As I've suggested, for me the truth of these lil nuggets resonates beyond art making.  Especially these bits about silence and stillness: 

Words are born from silence... movement, too, can only come out of immobility. (35)

In any human relationship two major zones of silence emerge: before and after speech.  Before, when no words have been spoken, one is in a state of modesty which allows words to be born out of silence; in this state strength comes from avoiding explanatory discourse.  (29)

Of late I have been sitting with what feels like extreme introversion, coupled with chronic sleeplessness and the persistent sense of not knowing (in security).  In addition to being quite uncomfortable, the result is surprisingly sedative.  In that it feels true; there is a sense that necessary movement will make itself clear. 

Theatre teachers of mine have spoken of necessity and economy.  It seems that if we honour silence and stillness, any noise or motion will come from absolute necessity.  Urgency, even.  It will therefore be economical - the best possible action or word.  I understand this to mean that our jobs as artists - and as livers - is to be still and watch and wait.  And to honour what emerges as necessary.  Not passively, but actively, with the knowledge that it is the most economical thing to do. 

Seems so much more sane than "solving" by "thinking," no?  (But apparently much more difficult!)

To complicate things, I now feel like I need to reference another book I am reading.  The parallels/echoes must be pointed at.  The Way of Chuang Tzu is a translation of the writings of Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu (or Zhuangzi) from the 4th c. BCE.  He is considered a foundational contributor to Taoism.  In the introduction, translator Thomas Merton offers a summary of the teaching of wu wei - to act without activity.  "It is not mere passivity, but it is action that seems both effortless and spontaneous... it is completely free because there is in it no force and no violence.  It is not conditioned or limited by our own individual needs and desires, or even by our own theories and ideas" (28). 

Here is one of the writings in the (translated) words of Chuang Tzu:

ACTION AND NON-ACTION

The non-action of the wise man is not inaction.
It is not studied.  It is not shaken by anything.
The sage is quiet because he is not moved,
Not because he wills to be quiet.
Still water is like glass.
You can look in it and see the bristles on your chin.
It is a perfect level;
A carpenter could use it.
If water is so clear, so level,
How much more the spirit of man?
The heart of the wise man is tranquil.
It is the mirror of heaven and earth
The glass of everything.
Emptiness, stillness, tranquillity, tastelessness,
Silence, non-action: this is the level of heaven and earth.
This is the perfect Tao.  Wise men find here
Their resting place.
Resting, they are empty.

From emptiness comes the unconditioned.
From this, the conditioned, the individual things.
So from the sage's emptiness, stillness arises:
From stillness, action.  From action, attainment.
From their stillness comes their non-action, which is also action
And is, therefore, their attainment.
For stillness is joy.  Joy is free from care
Fruitful in long years.

Joy does all things without concern:
For emptiness, stillness, tranquillity, tastelessness,
Silence, and non-action
Are the root of all things.

 

Welcome to today's edition of Le Daily Coq.  Our theme on this wintery Tuesday is AUDIENCE.  

Can't live without em; can't live without em.

These passages put forth the immense value of fostering well-informed, thoroughly-exposed audiences.  At the same time, we must not assume the ineptitude of an audience, however "green", at being able to tell - instinctually - when something works or doesn't work; that is objectively discernible.  


It might seem un petit paradoxical, but I think this is really where it's at.  Check it out:

My first response to any performer's improvisation or exercise is to make observations, which are not to be confused with opinions.  When a car tyre bursts, that's not an opinion, it's a fact.  I observe.  Opinions can be formulated afterwards, based on this observation of reality.  The critical comments one makes about the work do not attempt to distinguish the good from the bad, but rather to separate what is accurate and true from what is too long or too brief, what is interesting from what is not.  This might appear pretentious but the only thing which interests us is what is accurate and true.  Aesthetic elements... can be sensed by anyone and an audience always knows perfectly well when something is accurate and true.  They may not know why, but it is up to us to know, because we are, after all, specialists.   (19-20)

From the simple lifting of an actor's arm, the spectators must be able to sense a rhythm, a sound, a light, a colour.  The challenge for the teacher is to observe with a practiced eye that can distinguish, among the different gestures made, which ones are explanatory, which are formalized, and which are both truthful and poetic.  Gradually, the students themselves begin to acquire subtlety in observing gestural nuances.  If theatre audiences were to acquire this same subtlety of observation, they would discover untold riches.  But the banality of what they are given as a rule makes this almost impossible.  To train people's ability to look and see is as important as to train creative artists.  (52)

This is perhaps especially relevant in our small town, where folks may not be super exposed to alternative styles of theatre.  Funny, though, that JLC was writing in Paris.  PARIS!  Maybe we can take comfort that ours is a universal struggle, confronted by excellent artists everywhere.  Or maybe that's depressing. 

Well, no more, I say! 

They won't know what hit them, right? 

Hi team! It's me, Kat, writing my first post.  It's about the wonderful world of THEATRE THEORY!  Funnest.  Thing.  Ever.  Especially in an interdisc project.  Right?  Right.

Thanks to Chrystene, I got my hands on a copy of Jacque Lecoq's The Moving Body.  JLC has been hugely influential for me, via amazing physical theatre teachers I have had.  I assume everyone is equally excited by him.  And thus I embark upon a lil blog series wherein I will keep you apprised of words of theatre wisdom I stumble across.  If I was a wittier blogger (less deterred by bathroom humour) I would call said series, Le Daily Coq.  

This book is brimming with creation philosophies that are BANG EFFING ON what (I think) we are trying to do. 

I'm on page 41.  Here are some gems so far:

My work has always nurtured a dual aim: one part of my interest is focused on theatre, the other on life. I have always tried to educate people to be at ease in both. My hope, perhaps utopian, is for my students to be consummate livers of life and complete artists on stage. (18)

In my method of teaching I have always given priority to the external world over inner experience. In our work the search for self-enlightenment and spiritual bliss has little attraction. The ego is superfluous. It is more important to observe how beings and objects move, and how they find a reflection in us. We must give priority to the horizontal and the vertical, to whatever exists outside ourselves, however intangible. People discover themselves in relation to the external world, and if the student has special qualities, these will show up in the reflection. (19)

BAM. I know - Why read on?  What more could possibly lie ahead?  You are completely satisfied already.  The man gave that away on page 19. 

I have a strong belief in permanency, in the 'Tree of trees', the 'Mask of masks', the balance that sums up perfect harmony...  Starting from an accepted reference point, which is neutral, the students discover their own point of view.  Of course there is no such thing as absolute and universal neutrality, it is merely a temptation.  This is why error is interesting...  Error is not just acceptable, it is necessary for the continuation of life, provided it is not too great.  (20-21)

To mime is literally to embody and therefore to understand better.  A person who handles bricks all day long reaches a point where he no longer knows what he is handling... If he is asked to mime handling a brick, he rediscovers the meaning of the object, its weight and volume...  Every true artist is a mime.  Picasso's ability to draw a bull depended on his having found the essential Bull in himself, which released the shaping gesture of his hand.  (22)

Novelty is not, in itself, indispensable.  Probing the depths of one strand leads to the discovery that everything is contained within it.  (23)

LOVE IT?  You want more? 

"Yes.  I am dying for some good JLC quotes re. neutral mask!"  (That's you.)   

[Neutral mask] should enable one to experience the state of neutrality prior to action, a state of receptiveness to everything around us, with no inner conflict... Beneath every mask, expressive masks or commedia dell'arte masks, there is a neutral mask supporting all the others...  Its moves have a truthfulness, its gestures and actions are economical.  (36; 38)

Neutral mask puts one in touch with what belongs to everyone, and then the nuances appear all the more forcefully.  These are not nuances of character, since there is no character, but all the little differences which separate one performer from another.  (41)

Last is a bit on "waking up."  (This is the name of an exercise in which the masked performer literally wakes up for the first time.  Also, you can think of it all metaphorical-like; it makes v. good sense to me.  I LOVE THIS PASSAGE.  THAT'S WHY IT'S LONG AND LAST.)

Sometimes students have a tendency to first move their hands, then their feet, to discover their own bodies, while all along an extraordinary dimension is being offered to them: space...  We have to explain that it is unimportant to know how many fingers a human being possesses and that it's not worth having a dialogue with one's own body when, much more simply, the world is there to discover.  Others try to enter into a dialogue with another mask that's performing at the same time.  They remain staring at one another but neither can respond to the other.  In fact a neutral mask is never able to communicate face to face with another mask.  What could a neutral mask say to another mask?  Nothing.  All they can do is find themselves together, facing an outside event which interests both of them.   (39)

WAS THIS NOT THE BEST PART OF YOUR DAY?  I wish I had written it. 

Seriously, though.  Take out my obnoxious glib banter and this post contains pure genius.  Copy it into Word, delete this shit, and post it on your wall.  Your ACTUAL WALL.