Wednesday, April 9, 2014

One last thing...

Here are some random pictures from the show today and one last golden nugget of awesome from the play:



NOSE: Everybody knows you,tapestry of forgotten ideas, crystallization.
NECK: Everybody knows you, formula for a song, running board of algebra, insomnia number,triple-skinned machine.
MOUTH: Everybody does not know me. I am alone here in my wardrobe and the mirror is blank when I look at myself.


Just got back...

So, I just got back from the theater and I must say that as far as Dada goes, this play was pretty spectacular.  There was a moment in the third act where there was no dialogue at all, just random sounds and actions from each of the characters.  Apparently, in that moment in the script there was nothing there, just letters placed in different groups on the page.  I saw a script at the end of the play, and this is what it said:
"Perhaps at this point you could create a voice collage of these letters, using the voices of the male characters? Or whatever you conceive of here ... "
Or whatever you conceive of?  Talk about anti-art.  But at the same time, is it really?  Tzara said he wanted this play to be treated as a masterpiece, just as we would consider Shakespeare's works as masterpieces.  I think that when you are given stage directions like above and make something out of them, then you are well on your way to being a master.  Though some people would call the performance a hoax and mockery of true art, I think "The Gas Heart" has real merit to the theatre world.

The craziest thing just happened...

So there we are, just sitting in Paris' Theatre Michel and "The Gas Heart" is just starting.  All of a sudden Andre Breton, one of Tzara's opposing intellectuals, just jumped on the stage and started physically assaulting the actors and writers with his walking stick.  Some of Breton's friends were causing a ruckus as well, breaking lamps and such around the theatre.  Eventually, the police showed up and calmed things down.  Now we have to wait for an hour for things to get cleaned up a bit.  

So, this is happening...

That's right folks, it is the 1923 performance of Tristan Tzara's "The Gas Heart".  Ballet, music, and non sequiturs all in one show and all in the name of Dada!