Tuesday, April 24, 2007

first meeting of the creative production team 24.04.07

this was the first time for the team to get together: we welcome the presence and contribution of Stan Sadava as our advisor about things psychological, of Glenys McQueen-Fuentes for things physical, of Natalie Alvarez for things 'colloquial', and of course we heartily welcome Andrew Fleming to the team as Assistant Director . . . . do we have an Assistant Designer in our futures?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Collected Visual Research


click on the image to go to the online album

The Original Proposal (consolidated): Proposal for Fall 2007 Mainstage production Director: Virginia Reh/Scenographer: David Vivian

here are the principle ideas that we brought forward to the Department for the approval of our project on April 2 and 17:

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul MARAT as Performed by the Inmates of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de SADE

aka MARAT/SADE

By Peter Weiss; English version by Geoffrey Skelton, Verse adaptation by Adrian Mitchell

Originally performed in German at the Schiller Theatre in West Berlin in 1964:

Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade. Directed by Konrad Swinarski. First English production by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964 at the Adwych theatre in London, directed by Peter Brook. This ground-breaking production moved on to New York.

The Play

The starting point of the play is the historical fact that between 1797 and 1811 Coulmier, the Director of the Asylum of Charenton utilized dramatic presentations as therapy for the inmates. The Marquis de Sade was a resident at Charenton from 1803 until his death in 1814 and he wrote and directed many of these dramas. Fashionable people would go to Charenton to watch the entertainments and the “crazy people”.

The play is set in the asylum in 1808. Sade’s drama is about the assassination of the populist revolutionary Jean Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday. This incident is viewed through the lens of Sade’s exploration of sexual excess and physical cruelty. In Brechtian fashion, the story is continually interrupted and analyzed. At the heart of Sade’s drama is the debate between himself as the author and his character Marat, who is played by another inmate.

Artistic Direction

Although the play clearly reflects its 1960’s roots, there is much relevance in its multiple themes:

  • Political: the dangers of extremism, manipulation of revolution by the few (each revolution replaces the hierarchy with their own), mob hysteria and blood lust, systematic slaughter of the “other”, repressive regimes for the safety of society
  • Social: class conflict, treatment of the mentally ill, incarceration/rehabilitation of the undesirables
  • Philosophical: the good of society vs. focus on the self, the line between sanity and insanity

One challenge is to separate the play from the iconic Brook production, to explore freely with the artistic and production team the relevance of this play over 40 years later. In the 60’s we believed we could change the world. What does this generation see as its restrictions, challenges, possibilities? Another major challenge is to get our relatively sheltered and comfortable students to explore the dark corners of the play and themselves.

Directorial concept

The original German and English productions had over 30 in the cast. With cutting and doubling, I can mount this show with 16 to 18 students. This number includes our students performing all the music live (although I would not rule out some participation from music students).

I do not plan to set it in strictly in 1808. I want the basic feel to be more modern, a camp or institution in a non-specific repressive country. For me the play conjures up the modern horrors of Serbia, Ruanda, concentration camps, refugee camps, internment camps, homeland security.

There will be a heavy emphasis on improvisation, both to create the framing world of the inmates and to create the Marat play. Glenys has agreed to work with me on the physical exploration for this production. I hope to find a way to have the inmates, as part of the rehearsal process create their add-on costume bits and props, possibly with the participation of their fellow students on crew.

The whole cast will be onstage the entire show. Some of the current male roles will be played women. I also plan to exchange roles between actors. I want the students to have the experience of playing both the keepers and the kept. I want to have the “Paris audience” be a small group of audience members recruited by inmates in the lobby to sit in some onstage position. They could be given some simple identifier, perhaps a ribbon order or a rosette.

Production focus and challenges

The show takes place in one institutional setting. During the design phase, every effort will be made to keep the set simple. I envision relatively few lighting cues, as I am hoping for an unrelenting institutional feel to the lighting. There should not have to be any sound cues; everything is generated live by the actors. Costume bits, props and acting create and define the scenes. As mentioned above, I want to explore ways to come up with clothing cheaply and simply. Some version of a cart or structure that can be moved with people in or on it is necessary. I want to use the music composed by Richard Peaslee for the English language production. This will involve obtaining rights.

Set Proposition

  • an iteration of one ‘site’ that is not a significantly physically- or materially- transforming space
  • the vestige of a familiar but unidentifiable institutional ‘waiting space’
  • this will not be a hydro-therapy bath
  • an ‘under space’ of walkable height will be required
  • the stage depth will be marked with ‘sculptural fences’ of obstructive elements
  • the audience will be visually self-aware: a reflective surface may be used
  • the station over the vom access and the galleries may be used
  • period: last 50 years, from a post-Capitalist perspective
  • over the summer period and if already cast, the actors may be asked to collect and research 4 defining characteristics to their ‘personal nest’: this information will be incorporated into specific gestures of region and territory into the institutional space

Lx Design Proposition

  • a constant presence of institutional-type ceiling-mounted light, possibly using fluorescents/span>
  • the design may ‘disintegrate’ into retro- and side- illuminated silhouettes, for the purpose of building tableaus of pathologies of the human condition

Costumes Proposition

  • an initial pull of costumes and accessories from stock and thrift would be assembled by the designer and made available to the rehearsal process two weeks into the 6-week period
  • with guidance from both the designer, their personal research, and rehearsal development, actors will make choices to assemble costume silhouettes and accessories
  • designer, assistant designer, and assigned production students would participate with rehearsal development of costumes (as members of the company)/span>
  • design team would facilitate the creation of character-specific prosthetics as required
  • designer, assistant designer, and assigned production students would patine and refine costume tints and textures following an overarching design aesthetic by the designer

notes on the Characters :

  • 16 actors in the company
  • two status figures: Sade, and Coulmier (see Hugo Chavez)
  • Coulmier may be cast as a woman
  • Corday may be manifest by a number of different actors in the company

Educational Opportunities

For the participants, experience with, but not limited to: Brecht, Artaud, Grand Guignol, Boal, various physical techniques and an exploration of sanity. This play also requires rhetorical acting skill and vocal dexterity.

Many of these areas are studied in the literature and praxis courses in our department.

Other departments which might be interested: German, French, History, Political Science, Philosophy, English, Music and Psychology (I will have a psychology adviser on the team.)