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

48
actuals
We conventionally think of “process” as the sequence of events in
the script – if these were “really happening” the story would be
“inevitable.” Thus the “death” of Hamlet or the “blinding” of Oedipus.
When I think of process, I think of something that occurs in fact
here and now: the melting of the ice-liths in Fluids, the dodging and
ultimate taking of spears in the Tiwi trial, the dancing of the Hevehe.
These processes are not gimmicks, but fundamental elements of the
performance structure.
The whole of the Living Theater’s Paradise Now is a process. The audience
is given a program which is a chart of the event in phases. The
performance passes through eight phases from “The Rite of Guerrilla
Theater” to “The Street.” There is no time limit, and many performances
take 6 hours or more. All eight steps have never been genuinely accomplished
– that is, the permanent revolution has not happened. (It is, of
course, an error to think that it could. The Australians are more modest
and successful with their ceremonies. And in so far as Paradise Now is a
“demonstration,” it is mimetic.) Paradise Now is pushed and pulled this
way and that, seemingly in total disarray, until you realize that the
performers are like tour guides – they want to move the thing along,
but only after most of the audience is ready to move on. If anyone
wants to stop off here or there, to examine a detail, to “put on a show,”
to shout, protest, or in any way detour the performance, that is fine.
Paradise Now develops through random movement towards goals and
through phases. It distends and collapses, intensifies and slackens,
coheres and fragments. But still it does move: the performers decide
when one phase has been sufficiently explored and then initiate
another. Many spectators cannot adapt themselves to a structure that
feels so disorderly. But Paradise Now is very well-organized if one recognizes
diversion, disruption, and side-tripping as part of its organization.
It is much briefer than most tribal ceremonies – many of which
also include side-trips in the guise of new dances and stories, and
disruptions when the community runs out of wealth or is threatened
by hostile outgroups. Our sense of smooth time is jolted by Paradise Now
which treats time as lumpy, malleable, and turbulent.
The performers in Paradise Now have two tasks. They act things and
they nudge the audience along. Like shamans they are the principal
performers and the masters of ceremony. Throughout the performance