The Last Days of Postmodernist Theatre

It has been a long and eventful few weeks... And here I was thinking after the Last Days of Judas Iscariot "I'll have so much free time now! I'll be able to go to sleep at eight every night and homework will be done with extreme precision!" In actuality, my last few weeks has been packed with helping the IBTA yr2 girls with their projections and set, watching numerous post modernist plays and finally venturing into the histories and cultures of Turkey. If you couldn't tell already, I have a plethora of things to talk about. So let's begin then shall we?

*I apologize if this blog post is overflowing with inside jokes and perhaps a bit from the Last Days of Judas Iscariot, ArtiFacts and Turkey. I think I use so many little phrases that I expect other people to be aware of, but they always end up looking at me with utter confusion and pointlessness.* 

As per usual, I like to keep to a chronological style of reflection and formatting in the beginning of my posts though at the end it usually results in disjointed thoughts. So, to start, I would like to talk about my experiences in the Last Days of Judas Iscariot. To give an overview, this play basically was formed upon the relationships of Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ, prince of peace. Ironically, however, it is not a story of Judas Iscariot. Rather, It is a trial of the actions he committed and a reflection of all human beings and the mistakes they can potentially make in their lives. This is what it basically boiled down to for me, even though it's hazy to summarize the depths and messages that this play portrays in a couple of words. What I found particularly interesting was how the different testimonies all offered something new to the table and despite what this discrete message was, everyone was intent on trying and experiencing everything the play exhibited.

There is just so much to say about what I experienced through this journey - as an actor and as a person. In this play, I was blessed to receive the role of Yousef El-Fayoumy, the prosecutor of Judas Iscariot. He is extremely blunt, loud, cheeky, cocky and is a severe opportunist. It was interesting for me as I believe it was the first time that I had a humorous role! It was quite intimidating because with humour, it is almost integral to get a reaction from the audience. At the end of the day, however, I feel like it was the encouragement and endless support from the cast that helped me push through my fears and step over the lines that I hadn't crossed before. It was as much everyone else's role as it was mine.

I found myself, oftentimes, moreover, utilizing the knowledge that we gained through the first quarter in this class into the role of my character. I feel like the workshop with Mark Hill were able to enhance my experiences with the stage to a great extent. I kept telling myself to keep the energy at a high, to be aware of my surroundings not only so I could utilize the stage around me, but also because I had to react to my fellow cast and at everything they were doing or saying and to use violent articulation so that everyone in the back row could hear what I had to say and thus convey messages of the play.

As a person, I can really say that this play posed some questions that I wouldn't have really thought of in the past. It's really helped me grow as a person in terms of maturity and faith. Should we be forgiven even if we can't forgive ourselves? Are there instances where we shouldn't be forgiven? Are humans capable of being good? Is all sin even in the eyes of God? How does God view the human race? What is the difference between ourselves and Judas Iscariot? What is despair and what role does it have in our lives? What holds us back from being good? These are just a few questions that are on the tip of my tongue and that I think really summarizes what I've learned through the play. I think this play was an example of what Peter Brooke would call Holy Theatre. It stimulated thoughts and questions that were there, but I didn't really ask in the past. It helped my relationships with religion and has just played an amazing role in starting my year at SFS.

So as I wrote one part of my blog, I remembered that this blogpost is most definitely not chronological because I watched Post Modernist plays before the actual nights of the play. So I guess I failed once more at this organized thing. But since it is divided into sections, it can still be seen as organized... yes? yes. Anyway, now to move onto some PoMo plays that I've seen. There were some plays that were just phenomenal, some that were just mediocre and some that just confused me. Over 3 weeks, I saw five plays: the Comedy of K, the Odyssey, Inspirations and Improvisations, Gulliver's Travels and finally Black Watch. I chose to watch a lot of plays because I was scared that I would miss something exceptional. Some were definitely better than others, but all in all, I'm happy that I took the time to go to these shows as they offered something completely different in each play.

The Comedy of K was interesting. It incorporated some great dancing, posed some questions through movement and included some themes from Metamorphosis by Kafka. It followed a non-linear story line - the characters did not speak any words and the only thing that was able to guide us were some words that popped up on the sides of the stage - and consisted of a very bare and simple stage with a few props such as a bed and a cool roof that projections were beamed at.

I didn't really understand it at first; actually, I still don't really understand it. But does that mean it's was a bad show? Does it mean it was deadly theatre? No. I actually really enjoyed the Comedy of K because it gave me a chance to step back and just watch a show. I first started to try and understand everything, to try and relate everything to SARS and Kafka's Metamorphosis. But obviously, it was extremely difficult. So I just stopped thinking and started watching. Upon reflection, I was able to recall upon some scorched moments that just blew me away and understand the purpose of them or at least interpret them in a way that made sense to me.

Rather than focusing on black watch, a play that most people seem to be reflecting on, I would like to focus on Parsons Dance, another production that I found particularly amazing. This was another dance show actually and was quite different from the Comedy of K. I would say that the former was more abstract whereas the latter is more straightforward. It centered on two males and one female whilst live singers sung the songs the dancers danced to. Please refer to the video above for my favorite part of the dance - the beginning. We can see how so many of the production elements were infused with each other. The lighting is just amazing in this scene and so is the dancer. How can he move that quickly to match the time? It's just shocking really. The set helps by creating shadows and the costume aids the messages trying to be conveyed. It really puts you in a trans kind of feeling.

The lighting in this play was spectacular. Here's the link to the ligthing designer: http://www.parsonsdance.org/howell-binkley/ Just amazing. You must check him out. It actually made the set in so many ways - like the jail for instance. Everything worked so well together especially the dancing and the singing and the lighting and the dancing. I wouldn't say that this was necessarily so PoMo, but there were diverse elements that could have made it post modernist. Many other plays really wowed me with music. The inspirations and improvisations - Butoh dancer - for example created a really raw and scary atmosphere with the pianist and the cacophonies and clashing of sounds.

All in all, I was so happy to have spent my time and money on these shows. The reason I saw all of these shows was because I was scared that I would miss something spectacular and boy was I right. I really advise all of you guys in the future to attend all shows as you never know which plays will be better than the others. Even then, it is good to see those that weren't as good. :) If you feel me. Black Watch and Parsons Dance will probably be ingrained into my mind as they were just so amazing. Some people were in awe that they couldn't see these two plays, but I did. When in doubt, see all of them.