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Antonin Artaud is probably the single greatest force on the
contemporary stage. In this harrowing play, Charles Marowitz draws
on exclusive material obtained from friends and confidantes,
depicting a series of imaginary scenes based upon the true
incidents of Artaud's life and his incarceration as a madman in the
asylum at Rodez. Using Artaud's own Theatre of Cruelty techniques
Marowitz tells what is perhaps the cruelest story of all: the way
in which society methodically destroys the maverick artist who
attempts to defy it. Also included in this edition are exclusive
interviews with leading avant-garde figures such as Roger Blin and
Arthur Adamov as well as first-hand testimony from Artaud's own
psychiatrist, Dr Gaston Ferdiere and Artaud's sister, Marie-Ange
Malaussena.
Based almost entirely on the author's personal experiences, this
concise handbook follows a director's journey from the casting
process to opening night, revealing the hidden or unspoken aspects
of play and stage production that are rarely, if ever, described in
theater manuals and textbooks. Mr. Marowitz discusses topics such
as rehearsals, characterization, blocking, tempo-rhythm,
dramaturgy, and actor-and-audience psychology, demystifying an art
form that is often dealt with only in terms of concepts and
ideology rather than the mundane, nitty-gritty nuts-and-bolts
requirements of just "getting the show on the road."
Applause BooksThe acclaimed stage director and theatre critic
Charles Marowitz in tandem with Jan Kott, one of the most
penetrating and incisive Shakespearean scholars to emerge in the
20th Century, probe the mysteries of some of the more problematic
plays in Shakespeare's canon. The innovative director and dazzling
classicist bring two complementary viewpoints to bear as they delve
into the collected works, illuminating the constantly changing
nature and philosophic nuances of the various plays.The book's
centerpiece consists of Kott and Marowitz's insights on such plays
as Othello, Romeo & Juliet, Troilus & Cressida and Measure
for Measure. They reveal the ideas behind Shakespeare's plays and
the process of making them come alive before and audience and
present frank, no-holds barred discussions on such subjects as The
Shakespeare Industry, The Boundaries of Interpretation, Dramaturgy
and Mise-en-scene.
Charles Marowitz was the first American to direct at the Royal
Shakespeare Company and the first American to direct at the Czech
National Theatre (while collaborating with Vaclav Havel). Known as
a maverick playwright, director, and critic, he nurtured numerous
figures who have come to shape contemporary theatre and larger
society. Without Marowitz the theories and ideas of Antonin Artaud
would remain obscure. The entire trajectory and ecology of theatre
and performance since the 1960s have been considerably influenced
by this alone. The present-day popularity of immersive theatre was
a mode of performance introduced to the British theatre by Charles
Marowitz and Allan Kaprow in the famous Happening at the 1963
Edinburgh Drama Conference. In 1968 Marowitz started the Open Space
Theatre on Tottenham Court Road in collaboration with Thelma Holt.
There is a gap in our collective understanding of this important
figure and a gap in currently available literature about him. The
Marowitz Compendium seeks to spark a revaluation. The audience for
this book includes students, postgraduates, specialists and general
readers interested in drama and the history of contemporary
theatre.
In the same way that Shakespeare himself continued to meditate and
transform his own ideas and the shape they took, Marowitz gives us
license to continue that meditation in productions extrapolated
from Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare becomes the greatest of all
catalysts who stimulates a constant re-formulation of the
fundamental questions of philosophy, history and meaning. Marowitz
introduces us to Shakespeare as an active contemporary collaborator
who strives with us to yield a vibrant contemporary theatre.
Exit the King is a highly stylized, ritualized death rite unfolding
the final hours of the once-great king Berenger the First. As he
dies, his kingdom also dies. His armies suffer defeat, the young
emigrate, the seasons change overnight, and his kingdom's borders
shrink to the outline of his throne. At last, as the curtain falls,
the king himself dissolves into a gray mist.
The Killer is a study of pure evil. Berenger, a conscientious
citizen, finds himself in a radiantly beautiful city marred only by
the presence of a killer. Berenger's determination to find the
murderer in the face of official indifference and his final defeat
at the hands of an impersonal, pitiless cruelty speak with the
universality of Kafka's The Trial.
Macbett, inspired by Shakespeare's play, is "a grotesque joke . . .
and] a very funny play. . . . Ionecso maliciously undermines
sources and traditions, spoofing Shakespeare along with
tragedy."--Mel Gussow, The New York Times
The first 30 years of the 20th-century produced a theatrical
explosion whose reverberations are still felt today. Stanislavsky,
Meyerhold, Vakhtanghov, Michael Chekhov in Russia; Reinhardt,
Piscator and Brecht in Germany; and Copeau, Barrault and Artaud in
France collectively demolished the 19th-century aesthetic and, in
their wake, created the modernity which is the hallmark of today's
theatre. Most of these men have already been turned into modern
icons; there is no shortage of bios on the pioneers of the Moscow
Arts Theatre, and the achievements of the others are chronicled and
archived for posterity. Only one of these artists remains murky and
ill-defined. He is Michael Chekhov (1891-1955), nephew of the
famous playwright Anton Chekhov, the man that Stanislavsky
described as "the most brilliant actor in all of Russia." A
charismatic actor, an inspiring director and a teacher that
developed a dynamic antidote to Russian Naturalism, Chekhov remains
the invisible man of the modern theatre. Was he, as Lee Strasberg
alleged, a dangerous mystic who would subvert the vigor of
Stanislavsky's teachings and undermine the integrity of The Group
Theatre? Or was he, as his disciples - Yul Brynner, Gregory Peck,
Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance, Leslie Caron, Jennifer
Jones, Patricia Neal, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson and Marilyn
Monroe - believed, a man who had discovered a unique approach to
acting which transcended the precepts enshrined in Stanislavsky's
"System." Charles Marowitz was granted special access to the
Chekhov archives in Devon, England, and he interviewed actors and
directors who worked closely with Chekhov both in Europe and
America. The book chronicles Chekhov'sinfluential period in
Hollywood when he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as
the avuncular psychiatrist in Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 film
Spellbound. It also describes his close association with Marilyn
Monroe at the most delicate stage of her career.
Charles Marowitz casts a critical eye upon the highpoints of the
last theatrical decade, in preparation for a new millennium. In a
series of reviews, think-pieces, and commentaries culled from
publications as varied as The London Times and Theatre Week
Magazine, Marowitz examines the work of such major playwrights as
Mamet, Stoppard, Shepard, Neil Simon, Beckett, Gurney, Pinter,
Kushner, Baitz, Shanley, Williams and McNalley. Marowitz
dramatically captures the anger, anxiety, spectacle and
questionable "correctness" that characterized the past decade.
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