Restaging Cabaret

Emilly Naylor, Jessica Buttery, Ellen Cameron, Neda Valcheva, James Johnson

Year 2 Project PreparationNovember 26, 2013

Site-specific theatre

“ Theatre and performance that is grounded in an in-depth exploration and expression of spatial practice.”(Tompkins, 2012)

“Continues to provoke questions about what both performance and site convey” (Tompkins ,2012)

“Produce unique circus theatre experiences in a wide variety of unusual locations, from circus big tops and traditional theatres to site specific and promenade performances in disused industrial and historical buildings.”

“Upon the complex coexistence, […] interpenetration of a number of narratives and architectures” (Tompkins, 2012)

Pictures: http://www.invisiblecircus.co.uk

Space in performance

Space in performance is both physical and an imaginary context

Imaginary spaces: “Communities are largely regarded as a cultural resource for social space, […] as imaginary spaces, communities have the potential to mediate between the everyday […] narratives of the individuals and more formal and established structures of power.” (Govan, et al., 2007)

Theatre that is devised in community situations may be similarly concerned with the representation of memory, and participants are invited to recognize […] narratives have social, communication and historical significance as well as personal relevance. (Govan, et al., 2007)

Space in performance (cont.)

Physical performance space: found and authentic spaces; environmental theatre

“Some experiments in environmental theatre invited the audience to enter the performance space, and become co-creators of illusion; others transferred the performance from a theatre to an appropriate ‘authentic’ found space, generating yet another level of pretense.” (Wiles in Govan, et al., 2007)

“environmental theatre works through creating a sense of ‘living in’” (Govan, et al., 2007)

Working Men’s Clubs

Working men’s clubs originated in the 19th century and were especially popular in places such as the Midlands and the Welsh Valleys, areas that are mainly populated with working class families.

Used for recreational use and at first to help educate working men’s families, they had a main room called ‘The Vault’ and a second larger room called ‘The Entertainment Room’. (Working men’s club, 2013)

Working Men’s Clubs (cont.)

Men would apply and purchase memberships for them and their families and in recent time Working Men’s Clubs have seen a major decline in their memberships and a lot have therefore closed.

“The working men’s club […] was to be a salvation of a class, a haven of sobriety, where working men could be weaned from the temptations of a public house” (Taylor, 1972)

http://www.filmoffice.co.uk/media/91397/Working-mens-club-film-location-film-office-location-library-stage.jpg

Cabaret: Context & history

The cabarets (bars) were visited mainly by working class people. It was a form of escapism for people who were struggling at the time of the economic downfall

Cabaret is set in the beginning of the Nazi regime in Germany; anti-Semitism and violence raging throughout the country

Nazi beliefs were about eradicating the world of anybody “impure”; the cabaret enthused the idea of difference and went against everything the Nazis stood for. (A Brief History, 2003)

Cabaret: Context & History (cont.)

“Cabaret has something to say about the glittering, globalization shadows casting desperation and destitution all over the world.” (Bhabha in Miraval, 2010)

“Harold Prince, the director of the original Broadway production, was inspired by a cabaret performance he saw in 1951, while stationed with the army in Stuttgart. "There was a dwarf emcee, hair parted in the middle and lacquered down with brilliantine, his mouth made into a bright red cupid's bow, who wore heavy false eyelashes and sang, danced, goosed, tickled, and pawed four lumpen Valkyres waving diaphanous butterfly wings." Sixteen years later, Joel Grey would turn that image into one of the most memorable characters in the history of musical theatre. Cabaret is thus not just a play exploring the limits of debauchery and oppression, but also a tribute to a theatrical event at the apex of its popularity.” (A Brief History, 2003)

Cabaret: Escapism

“In the 1870s and the early 1880s the politically minded working man found his natural habitat in the club […] their members can almost be seen to form a community within a community because so many aspects of working class life revolved round the club.” (Shipley, 1983)

“Sally represents the people who keep their eyes shut to changes in the world around them […] Cabaret as a cautionary morality play has tremendous resonance” (Miller, 1996)

Cabaret: Escapism (cont.)

Leave your troubles outside! So – life is disappointing? Forget it! We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful… (Ebb, 1966)

“a show in which the story is secondary to a central message” (Miller, 1996)

Production concepts

The characters as white British males and females.“There was a time when everyone always played the emcee like Joel Grey. Now everyone always plays it like Alan Cumming” (Silverber in Filichia, 2007)

Sound/acoustics in the performance space

Moving the audience

Light and dark symbolism + the use of lighting design

Choreography + limitations within the space

Bibliography

A Brief History of Cabaret. (2003). Retrieved November 23, 2013, from Hartnell College website: http://www.hartnell.cc.ca.us/westernstage/press_releases/CABARET/Cab_suppplement.htm Ebb, F. 1996. Cabaret [Libretto]. Govan, E., Nicholson. H., & Normington, K. (2007). Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. New York: Routlege.Filichia, P. (2007). Let’s Put on a Musical: how to choose the right show for your theater. New York: Backstage.Miller, S. (1996). From Assassins to West Side Story: The Director’s Guide to Musical Theatre. Portsmouth: Heinemann.Miraval, N. (2010). The History, Music and Life of Cabaret. Retrieved November 23, 2012, from The Harvard Crimson website: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/9/21/show-cabaret-palmer-more/ Pavis, P. (1998). Dictionary of Theatre: Terms, Concepts and Analysis. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Shipley, S. (1983). Club Life and Socialism in Mid-Victorian London. London: Journeyman. Taylor, J. (1972). From Self Help to Glamour. Working Men’s Clubs 1860-1972. Oxford: History Workshop.Tompkins, J. (2012). Performing Site-Specific Theatre: Politics, Place, Practice. Palgrave MacmillanWorking men’s club. (2013.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 14, 2013, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_men’s_club