The Holy Theatre by Peter Brook

   This chapter focuses on what appears to be a highly elusive form of theatre. I'm going to state what I PERSONALLY got out of this chapter, and then precede insert a bunch of quotes that inspired me.

   I think that this chapter emphasizes that there are a lot of things in society that used to be holy, but because of commercialism and various things these once holy things have now become pleasant but less meaningful. Brook attempts to express how we need a holy theatre, because like events like Christmas, the holiness has been sucked out. However, it has been so long since the holiness has been present that even Peter Brook himself can't define what the holiness is anymore. he is calling fro theatre to return to its most pure state, which he brings across talking about theatre performed in war torn desolate places that have started stripping away the other non-holy aspects of theatre.

QUOTES:

"it could be called The Theatre of the Invisible-Made-Visible: the notion that the stage is a place where the invisible can appear has a deep hold on our thoughts. "

"In the burnt-out shell of the Hamburg Opera only the stage itself remained—but an audience assembled on it whilst against the back wall on a wafer-thin set singers clambered up and down to perform The Barber of Seville, because nothing would stop them doing so. In a tiny attic fifty people crammed together while in the inches of remaining space a handful of the best actors resolutely continued to practise their art. In a ruined Düsseldorf, a minor Offenbach about smugglers and bandits filled the theatre with delight."

"The best of the romantic theatre, the civilized pleasures of the opera and the ballet were in any event gross reductions of an art sacred in its origins. Over the centuries the Orphic Rites turned into the Gala Performance"

"More than ever, we crave for an experience that is beyond the humdrum. Some look for it in jazz, classical music, in marijuana and in LSD. In the theatre we shy away from the holy because we don't know what this could be—we only know that what is called the holy has let us down, we shrink from what is called poetic because the poetic has let us down. "

"A happening was originally intended to be a painter's creation—which instead of paint and canvas, or glue and saw­dust, or solid objects, used people to make certain relation­ships and forms. Like a painting, a happening is intended as a new object, a new construction brought into the world, to enrich the world, to add to nature, to sit alongside everyday life."

"The actor searches vainly for the sound of a vanished tradition, and critic and audience follow suit. We have lost all sense of ritual and ceremony—whether it be connected with Christmas, birthdays or funerals—but the words remain with us and old impulses stir in the marrow."
:)

Big Love: Costume Design Pitch

As far as costuming we have three overarching themes:

The first is that of layers. Our two examples are the red or white undergarments worn by the sisters in the final scene and the possibility of having remnants of the wedding dresses in the girls’ day 2 clothes. This shows how their emotional layers are stripped away throughout the performance.

The second is colour imagery. Green represents for Thyona and Constantine. The vibrant colour to emphasis their passion for their opinions. Green day 2 clothes for Thyona would be included in this, as well as green boutenniere for Constantine.

In the same way a baby blue would be used for Olympia and Oed, representing specifically Olympia’s naïveté in life. Yellow and white for Lydia and Nikos would be used to show both the positive character of Lydia and how she is evenly balanced emotionally (you need yellow to make green and blue). The white represents both how she is innocent in the massacre and how she actually fulfills her role as a bride.

Our third point is how our costumes show internal emotions through external appearances. This ties in with layers, with the under-garments in the end scene tieing in with the girls personalities. In general the clothes represent the characters and the kind of person they are, as well as the emotions they are feeling and going through.

natural beauty: a performance

Exploring Seoul during Chusok, I encountered this small child:

Now, obviously this small child is being posed to be in this picture. But no one told her to make that expression. Think about it. Next example:

Now through all these four pictures, I think that I can prove three points: 1) babies are cute. We strive so hard to be "cute" or "pretty' or "hot" in our lives, and children are just cute, untouched. I honestly believe that there isn't a single child that isn't cute. 2) Young children exhibit curiosity at its peak. They poke and taste and smell and lick and examine everything with a wonder and excitement that if we are not careful fades at a frightening rate as we age. 3) The human body is a wonderland. Along with the theme of curiosity that never ends, babies examine themselves as well as other humans with a newness that most do not maintain for much longer than their first couple years. We must be reminded by babies that there is never enough time in one's life to fully explore your own body, let alone anyone else's.
What does this all mean? Well I summed it up in my title. Thinking about babies I often wonder, "Is there a way to possibly capture this unique state of being in a performance?". I ran this idea past my friend and she said it wouldn't be possible unless the children were trained, and they would have to do it willingly otherwise its borderline pedophilia. While I think that with a lot of thinking it could be possible, a more sensible alternative currently exists: bring the child back to the adults. Jerzy Grotowksi has beehives, which resembles almost organized chaos, and often incorporate a lot of going back to basic human instincts and curiosities. his experiments in paratheatre work with this concept, and I think that we could perhaps bring this child-like innocence back to theatre in a new way. A different type of children's theatre.

Theatre & Education: a few notes

THEATRE & EDUCATION

"Education should enable children to search for meaning so that they may bear witness to life."
                                      -Edward Bond

DEBATE: Is education is supposed to collaborate with theatre?

Why not? Artistic creation is forever changing to be an educational device. Theatre should be constantly rebellious, shouldn’t have a useful purpose as deemed by state.
*FUN FACT*
Happenings of the 1960’s based on a theatre in education movement
THERE ARE SO MANY DEBATES IN THIS BOOK.

Instead of choosing sides in any of these matters, I found that I disagreed with th fact that there should be a debate at all. I think a healthy compromise in these matters could benefit a theatrical classroom.

DEBATES

     +social issues v. Theatre making
     +no children in this book? Mentioned like gerbils in an experiment.
     +Used for school v. Free experimentation
     +about the company/ adults experience.

INFLUENCES
   + TIE: Theatre of the Oppressed and Augusto Boal (to stimulate questioning of society)
   + TIE Brecht (documentary/commentary)--. See “The Navigators”

MY CONCLUSIONS
Innovation against the militarical feel of education.
How will things like this book shape my theatrical practice and theories when I go into education
 Going into practice with steadfast beliefs, but with room for change

Using the Theatrical approach to regular teaching?

Lifeline Scene Pitch

While most people only associate playgrounds with the first ten years of their life, I have viewed my whole life so far as a trek through a jungle gym. The entire set would appear like a giant play-set, oversized to dwarf the actor portraying me. The actor herself would have cables attached to her body, allowing her to hop, flip and move freely and flexibly throughout the space. The middle of the set would be separated by a gap, just wide enough for the actor to curl up in a ball between. From the top of the set the cables would pull the actress down through a dark tunnel, landing her in this claustrophobic center. A costume quick change through the tunnel would enable her street clothes to transform into a Catholic school uniform. At first the light trickles down, barely grazing the body of the actor. Writhing and struggling at the bottom of the crevasse, sound clips bring in vivid auditory memories. The intensity builds as the sound clips overlap and increase in volume. A single shaft of white light would reveal a ladder on the outer wall facing the audience; as the clips die down the actor is able to slowly climb up the ladder and recover, continuing her path on the elevated portion of the playground. The combination of the actor’s physicality and the sound clips, the memory’s from life’s playground will become tangible and relatable to the audience.

PLAN OF ACTION: the action plan

In IBTA Y2, the student is challenged with a series of INTENSE assessments, stretching both their creative and intellectual beings, as well as their ability to use the force (HAHA just kidding). This is my plan of attack for this year.

TPPP

an approx. thirty minute speech about the growth of the artist 

For the TPPP the artist is required to come up with a symbol that represents their growth and development in the course. My symbol could be one of two options: the horizon or a detour sign. I chose the horizon to represent how this past year has been about lateral movement for me, expanding my perspective around me in various theatre forms rather than honing in on one field (ie musical theatre). I could use the detour sign to illustrate how how I had a singular dream of musical theatre but through a detour i was able to discover other forms so that I might achieve that singular dream in an even fuller way.
Potential images to use in my presentation:
- Mark Hill
- Stone Girls Dreaming
- Andong
- Our Town
- Random Acts
- Tadashi Suzuki
- 


IPP
an independent endeavor to devise theatre
My independent project will be to act as a student director for the Key Stage 3 Show. The show is in the winter, and I'm working on workshops and researching right now.

RI
a research paper that explores a unique theatre form and applies it to a text
 My research investigation paper will apply the ideas of Latin American Theatre to a western play, preferably Shakespeare, or another traditional play. It would explore how I would as a director devise a brand new performance of a classic play in the Latin American tradition.