READING COMPLETED: For this week I decided to read a theatre review written by Marvin Carlson of Sebastian Nübling’s Ghosts at the Schabühne in Berlin 2007. What was first a shock was the discover that the set compromised of only a round table. This was interesting as it suggested no importance to a visual representation of realism.
When I continued to read the review it stated the piece “often breaks into unexpected and extreme physical violence, even in so domestic an activity as the preparation of a salad” (Carlson 2007) at first I considered this funny but when I thought about it would this be extremely unsettling if you was to watch this piece as you would have no idea as to what was going to happen next – especially if them making a salad was extremely and physically violent it would make you wonder how they would present more pressing parts of the play – such as Manders referring to Regine as well developed and Engstrand’s brothel.
I also read that “Nübling reflects instead the more abstract traditions of symbolism and expressionism, with few design elements, which are used in a highly non-realistic way” (Carlson 2007) I considered that as a group we could use this for inspiration as Bausch also has parts of extreme physical movement in both Café Muller and Rite of Spring. I think this could work well as there are moments of the play when perhaps repeated movement sequences of high aggression could work well – for example when Pastor Mander and Mrs. Alving talk about when she came to him and he returned her home.
This article made me want to look into Sarah Kane as she was stated as an inspiration for direction Nübling. From seeing images of the Ghost production, I wanted to see the kind of theatre Kane created.
Carlson, M (2007) Ghosts. The Schaubuhne, Berlin. Spring/Winter, 2007. Ibsen News & Comment 2007, Vol. 27, pg16-18
MONDAY: Today it was a strike so Susan was not there. Everyone was still at a different level of understanding when it came it Pina Bausch, Ibsen and Ghosts. Luckily, I felt confident in my level of understanding. I suggested that for an activity that we split into pairs, picked a relation in the play and to simply create something. I thought we should keep this relatively open as everyone had read different things and understood different things. I worked with Pavun for this we decided to create a piece focusing on Mrs. Alving and Oswalds relationship. We wanted to show it was strained so started at opposite ends of the stage to physically show the distance we then picked some lines which we thought were important as repeated them, stepping forward each time after saying a line – gradually coming closer to one another. Although a simple idea I think it worked well as it showed what we wanted it to. The repetition also worked well and was inspired by Pina Bausch as she has some sequences which are quite repetitive within her work. Especially in Café Muller when the man and women repeat a sequence of him moving her and picking her up then dropping her and her jumping back up increasing in speed each time.
WEDNESDAY: For Wednesday we decided to do the same thing, but to pick a different relationship this time. I think everyone enjoyed the freedom of being able to let loose and devise. I think this was helpful in exploring relationships and themes within the play. The group I worked in was with Marcel and Mimi. We created a piece focusing on the feme fatale idea. I got inspiration of this from one of the discussions we had previously had when Susan mentioned the idea that within the play that the women are represented as blame-worthy as they carry and pass on the virus as Mrs. Alving did to Oswald. This was an interesting idea and I decided to flip it on its head and present the Women within the play (Mrs. Alving and Regine) as harnessing the blame and utilising it to seduce and infect men. I thought this would be interesting as Women are frequently blamed within society – so I wanted to physically show the “blame” that these women held.
Work created – this is the piece created with Mimi and Marcel.