tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post113708687767992961..comments2024-02-22T01:36:48.427-08:00Comments on On Theatre and Politics - Matthew Freeman: Narrative as an InvitationFreemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137512364976284482006-01-17T07:39:00.000-08:002006-01-17T07:39:00.000-08:00Foreman himself, in the intro to one of the play c...Foreman himself, in the intro to one of the play collections, says that his favorite part of motion pictures is that first few minutes where you don't know anything about these people, and you are trying to figure out how they fit together.Arthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137258942769165322006-01-14T09:15:00.000-08:002006-01-14T09:15:00.000-08:00Rorshach blot as PortraitThat, to me, is a good wa...Rorshach blot as Portrait<BR/><BR/>That, to me, is a good way to think about Foreman's work.<BR/><BR/>One can see a puzzle to be picked apart, but instead I see situations, plots, ideas that are freed of what we traditionally think of as narrative, freed from the laws of physics and cause and effect.<BR/><BR/>I've seen maybe 5 foreman shows, a couple of them twice and for me the joy I get from them is more akin to the sensation of walking down a street I've never walked down before in a foreign country.<BR/><BR/>I think we often use narrative as a way to acclimate an audience to the world we create. Foreman doesn;t always do that, he lets us wander the streets of his foreign town and remain foreign, distinct, novel...<BR/><BR/>Maybe?Devilvethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01425758108288436683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137165399300508712006-01-13T07:16:00.000-08:002006-01-13T07:16:00.000-08:00I don't have the hostility to narrative that Forem...I don't have the hostility to narrative that Foreman expresses, nor do I have a hostility toward new forms. In fact, I have done my share of non-narrative work. I think why audiences avoid new forms, however, is because we don't help them "get it." Suddenly, and without warning, we're speaking in a different language. This goes back to Jeffrey Jones' essay in <I>American Theatre</I> "Thinking About Writing About Thinking About New Plays: Or, How the Visual Arts Audiences Got Comfortable with Radical Innovation, While Theatre Audiences Didn’t." I wrote about this article on my blog (see "Helping the Audience, Part 2" on December 5th). Jones talks about the catalogs that accompany art exhibits, and how they give audiences a vocabulary and a lens. Why couldn't we do such a thing?<BR/><BR/>I must admit that I sometimes think the reason we don't is that the actual ideas that lay beneath the formal experiments are so superficial that we don't <I>want</I> the audience to be able to understand what is going on. But perhaps that is ungenerous. Or perhaps the form is the idea ala Absurdism.Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177922467901223790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137128583299363772006-01-12T21:03:00.000-08:002006-01-12T21:03:00.000-08:00Hmm. In suggesting that challenging conventions of...Hmm. In suggesting that challenging conventions of narrative is a 20C phenomenon, we forget such post-modern anti-narrative masterpieces as Stern's <I>Tristam Shandy</I> and Swift's <I>Tale of a Tub</I> - written in, oh, the 1700s...<BR/><BR/>Also it's worth remembering, in suggesting that audiences are "not ready" for it, that children are perfectly capable of understanding non- or anti-narrative. Often better than adults are, because their minds are not conditioned into only perceiving cultural norms. Some of their favourite cartoons - the wicked <I>Angry Beavers</I> for instance, or <I>Sponge Bob</I>, which often work on associative symbols rather than logical causation - make absolutely no narrative sense at all.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137101061429963652006-01-12T13:24:00.000-08:002006-01-12T13:24:00.000-08:00Playwright, Jose Rivera once put it this way:"Stri...Playwright, Jose Rivera once put it this way:<BR/><BR/>"Strive to be mysterious, but not confusing."<BR/><BR/>I believe that this issue goes to craft. I think mattj and I are on the same page when I say that sometimes post-modern artists forget that they have to challenge themselves as craftsmen as well as challenge the audience to understand what is going on.<BR/><BR/>It is not an easy skill to walk the edge of opacity, but if one can do it, AND include the proper amount of substance behind their style, they will have created something special.Arthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137100690009518832006-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:002006-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:00Great post as usual!I've been with someone for a y...Great post as usual!<BR/><BR/>I've been with someone for a year who is a huge comic book fan. Huge. He is pretty much like the Jack Black in High Fidelity of comic books ( well, except he is nice and not condescending!) . But anyway, I've been reading more comic books and getting acquainted with some amazing forms. '<BR/>I've just been amazed to see how much form and ways of narrative has evolved in the comics since Fantastic Four and while theatre has evolved it's fair share, I am really blown away by how much comic fans will grow and evolve with the form as it changes. <BR/>People are so much more resistant with theatre. It's strange. <BR/>Also, I am getting some really cool staging ideas from these comics !!! <BR/>They use the most inventive ways of telling stories...DLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11971226704327883196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1137097088869459052006-01-12T12:18:00.000-08:002006-01-12T12:18:00.000-08:00"Is it possible to invite an audience into non-nar..."Is it possible to invite an audience into non-narrative theatre? To make them complicit and involved, without self-indulgence?"<BR/><BR/>I hope so. You're right, narrative is a convention as you commented to me on one of my earlier posts when Spearbearer started this conversation you are dealing with. But is there no place in the theatre world for it? And is it a useless endeavor? I worry about this notion because even though it is tried and true, there is something important about challenging narrative form. And often, when narrative is challenged, and challenged well, there is still a structure and a "way in" for the audience. Whether it's a linkages of symbols and themes or whatever, some sort of associative device. It's hard to do this well, but not without merit.<BR/><BR/>And I think part of the problem that it feels elitist is that the audience isn't ready for it, they don't know what the difference can be between theatre and film. This kind of theatre without narrative is interesting and challenging, but the audience doesn't get it. But could they? I think so. I hope so.<BR/><BR/>As a sidenote, non-narrative is not just a theatrical convention, it's a gigantic postmodern form of literature as well; and you can se it done successfully in film as well.MattJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15024391912705232207noreply@blogger.com