Artaud - Lesson Summaries

Monday 9th 2013
In this lesson, we discussed our ideas on reality TV and the idea that reality TV was not actually reality. We then spoke about Reality meant to us and were given the task of producing a scene on reality TV.

Tuesday 10th 2013
In this lesson, we had to finish our scenes on reality tv and perform them to the class. The group I was in came up with the idea that Alice and I would be producers and Karan and Summar would be the cast. It would be up to us to turn the mundane scenes (that Karan and Summar were acting out) and change things to make it more entertaining for the audience, thus showing that Reality TV is fake and scripted by those in charge.

Wednesday 11th 2013
In this lesson, we discussed propaganda and how those who are in power have control over what is said, for example, the press censorship in China. We put on a scene in which Karan, Ashwini, Mandi, Summar, Gurminder were in a labour camp and I was a guard. They would work constantly to a steady rhythm which would not be too much work and they would be reasonably happy. They would then 'wake up' from their dream to face the harsher reality of the work. I would speed up the beating and then randomly shoot Karan for no apparant reason, other than because I was bored.

Thursday 12th 2013
In this lesson, we discussed different forms of media and how they change things and impact us. We also watched the begining to 'Natural Born Killers', which showed us how the media and film can desensitise us from things. For example, in the film, we can clearly see the act of murder but because of the comic way in which it is shown, it becomes less vulgar to us and we become increasingly interested in what murders are to be commited next.

Friday 13th 2013
We spoke about what we had learnt from our packs about DID and Schizophrenia. We read through one of the stories which was about DID and a sufferer who had 11 personalities.

Monday 16th 2013
We spoke about the imoportance of a narrative and how a disjointed structure where you go back and forth in time often helps Artaudian pieces. We were given more time to work on a piece of Artaudian theatre based on DID and Schizophrenia.
Our idea was to have Frank Sinatra music play in the background while Mandi and Summar danced in front of Inderpreet, who was a corpse. I would be a 'priest' type religious figure who would join and baptise all three characters into one, to show that Inderpreet's character had now gained these two/three other personalities.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Scenes and their progression

Game Show
This scene began with the idea that I would play both the clown and the host of the show which was for the purpose of showing the audience that it was in my mind and that I was actually mad. We decided against this as it would be better to have a dedicated host. We also chose to set this scene near the doorway, where the audience would be 'led' by the green room staff. The staff (Karan and Sathma) would apply make up to the audience (giving the idea that they are a fixed audience, almost fake) and then they would watch the 'show' where Mandi would act as a stereotypical host. We chose to mix in many aspects of various real game shows in order to make this the 'ultimate' game show. furthermore, nowhere in the scene is it mentioned what this game show is actually for. this means that it is even scarier when at the end you put two and two together and figure out that this is a blueprint for a murder.

Murder Scene
For this scene, we decided that, using the outcomes of whatever happened in the game show, we would have a murder scene using those options to show him carrying out his murder. We wanted Sathma and Karan to begin the scene doing a choreographed and sexualised dance. The song playing in the background is Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire, as we wanted the scene to be very stereotypical.
We wanted the lighting to be strobe and flashing, restricting the audience vision of everything that is happening on stage. While they are dancing, I would slowly (and comically) make my way towards them, hidden by a board. Sathma and Karan would invite people from the audience to come and dance with them. While they are dancing, I would join them and then kill Sathma in the midst of the audience. We are currently figuring out the logistics, but we would like a bloody severed head on the floor and run. Bouncers would then ask the people to resume their seats.



Sitcom
For the sitcom, we wanted a stereotypical Americanised scene, where there would be a laughter track, an 'aaaawwwwh' track and a clapping track (or placard for each) which would cause the audience to react in the way in which they are told. We tried this scene in many ways. We tried having an overly camp me, which worked, but didn't make sense. We also tried having Karan as being a gay father and a overly straight son to try and completely switch the characters, which complicated the scene. When we performed this to the class, it was quite successful as they said they felt awkward when laughing at moments that were clearly not funny. one of the suggestions we received was to start the scene as being genuinely funny, with jokes that would actually make the audience laugh and become increasingly serious as the scene progressed.


Death Chamber
This idea has not yet been put into practice as we are still working on the logistics. We would like a live feed of the clown, showing his weapons and having everyone else on stage acting as if they are being hurt by the weapons.



Rape scene.
We thought that we needed to have a tie in between the sitcom scene and the scene with the abuse and so we decided to tie in both scenes, which would allow for a better introduction. We decided that Mandi would perform acts of a sexual nature to me as I would cry. We tried this scene in many ways, with me facing the audience, which allowed them to see my reaction, with a blockade to restrict the audience's view (which was effective) but didn't give the artaudian effect. We decided that a good direction to go with this scene would be to repeat the scene to show how this 'relationship' changes as time goes on and becomes more abusive.

Interrogation scene.
We focussed on coming up with a new scene. The idea was of an interrogation where the killer is being asked about his murders and he is replying with sarcastic answers. This is done in chorus by Mandi and Karan. Then, they would leave and I would engage the audience by asking a member of them to undo my handcuffs and let me free, which is essentially asking them to make a conscious decision as to whether or not to agree with their desensitised side and let me go or not.