This is the final paragraph from a paper I wrote, “Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty” A Definition,” submitted for my graduate criticism seminar on 6 December 1985.
“In this way, theater should always have a mystical power to evoke emotion in the audience. As a director, I feel that if time and care is taken in making all the elements that go into a production meaningful so the they speak a common language in the context off a given production, then the audience will be moved to greater enjoyment, and hence make the theater a regular part of their lives.”
First: I think it should be “time and care ARE taken.” And on further reflection, using the word “production” twice in the second sentence needs some rewriting.
Second: Why am I spelling it “theater”? I guess I hadn’t yet decided that that is the spelling for a building, and “theatre” is the spelling for the art.
Third: I mostly agree with that young man. The first sentence? Absolutely. When I would explain Theatre Etiquette to my students—how they should behave when they came to my campus shows—I always made reference to that idea: “It’s no longer your classroom; it’s now our sacred performance space.”
But the assertion that people would make theatre a regular part of their lives? That’s a goal that seems to have slipped from our fingers due to streaming video and social media, which often appear to be more compelling than any moving theatrical experience. If you can get them to the theatre.
Finally, my eyes keep moving back to that phrase, “common language in the context of a given production.” I’m not exactly sure what I meant by that, though this is possibly the proto-formulation of my insistence that a director always have a strong directorial concept as the basis for a production. If that is the case, then I see the beginnings of a brilliant scholar in this paper (which, incidentally, has critical notes from the instructor scribbled throughout), who clearly needed more time to develop his skills.
As a postscript: As I go through my old files and notes I keep finding references to Artaud and Virtual Reality, so it’s clear that this is a note I have been pounding insistently on the piano for quite some time. See also:
“Building a virtual reality model of Artaud’s theatre of cruelty.” Authors: Stephen Schrum, Elliot Sheedy. Metaverse Creativity (new title: Virtual Creativity), Volume 2, Issue 2, Oct 2012, p. 205 – 221. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/mvcr.2.2.205_1. Published online: 19 Dec 2012.
MUSOFYR 