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BY STEFFEN SILVIS see stage calendar There's a new revolution taking place in France. As reported in The New York Times and various British papers, the French are forsaking television en masse for the pleasures of theaters, galleries, cafes and bookstores. In a desperate attempt to stem defections, networks are switching the daily drip of idiocies with "intelligent" programs, but in vain. The primacy of the cretins' box seems finished, and the French are rediscovering the art of living. Could such a revolt happen here? Perhaps it has already begun. For good or ill, Portland has received inordinate mention for its "uniqueness" lately, from a flattering spread in The Times of London to a full chapter in Andre Codrescu's Hail, Babylon. Portland is praised for its vibrant club and cafe scene and for its wealth of good galleries. It's reported that only Seattlites match Portlanders in the number of books purchased per capita and that the city's author readings and lecture series are often filled to capacity. This leaves little of life to squander on television and presents a picture of an active, educated citizenry that enjoys all the cultural wealth of a Lyons or Bordeaux, with one glaring difference: No true cultural mecca would countenance such squalid theater as ours. But the sorry state of drama in Portland is hardly the public's fault. As stated previously in these pages (and made manifest daily), many intelligent people have abandoned the theaters here, which they view as aggressively amateurish, irrelevant and small-screen-minded. A literate, urban populace confronts a slew of painted hams--most past their shelf life--who plead to be confused with artists as they stomp and howl through Oklahoma! or cavort through dreck such as Sex, Lies and Coffee Beans. "In order for theater to be reclaimed," wrote Simon McBurney, "it must celebrate its difference as an art form from television." But such reclamation is impossible without the presence of imaginative producers and serious actors who are willing to take risks. Certainly, there are a few who understand that art should be challenging, and on six memorable occasions last season these artists created powerful pieces of theater. Imago's Dead End Ed, Bridge City's Waiting for Godot, Portland Rep's Molly Sweeney, Stark Raving's The Hero, ART's Indiscretions and Profile's Wings had little in common thematically or structurally, yet all won new converts to the art of theater through sheer talent and audaciousness. "It's becoming more and more clear," wrote Tony Kushner, "that audiences are hungry for the kind of theater that we've been told for years we weren't supposed to do...audiences really want more experimentation; they really want things that are shocking and challenging...and people are thrilled to find that there's still such a thing as a theatrical experience." But for every Indiscretions last season there were slop pails brimming with Cafe Con Leche, Sylvia and Incorruptible; not to mention the vulgar mauling of A Delicate Balance and A Midsummer Night's Dream as realized by the ousted Tygres Heart faction, whose chosen task it was to humble greatness. Propped up by misadministered grants and folksy boosterism from the daily rag, Portland's theaters have been allowed to traffic in trivialities that demean the stage. But the revolt against the leaden mean must come from within. This column will continue to cry down the crass, infantile, dull and smug and will lend its space to promote dissidence, heresy and revolution against the status quo. Ramón del Valle-Inclán wrote, "I want to change the crude rites of shysters by means of the standards of poetry...only imagination is fit to reign." There is good theater here, but how to build on what's begun? To young actors: Find a competent instructor who will lead you to discover the balance between discipline and risk. Read Hagen, Grotowski and Stanislavsky (especially My Life in Art, the greatest of all actors' creeds). To young playwrights: Remember Mallarmé's words in his essay honoring Poe--"It is the writer's compelling task to purify the language of the tribe." Absorb the canon, then war with it. To young designers: Develop an openness to ideas and styles. Wander the galleries and immerse yourself in history. Recognize the power of a lone chair on an empty stage. To young directors: Read Artaud, Craig, Brook and anything on Bogart. Turn off the television. Though it's a great comfort to the bedfast and mentally deficient, it is enervating to artists. To young audiences: Demand to be taken seriously. Seek challenges and spurn the trite and formulaic. Boo. Boo louder. And if worse sours to worse, "strike, strike, strike!" Do it for our sake and for the sake of future commentators on Portland, who, after praising the brew pubs and architecture, can say, "My God, and the theater there!"
originally published September 9, 1998 |
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