TITUS 8 February

8 February 2010

I liked so much the beginning of the fable, it had a sound like a heartbeat – war, Titus – when finding the rhythm of the play, it doesn’t really have a spasm, and then it speeds up, and then it sort of explodes. Sounds like a heartbeat.

Issues of gender:
All of a sudden I’m so charged – I never saw this play ever in terms of gender roles – all of sudden it is all I’m thinking of. Lavinia, who in Tamora’s words, has no life, but continues to assert herself – illuminates the boundary of war. Lavinia is both alive and dead, an object and a subject. Problem with Shakespeare’s young ingénue roles – part of me is thinking that Lavinia isn’t shutting down from life, but because at what point can we as humans handle a level of this brutality. I’ve begun to look at Lavinia not as a weak woman, who is so often pushed aside, but because she’s the model jewel of Rome – it doesn’t happen because of her woman, but because she is a human. Disney – beautiful females – Tamora is very beautiful. We’re talking about gender roles in plays and society and male privilege and male hegemony and men as dominant; interesting that Tamora is taking matters into her own hands and ruining that theory that men always make the rules. At what point – Amazonian cultures and indigenous cultures as matriarchal – at what point and in what delineation did it become patriarchal? Used to be an even playing ground and at what point did men begin to oppress women and women allow themselves to be oppressed – patriarchal Rome and matriarchal Goths – it’s not about a woman, it’s about a person, it’s about gender because it’s not – no matter what, even playing ground – Lavinia is an image of purity and innocence that is destroyed – it was played by a boy – more about every person’s capacity to be this base and vile and a desire for vengeance. I think it’s more about commonality. Violence is the great equalizer. Violence enacted upon you. At the same time, Lavinia is violated in a way that no one else is in the show because she’s raped, and that is driven by gender. If a boy were to get sodomized, it would be the same – but in this show, a woman is raped. So within the rules – raped from the perspective of matriarchal society – because of Tamora. I don’t know what that says. Tamora says go rape Lavinia – would I deprive my sons of this great gift. It’s as close as you can get to violence between women.

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN. Decent movie. Woman who had been tortured and raped for a long time and all of a sudden she is living in this house somewhere (on a cliff?) and someone’s car breaks down and she is convinced that he was her torturer and she has to figure out how to get back at him and she is trying to figure out how she can rape him because she wants to enact the same torture. How do I rape you? Broomstick, etc. Something that is really fascinating and horrifying and it’s a really interesting question – it has to be gender-based because men rape. And not that women don’t molest, but there’s an inherent difference. But if you were to try to think about this as a commonality, you have to show that there’s no difference in this violent, visceral part of you. This bond between women should be considered more sacred, but there is nothing sacred. When Lavinia appeals to Tamora, it feels like so much more of a betrayal because they should have a moment of recognition. There is no difference between the animalistic brutality of gender roles, but our demonstration of sacrifice indicated something different. The hunt was so important to the men. It may look nicer when it’s females. Epiphany – roofing. Had a nail gun with all this power and pressure piercing the wood and wasn’t even thinking about anything. He said to do it and I went and did it – I knew exactly what to do, I didn’t question – you’re piercing the wood and pinning it down – not that visceral, but it was a little…I took a break just to prove that I wasn’t.

Dexter: really interesting – the caliber of ritual is really interesting in that show, it’s a heightened ritual, piece-by-piece, violating the ritual deserves mention, when the ritual isn’t followed, the world goes into chaos, watch the show if you have not – even if just for this project. The entire show talks about how he doesn’t have feelings, and he shows over and over that he does – how close can I get to what I do and then have to back away? Interesting and appropriate for this project. When they’re raping Lavinia and cutting her hands and her tongue – could it be like they’re teasing her? Sex is violence accepted. Maybe when they’re raping her and hewing her limbs, are they sexually teasing her – is that foreplay? Or not? At what point do they do these things – what is the order? It changes the meaning. What is the order – would she want her tongue and hands depending on what they do to her? We should explore it – later. No rape improves yet. We have to enact something to represent that. Markus explains and fetishizes it, but I think we have to do something and show something. That is the thing that we come back to the most – the event that we hit and talk about the most. It’s the most important thing to us right now – this audience in this time.

Circle clapping – one thing we will continue to develop is this tribal, circle feel – how do we communicate as a circle. Communication – memory – what is the next step in the ritual – how does the rhythm work – the power of the clapping together. The way it sounds is sort of extraordinary. Echoes and moves and feels. Last two positions are so difficult because you count and don’t feel it in your bodies in the same way. Might be so interesting to do with closed eyes – can you feel the rhythm in your body and the group?

First exercise today is: two groups – find the cyclical nature of pleading, sacrifice, swearing revenge, plead-sacrifice-swear. Circle of revenge is the same as the circle of revolution. Happens throughout the show. We are not necessarily looking for characters in the show. “The game begins.” Give some time – work out what the plead/sacrifice/swear revenge game is. That’s all we’re doing now – it doesn’t have to be a game like Red Rover, but what I mean by game – what does Kris mean – that is what we’re figuring out – a game the way that clapping is a game. What I mean by game is that it has to be ritualized. Has to have that quality about it. What is the back-and-forth ritual? You’re in teams. Ultimately within the context – Tamora says don’t kill my son, sacrifice the son, Tamora swears revenge; Titus pleads, sacrifice, Titus swears revenge. Playing around. Start a dialogue – ten minutes. Don’t be afraid to make a circle.

Repeating the same motion, touching out and switching places. I immediately go back to the last rehearsal and the pile of bodies – perhaps we stay – and everyone dies until there is only one person left. AH – they are going there. Maybe. Put it in your bodies – like it. Constant moving – yes. In two circles. Sacrifice and revenge as different motions – what is the difference between swearing and revenging – the words versus the action. The end of the cycle? Can you? Interesting for it to reverse, yea? Like come back up out of the pile. I am intrigued. A sort of universal clear notion of what pleading looks like – an archetypal call-back, perhaps? Is revenge the start of the cycle? Or is ritual the start of the cycle? What is the origination of the game – let it begin, but is it game for game’s sake? Is it within us always already. Two gears constantly in motion – this is kind of brills. Let’s make a gear – let’s make a deal. Everything makes me think of Titus in this moment. Now someone just grabs someone for revenge. The game doesn’t start – what’s the action that makes the pleading happen – it’s when the two sides collide. What needs to signify the start – collision of gears. What if it were clapping? Smacking into each other. The dead stay dead.
Move mechanically – robot lawyer – every time someone dies make a step forward. Every time someone dies – get in a line. A line ready to meet and attack and fall. I don’t know if I get the difference in having a half a gear and a line. Military kind of thing. Becomes a line when they meet. Gears losing parts. Everyone steps together. So interesting. Small team begins. So the small team is the first fighter. This is sort of a return to the original fable and the pile of bodies – it is harder to do because there are so many bodies in the way.

Take it and explore it a little bit more. Starting positions. Inner and outer circles – small inside of large. A tight inner circle – does it tell a story of violence inside of violence. They seem to be playing this as a game. I wonder if the clapping would help. A sense of rhythm and step. Because that makes it more ritual.
What starts the cycle? Point, fist, threaten – how do you select the start? Entire outer circle pleads other than the person being sacrificed. Stop point drop sacrifice. Pointing the whole time instead. Now we need a new sacrifice. Gently laying her down. Kill kill kill is battle – in this there has to be a time between. Outer circle springs up and then everyone in outer circle points to the inner circle – it’s a team effort. I feel like the team effort is super important – because it makes it less about individuals and more about the act.

Moving the death away, outside of the bounds – also super interesting – where do the bodies go – need they be present, or do we feel the presence of their absence (as it were – pomo mess). I like the bodies as an obstacle. Seeing the wake and the mindless sacrifice even though the evidence of destruction piles up all around you.
Codifying with a game – games take a long time to develop. Militaristic in nature. Interesting. Because it goes sort of opposed to where we were starting, but not. I mean, this is sort of how they began. Gets really awkward at this point towards the end. Something here that we will not find on this day.

Back to first day on our feet. Fifteen minutes to build the show again – talk through the events of the show. Start in a circle and utilize this room.
Continue with this first go-through. Rules: start in a circle. Cast. Every living character claps in rhythm together. 3 points where all 9 are making physical contact with each other – separate times. Don’t have to hit every point. Have to be two moments with five seconds of stillness – not at beginning or the end.

I depart unhappily for my production meeting. Boo.