Street Theatre in Today China (Part 1)

The European street theatre tradition has grown into a fantastic development of acting and directing techniques, and dramatic structure as well, and those improvements have sprouted almost all over the world. Groups and companies like the Odin Teatret of Denmark, Tascabile di Bergamo and Teatro Potlach from Italy, have even created a new school within the theatre itself; La Fura dels Baus deserves a special chapter in this matter.

Latin America, Australia, the USA and Canada have joined their own traditions to these new ways of doing street theatre. Some oriental regions, like Kerala and Bali for example, have an enormous influence over these new ways of doing. The result has been stunning spectacles everywhere in the world: festivals, ceremonies, incursions in all kinds of mass-gathering, etc.

China is a different story. Chinese street theatre and all its performing arts have been hidden (and in one moment, during the cultural revolution, were almost erased) for many years; censorship and bans are common words in theatrical language here. Today, street theatre is fighting for its right to exist.

Street theatre is prohibited in China.

This is a strong sentence but also a misleading one. Well, not really, Street theatre is not banned in China; there is not one article in Chinese law banning street theatre, but we all know that not everything in law is written and clear. Chinese law prohibits any public demonstration without a permit from the police. Bad memories from the Tian’anmen square protest in 1989 are the origin of this ban, plus the usual censorship over any kind of public artistic expression. The Olympics and an impressive economic growth have not done anything for improving these conditions, and they’ve even pushed back any kind of improvement. (1)

There are no Chinese groups of street theatre in mainland China; groups and companies of traditional dance, commercial companies dedicated to creating mass spectacles, etc., yes, but nothing like the new street theatre I talked about.

Even with this dismal panorama, if we are lucky, we can find some ‘actions’ or ‘manifestations’ that we can call ‘theatre’. China is a huge country with dozens of cities with more that one million people and many things happen there, even that different kind of theatre.

My experience is centered on the two main cities, Beijing and Shanghai, as they are a good example of what is happening here.



Wangfujing and Chaoyang Park


Squares and streets can’t be taken by surprise and the police don’t give permission to perform to anyone without some link with the government; it is inside ‘special’ public places where we can find some kind of street theatre; talking about streets and squares, we have Wangfujing street, the most famous commercial street in Beijing, and Chaoyang park, which is also an amusement park.

The surprise that usually comes with the incursion of the theatrical play in the daily life of any street or square in the city finishes when the place is chosen for anyone and prepares the public for the spectacle, but it is also a common practice in the Western world: festivals have their own schedule and people know the who, where and when of performances and, of course there are laws that allow or not the spectacle to take place, depending of many factors, including security ones, of course. The difference in Beijing is that there are no other places to do it and you almost never find Chinese independent groups.

Till now (March 2008) I have not seen in Wangfujing any street theatre spectacle as we know them in Occident, but many touristic festivals and some dance group performances. I know by direct sources that some spectacles have been suspended because they didn’t have the right permits, and I have seen some foreign festivals taking place on this street.

Some photographs from Internet about events in Wangfujing:

St. Patrick's Parade at Wangfujing AP: Bands Music Parade at Wangfujing

Chaoyang Park (and its amusement park) is the main venue for festivals which use any kind of street spectacle; it has some squares just for performing arts and concerts. Foreign groups usually perform their street theatre here, and Chinese spectators react not much differently from a spectator from the Western world. I have never seen or heard about any Chinese groups performing here.

Video of Sychroswing by the Australian group Strangefruit:

Beggars in Shanghai


It is also possible to see some street spectacles from every day life: beggars playing music are the usual one.

In Beijing, begging is not permitted, but Shanghai is a slightly more liberal city and doesn’t care much about it, so I could find some examples of this street spectacle.

Video: blind musicians in Shanghai

Fairs: Liulichang and its Chinese New Year fair


On some special occasions as important holidays the government organize fairs; millions of people enjoy eating traditional food, buying regional art-crafts and seeing spectacles; these spectacles are always tinted with Chinese tradition and none of them are “contemporary”: traditional chinese dance, traditional Chinese music and singing, Chinese opera and traditional Chinese acrobatics.

Liulichang street in Hepingmen, a very traditional street area in downtown Beijing, hosts every year one Spring festival (or Chinese New Year festival) fair. This 2008 I found, among millions walking all around, two interesting street spectacles: the dance of the lion and acrobatics with stilts.

Dance of Lion at Liulichang Fair

Acrobats on Stilts at Liulichang Fair

Nuo Theatre and traditional open air theatre


Traditional theatre and dances are part of the touristic program of the Chinese government. Every part of China, every village, has one special program to attract tourists displaying their “cultural treasures”, many of them just recovered from their ashes after the cultural revolution in the 60s and 70s of the 20th Century, and many of these dances have also lost their religious origin.

Video of traditional Chinese regional dance:

Among these “cultural treasures’ we can find the Nuo theatre from Fujian province in the South of China, which is one of the last remains with religious-origin theatre. (2)

Video of Nuo theatre:

Now, two videos of Puppet theatre and Shanghai Opera both performed on Shanghai streets in 1927. These videos are invaluable documents about the way of perform Chinese theatre and how people used to see them.

Chinese puppet theatre in a Shanghai street (1927)

Chinese opera in a Shanghai street (1927)

(1) We have to see the reaction of the Chinese government to the riots in Tibet to understand that. Amnesty International has reported in March 2008 how the Olympics Games in China have also strengthened some forms of censorship in the country.
(2) Jo Riley in “Chinese Theatre and The Actor in Performance” (Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre. Cambridge University Press) explores ritual sources of Nuo Theatre and its similitude with Beijing Opera.

*

Any comment, please, if you want a reply write your e-mail. China has already blocked Blogger so I can't acces to my posts and read your comments (I can read them thanks I receive a mail with them)

A new video with Sarah Bernhardt playing on stage: Le Duel d'Hamlet

Just adding this video, recently uploaded on Youtube, to my post of the January 15th, 2008: Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. Audiovisual Documents on the Net and an Extint Way of Playing.

Sarah Bernhardt playing Hamlet

This is the note coming with the video in Youtube:

"One of a series of films of stars of the stage produced for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre at the Paris Exposition of 1900. The films were synchronised with phonograph recordings although in the case of this film the recording (now lost) is believed to have been the sound effect of the sword clashes"

Peking Opera Paintings at Huguang Guild Hall in Beijing

Huguang Guild Hall is the oldest Beijing Opera Theater in Beijing.
It was built in 1807 and rebuilt in the 90s of last Century. Some Peking Opera Scenes paintings adorn its courtyard.

Peking Opera Scenes Paintings at Huguang Guild Hall (Beijing, China) from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.

Teatro del Arbol performs at El Foco: "La Excepcional Familia Barroco-Colonial de la Narvarte"

"La excepcional amilia Barroco-Colonial de la Narvarte". El Foco.

There is no new information about El Foco, newer than that I gave in my last post from February 7th 2008. What I actually have is some videos showing how the theatre looks and some events currently giving there.

1- A general view of El Foco and some events.

2- A González Caballero's Drawings Exhibiton at the gallery.

VIMEO version

Antonio González Caballero: Drawings Exhibition at El Foco Gallery from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.


YOUTUBE version

3- Some shots of "La Excepcional Familia Barroco-Colonial de la Narvarte" (by González Caballero), a Teatro del Arbol production, directed by Wilfrido Momox.

*


Any comment, please, if you want a reply write your e-mail. China has already blocked Blogger so I can't acces to my posts and read your comments (I can read them thanks I receive a mail with them)

Sumo, One Entire Day of a Ritual and Spectacle in our 21st century.

I had just finished my third day visiting Japan and I already had had one of the most exciting experiences ever, a Sumo Wrestling Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan (Ryogoku Sumo Stadium).

Sumo Wrestling is one of the most important sport-spectacles in the world: TV, press and Internet cover every contest and pay and charge for it all over the planet. But Sumo wrestling is also an ancient Japanese ritual which is still alive, deeply alive, thanks to the Japanese idea of tradition and of course thanks to the characteristics of this enormous martial art.

Sumo wrestlers are demigods, they fight to put the universe in order, they dance, they work religiously to be perfect, the biggest, the highest, the strongest, and they are commercial stars. When you see any sumo wrestler you feel small and weak, they must exist because they remember to all us that we are a superior race, because our malleable body (they can become 2 meters-tall and weigh around 120 kilos or more), because we can fight with natural intelligence, it means inside a ritual.

Ritual is part of our unconscious natural science, linked with our corporal roots and impulses, but ritual is also an elaborate game of laws, images, stories only made possible with human intelligence and imagination.

On January 21st 2008, I went to enjoy and to admire an ancient ritual fight, a spectacle and it was a success.

It was the ninth day of competition in this first 2008 tournament, a whole day with opening ceremonies, ritual dances, presentations and of course fighting, spectacular fighting.

I don’t want to write much about it, I experienced this theatrical sport as a spectator, not as a researcher; I’ve tried to analyze the whole program and using it in my future work. I was so impressed by them, by the fighters, those fantastic human bodies using their intelligence to gain a battle, a extremely elaborated ritual battle.

The next paragraphs are copied from the useful brochure (spectator’s manual) the organizers gave us accompanying out tickets, my videos and some comments about what I saw can give a comprehensive idea of my experience that day:

Daily time table for this tournament

8:30 hrs

Doors open

The day begins with the beatings of drums, welcoming fans to the wonderful world of Grand Sumo. You can check the colorful banners with individual wrestler’s names.

8:40 hrs

Preliminary bouts

These are bouts between new sumo trainees yet to be officially ranked.

8:50 hrs

Jonokuchi-Makushita division bouts

The real bouts begin from jonokuchi (the lowest rank), moving up in senority to makushita (junior grade).

14:00 hrs

from around 14:00 hrs, the senior division (makuuchi) wrestlers begin to arrive at the Kokugikan’s South Gate.

We arrived at this moment, so we could see those enormous wrestlers arriving to the stadium and how dozens of fanatics cheers to his favorites.

Outside Ryogoku Stadium

14:30 hrs

Juryo Wrestlers ceremonial entrance

Decked out in ceremonial aprons (kesho-mawashi), the intermediate division (juryo) wrestlers enter the ring. Fighters at this rank and above are considered full-fledged salaried sumo professionals.

Juryo Wrestlers Entrance

14:50 hrs

Juryo division bouts

Wrestlers at this level range from young hopefuls aiming for the higher division promotion to weathered veterans of the circuit. These bouts are followed by a short interval known as the nakairi.

And we uses this interval to enjoy some “chanko” at the stadium’s restaurant: a kind of hot pot, a big stew dish with different vegetables and all kind of meat (fish, beef, chicken, seafood), the usual meal for sumo wrestlers. So, I almost finished with the feeling to be shaped like them.

Chanko, the Sumo wrestlers favorite dish

15:30 hrs

Association chairman’s address

On the opening and final days of the tournament the Chairman of the Japanese Sumo Association steps into the ring with the top-ranked wrestlers, welcoming and thanking the crowd.
As our visit was on the ninth day of the tournament we didn’t see this event.

15:50 hrs

Makuuchi wrestlers ceremonial entrance

The wrestlers from the senior division step into the ring in their vividly decorated ceremonial aprons (kesho-mawashi), turn to face the crowd and form a circle.

This is a big good time for fans to cheer on their favorites wrestlers.

Makuuchi Wrestlers Entrance

15:55 hrs

Yokozuna Grand Champion ring entrance

The grand champion (yokozuna) each make a ceremonial entrance in the ring, accompanied by two attendants. The Champions clap their hands and stamp their feet, drawing spirited calls from the crowd.

A very interesting moment. You see how different cultures we are.

Yokozuna great champion entrance

16:15 hrs

Makuuchi bouts

Battles between the highest division wrestlers begin at the last.

The bout featuring the wrestlers at the top ranks generally begin form about 17:30. And that is the video I could recorded in two different angles, so you can appreciate most. They are the big winner (till that moment), Hakuho, fighting with a lower one, Wakanosato. Of course Hakuho was the winner.

The Main Fight: Wakanosato vs Hakuho

17:15 hrs
Final-day top-ranked-wrestler ritual

On the final day of the tournament , the top three wrestlers from both the east and West sides step into the ring, and perform a brief ceremony heralding the climax of the 15-day event.

As we were on the ninth day we didn’t see that ceremony. Pity.

17:55 hrs

Bow dance ceremony

After the final bout each day, a lower-ranked wrestler enters the ring to perform the bow dance (yumitori-shiki).

Another really strange but interesting moment, you can see his ritualistic movements and enjoy how the people shout when the wrestler’s foot falls onto the sand.

Yumitori-shiki Dance

Drums

The sounds of distinctive drumming also rings out this time encouraging fans to come again (till the last day of the tournament).

Drums at the end of a Sumo Wrestling Day

*


Any comment, please, if you want a reply write your e-mail. China has already blocked Blogger so I can't acces to my posts and read your comments (I can read them thanks I receive a mail with them)

Emilio Carballido has died and with him the Mexican Modern Theatre.

Emilio Carballido, Mexican playwright

Even when in Mexico there are still left many important playwrights, heirs to Modernist Drama, Emilio Carballido was without question the highest exponent of this school because of his considerable work, his quality and his substantial group of disciples.

Like within a family, I have seen colleagues and teachers die and leave behind their theatrical work, and I had seen how Carballido had been one who stayed for many years, always on top, working, receiving honors everywhere, living; he seemed destined to never die. Oscar Liera, Sergio Magaña, Héctor Azar, González Dávila, González Caballero, Hugo Argüelles, every one dying and putting Carballido in a more important position; older than anyone of them, some would say ‘bigger’.

Today, Tuesday February 12th 2008 I have read in some Mexican electronic newspapers the news: Emilio Carballido has died in Veracruz, the beloved province he was from. Only Mexican newspapers, no international, no Chinese ones. After reading it, I saw his portrait with a cat, “El maestro” (the master) I said to myself, and I started to remember.


I remember how during my adolescence my teacher, Antonio González Caballero, talked about Carballido, sometimes referring to him as a good friend, sometimes as a rival in work; many times he mocked Carballido’s tone of voice (which, coincidentally, was similar to his own). I also recall the moment when he, laughing, said how common people got confused with their names, naming him as ‘González Carballido’, and telling Carballido that he had written “Señoritas a Disgusto” (Carballido didn’t like hearing that, said González Caballero).

Those were my first remembrances, yes; then I was able to go deeper into my own experience with his work and his personality.

I remember his plays during my school ages; those plays written specially for students, Mexican students: short plays, simple characters, most of them comedies but also farces. He was a master at portraying Mexican customs, making those plays understandable to anyone in Mexico. That dialogue, so well done, simple, always simple and full of bad words (very Mexican), and I remember something else, his almost lack of writing down any important speech; I know he didn’t like that, he refused to protest against anything, to say something and change lives with his words, he wanted to tell stories.


Many people tried to introduce me to Emilio Carballido, 4 or 5 times indeed, and every one of them was like the first time to him: he never remembered me. Some of my older friends, his disciples, talked to him about me, some gave him plays written by me, he was moral sponsor of one Drama Reading organized by me (on that occasion I said something he refuted in front of the same public!) but, as always, he didn’t remember we had been introduced before. It was not annoying, it was funny. At the beginning I thought it was because he was always drunk, but that didn’t mean anything, drunk or not, he was always very brilliant and lucid; then, I thought it was simply because I wasn’t anything, because I didn’t have anything of interest to offer him; well I tried to put myself in that position and the experience was even funnier; again and again it was like the first time like, we were destined to be just unknown to each other.

His words, his ideas and plays never came to me like any thing coming from a master, those were ideas, words and plays by the master of others, the master of another way of doing theatre.

I remember when an American researcher (she was a specialist in Carballido’s work and Mexican Drama in general) got slightly interested in reading my plays, reacted negatively when I asked her to read my work putting aside references to the usual Mexican drama and, especially, to put aside Emilio Carballido’s vision of theatre. She never asked me why I had said such thing, her face was so transparent, showing her disgust at my insolence. Of course I couldn’t expect more, and she never talked to me again about my writings.

Dozens upon dozens of Mexican playwrights owe Carballido some published work (he was director of one drama magazine and chief publisher at many editorials), some sponsorship (like my drama readings in 1996), or even some government help (it seems he had always been in good terms with the PRI governments). The press always referred to him as ‘the master...’, as ‘the important playwright...’, and in times of scandal he was always respected, with the press keeping quiet. I remember gossips and some bad comments, but I can’t vouch for their truth.

I visited his house in Mexico City once, while one subway line was being built. But I don’t remember more, I don’t remember why I went there that day. I have the image of a large table with papers and books, old paper, magazines, dust, cats and their smell, one window and him, I was probably accompanying someone. Maybe it is a dream and I was never there. That’s an unwritten story, something to create from that vague recall.

I have talked about Modern Theatre because I see it in his whole work. The ideals of Modernist Drama in Mexico died with him; Realism (Naturalism would say some others) can also close its whole book, his Mexican master of the genre, dies with it.
The master of portraying died, the master of colloquial language, the master of historical realist drama. Of course, he wanted to say something, inside his characters, inside the stories, inside the language.

Why did Carballido never really explore other genres, styles and vanguards? Bar some isolated plays, he didn’t do it. It was like he didn’t want to risk his achievements. He was very important, he was at the top of the mountain, but at the top of the Mexican mountain, in a movement whose highest international figures polished and refined this way of writing and seeing theatre almost 50 years before his first premier at Bellas Artes Palace in Mexico City.

I’m sure that the movement called “Costumbrismo mexicano” will be remembered in Carballido’s complete work, as it won’t be with the plays written by González Caballero or Sergio Magaña or Hugo Argüelles, who are also called “costumbristas”, but they could survive with only one or two of their adventurous plays that Carballido never wrote.

I remember those “historical performances” during the 80’s with the National Theatre Company (Compañía Nacional de Teatro), 4-5 hour-long performances, you had to go for two days and book in advance; but I also remember many college productions, and those called ‘commercial’; every one of his plays were a success, people wanted to see Carballido’s plays, they enjoyed them. That is something good I think, that is something to recall, of course.

Emilio Carballido has died, and after the death of a great playwright as he was, I can only keep thinking about him and his work. I have to read his plays again and read those which I never did; I will recall more of his words, of his speeches, I will try to keep in my memory his tones and gestures, and then, years in future, I will see what happened with all that.

*

( Of course Emilio Carballido’s work and life are much more than these few words I have written, but this is not a study about him and his work, this is a short article where one person, a Mexican playwright also (almost 50 years younger) expresses his experience after reading those bad news. This is a moment for sharing also. )

*

Any comment, please, if you want a reply write your e-mail. China has already blocked Blogger so I can't acces to my posts and read your comments (I can read them thanks I receive a mail with them)

González Caballero’s work has a new home in Mexico City, "El Foco".

Antonio González Caballero

After a long month of holidays (Chinese New Year and an amazing travel to Japan), I come back with very good news to write in this Blog, news I had read first on Internet and later had "officially" corroborated: Wilfrido Momox and a group of former disciples of González Caballero are now the people who manage the former Foro de la Comedia in Mexico City, a place which has been renamed as "El Foco". (1)

I have very little information so far, and I'm trying to find more and write a comprehensive post about this. It is said that "El Foco" will be a kind of headquarters for all of González Caballero's work in the arts; this means:

- Staging González Caballero's plays.

- Production of performances conceived with creative processes based on González Caballero's Acting Method.

- Painting Exhibitions of González Caballero's works.

- An archive of González Caballero's original documents.

- A Training Center with González Caballero's direct disciples as instructors.



This is not a project, it is a reality and it is working now.

Wilfrido Momox

Here is the e-mail Wilfrido Momox sent to me replying to my questions about what I had read in the cultural sections of some Mexican electronic newspapers (2):


“Gustavo



It all happened very quickly, all of a sudden I was managing the space.

I've got a ton of plans for it. For the time being, it's already showing seven plays on weekends, we opened a gallery in honor of AGC, with 25 of Master Caballero's original "sing-sketch" drawings, and which will be the official seat for the homage were organizing for May (this year).

It will also become the official residence for Caballero's works, as we announced on January 14th in our official press release.

We're staging right now an exraordinary text by Caballero, called "The Exceptional Colonial Baroque Family from Narvarte" (La excepcional familia barroco colonial de la Narvarte), Fridays at 8pm, with very good response from the public.

I'm very happy, but I'm keeping a clear head, because there's not just creative work, but also the administration of the whole space, and that means keeping a hundred things in mind. Everything is marching alright...

Regards

Wilfrido Momox”


I'm waiting for some videos and documents about this new venue in Mexico City and I hope to soon share them with all of you.




(1) It seems that it is still called "Centro Cultural Foro de la Comedia" and the small theater "El Foco".
(2) Here is the original text in Spanish:

"Gustavo

sucede que todo fue muy rápido y de pronto ya estaba al frente del espacio.

Tengo mil planes con ello.

Por lo pronto ya lo tengo con siete obras funcionando los fines de semana, se inauguró la galería con el nombre de AGC y con 26 dibujos originales y a un solo trazo del Mtro. Caballero.

Y será sede oficial del Homenaje que estamos organizando para mayo de este año.


Será así mismo la residencia oficial de la obra de Caballero, así lo anunciamos el 14 de enero de este año en nuestro lanzamiento oficial a la prensa.


Tengo un texto extraordinario en temporada de Caballero que se llama: "La excepcional familia barroco colonial de la Narvarte", los viernes a las 8 de la noche con muy buena respuesta de la gente.



Estoy muy contento pero con la cabeza fría porque no solamente es el trabajo creativo sino la adminsitración total del espacio y ello implica estar al pendiente de mil cosas. Todo marcha sobre ruedas...


Saludos.


Wilfrido Momox"

*


Any comment, please, if you want a reply write your e-mail. China has already blocked Blogger so I can't acces to my posts and read your comments (I can read them thanks I receive a mail with them)

Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. Audiovisual documents on the Net and An extinct way of playing.

Audiovisual documents on the Net


We forget the past; the past is lost in forgetfulness. We remember greatness, we keep results; memories become a group of indefinite images which try to describe any success, a qualification of something or someone. Indefinite images of scandals and that which was explosive for past generations. Details are lost with the fluidity of life. Only documents remain; Foucault knew this very well, our French poet who worked as a philosopher, believed in them; that was the only way to grip what reality missed and lost in interpretations, qualifications and judgments.

The art of acting, which at one moment was only a part of staged theatre (an, as such, an ephemeral art), is full of intangibles documents, even non existent. Some people speak about what they saw, some wrote reviews, some others gave advice based on their judgment of what they saw, a few drew extraordinary poses, comic, iconic. Therefore it is only at the beginning of 20 century that Western acting documents could incorporate sound and movement.

Because of our theatrical tradition, only Ballet (and no other Performing Art) kept the possibility of transmitting a choreography, but the way of acting that choreography was never preserved. Our theatre was a tradition lost through its transmission. All that was left were words and drawings.

Traditional Oriental performing arts kept much of the essence of their art through direct transmission from master to disciple, and so we can then believe (though nothing can guarantee it) that Mei Lanfang, playing in the 1930s in Beijing, for example, had the same way of playing as his masters of the 17th century did. Yet, even though it is true that there is an active line between master and disciple in Peking Opera, this line is so rigid that it could be broken or twisted; Mei himself was also a creator of his own style of acting and was a revolutionary teacher, director and performer, he added, corrected and suppressed many technical points of his time in creating the new Peking Opera.

It is said that the Kunqu Opera of our days is almost the same as that of the 16th Century Ming Dinasty, but we can’t see the actors of that century, we can only see the actor of our time keeping his tradition alive. The experience is interesting, worthy, but it is not a tangible document.

We can assure than one Noh performance in today’s Tokyo has much from Noh performances of 17th Century Edo, but one more time, as I said about Kunqu and Peking Opera, these are modern actors, the others, the masters, have died, we can’t see them acting. Without a real document nothing is sure. Zeami, besides his poetry, is not on stage as a person at any theatre in Japan.

Acting, the art of acting, didn’t have a worthy document until two fantastic human inventions: the phonograph and the cinematograph. It is with their invention and use that theatre and acting could be directly documented, in action and movement and recording them as they happened. Now we can talk about how the greatest stage artists of 20th Century played because they were filmed and their voice recorded. In the future our artists will be studied thanks to video and to the development of computerized ways to archive performing arts material.

In Spanish we say: “nada será como el teatro vivo” (Nothing is like live theatre) and “un video nunca suplirá la escena” (A video will never substitute the stage), but my point is not the substitution of theatre and its reality, it is instead the showing of how that lively act can be preserved inside a document, how those series of movements and sounds emitted by the player can be watched again and again to be studied and analyzed, and then understand a lot better how they did it, how they used to do it.

We have to learn how to use those documents. It doesn’t seem easy, though, as we already have 100 hundred years with communication Media but very few schools or Research centers/institutes making use of it beyond just making them part of their immense “documentary” archives. Many art researchers are still doing their job using only words, showing only photographs, when they are talking about events, movement, action and sound.

I remember how a myth was born when I heard about Grotowski, his actors and his performances; myths about their acting, movements, voice, about their training; interpretation over interpretation. Then, one day, I had the opportunity of watching one filmed performance, Akropolis. Those myths created by interpretations from others started to be analyzed, they were cast away in favour of my own ideas based on my own experience. I wasn’t a real spectator there, but there wasn’t anything closer to that.

Our world is living, thanks to the Internet, a “democratization” of all audiovisual documentation. Many who own special documents (which in another time were kept away because they were unique and precious), in whatever field you can imagine, have uploaded them to the Net and left them there to the use of anyone in the world. (1)

This is my current passion: showing those documents about Performing Arts and talking about them, about what I think of them; sharing my own documents, and forgetting myths.

I can’t see a better way to understand an artist’s work besides experiencing it yourself. Every performance should be documented in the most modern technological possible way and then uploaded to the internet, waiting for any kind of spectator, for any kind of commentator, for any kind of analysis. Currently video is the most modern way to do it.

I don’t only have paintings by Picasso on film (thanks to one French director), but I have a Picasso himself being filmed while he was painting! Thanks to video on the internet I don’t have to go to a special place to see that film and I can watch it online.



An extinct way of playing...


I’m writing because of the past, because of the possibility of documenting the Art of Acting.

19th Century theater started with a success impossible to imagine for any stage actor of our days; without radio, cinema, TV or internet, only actors, opera singers and writers lived moments of glory that today we would grant only to Pop singers or Hollywood stars.

Stanislavski spent many chapters of his books talking about how brilliant and genial many Russian actors he saw when he was young were, but in no moment can we be sure of how their acting was; the revolution itself that The Moscow Art Theatre provoked at the beginning of 20th century could only be documented with descriptions and studio photographs.

When the big stars decided to be filmed and their voice recorded, we started to see a real image of those moments; the document is there, to be watched by our eyes, to be listened to by our ears.

What can we do with acting scenes by Sarah Bernhardt, filmed in 1912? What can we do with acting scenes by Eleonora Duse, filmed in 1916? It’s not just any depiction of how they played, we can watch them, listen to them.

What can we do with Sarah Bernhardt’s voice, recorded in 1910, reciting Racine’s Phaedra?


It’s a treasury of information,... these documents allow entry to a comparisons game where our current vision about acting can be compared with those who were considered outstanding in their time.

Can we imagine a world of spectators, critics and researchers who adored actresses whose acting would be considered today as a symbol of bad acting, or who we could even consider as people without any talent? For a moment we could stop laughing while we watch those performances and think about the reasons they were considered amazing, great, brilliant. We had been able to do that when talking about painting, about sculpture, but not about acting, until now. Now, we can start doing it.

Is our current acting technique an evolution? or simply an impossibility to decode such ancient ways of playing?

Stop asking, documents talk by themselves. No more words.

Do with them anything you wish.

Videos from films by Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse



Sarah Bernhardt. "Elisabeth Reine d'Angleterre" (1912):




Eleonora Duse. "Cenere" (1916) (first part)




Eleonora Duse. "Cenere" (1916) (second part)




Sarah Bernhardt, voice recorded:

INSTRUCTIONS: Click the first sentence and you will be address to the original site where you can listen to the piece. Click the second sentence and you will hear it with your mp3 player (it will open in another page).


Sarah Bernhardt. "Phèdre" (1910)

( mp3) Sarah Bernhard: Phédre.



Sarah Bernhardt. "Les bouffons" [1910]

(mp3) Sarah Bernhard: Les Bouffons.



Sarah Bernhardt. "L'Aiglon" (1910)

(mp3) Sarah Bernhard: L'Aiglon.



Sarah Bernhardt. "La Samaritaine" (1910)

mp30 Sarah Bernhardt: La Samaritaine

(1) A big part of that film (Akropolis) can be seen on internet. In Mexico, for example, the original copies belong to two or three researchers who never give permission to watch them unless an institution asked for them or for a really special occasion.

Akropolis (direction Jerzy Grotowski)

El Principe Constante (direction Jerzy Grotowski)

*

Any comment, please, if you want a reply write your e-mail. China has already blocked Blogger so I can't acces to my posts and read your comments (I can read them thanks I receive a mail with them).

Kiri Te Kanawa in Beijing. A sea of serenity.

Kiri Te Kanawa's Concert Program. At "The Egg", Beijing 2008.

When I bought the tickets for this performance on January the 2nd 2008, at the Music Hall of the National Centre for Performing Arts, I never thought that the stage would be situated so close to me, and so would be, of course, the star of the night, Kiri Te Kanawa. She was there, no more that 10 meters away from my seat, singing, for 1000 or 2000 spectators, but for a moment I felt she was only singing for me.

I've always had the aim of perceiving and studying the work of the best artists as close as possible, and when this is really possible a sensation of triumph comes to my heart and my soul simply goes and enjoys. Some hours ago, during her performance, I stayed looking at her with all my attention, enjoying and analyzing her voice, her eyes, her hands, her gestures; I was learning and I was enjoying one of the highest levels of artistic technique and talent a human being can reach.

Listening to her made me recall many moments of my life. Without exaggerating, one falls in love with one or another great artist, we’ve all been teenagers, it is inevitable! Many special moments were filled by them, by their art. Those tones, that special rhythm did it.

I clapped and shouted "bravo" many times, I lived some kind of ecstasy; we all have some kind of spectator career, this could be a definite turning point in mine.

Most of the recital consisted of one series of songs accompanied by pianist Julian Reynolds,songs not as famous as many others we would have wanted to listen to by composers like Strauss, Mozart and Puccini. But that first impression disappeared after listening to the always special way she usually charms her public: ambience. I called it a big sea of serenity; she manages her volume with mastery. There is no projection, there is magnetism. Even Mozart and his Die Zauberflöte never jumped into the usually energetic interpretation, everything stayed equal, a sea of serenity. Those pieces by the biggest composers became simple motifs of beauty, contemplation, fluidity and, one more time, serenity.

In the end, to close the concert, came "O mio Babbino caro".

Since my teens I have identified this aria by Puccini with Kiri Te Kanawa's voice; I have dreamed and been inspired by her interpretation; some hours ago, she sung for me and I felt again as a youngster, a dreamer. In this extraordinary and melodramatic explosion of sensations I didn't cry, there were no tears; I was simply very extraordinarily happy.

Kiri Te Kanawa is one of many top stars (1) who are coming to China for the first season of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the new main national theatre of China, built by the French architect Paul Andreu. "The Egg", as this building is known because of his egg "à la cacerole" shape , has three big theaters: a music hall, an auditorium and the grand theater. This huge and impressive structure of metal and wood is considered one of the architectonic wonders of our time.

The sad point of the night was part of the public. At the beginning of the concert the Music Hall was full to capacity but, after the first intermission (the concert had around 6 intermissions), a part of the public left; that was sad. But with some panic we started to see that more public kept leaving taking advantage of the next intermissions. Of course that didn’t change Kiri Te Kanawa’s attitude, who at her every entry to the stage saw how some parts of the theater had been left empty.

I'll try to explain this situation: in general, in China, important spectacles are subsidized by the government or, because of the interminable bureaucratic permits, theater impresarios have so many "favors to repay" that they give big quantities of free tickets to bureaucrats; many people sell their free tickets, but many go to the performances without even knowing what they are going to see, leaving the shows within the first 10 or 15 minutes, specially in Western style events.

I said it before, Kiri Te Kanawa saw this, but nothing changed, and most of the public stayed there, seated, waiting for the next song; she always smiled and sung preciously.

After "O mio Babbino caro", in that usual part at the end of every concert, we asked for more and then she sung two more pieces, amongst them one composed in Maori, the language of the natives in her New Zealand.

Of course it was impossible to take a video of the concert, but I found in Youtube a video recorded in the 90's in Italy with Kiri Te Kanawa singing "O mio Babbino caro":

A little bit of Kunqu (Northern style).

Last December 19th I saw my second performance of Kunqu, considered the finest kind of Chinese Operas, a theatrical form with 600 years of tradition.

Some "stars" from the Northern Style of Kunqu performed highlights of many operas, at Chang'An Theatre (you already know about it).

The best way to enjoy this Opera or any other Performing Art is trying to be spectator of it, so I recorded one aria and I'm sharing it. Enjoy.

Kunqu (Northern Style) at Chang'An Theatre, Beijing. (Dec 19th, 2007)

Note:
The main difference with Peking Opera (Beijing Opera) you can find here is the style of singing; you will noticed that Kunqu is much more melodic and easy to listen.