4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

ethology and theater 271
Among the Kogu, co-existent with cannibal facts and/or stories,
were “informal courts” where dramas were acted out. As Berndt sees it,
once the Kogu were prevented from warring with and eating their
enemies, “the official court was seen by these people as an alternative
mode of settling differences, of righting wrongs and of obtaining compensation
for injury” (Berndt 1962: 314). The court also was theater:
The informal court is held in the village clearing, or in front of the
men’s house. . . . The presiding authority takes the central position,
flanked by other dignitaries. . . . In front of them on one side sits the
complainant, on the other the accused (or defendant); each may be
supported by patrikin . . . or others. The audience disposes itself as it
pleases. It is all very informal; the complainant may be nursing a child,
and children may play among the audience. Various witnesses are
heard and sometimes cross-questioned. The complainant may give an
impassioned speech or may leave the matter entirely in the hands of
others (witnesses or kin). He may be interrupted at will by the court
leaders, who will go over and over the matter. Repetition in discussion
is the delight of such meetings, especially when the affair concerns
sexual matters or when amounts of settlement are to be determined.
Proceedings may continue for a couple of days or longer, usually
depending on the entertainment value of the evidence.
(Berndt 1962: 323)
If Berndt is right, then the court is a redirected activity. Supporting this
thesis is the appetite for verdicts that provide spectators with violent
entertainment something they previously got from warfare and maybe
from cannibalism.
Many means of achieving excitement have been done away with
through the banning of warfare and cannibalism; but some of the
emotions expressed in these are diverted into the informal court, and
in this respect there is great similarity between them. Prior to alien
contact, violence was recognized as a necessary part of ordinary
social life. Now, under the aegis of the informal court, it has been
concentrated, as it were, and highlighted.
(1962: 325)