APRIL 1997 ----------------------------In this issue------------------------------------------ SPOTLIGHT ON Franz Harary, Illusionist from Ragtime Voices: Breaking with Tradition Rubin's Corner: Highlights of the Fall/Winter Season CyberTheatre Monthly: Virtual Theatre at U Kansas What's New in the Theatre Forum: INTRODUCING DRAMA TEACHER'S RESOURCE CENTER, News and Gossip, TRE Trivia, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spotlight on Franz Harary International illusionist and Rock and Roll f/x designer Franz Harary has gone legit, designing the Houdini sequences in E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime. He's interviewed here by Pros Chathost, Milton Mersinger. MM: In RAGTIME you created illusions for the character Harry Houdini. Just how does that work in the show - does Houdini perform part of his act? FH: You have to understand Ragtime is the story of three parallel lives in America in 1906 - an America is in the midst of the immigrant movement. Houdini managed to crystallize the feelings and the plight of so many of those immigrants. He symbolized a kind of Everyman, who was able to get out of any restraint he was placed in, and could overcome any obstacle he was faced with. He gave people hope, and they really identified with him. So it's in the midst of this turbulent, complex, interconnected: Industrial revolution America - Black America - Immigrant America that Houdini comes into the play...The first Magic happens in a segment at start of show, where he escapes from a straightjacket. It's very brief, just to establish who that character is. At the opening of the second act, there is a dream sequence that is being dreamt by Edgar, the little boy. Houdini is visiting his hometown, performing this illusion, and we in the audience are in the position of the audience for this performance. Houdini gets locked up and placed in box by the Emerald Isle Fire department - which is instrumental in show - and the little boy watching is thrown into box with Houdini. A lit stick of dynamite is thrown into the box, and it's hoisted up into air, suspended. Houdini must escape in a certain amount of time before the box explodes. He manages to escape - but in the process, one of chains holding the box - attached by this amateur fire department - releases and the box breaks loose. Houdini falls, just as the dynamite goes off, everything is shattered into a million pieces - there are pieces of metal flying out everywhere- and when the dust clears Houdini & the boy have disappeared. The house lights come up - and Houdini appears in audience, and the boy wakes up in a cold sweat in his bed. MM: Very cool. Contributing to a theatrical production like this must be very different from designing for your own show. What are some of the special considerations you have to keep in mind working on something like Ragtime? FH: Originally when I met with the producers we spoke about doing a great deal of magic - something like 30 illusions throughout the show, with groups of immigrants that would turn into silhouettes, a Model T that would hover over audience.... In the end, we felt that - all that would be spectacular, but it would detract from story - if you've seen it, you know it is very, very powerful story. There was talk also of having Houdini do some "real Houdini illusions." The problem with that was that turn of century audiences were, well, quite stupid by our standards. It could take up to 20 minutes for Houdini to escape from a trunk or handcuffs - which is very boring to watch. So what I suggested was an illusion that would capture the essence of Houdini's work, but would give a contemporary audience that same rush of adrenaline that Houdini's audience felt 100 years ago - and the dream sequence was the final result. MM: How did it evolve? FH: We began in meetings Spring of '96 and at that time the whole show was very liquid. It remained very liquid through the previews and all the way up to opening night - far more than what I would have expected from my knowledge of musical theatre. The next move, once we decided on the Dream sequence, was to build a prototype. Which I did, in L.A., where I tested it for 1 month, and then there was a series of workshops in Toronto for an invited audience. That part was fascinating because the most dramatic moments - even in test conditions with minimal lighting & staging - really played. During all these tests and workshops, the illusion proved itself, and we decided to go through with the final model. There were tons of meetings with art & lighting designers, the director of course, everyone gave us his twist on what the stuff would look like. We came up with the concept of this steel period kind of box that would look like it had just been loaded off a turn of century steamer. I built 2 more prototypes before we finished in L.A. --more tests - because the sequence has so many violent moves. The violence of so many panels swinging was almost too much for structure to sustain. But we needed it to appear to be blown apart out of control. Having overcome that obstacle, after about 130 tests, we brought it out to the theatre & integrated that into the show. MM: The Magic in Ragtime has been extremely well received. People are always talking about the "Magic of Theatre" I recently met someone in the chatroom who said that phrase had never rung true - until seeing the Houdini illusion in Ragtime. You created a supremely theatrical moment - that dazzled an audience jaded by movie effects many of us in the theatre feel we can't match. Any time I design, I begin with a cinematic approach to the thing. I like to art-direct an illusion from almost a cinematic-graphic point of view. How will a shot be composed, and how can we get the maximum number of textures, create that richness audiences are accustomed to? Today's audiences are very sophisticated - you can't get much by them. So you need to start with something that is quite profound psychologically and add those rich layers of art design - it's is a layering effect - what the audience finally experiences is a theatre-art piece. MM: You normally perform - what was it like building this thing, then handing the whole thing over to an acting company instead of performing yourself. About half the designing I do turns out to be "Create & hand it over". Probably 90% of that is Rock & Roll, where I'm handing over to the likes of Michael Jackson, Alice Cooper, Cher, Bobby Brown - lately some Rap artists - Snoop Doggy Dog. So I'm somewhat accustomed to designing & creating & giving something over to another genre. It was...almost a religious experience to put something like this into hands of the production team of Ragtime - It's magic, being performed for an audience that truly GETS IT - have both sides of the brain working. US Opening is right around the corner isn't it? Yes, we go into previews in L.A. April 28th. Was this your first project on the legit stage? No. I did Viva Cure for the Seattle Opera a number if years ago. That won a couple awards. A Robert Altman A Rake's Progress in 1983 which involved a decapitation - that caused my & only heart attack to date. This poor a woman in the 3rd row had a heart attack. It's an awful thing to happen, but it's a distorted feather in my cap- the best review you can ask for in a horror act... She was all right, but there were many forms to fill out. I've also worked with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet, and a Broadway show called Sleight of Hand. What is your next project? I am just back from Hawaii, where I did a little something with Diamondhead. That will be on the Discovery Channel at some future date. I'm going back to Asia, have a tentative tour lined up for South America... and of course my ongoing work with Amway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Play's the Thing: Theatre of the Absurd Well, this should be an interesting article, because you (the readers) and I (the "fortunate" writer) will both be learning something new. Isn't there something inherently absurd about writing about things you don't understand? Now I know about Theatre of the Absurd. I know about some of its writers. I even like some of the writers. Yet, what I know about Theatre of the Absurd is that pretentious kind of knowledge, you know, like being at a party surrounded by theatre-goers and nodding that "Yes, I am agreeing but I don't have the faintest idea what it means!" nod. So, this month we will end the pretense and discover more about this style of theatre. The first place to begin is to define the term Theatre of the Absurd. What does the word absurd mean and what does it imply as a theatre style? Looking in my trusty old Merriam-Webster Dictionary I found the following definition: absurd´ (²bsurd´), adj. [F. absurde, fr. L. absurdus harsh-sounding, absurd.] Contrary to reason; obviously inconsistent with truth, opinions generally held, or common sense; ridiculously incongruous. Syn. Foolish, silly, preposterous. From the definition it can be assumed that Theatre of the Absurd will not follow the conventional notions of plays. Absurdist plays should run contrary to the normal patterns, cross the grainlines of a traditional theatre experience. In his book The Theatre of the Absurd, Martin Esslin defined the style as: 'Absurd' originally means 'out of harmony', in a musical context. Hence its dictionary definition: 'out of harmony with reason or propriety; incongruous, illogical'. In common usage, 'absurd' may simply mean 'ridiculous', but this is not the sense in which Camus uses the word, and in which it is used when we speak of Theatre of the Absurd . . . Ionesco defined his understanding of the term as follows: 'Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose . . . Cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless.' (5) Esslin goes on to explain that the " . . .sense of metaphysical anguish at the absurdity of the human condition is, broadly speaking, the theme of the plays of Beckett, Adamov, Ionesco, Genet, and other writers . . ." Yet there is a sense to this senselessness. The writers of the absurd illuminate the deficits of rationality by abandoning reason, exposing the folly of the human condition. Humankind, by nature, wants to understand what they cannot understand. Absurdism conveys that sense of alienation, a loss of ones bearings, as the writers strive with the audience to understand the world devoid of logic and reason. Absurdism appeared in the 20th century as a reaction against the new Realism movement of Ibsen and Chekhov and other playwrights who wanted to capture a "slice of life" onstage. Absurdists began writing plays that challenged reality and truth. The message was that all ideas about humanity's significance and behavior were equally illogical. To the absurdists the ultimate truth was chaos and lack of order. These attitudes were first evident in the writings of Strinberg and Artoe who held similar beliefs about the state of the world. The first generation of writers of the absurd came to adulthood during the 1930's and 1940's, while the world was engulfed in the grips of World War II. Many of the writers were in Paris during the occupation. The horrors of that war affected the emerging style. Existentialism, which began in the 19th century, also helped shape the absurdists. By the 20th century, Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus questioned the meaning of life. Their writings stressed the fact that every human being is limited and must face important decisions with limited information. Choices, in their opinion, must be made with no way of knowing what was the correct choice. Life offered no absolute standards or rules. Each person must decide what is best for themselves. Sartre wrote that mankind was " . . . condemned to be free . . ." and is solely responsible to ones self. Camus and Sartre explained that man learns best by examining a crisis experience. The difference between the absurdist and the existentialist playwright is seen in the structure of the plays. An existentialist play, like Sartre's No Exit, is a traditional form. There is a linear plot, with a traditional beginning, middle and end. The play is based in reality, although it may portray unnatural circumstances or events. The absurdist plays like Samuel Beckett's Endgame, or Ionesco's The Bald Soprano consist of structured chaos which is embodied in the structure of the play. These playwrights unified message and structure, form and function. To the absurdist the following tenets sculpted their plays: Don't argue: Visualize Don't proclaim: Embody Don't tell condition: Show it In order to better understand the structure of an absurdist play, we should explore the characteristics of the play's structure. Remember those six elements of play structure that Aristotle wrote? In the last issue of TRE, I used those elements to explain the structure of a realistic play. Let's see how the absurdist play compares to the realist. The first element on the list is plot, the structural organization of the play's action. The absurdist playwright did not believe in traditional structure. They tended to use situational or cyclical structure, with the ending coming full circle to the beginning. The plot offers no pretense in interesting the audience in the story. The suspense comes from the notion that can what is occurring onstage at the moment be explained by the next incident. Very little exposition is offered. Complications are illogical and nonsensical. Generally the climax is deferred or takes place offstage, as in the play Waiting for Godot, in which the character waited for never appears. The endings run contrary to expectations or logic and tend to raise more questions than answers. Patterns of the play reflect one another. They act as mirrors and are repetitive rhythms. The second element, character, brings the play to life. In Theatre of the Absurd the characters are like puppets. They do not act rationally and there is a tendency to shift identity. The characters generally have no recollection of their past lives. The playwright uses them to demonstrate that you cannot really know another human being. You may know the external mind of the character but you can never know the internal workings of their mind. Thought, the third element, consists of the intellectual material of the play. The absurdist playwright offers an anti-establishment view of the world. The absurdist play embodies the themes of the playwright. The themes mirror the playwright's own sense of alienation. Therefore the character's own intellectual activity is alienated, disconnected, against the normal rules of society, as is the playwright. Diction, as the fourth element, is a key factor in the Theatre of the Absurd. Language, for the absurdist writer, is an ineffective means of communication and is therefore devalued. The dialogue becomes fragmented, nonsensical. At times the characters speak to each other in a flow that does not follow in a natural order. "Is the sky blue today?" might be followed with "I had yams for lunch." Words are used for their sound value or feel. Usage of silence and pauses for effect or meaning are predominate. Martin Esslin explained it best when he wrote: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Play's the Thing The Theatre of the Absurd . . . tends toward a radical devaluation of language, toward a poetry that is to emerge from the concrete and objectified images of the stage itself. The element of language still plays an important part in this conception, but what happens on the stage transcends, and often contradicts, the words spoken by the characters. In Ionesco's The Chairs . . . the poetic content of a powerfully poetic play does not lie in the banal words that are uttered but in the fact that they are spoken to an ever-growing number of empty chairs. (7) The fifth element, music, is sometimes tied to diction, in that words can be used to create rhythms. Repetitive sounds, like alliterations, become a musical pattern. Many times the use of offstage sounds is employed. Bells, chimes, whistles all come from an unknown place, and float in for the audience to experience. Last is spectacle, everything you see on the stage. Absurdist plays are almost never realistic so the sets can be fantastical places never seen before. They can be skewed views of the real world and leave the audience feeling just a bit off center. Most of the productions begin and end with some type of image, to solidify the theme and the play. Comic humor, visible humor, sight gags, and a sense of vaudeville humor pepper the actions onstage. The physical humor is used to overlay the serious nature of the material and provide contrast. The humor heightens the ridiculous circumstances. So, now that we have an idea of the what, when, where and how of the absurdists style, what about the who? Who are the absurdists? Probably best known among this group of writers is Samuel Beckett. The Dublin-born playwright began a life of self-exile in Paris, which he considered the center of European intellectual minds. After being discovered by the Nazis as a member of the Underground, he left Paris. While trying to write in French, in order to gain discipline of writing in another language, he was forced into an economy of words. These eventually led to his sparse use of language. His novels, essays and stories portrayed futility, dread of old age, pity for misfits and disgust at middle-class ideas. Many of the plays Beckett wrote, he directed himself. Waiting for Godot, written in 1953, ranks as one of the finest examples of Theatre of the Absurd. Others writers of the absurd include Arthur Adamov, son of a wealthy Armenian oil-well proprietor who moved his family to France when Adamov was four. His plays include La Parodie, about two men infatuated with the same girl, Lili, who is not bright; L'Invasion, deals with the order and disorder of society and families; La Grande et la Petite Manæuvre, which reveals that efforts to eliminate political terrorism are in vain since all political power gains strength in the use of brute force; and Le Professeur Taranne, the story of a scholar accused of indecent exposure who protests his innocence in the face of mounting proof. Another French transplant was Eugène Ionesco. Born in Rumania, his parents moved to Paris shortly after his birth. At age thirteen, his parents returned to Rumania, and Ionesco found a more brutal world than his beloved Paris. He would return to France after the outbreak of the war. Ionesco's best known plays include: La Cantatrice Chauve (known as The Bald Prima Donna in England and as The Bald Soprano in America) with its ticking clock which always reveals the opposite of the correct time, and a husband and wife who reach the amazing conclusion that since they occupy the same space, room and bed, they must be married; La Leçon (The Lesson), a look at a professor giving an eager but dull-minded girl lessons in geography, math and other subjects; The Chairs, which Ionesco labeled a "tragic farce"; and Rhinoceros, in which a small town population, infected with rhinoceritis, slowly turn into aggressive beasts. Parisian-born Jean Genet spent most of his youth in and out of prison. Prison turned him into a poet and then his poetry evolved into plays. Among his plays are: Haute Surveillance (Deathwatch), set in a prison cell and extols the theme of the hierarchy of crime; Les Bonnes (The Maids), set in the bedroom of an elegant lady while two maids take turns playing their mistress; and Le Balcon (The Balcony), a peek into the world of a brothel, while revolution swirls around the outside world. After the first generation of absurdists, a new group arose, including such playwrights as Harold Pinter (The Room, The Dumb Waiter, The Birthday Party, Betrayal); Edward Albee (The Death of Bessie Smith, The Zoo Story, The Sandbox and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?); Arthur Kopit (Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad); and Vaclav Havel (The Garden Party, The Memorandum). Although Theatre of the Absurd could not and should not be considered a school or movement, these playwrights began experimenting with the absurdist form and developed their own particular brand of absurdist style. Future generations of playwrights may move in even different directions as the chaos each generation perceives in the world around them is voiced in the confines of the theatrical experience. So, with all this knowledge about Theatre of the Absurd, what should we do now? I would suggest finding a few of the titles I have mentioned and read the plays. In fact, included in my Internet sites on the subject are a few locations where you can read the play online. I would also suggest finding productions of these plays in your own area. I think that this particular artform needs to be seen to be truly experienced. I am fortunate that this week I will be able to see two productions, Edward Albee's The Sandbox, and Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. If you (or I) leave the production confused, disoriented or feeling a bit disconnected from reality, then the production has probably does its job well. You might find yourself still pondering it days later. That is the point; that the message seeps into you and makes you think about the world a bit different. And just think, the next time you are at one of those pretentious theatre parties and someone asks a question about Theatre of the Absurd, you can join in with an idea of what is going on. And who knows, you might say something that makes them nod that "I have no idea what you said but I will act like I do," nod. That would be worth the price of admission! Internet sites relating to with information pertaining to this article: Outline of Theatre Notes Beckett Endpage Samuel Beckett Homepage Krapp's Last Tape, the script The Beckett Interviews Samuel Beckett at Christopher Ritter's Bohemian Ink Samuel Beckett at The Rationalist Manifesto Visitor Center The Irish Poetry Page, including works by Beckett Beckett, Nobel Prize Winner Ionesco's Play, The Bald Soprano Ionesco Info Essay on Ionesco Ionesco books --- Caprice Woosley is currently pursuing her BFA in theater (directing and playwriting), after 25 years working in and around community theater. She is a playwright, produced but not published, actress, and amateur dramaturg who enjoys researching plays. She is a host in the Writing Forum where she co-hosts a Writing Discussion Group. She also hosted "Shakespeare Unplugged" and "Murder and Mayhem" in the Theatre Forum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rubin's Corner: Highlights of the Fall/Winter Season Just when you thought it was safe to go into the theater comes word of the 1997-98 theater season. Even though this season has not come to an end yet, the new season looks particularly exciting. A theatrical version of The Lion King will open at the magnificently renovated New Amsterdam Theatre on October 28, 1997. The Disney film was one of the highest grossing films of all time and is a perfect choice for the stage. The score, which includes 15 Elton john and Tim Rice songs, has strong African influences and further enhances the classic prodigal-son, coming of age story. It's an incredibly exciting and sophisticated production that will, without doubt, be a "must-see" of the new season. Charlotte Bronte's immortal love story comes to life in the new musical directed by John Caird on October 7, 1997. This tale of spirit and courage and the power of love have just played a record-breaking engagement in Toronto where the cast included Anthony Crivello. 1997 is the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Jane Eyre and it has remained not only a best seller bust one of the most loved novels of all time. Henry Kreiger, the composer of Dream Girls has written the score for a new musical inspired by the lives of Daisy and Violet Hilton. They were 'Siamese" twins who earned their living as musical performers on the American Vaudeville circuit during the 20's and 30's. This production will open on September 9, 1997. Following just about a week later will be Pierre Cosette's lavish and spectacular musical based on the story of the English nobleman who infiltrated the lines during the French Revolution to protect the aristocrats who were being unfairly abused. The director for this production is Peter hunt and the composer is Frank Wildhorn. This production of The Scarlet Pimpernel will open at the Minskoff Theatre. On October 23, 2 Pianos, 4 Hands opens at the Promenade Theatre. This is a comic and warm account of a lifetime obsession with 88 piano keys. A musical entertainment created and performed by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenberg. The production combines hilarity and affection with great musicianship. It is currently selling out on the road. Returning to Broadway on October 29, 1997 will be Neil Simon. His newest play is a bittersweet romantic-comedy-drama call Proposals. It takes place at a summer cabin in the Poconos. The cast includes the owner of the cottage, who is recuperating from a major illness, his ex-wife, his grown daughter and the men in her life, and his longtime housekeeper and her wayward husband. The director is Joe Mantello. This show will open in Los Angeles this summer. Finally on December 26. 1997 the musical version of Ragtime will open at the new Ford Center. This musical version of E.L. Doctorow's best selling novel is currently in Toronto. The story of three disparate families set against the background of the early 20th Century. The show currently stars Audra McDonald, Mark Jacoby and Marin Mazzle. The New York box office opened three weeks ago. This are only September and October shows, wait until we get the list of shows for the rest of the year. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voices is Contemporary Theatre Breaking with Tradition I recently ran into a Costa Rican gentleman who was very excited about a recent column about his country's theatre in La Republica detailing his country's National Theatre Company's announcement of a new artistic breaking with tradition to be orchestrated over the next several months by a guest director: Tatiana de la Osa. De la Osa pursues a stage where "everybody involved may be theatrical" and describes a theatre where dramatists do not act, choreographers don't dance, etc. as more akin to literature than theatrical expression. A U.S.-reader, particularly one who remembers last month's article on Edward Albee, may be bracing themselves for a director-vs-playwright standoff, but what's happening in Costa Rica seems more about exploring options than inter-company power struggles. Costa Rican theatre has been bound to a particular set of conventions for many decades: Actors follow the Stanislavski school - period. The director's function is to interpret text - period. Theatre is theatre and dance is dance and never the twain shall meet. There are no playful experiments with either the function of professionals within a medium or the intermixing of various performance media. In this atmosphere, similar to the hyde-bound practices which restricted U.S. theatre immediately prior to the highly experimental periods in the 30s and 60s, De la Osa wants to vary the formula and see what happens. Whether the experiments father a new theatrical movement or not, his audiences will see a type of performance they've never seen before, and that alone is worth the risks in the view of the cultural heavyweights who support the new vision. His 3-month residency is billed as a "Festival of Alternative Stage Art" which will encompass 9 independent productions between April & July. It's going to be an exciting summer for the Costa Rican arts, and any who find inspiration in theatre community trying new things, searching for a unique voice, should keep there eye on this region and Senor De la Osa in the future. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Your opinions are invited on these and other burning theatre issues. Start a thread in the Theatre Forum Bulletin Boards, or to contribute to the TRE letters column, drop an e-mail to Theatre_msn@msn.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TRE Trivia: A warm-up for Tonys Season: the following mysterious pics are details from the logos or Playbill covers of 1996 shows. Can you figure out which ones? Answers to last month's trivia: •6 musicals before Rent were awarded the Pulitzer Prize: Of Thee I Sing (1932), South Pacific (1950), Fiorello! (1960), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962), A Chorus Line (1972), and Sunday in the Park With George (1985) •3 playwrights in addition to Edward Albee have been recognized by the Kennedy Center Honors. •Mousetrap is the play-within-a-play from Hamlet; Nothing On from Noises Off; Otello is being performed in Lend Me A Tenor; and The Murder Game is Sidney Bruhl's play in Deathtrap. •Return to Love Canal is the play-in-a-film from Tootsie; Killing Jessica is from Rehearsal for Murder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1997, Mersinger Theatrical Services