Perhaps Churchill isn't as Brechtian as we think she is...

I found this article that suggests Churchill employs a different way of communicating political theatre than Brecht. The whole article helps with the understanding of the play, but I found Part II particularly helpful in discussing Churchill's approach to creating a political piece like this. It also has some interesting tidbits about the play's history (not sure if this is up yet, but I'll post this anyway).


"Mad Forest is the second play Caryl Churchill has written focusing closely
on revolution (Light Shining in Buckinghamshire being the first). The project was
launched at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and began with
a trip to Romania in the Spring following the 1989 December coup. Churchill,
a group of final-year acting students, and the director spent three weeks observing
and improvising in Bucharest The resulting play opened in London in July 1990,
and off-Broadway in New Yoric in November 1991." (105)


pgs 113-118

• "... contemporary British political drama has been firmly situated within an Enlightenment tradition, heralding reason and progress as the "up" side of history's ruthless dynamism. ...Mad Forest in particular, breaks with that tradition. Reinforcing neither a "meta-narrative" of prograss, nor the ideals of reason, the play inhabits a post-Enlightenment sphere" (114)
• The author suggests that Churchill's play is somewhat cynical in that it "her history offers the opportunity to examine political cynicism and that the play illustrates, importantly, the manner in which that cynicism 'crystalizes'" (115) or is fixed in the memory of the people and of the country.
• Unlike Brecht, Churchill cannot see depicting historical events clearly, as true history is unknowable (115)
• "Churchill abandons the Enlightenment universal of Brecht's prescription for a fragmented particularism that better accomodates the complexity she means to convey" (116)
• "...knowledge that is expressed in the 'fatally clever smile' that signals its realistic view of the way things are is applicable to the experiences of Churchill's characters, both before and after the revolution" (116)
• Cynicism is 1) "a quality of survival" and later 2) "a self-defeating element in the attempt to reconstruct either history or an ethical politics" (116)
• Cynicism exists from pre-revolution (awareness of official attitudes versus real attitudes of people) to post-revolution (people suspicious of being duped again)
• Churchill shows a "stolen revolution", Romanians believed in something, fought for it, but the revolution was stolen out from under them while they were still dreaming. However, though the people were still less powerful, they decide they will not be taken in by a new dictatorship. (116-117)
• Brechtian theatre provides opportunities and tools for change to Westerners, but Churchill simply indicates the struggle and impact of the revolution (117)
• Churchill employs micro-politics ("revealed in failed communications, ethnic hatreds, lost hopes and the dissolution of private/public distinctions within the families, add up, finally, to wariness and the 'fatally clever smile.'" (118)) to illustrate political dynamics of the people and the country
• "deception is beaten with suspicion" (118)

Revolution and the Fatally Clever Smile: Caryl Churchill's "Mad Forest"

-A

The Influence of Chinese Acting on Brecht

"Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting" - By Bertolt Brecht

[From the book Theatre Theory Theatre edited by Daniel Gerould. You can look for the original essay in the library or ask Natalia for it.]

• "The following is intended to refer briefly to the use of the alienation effect in traditional Chinese acting. This method was most recently used in Germany for plays of a non-aristotelian (not dependant on empathy) type as part of the attempts being made to evolve an epic theatre. The efforts in question were directed to playing such a way that the audience was hindered from simply identifying itself with the characters in the play. Acceptance or rejection of their actions and utterances was meant to take place on a conscious plane, instead of, hitherto, in the audience's subconscious" (454).
• "This effort to make the incidents represented appear strange to the public can be seen in a primitive form in the theatrical and pictorial displays at the old popular fairs. The way the clowns speak and the way the panoramas are painted both embody an act of alienation. The method of painting used to reproduce the picture of "Charles the Bold's flight after the Battle of Murten," as shown at many German fairs, is certainly mediocre; yet the act of alienation which is achieved here (not by the original) is in no wise due to the mediocrity of the copyist. The fleeing commander, his horse, his retinue and the landscape are all quite consciously painted in such a way as to create the impression of an abnormal event, an astonishing disaster" (454).
• "It is well known that the Chinese theatre uses a lot of symbols. Thus a general will carry little pennants on his shoulder, corresponding to the number of regiments under his command. Poverty is shown by patching the silken costumes with irregular shapes of different colors, likewise silken, to indicate that they have been mended. Characters are distinguished by particular masks, i.e. simply by painting. Certain gestures of the two hands signify the forcible opening of a door, etc. The stage itself remains the same, but articles of furniture are carried in during the action. All this has long been known, and cannot very well be exported`` (454).
• "Above all, the Chinese artist never acts as if there were a fourth wall besides the three surrounding him. He expresses his awareness of being watched" (45).
• "The audience can no longer have the illusion of being the unseen spectator at an event which is really taking place. A whole elaborate European stage technique, which helps to conceal the fact that the scenes are so arranged that the audience can view them in the easiest way, is thereby made unnecessary. The actors openly choose those positions which will best show them off to the audience, just as if they were acrobats. A further means is that the artist observes himself. Thus if he is representing a cloud, perhaps, showing its unexpected appearance, its soft and strong growth, its rapid yet gradual transformation, he will occasionally look at the audience as if to say: isn`t it just like that? At the same time he also observes his own arms and legs, adducing them, resting them and perhaps finally approving them. An obvious glance at the floor, so as to judge the space available to him for his act, does not strike him as liable to break the illusion. In this way, the artist separates mime (showing observation) from gesture (showing a cloud), but without detracting from the latte, since the body`s attitude is reflected in the face and is wholly responsible for its expression" (455).
• “The Chinese artist`s performance often strikes the Western actor as cold. That does not mean that the Chinese theatre rejects all representation of feelings. The performer portrays incidents of utmost passion, but without his delivery becoming heated [...] this complete conversion operation is extremely exhausting. Stanislavsky puts forward a series of means - a complete system - by which what he calls creative mood can repeatedly be manufactured afresh at every performance [...] these problems are unknown for the Chinese performer, for he rejects complete conversion. He limits himself from the start to simply quoting the character played” (456).
• “For the actor it is difficult and taxing to conjure up particular inner moods or emotions night after night; it is simpler to exhibit the other signs which accompany these emotions and identify them. The alienation effect intervenes, not in the form of absence of emotion, but in the form of emotions which need not correspond to those of the character portrayed. When we speak of exhibiting the outer signs of emotion we do not mean such an exhibition and such a choice of signs that the emotional transference does in fact take place because the actor has managed to infect himself with the emotions portrayed, by exhibiting the outer signs; thus, by letting his voice rise, holding his breath and tightening his neck muscles so that the blood shoots to his head, the actor can easily conjure up a rage. In such a case of course the effect does not occur. But it does occur if the actor at a particular point unexpectedly shows a completely white face, which he has produced mechanically by holding his face in his hands with some white make-up on them. If the actor at the same time displays an apparently composed character, then his terror at this point (as a result of this message, or that discovery) will give rise to the alienation effect” (457).
• “The alienation effect was achieved in the German epic theatre not only by the actor, but also by the music (choruses, songs) and the setting (placards, film etc). It was principally designed to historicize the incidents portrayed. By this is meant the following: The bourgeois theatre emphasized the timelessness of its objects. Its represenation of people is bound by the alleged eternally human. Its story is arranged in such a way as to create universal situations that allow Man to express himself: man of every period and color” (459).

- Natalia

Images of the Revolution

Here are a few more images from December 1989, Romania.

http://ericmatsonphotography.com/editorial1.html

Much Better Article

Churchill and "Postrevolutionary Disillusionment"

This is a much better article than the one I posted previously. It's got some interesting points and is well-written. A++

-A

Epic Theatre and "Mad Forest" article

BAS - Epic Theatre and Caryl Churchill's "Mad Forest"

Here's a very easy-to-understand article on Epic Theatre and Mad Forest and how Churchill employs Brechtian techniques. It's fairly simple in terms of its analysis, but it has a few key points. The article says that there is "not a plot to talk about", and while I somewhat agree, I wonder if this is wholly true due to the inclusion of the family stories. I think it's fragmented, and there may be points in which the family can be referred to throughout the play to keep that narrative going (if you so choose).

-A

Warsaw Pact

- Signed in 1955 in Warsaw, Poland.
- Countries included: Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, USSR (all Communist countries at the time).
- Initiated by the Soviet Union.
- It was created to oppose the creation of NATO in western Europe

Nicolae Ceausescu

- Born January 26th, 1918, in the village of Scornicesti and moved to Bucharest at the age of 11 to work in the factories.
- Nicolae was the 3rd oldest of 10 children. His father was a supporter of the Peasant's Party, a left-winged ideology that represented the interests of the Romanian peasantry. He was believed to be an alcoholic and beat his wife and children.
- Nicolae joined the then-illegal Communist Party of Romania in 1932 and was arrested in 1936 for anti-facist activities.
- In 1940, he met Elena Petrescu, a devout Communist and they were later married in 1946.
- He was arrested and sent to jail numerous times and while he served time at Targu Jiu Interment Camp, he met Gheorghui-Dej, whom he shared many similar ideas and the two became very close.
- After WW2, Romania was starting to fall under Soviet influence and Ceausescu served as Secretary in the Union of Communist Youth (1944-1945).
- Once the Communist party took power in 1947, Ceausescu served under the leadership of Gheorghui-Dej as Major General. The death of Gheroghui-Dej in 1965 led Ceausescu to the role of leader of Romania's Communist Party as First Secretary then as Presidency of State Council in 1967.
- In the 1960's he ended Romania's participation in the Warsaw Pact (*see Warsaw Pact) and refused to be involved in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
- In 1974 he was elected to the newly created position of President of Romania.
- In an effort to pay of the country's debt, he ordered the export of the country's agricultural and industrial production. This caused a shortage of food, fuel, energy and medicine (1982).
- His regime's collapse came as he ordered his security forces to fire on anti-governement demonstrators in Timisoara on December 17th, 1989.
- The demonstrators spread to Bucharest and on December 22, 1989 the army succumbed to the demonstrators.
- On the same day, Nicolae and his wife, Elena, fled the capital of Bucharest but were captured and taken into custody.
- They were tried and found guilty of all counts (genocide, damage to national economy, abuse of power to execute military actions on the Romanian population) and killed by a shooting squad on December 25th, 1989.

"The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre" - By Bertolt Brecht

"The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre" - By Bertolt Brecht

[I found this essay in the book Theatre Theory Theatre edited by Daniel Gerould. You can look for the original essay in the library or ask Natalia for it.]

• In this essay, Brecht criticizes the Opera for constantly changing, but "without its culinary character being changed" (446). For Brecht, "culinary character" means that sense of spectacle and entertainment that is present in the opera, which only distracts spectators from the larger political and sociological problems that are being overshadowed in the play.
• "Society absorbs via the [theatrical] apparatus whatever it needs in order to reproduce itself. This means that an innovation will pass if it is calculated to rejuvenate existing society, but not if it is going to change it - irrepsective whether the form of the society in quesiton is good or bad" (447).
• "The trouble, however, is that at present the apparati do not work for the general good; the means of production do not belong to the producer; and as a result this work amounts to so much merchandise, and is governed by the normal laws of mercantile trade. Art is a merchandise, only to be manufactured by the means of production (apparati)" (447).
• What does apparati mean in this context? It refers to the theatrical apparatus, where the most predominant aesthetic is realism and where the fourth wall is never broken. Spectators simply watch the action on stage.
• "Our existing opera is a culinary opera. It was a means of pleasure long before it turned into merchandide. It furthers plesure even where it requires or promores, a certain degree of education, for the education in question is an education in taste" (448).
• "The opera Mahogany pays conscious tribute to the senselessness of the operatic form. The irrationatility of opera lies in the fact that retional elements are employed, solid reality is aimed at, but at the same time it is all washed out by the music. A dying man is unreal. If at the same time he sings we are translated to the sphere of the irrational...the more unreal and unclear the music can make the reality, the more pleasureable the whole process becomes: the pleasure grows in proportion to the degree of unreality" (448).
• Brecht explains how the content of opera is just pleasure and in order to improve it....well, you can't. You have to get rid of everything and start all over. Essentially, Brech discusses the functions of the opera for the rest of the essay in ordet to change these functions. For the rest of this essay, Brecht calls the classical theatre (which he is critiquing) "Dramatic Theatre" and his new revolutionary theatrical apparatus is called the "Epic Theatre."
• Page 449 - Functions of Dramatic Theatre:
• Plot (Highly influenced by Aristotle's theories on what theatre should be - full of action. Plot must contain beginning, middle, and end - and a climax of course).
• Implicates the spectator ina stage situation
• Provides him with sensations
• Instinctive feelings are preserved
• One scene makes another growth
• Linear development
• Evolutionary determinism
• Functions of Epic Theatre:
• Narrative turns the spectator into a an observer but arouses his capacity for action.
• Forces him to take decisions
• He is made to face something
• Brought to the point of recognintion
• The spectator stands outsides, studies
• The human being is the object of inquiry
• Montage
• In curves
• Jumps
• Social being determines thought
• "When the epic theatre`s methods begin to penetrate the opera the first result is a radical separation of elements" (449).
• This separation of elements "means that the intergration is muddle." When these elements are not separated, and they are beautifully fused together creating a melting pot, spectators become passive and take pleasure in watching, Brecht hates this.
• "The form employed was that of the moral tableau. The tableau is performed by the characters in the play. The text had to be neither moralizing nor sentimental, but to put morals and sentimentality on view. Equally important was the spoken word and the written word" (450).
• "Real innovations attack the roots" (453).

- Natalia

Images of Communist Romania

Here's a short interview with a photographer who snapped some photos during the communist regime. I've also included a link to another site that showcases a few more images.

http://www.vice.com/read/everyday-life-in-communist-romania-0000001-v18n9?Contentpage=-1

http://estost.photoshelter.com/gallery/G0000E5xgbtlGc7w

MAD THEORY!

The following is from the article Serious Money Becomes "Business by Other Means": Caryl Churchill's Metatheatrical Subject by Daniel Jernigan. Found via EBSCO on the UAlberta Library site.

"metatheatre, order is something continually improvised by men" (291)
"metadrama blurs the boundaries between illusion and reality, it does so by circumscribing a theatrical order explicitly "improvised by men" (291)
"Brecht is metatheatrical... because "he insists on the fact that [his characters] are puppets"; he "does not try to pass them off as real people, and [he] delights in exhibiting their mechanisms." ... this reminds us that the point of Brechts plays is to focus on the very fact that they have indeed been "improvised by men" (291)
                Does Mad Forest subscribe to any aspects of metatheatre akin to Brecht? Is there not a kind of improvised nature throughout the play (especially Part II) of Mad Forest? How do Churchill's characters relate to Brecht's puppet image, and how do they relate to "reality"?

"a metadramatic technique distinctively Churchill's - the way in which she explicitly recognizes how the two sides of the fourth wall, that conceptual barrier between audience and stage, actually interact with one another" (292)
"Churchill demonstrates how "'Truth' [the theatre, in this case] is linked in a circular relation with systems of power [multinational capitalism] which produce and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend it" (293)
"the theatre itself can be legitimated by the power/knowledge hierarchy in just such a way that even those theatreical productions which might have been revolutionary in their original intent are co-opted so as to serve the status quo" (293)
"Churchill goes out of her way to raise moral issues in her work... taking theatre as her subject in order to focus critical attention on the corrupting influence 'the real world' can have on theatre" (293)

             stay tuned for more from this article!
Jernigan, Daniel. "Serious Money Becomes 'Business By Other Means': Caryl Churchill's Metatheatrical Subject." Comparative Drama 38.2-3 (2004): 291-313. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 15 May 2012.


This next bit is from an E-book called Unmaking Mimesis, a collection of essays concerning feminism. Hurrah! Citation below.

theatrical representation for how historical truth is produced (99)

What is real? Through metatheatricality (?) Churchill questions the experience held by Romanians who watched the revolution through a screen.

“attention to the dialectical and contradictory forces within social relations, principally the agon of class conflict changing in its historical forms; commitment to alienation techniques and deliberate discontinuity in theatrical signification; literalization of theatre space to produce a spectator/reader who is not interpellated into ideology but is passionately and pleasurably  engaged in  observation and analysis” (44)

How does Romanian pronounciation and Brechtian theories relate to this production of Mad Forest? Will there be any acknowledgement of the fact that some or most of the actors are not Romanian/ don’t speak Romanian?

How far will this production be exposing the theatrical apparatus?

Diamond, Elin. Unmaking Mimesis [Electronic Resource] : Essays On Feminism Andtheater / Elin Diamond. London ; New York : Routledge, 1997., 1997. NEOS's Catalog. Web. 15 May 2012.






These are my current thoughts. Let me know what you think!


-A