Theatre of the Edge: The edge of theatre.

A man who has not been seen in a long time, a man who has recently been the subject of many debates, fights, and some occasional jokes, made his presence onstage on Wednesday, February 23^rd, 2010 in a talk/installation about violence and egocentrism.

After a lot of mindless babble, accusations, and self-motivation, this figure of mystery, recently known as didaskalos, posited his initiation of a new form of theatre, his theatre, the Theatre of the Edge. To him, he is a god - and likewise to many of his followers - and he believes his theatre to be a kind of therapy and personality building. He brings people to an epoch of character and maturity, he not only teaches them how to jump and act, but also teaches them about life, and how to become ‘better human beings’ in life. Something I find really fascinating, how people can owe their existence and being to one man! It should be prudent now to explain the reason why this man decided to have this talk.

This man, didaskalos, has been very recently kicked out of an academic institution for punishing one of his actors by burning him with a cigar lighter. Three burns, on the bicep, waist, and thigh - because, of course, three is the charm!

A lot of controversy has followed this act;

Did it really happen?

Was it blown out of proportion?

Is burning wrong?

Is torture wrong?

How can one judge if one did not actually witness this act?

Is it fair for someone to be scandalized just because of one little act?

So many questions, it’s crazy! The puzzling thing about all this is that people now-a-days can’t seem to clearly see wrong from right. Some people seem to think that thinking is not necessary anymore. Some people seem to have nothing to believe in anymore. But enough of contemplations and ambiguity, we come here to talk about theatre and its edge.

A grand concept! A dazzling way of presenting this concept: a scrim, a lighter, a saj, and a very charismatic man onstage. As usual, his charisma filled the theatre he was in. This man talked and talked, every now and then quoting Antonin Artaud, a grand theatre person in history, a man didaskalos admires a lot, I remember from how he used to talk of Artaud in his classes.

Our man, didaskalos, quoted Artaud saying that people must revolt against rules and institutions that are only there to close our minds and bottle up our thoughts. Our man calls for revolting against rules! He did this by reading a lengthy letter written by Artaud to the chancellors of the universities of Europe. Every now and then he would stop and say: “This is Artuad not me” followed by a laughtrack from the audience that starts and stops at the same time. It’s genius when one critiques his own techniques indirectly by putting them in different circumstances, it makes stupid people think he’s wise, but makes smart people see that he’s a hypocrite!

Talking onstage was one of the rules of the Souratian theatre that led to all this fuss! And breaking a Souratian rule has many consequences.

These two men, didaskalos and Artaud, share many things, (or so he would wish): they are both madmen and genuine theatre people, however Artaud was aware of his madness and lived in an asylum for most of his life. Also Artaud never knew he was such a genius and never claimed to have created his own form of theatre; he followed the movement of surrealism, one that many of the world’s greatest artists followed, a movement that no man created, but rather a collection of artists and thinkers. Our man, however, has the nerve to say that he has created his own form of theatre, which he names Souratism: theatre of the Edge.

A theatre that drives people to the edge.

Tests their endurance!

Makes them strong!

Hurts them.

Makes them weak so they become strong.

Kills them.

Makes them fly!

It’s apparent to see how we have reached a real edge.

The edge of a cliff.

The edge of sanity.

It’s funny how people can be dazzled by a man who stands onstage holding a whip saying: “I have a whip!” The lights went down, music faded up, projections from his last play were shown, and he stood there striking it down repeatedly. Even by just listening to the recording of the lecture and to the whip striking the floor again and again, I felt scared. Something was going wrong. Something lurid was stirring in this man’s head. But for the people who saw him playing with the whip that day, one thought crossed their minds as they looked at him in awe: “the man has lost it!”

It’s very funny when people are blinded by one man who puts truth on the edge and lies and lies and lies and lies… until a lie becomes the truth! But then again, didaskalos is a master of rhetoric, the art of using words. He does it so well. He did it so well that day. He boosted up the British accent, used the right words, and let the magic fly! The word is a very dangerous tool. The spoken word. And he uses it so well! Rhetoric was an art that people used to study back in the days of the Greeks and the Romans, even after that. It was the best way for propaganda. Many teachers, generals, dictators, politicians, and leaders used it.

“The boy jumped on the fire!”

Two months ago the whole story didn’t even happen.

One month ago it was part of experimentation.

Three weeks ago it was punishment.

That day, didaskalos bluntly lied and said that the boy himself asked for it and jumped on the lit lighter that happened to be in the director’s hands! Didaskalos didn’t mean to burn him he was merely scaring the boy, but the boy unexpectedly jumped on it! Three times! And didaskalos couldn’t seem to realize that he must turn off the lighter!

But many people have lied in history. Many people have created concepts based on lies. Many people have achieved so much based on lies. Many people have gotten away with kingdoms and empires based on lies. Many people have created cults based on lies. And one man in history led a whole people and country based on one big lie.

I think it is time to stop quoting Artaud and start quoting a man who much more resembles didaskalos, Adolf Hitler.

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”

As I’m writing this I remembered one time in one of Nagy Souraty’s classes when I proposed I work on the character of Adolf Hitler for my acting final and he rejected saying it was not interesting enough. It’s scary to delve into the psychology of a dictator, a person with so much power and control. But I find it very interesting. It is really interesting to see how people can conquer minds with their wit, looks, and charisma.

Mind control.

“National Socialism is not a cult-movement—a movement for worship; it is exclusively a 'volkic' political doctrine based upon racial principles. In its purpose there is no mystic cult, only the care and leadership of a people defined by a common blood-relationship... We will not allow mystically-minded occult folk with a passion for exploring the secrets of the world beyond to steal into our Movement. Such folk are not National Socialists, but something else—in any case something which has nothing to do with us. At the head of our programme there stand no secret surmisings but clear-cut perception and straightforward profession of belief. But since we set as the central point of this perception and of this profession of belief the maintenance and hence the security for the future of a being formed by God, we thus serve the maintenance of a divine work and fulfill a divine will”

- Adolf Hitler: Nuremberg, September 6, 1938

He said: “I kept wondering, why do they hate us so much? It is then I realized that it’s because they don’t understand us.” Us and them. Right and wrong. He laughed and said: “and they say we’re a cult! They really believe it”, but then again none of his supporters (the really radical ones) ever disagree with him, they all adore him, he is able to get two people onstage and remove their shirts and hit each other, he was able to have a TV setup in the Fine Arts lobby with his interview on it repeated over and over, they all sit around the TV watching him with awe and ecstasy, he is able to say in his rehearsals: “whatever I say is godly”, they believe it, they all think like him, some of them walk like him, sit in his chair the way he sits in Gulbenkian, he is able to burn one of is actors, once, twice, three times without them opening their mouths.

Does anyone sense the commonalities?

Mind control.

The little theatre in Masrah Al Madina was full of it that day. It was a pity I couldn’t make it, I really wanted to. I wanted to see the man with the whip!

Nevertheless, I felt really proud, proud of how my friends – a small group of really clever and interesting people – raised very smart questions to didaskalos.

I was very proud of how he cut them off as they spoke and changed the subject.

I was very proud of how they felt that this once mysterious and scary university professor was not scary at all anymore.

I was very proud of how some people removed their sight from them when they were glared at.

I was very proud of how for the first time I knew what it is to be a “dangerous citizen”.

Fuad Halwani

28/02/2011


Previous related posts about the subject:
Nagy Souraty: Violence- Silence- Survival  
ناجي صوراتي: العنف - الصمت - البقاء