mark, who was still unaware that his online lover is in fact a younger male.

Throughout the course of the play, Johnny conceived a multitude of spurious characters, all of whom served to further his connection with Mark. Initially, the chain of characters began with a simple error on Mark’s behalf. After mistakenly believing that Johnny’s online alias ‘AlbaJay’ was a female character, Jessica was born. Jessica was Johnny’s first creation, and became his obsession when he came to the realisation that she could act as a conductor for reciprocated love. Jessica, although starting off fairly innocently and without any intention of harm, Johnny soon begins to conceive new characters to fuel his insatiable desire to feel as though he is cared about and attempts to achieve this with his creation of two new fictitious characters. These characters are Simon, Jessica’s helpless, albeit fabricated younger brother and Stings, an intimidating bully. Johnny creates these people in order to heighten Mark’s feelings towards him by establishing an element of danger in the relationship the two share. By putting Simon in a threatened position, and then using it to pressure Mark into a predicament wherein he has limited courses of action he can take, Johnny takes the game to a much higher level, and as a direct result, vastly increases the tension in the play. Similarly, the creation of Jane Bond and Agent 41579 serve similar purposes as Johnny’s previous fabrications. Jane Bond and Agent 41579 both add to the danger involved in the romance, deepening the urgency of the connection between Mark and Johnny. In addition to this, Agent 41579 is similar to Jessica in that she acts as a magnet for attention and the affection of Mark. The establishment of the new relationship between Mark and Agent 41579 created a renewed level of tension after a lull in the play, and this was only increased as the plot continued and led to the attack on Johnny.

This story is played out on a quite simplistic and minimalistic set designed by Renee Mulder. It consisted of an abstract stage, which was elevated in the upstage region to creatively act as a cyclorama onto which images and videos were projected. As well as this, the stage had a simple wire framed desk structure at its most downstage point. It was to this point that the entire stage was pointed towards and focussed on. This was because the desk and the computer which sat upon it were the pinnacle of Johnny’s existence. His computer was the most important part of his life. The set was an accurate reflection of his world, and how it revolved around his online presence. The jagged and sharp edges of the stage also demonstrated the disjointed and shattered life which Johnny was a part of when not on his computer. The stage also worked well in cohesion with the use of a single actor. Being a small and uncluttered stage, the focus was always directed on Johnny and his actions, and this forced the audience to engage with him and added significantly to the play’s overall delivery. Another interesting aspect of the set was the wheeled chair which so often Johnny rolled around the stage on. The use of this chair to roll around stage showed Johnny’s internal conflict and indecisiveness. On numerous occasions throughout the play, Johnny could be seen rolling around stage when faced with a difficult decision. This clearly showed his opposing and clashing opinions, a metaphor for his uncertainty as to which direction to take, and ultimately, his uncertainty in himself.

The action of the play was effectively accentuated by lighting and effects. For the majority of the play, the stage was lit with an azure blue tinge. The lighting effects reflected Johnny’s personal feelings at any certain time. A perfect example of this was seen when Stings took over Johnny. Stings was the darker side of Johnny, and the lighting of the production captured this aspect of him perfectly. Each time Stings appeared, the lights would immediately and without warning switch off from a light colour, and the stage would be bathed in almost total darkness, with only the slightest hints of light dancing around stage.In combination with this, a distinct whipping sound effect was played to indicate the rapid and brusque change into the alter ego. After the change had occurred, a low and menacing tone was played, personifying the insidious nature of Stings. Similarly, the azure colour which was present as Johnny took the guise of Jessica showed his softer, lighter side. These lighting and sound elements were creatively used to transmit both mood and personality to the audience, as were the simple images and occasional video images projected onto the cyclorama.

Director David Berthold successfully manipulated the dramatic elements of distinct roles and relationships presented in Adam J. A. Cass’s I Love You, Bro. Consequently, the audience is able to connect on a very powerful level with this production. The play skillfully creates tension at key points throughout the plot, and by the timely balancing of this tension, the play was thoroughly engaging.