Artaud - Part 2

Lesson: Thursday 9th November 2017

In this lesson, we worked on the script Jet/Spurt of Blood by Antonin Artaud. It was written in January 1924 and as it is only 3 pages long, could have been completed in one day. It is vastly surreal and most definitely follows the 'criteria' for Theatre of Cruelty due to its outlandish stage directions and general horrible subjects.

This was the first time that I had encountered the play and had many first impressions on the script. I was very shocked at what is in the play as it is very graphic and included lots of things that many people wouldn't be comfortable speaking in public about. This is very much an Artaudian technique because Artaud wanted the audience to be shocked and confused by what is happening on stage.

The first part of the script says something along the lines of "I/You love you/me and everything is beautiful" which is a conversation which is happening between a Young Man and Young Girl. Even the character names could set an edge of shock to the actors (as Artaud wanted to be cruel to both the actors and the audience) as Young Man implies that the character is much older then the Young Girl. This could imply an abusive relationship whereby the Young Girl is being manipulated into thinking that she is in love with the Young Man. I thought that this part could be acted whereby the Young Man and Young Girl are facing each other fairly close but don't seem to put much emotion into their voices and not touching each other. they should still follow the different pitches of voice that are suggested in the script, but these should be done with little emotion. I think that this should be done like this to show that the characters are somewhat uncomfortable with what they're saying which would also make the audience uncomfortable due to the obvious difference in ages. I think that at this point, Artaud may be mocking young love and how it can often be manipulative and not worth people's time.

When the hurricane sequence ends I think that everything that falls from the hurricane should remain on stage which may attack the audience's senses, especially if the objects land in the audience.

I also noticed that the stage directions are very detailed in some places which is very appealing when looking from a directing point of view. Some of the stage directions are very graphic such as the part where scorpions begin to crawl out of a character's dress. This may shock the audience, actors, and especially the director who would have to find a way to effectively portray what Artaud wanted to achieve from the piece. I think that when the scorpions crawl from the character's dress and then transfer to the Knight that this could resemble the spread of an STD. This can be supported as the play is set on the streets near a brothel whereby both parties may have had sex with prostitutes and as it is implied that the two are married so may have regular sex where they could have spread the STD. Linking to the stage directions, the amount of tech that is involved in the stage directions create a dreamscape which can further confuse the audience's senses and shows an Artaudian technique.

We were then given a choice between developing the script by using either props or set, with tech being used in each. I chose to use set because I thought that interesting soundscapes could be used with the set as well as more interesting shapes. Additionally, I thought that props would make the piece too realistic if too many were used within the piece. Below is the piece that we created:

Initially, we tried to follow the script which resulted in us not being able to sustain a piece or create a piece that seemed Artaudian enough. I think that we should have started by creating freeze frames and having a small discussion before attempting to make a scene rather than starting initially with something that seemed as though it was more natural than surreal.

Eventually we created some freeze frames that we thought signified the major parts within the script which allowed for more effective use of Artaudian techniques.

The first freeze frame that we created was the one opposite. This shows the Young Man and Young Girl who are gripping onto each other, which shows their 'love' for one another that they declare. Myself and Lauren are reaching through the bottom of the riser which could have been slightly discomforting for the audience - this however, was not that effective because we didn't actually go into the audience to interact with them.

 The second freeze frame that we created was the one opposite. This shows the part in the play where the Bawd's hair is gripped by God. I wanted to make a giant hand like was said in the script, but by using our bodies and contorting them in such away that was both disturbing and able to create a hand. Instead, we simply put a hand on the Bawd's head which I don't think was as effective.



 The final freeze frame that we created is the one opposite. This shows the fury of God after the Bawd bites His hand. We used the risers to show how much taller God would be over the rest of the characters. Initially we wanted to lift Joel up and have him suspended in the air to show how impressive God was, but found this to be difficult. However, with multiple bodies being lower than him, it seemed as though he was much taller than the other actors.

There are positives about this piece. For example, the use of soundscape at the beginning of the performance with the use of the set by dragging it along the floor attacked the audience's senses slightly, but not enough to make it cruel to them. Additionally, the lighting was in some places effective such as the use of the light to create the image of the moon in the first part of the piece. However, the performance was quite dark which although can be effective at some points, sometimes blocked the action from some people's perspective. Despite this, I thought that this was a good first attempt to combat the script but when we adapt the piece even more, I think that we will incorporate more Artaudian techniques to make the piece more effective.