Édes Hús

Happy 2009!

I have this great idea that spung from a cheerfull thought: we should frame the dream-scene with the choreographie of the pseudo-corpses.

Can you smell the magic?

I missed the performance in Instant again. From January I will keep a strickt diary, and I wont forget a thing. I will be very effective.

No progress in the text in tha past 3 days.

I was just wondering if our performance is post-dramatic or not. I guess it will depend on staging as well. How abstract or symbolic I will direct it.

I was reading some Lehman today about postdramatc theatre and performance. He disagrees with streching the definition of drama, and advises to regard performance text as something new, somethin different. 

But why coudn't drama be a flexible genre? Why should it have a plot? Why should it have a beginning a middle and an end? Why cant it have multiply narratives?

If we are told to define old mystery plays as dramas, where different characters: a king, a priest, a carpenter, a doctor... speak about death and how they are scared of it, and how they are unable to prevent it, than surely some perfrmance-text could qualify for the same label.

And text such as Kanes', Cocteaus' and Garaczis' may be defined as post-dramatic dramas.

They are not abandoning the dramatic form: they are redefining it.

And in that sense the text I am composing out of Romeo and Juliet is post-dramatic drama as well. But it still is a drama never the less.

Just a fragment of the tragedy yet the essence of the drama.

I hope.

In my dreams we have these really perfect posters - I already know who I would like to design them.

Our posters are visually stunning, cant-look-at-them-long-enough masterpieces of advertiment, that have people storming in the theatre again, like they did a hundred years ago. In my fantasies. But they will be beautiful. No dobt about that.

Anyway I thought I share a poster that is already on public display:

Shame on you Operett Szinhaz. Shame on you indeed. There is money where this is coming from, you know. They dont need to ask their aunty to photoshop a poster for them. They could actually pay the pros.

But why would visual culture and basic esthetics would be of any relevance...

I like these people on the picture,and I am not one of those snobs either who fakes projectile vomiting every time the word: 'musical' is uttered. (Am I?)

Sing and dance people, it is all good fun.

But I can not just pretend this poster didn't happen.

It is all wrong, all terribly wrong.

Is that bright light at the backround a sutble reference, to the afterlife, to that special tunnel and bright lights and little voices calling?

And we all know that we will not see either of Szinetar Doras' breasts, so why tease us with this pseudo-erotic marketing-disaster?

This one has an evil twin actually, Midsummer Nights' Dream I think, where they are all happy in their greek-style sheets and perfectly shaved everywhere. 

The Spirit of Shakespeare or how to have a Kodak-moment in styled up bedlinen.

No, no, no.

Our posters will be something else.

I would like to ask her to do them:

http://ildikomezei.blogspot.com/

Ildiko Mezei is a very talented young artist, with a dark and distinctive feminim touch. And she is who we need, to absolutely avoide the above. We have 0 Ft buget, but for quality advertising we will pay. We bloody must.

This might work if we did Little Red Ridinghood.

Or a stage adaptation from Harry Potter.

The title is 'Sweetgarden'

or the 'Graden of Sweet'

Biblical, you read between the lines.

Anyway she will design something really special and custom made for us. In my fantasies.

It will be a diptychon or a tripych even. Just wait and see!

You wont be able to take your eyes of it.

Actually this is not the first time Sophie and I work together.

We did a short piece in 2003 based on Stindbergs' Ghost Sonata.

Than she was one of my leads in the 2006 production of Sarah Kanes' Psychosis 4.48

And in 2007 she was the angel in a music video (Fly Away) I directed for Jason Walker.

Here is an image to remember taken at lunchtime:

Oh, I just realised that it is quter to 7. I was going to go to theatre today. A member of Kretakor, Lang Annamaria is performing there today, and I have a friend there.

I wanted to see where the performance takes place, how many people fit in, how many people go, how good is the techikal equippment and how much do the tickets cost.

And if all seems well than I would take it a stef further and ask on what terms we might perform in there.

I have already contacted Siraly, and there I have to put some material together, and write a heartgrabbing letter, and than it might be possible to perform there. They dont pay, but dont take any money either. You only have t pay them for the technikal support, and ticket collection. That is great.

But I have a longish list of places, where one could perform. And I have been only thinking Budapest so far.

I keep you posted as I go along.

My next try will be Kolibri Pince. I really want that little studio 10 minutes from my appartment.

But I will ask Thalia as well.

Quite my beating heart. Lets have a bloody rehersal first, shall we?

One should do some research before puting a new product on the market they say.

Well, I have to admit I was very ignorant when deciding to work with Juliet. I should have looked into how often and where it was played localy.

I did not.

So when I read that there is a show by deaf people, in Uj Szinhaz I was surpriced. But yesterday I have found on the internet a show called:

Es Romeo es Julia.

Now, this is not good. Two very famous Hungarian actors, Rodolf Peter and Nagy-Kalozy Eszter, who are married by the by are performing it. And Horgas Adam, who I am sure I have noted befor on this very blog as well, directed it.

They have been playing it since 2000, and are over 250 performances. Congartulations.

Now, this I feel, makes my idea seem less original. I wish that show would not exsist.

But no1. In that performance 2 actors play all the roles. In my performance 2 actors play one role.

But no2. My performance is in two languages. Did Hunagrians get a chanche to listen to some authentic English Shakespeare since Brook was here? I dont think so.

But no3 I have young people playing young people.

cyberpress.sopron.hu/article.php?id=10306

And, it is good news, that it sales, I dont think it is just the actors, I want to think it is the Shakespeare in small doses.

Bite-size tragedy.

Dramaturgy that accomodates the attention-span of the XXI centrury.

And love. Love sales I think.

People like love.

Anyway the quetion remains: should one go and see performances as such? Should I go to the theatre institute with the actors one fine day and see 3-4 performances of Romeo and Juliett?

I didnt put the Baz Luhrman DVD into the player either. I have been thinking about it. But I have not. Yet. Shall I?

And more importantly should we go and see Horgas Adams version?

Should we???

So as time moves on I am becoming more and more dareing to touch the cannonised text of Mr William.

Anyway whatever we cannonise might not be the original one anyway, because these plays were never published in their time. Whats more, to prevent theft of the text playwrites never gave out the full play from their hands.

The actors only had their own lines and final words, so they would know when to start talking. There was one copy with the person who was an early version of the director, cross between play-master and a runner, or something.

Only later did they print the quatros and stuff, and it is a well-known fact that the order of the text might not be the original one.

Act and seens were only later introduced.

So, yes maybe I am butchering the holy text.

But than again, I might just recover its original beauty. The dramaturgy I am using is so organic and gentle, loving even - Shakespeare does not mind.

He wants me to be as dareing as possible.

Fine.

What must be shall be.

First impressions and last impressions count a lot. I think I have come up with an ending that was absolutely unique and fabulous. Will not tell. Just yet. Really bad at keeping secrets.

But I will share some of the dramaturgical perls I have been coming up lately.

In Act III - Scene 2. Juliet has a very long monologue waiting for Romeo, that I have transformed. This is the original text:

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.

I didnt simply just want to edit it, so it is shorter, but I always felt that this scene should be like a ritual, as if she was enchanting her bedroom like a witch. I wanted it to sound like a pagan prayer for love, or a bit like Hunagrian folk-poetry. Since the two languages work in different ways I have achieved the desired effect with different lyrical methodes.

I highlighted the boldest changes:

Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties;

Come, civil night thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle;

Come, civil night thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
Till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
And come, Romeo; my day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
And give me my Romeo!

And in Hungarian:

Robogjatok, parázs-patáju mének a

A napszekérrel napnyugat felé

Ó, bár Apollo ostorozna most

Hogy menten hullna ránk a sűrű éj

Kerítő éj bocsájtsd le kárpitod

Jöjj fátyolos matróna barna éj

Jöjj sötétpillájú édes éj

S vakítsd meg a napot  ne lássa senki

Kitárt karomba hogy száll Romeo

Nem kell világ az éji áldozathoz

szerelmeseknek szépségük világít
Kerítő éj bocsájtsd le kárpitod

Jöjj fátyolos matróna barna éj

Jöjj sötétpillájú édes éj

Sötét lepleddel, hadd higgyem vakon

Hogy szűz erény a teljesült gyönyör

Jöjj éj, jöjj Romeo – én napom

Kerítő éj bocsájtsd le kárpitod

Jöjj fátyolos matróna barna éj

Jöjj sötétpillájú édes éj

És add nékem Romeomat!

Lovely of blasphemous? You decide...

An other milestone:

I created 17 scenes, and will enter the new version soon.

I think that this piece could be ready for February. I cant wait to hear it read out loud, naturally than I will have to start all over again, a long way it is from page to stage, but I am confident that some scenes might work already.

The more I think about the piece the more certain I am that I want this to be stunning.

I do not want this performance to be the bare foot, back clothes - defo no trousers allowed. I dont want any pseudo-historical outfit either.

Julia is young, beautiful and rich. She would dress well. Her costume is important to me.

And than we have the double situation as well. There are two Juilias.

I feel they can not wear the same thing. But they can not be too different either.

Difficult.

And the dresses need to be not only beautifull, but also durable and allowing for dance and movement.

The best would be if you wouldnt have to put on or take off anthing during the show, but change might be very necessary:

First there is a baal, than you go off to marry Romeo, than you wait for him to make love to you, than you have to dress up in your best clothes for the wedding with Paris, you also pretend die in that dress.

This is at least 3 looks.

I have promised to have a directorial concept ready by the time you return knowing all your lines.

Passive agressive. I know. Pray forgive.

Before I forget If you have a dvd about In Manus Tuas pleae bring it back with you also, so we have some visual reference also.

Anyhow, I am more than please to say, that I am making progress. I entered that organic phase of the dramaturgical process, where I start feeling which lines can go, and which will carry the performance. I have edited the text down slightly. At some pont I will sit down and enter the changes into the computer.

And than naturally when you read it, you will have some suggestions and other might have some input also, so it wont be final, but it will be much more advanced.

The text is already mine methinks, becouse consepts of just ideas come to me without having to do anything.

And I think they are very good so I can not wait until our next rehersal.

Julia is said to be psychologicly undeveloped.

I dont think she is. Ohpelia is. And Gertrude is. There is more to Julia than just being the sidekick of Romeo. Otherwise we could not do this piece.

And you are quite right Sophie, she does have these scenes where she thinks and feels and decides and acts.

There are fineries in the language she is using, that carry meaning, that we might not pick up on, and these will be lost in the Hungarian traslation certainly.

Just by hecking out 90% of the cast we have lost most of the text, but perhaps it is still worth mentioning that Shakespere writes in many lyric forms - most unknow to the humble reader of the XXI century, that indicate and define the tone of what the craracter motivation is and who they are. It also referrs to social classes as common people tend to speak in prose while posh people use a multitude of poetic forms. There is a good article on wikipedia about that.

Julia for exapmple uses the methaphore of pilgrims when she first meets Romeo and that is supposed to be a new way of poetic expression, both in for and subject indicating that something new begins. 

Or the part that you reffered to earlyer, when she finds out that Romeo has killed Tybalt, but she has the strength to look at the situation from a different angle.

Her anger might be forced from the beginning, overacted: the part that we were reharsing with Zsofi, where she is using a lot of oxymorons:

'Fiend angelical, dove feathered raved, wolvish-ravening lamb!'

I have read that oxymorons were considered very artificial and unnatural to emotions, as if she would have to make an extra effort to sound really angry, but the form of expression might already give away that she will forgive Romeo.

Wow, how much better is this, that now it is the two of us writing it... There is so much that came to mind actually:

Juliet is very active, but her relationship to her death and death in general is a central point to the dramaturgy.

- The critics and playwrights of the time argued that the play is not a true tragedy since the tragic outcome is due to unfortunate timing and not the culmination of the characters proceedings.

- And death is an ever-occuring thought of Juliets': she is mentioning suicide and death several times, from the beginning:

'Go ask his name:if he be married my grave is like to be my wedding bed' - she says to her nurse on the party.

And the more desperate she gets the more serious these become. I stil think that writing a list with all the quotes about death and dying is important.

Also, even in the context of love, just waiting for him to come she has that long monologue where she says:

'Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die, cut him out in little stars'

Why is she talking about death there? It is much more dramaurgically prompted when Romeo leaves her after their first night together:

'Oh God, I have an ill-divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art below as one dead in the bottom of a tomb'

What does the ill-divining soul mean? Could this be one of the key elements to her charcter?

In the hungarian translation Meszoly writes:

"sejtelem gyotor" - that just means I have this "terrible feeling". Having an ill-divining soul is more permanent, darker, deeper..

What do we think?

Sophie again. I won't attempt to answer this for anyone except myself. Miss Nagy is right, there are various dilemmas facing Juliette... I was thinking about it in a very general sense, that most (not all) of the dilemmas are caused by restraint and duty towards her family (Tybalt doesn't count here). In our culture and generation I think love is much more accessible to most people than it is to Juliette (we can usually choose our boyfriends and don't have to marry them to make the point).

And as for stories about love... aren't we getting satiated with them? It's become one of those things that's great fun to do, but kind of vomit-worthy to watch, and banal to talk about.

For me the emotional trip about Juliette comes from the clash between Juliette's brave and active character, and the tragic end it leads her to. What are we supposed to make of this? Is inactivity safer and therefore better, or is it more admirable to fight passionately at all costs. Is Juliette a hero or a fool? Depends on the reader...

Even if it seems like she takes a lot of instinctive, passionate action with very little thought, one of the things I really like about Juliette is that she does take time to reason - in her own way - about all her reactions and emotions. We see that she's brave, because she acts, even while admitting that she's terrified of the act and uncertain of the outcome. At the news of her cousin's death she holds back her tears and sits down to look at the situation from different points of view and weigh up her options about what to do next. And then she always does the thing that is either (depending on the reader) very admirable or totally daft... she acts.

For me, this is a relevant question to pose to myself, my culture, my generation. To be driven into passion and action in search of an ideal is dangerous. We probably don't need Juliette to show us that. To be swamped into inactivity and nihilism by caution or insecurity, well... is it better?

If I was in Juliette's situation- not that I'd know unless I really was, but I imagine- I think it's likely I'd never have married Romeo. What about others? (Another question I'd love answers to...sorry.)