Beckett Meets Butoh

Human Theatre staged an evening of Samuel Beckett plays in co-production with Zen Zen Zo. The one-evening event took place at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Studio 2 and played to a sold-out crowd. We selected 5 short plays, drawing from his later period, and incorporated the physical theatre training in viewpoints and butoh with our rehearsal process. The results were rewarding in spite of challenges we faced with a truncated technical rehearsal schedule. The performance was very well received and has inspired us to do another similar evening, this time creating a devised work.

My main goal in doing this was to integrate the Viewpoints, Suzuki and Butoh training with my directing practice. I chose the texts, Come and Go, Footfalls, Breath, Quad and Rockaby, because they are from Beckett’s later period, when he was experimenting wit a very attenuated style. The pieces are stark and minimalist; economic and static. I have always felt that Beckett characters, approached as a ‘traditional’ role, are doomed to failure, producing flat, boring and one-dimensional performances. The style of Beckett requires the director and actors to re-gauge their performance aesthetics, taking the economic and static and making it mean something. When attended to with these details in mind, the pieces enter a kind of mythic space. The characters are more like ciphers or presences attending to the delivery of the text. It makes for a kind of separation between the performer and the text which does not detract. One enhances the enjoyment of the other.

The first piece, Come and Go, with only about 125 words, was a good example of the importance of attention to detail. The repetition draws the audiences awareness to the three-act structure, and to any flaws in the exactness of the repetition from scene to scene. The final image of he three women holding hands, evokes the symbol of eternity and references other mythic trios; the three fates, the three eumenides, the Jungian triad of child, maiden, crone and (as cited in the first line of the piece) the three witches from Macbeth.

Footfalls is built around the sound of a woman’s bare feet pacing the bare wooden floor. The references to the Suzuki training are too obvious. This piece posed a rhythmic problem, solved by the actors simply applying themselves in a disciplined manner. To the performers, the pace of the footfalls became of great importance, underscoring the piece, and providing the ‘heartbeat’ and transitional action that ultimately revealed the secrets of the sleepwalker.

Breath followed, which I put into the programme for pure cheek. It is a 30 second play consisting of a sob, a breath and a sob. It’s rarely done and I wanted it for our audience.

Quad was the one piece that gave us the most room for innovation. It is a series of floor patterns to be walked by four characters named 1, 3, 2 and 4. We made 4 distinct walks and choreographed it using arbitrary maths. It is amazing how this anti-text came to mean so much to the audience members who commented on it. For some it was about accumulation of labour and society, for others it was a metaphor for the cycle of life. This, I feel, was one of the most surprising and rewarding pieces to see unfold on the stage.

The final piece was Rockaby. I had actually arranged the entire evening around the idea of doing this piece last, and with an experienced butoh performer. The text is recorded, accentuating that separation between the performer and the words, and heightening the audiences perception of movement as the piece borders on dance. An old woman rocks back and forth in a rocking chair as her mind wanders in a spiraling account of the events and impressions that brought her down into that chair. As the piece repeats and spirals deeper and deeper into the imagery, penetrating the woman’s thoughts and her sensorium, the audience enters her world as she wills herself to stop rocking, and therefore, stop living. It is a deeply resonant piece that was executed well because the performer had a well-trained awareness of minute movement and use of eye focus.

In all, it was great to have the opportunity to perform these and to work with actors who train together. It really made me aware of the validity of training and of having a company. It is like working with actors who have the first full week of rehearsal already under their belts. My only regret is not having the time to take any production photos. Our tech run had to be completed in record time, making it impossible. Sorry to have nothing to show you.