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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Inspired by Andrew's great 'Minority Report' idea in the Inner Thoughts forum, I've come up with this. I should warn you that it's far fetched, ambitious, and blurs the boundary between theatre and magick. There are, however, several presentation ideas that I think are worth sharing.
You are presenting an evening's entertainment in an old warehouse/gutted factory. In the middle of this vast space, is the eccentric audience seating. Kind of an opulent Bedouin interior, with cushions and carpets, but with the odd luxurious green leather sofa and wingbacked chair. Maybe even a chaise longue or two. This curious location and arrangement allows several theatrical things to happen, namely: i) The huge empty space has the echoes of a cathedral. Your voice can ring out, and the silences become intense. Sound fx can come from anywhere in this huge arena. The audience is surrounded with sound. ii) The audience sits well away from any comforting walls. A menacing void surrounds them when the houselights dim. iii) The vastness of the space allows for much movement in the show. The whole audience can move to a new location on occasion. You have space to spread your performing 'wings'. iv) Lighting can be creative. Sometimes the only light comes from a rusty oildrum brazier. 'Rooms' can be created from pools of light. v) The informal demarcation between stage and audience, let's you blur some of the preconceptions we have about theatre. For one thing, you are able to move easily amongst your audience and do very intimate work. And in this big show, even CU effects can be performed, using this neat idea. Behind the performer is a big wall used for projection. Sometimes these images are scenery. Sometimes, as we shall see, they accompany an effect. And sometimes, a CCTV camera is used to film you doing tiny close-up effects in the audience, and the image is projected fifty feet big on the wall behind you, so everyone can see. As for the show itself, it's themed around time. Several ideas suggest themselves. A Q and A that's based around the idea 'if you could live in one moment in your life, what would that moment be'. Needless to say, many precious memories are shared, and you do your readings amongst the audience themselves. Pre-cognition stuff would be thematically consistent. Flowers wither in your hands. And even a small watch-advances effect could play big thanks to the back projection. Around these routines, several threads are wound. To mark structure in your show, you bang a great piece of industrial metal. It pounds like the tolling of a clock bell. Also, in an earlier routine, something strange happens between you and a member of the audience. She doesn't know you, and yet there seems to be an unexplained intimate connection that disturbs her. In other parts of the show you vaguely allude to star crossed lovers. And you tell a small story about a man lost outside his own time. Also, the show has informal discussion periods, when people chat with you about the ideas raised. These are entertaining in of themselves, and you use them to 'sow seeds' for later. You finish this ambitious show, with this piece of bizarre theatre. Your earlier work has expanded the audience's suspension of disbelief, and provided a context for what follows. A discussion on changing time has led the mystery woman to say that, if she could, she would go back and kill Hitler in his crib. You question the wisdom of that and offer the following story as a thought experiment. Imagine a group of people born in the 50's and 60's, had a genetic mutation that allowed them to reach back and alter time. They couldn't actually travel themselves, but, by joining their energies, they could reach back with PK. Now, unfortunately, this was an imprecise science, so it wasn't just a case of running someone over with a wayward bus. Yet in the early 1990's they were, let us imagine, able to reach back to the latter half of the 19th Century, and introduce harmful radioactive isotopes into the waters at Brannau, Hitler's birthplace. All men in the area became sterile, and Hitler was never born. (As you tell this story, behind you photographs are projected that confirm your story. Strange headlines and so on. Also, a storm outside approaches, and the lights occasionally flicker). Yet, unfortunately, anti-Semiticism in Europe rested on more than the shoulders of one evil man. The Nationalist Socialist still came to power, and fascism took hold across the continent. Indeed, by a terrible irony, in this alternative timeline, although there were no gas chambers and ovens, Jews from around the world, and others were taken to Brannau and sterilised. (As well as the back projection you are doing simple CU transformations. A picture changes from our timeline, to this strange new one etc.) Many millions were still killed in World War Two. Yet the course of the war, was very different. With Nazi research into atomic phyics spurred on by the Brannau situation, and with no Hitler to undermine this programme, the Nazis got the bomb first. In 1944 three such weapons were dropped on London, Washington, and Moscow. And the Allies sued for peace. (An authentic 'Victory' headline in a newspaper transform into 'We must surrender'. Behind you, photos of these cities in terrible ruins). You wander around encouraging people to ask you questions about this strange new world. And finally you say, transforming a borrowed coin into a very strange denomination, 'All that you know and is familiar, wiped away'. The mystery woman says, 'I still say I'd kill him if I could. It has to be better'. And you go up to her, and put your finger on her lip, to gently shush her. 'Ah Marie', you say, 'you were ever so'. She is startled, and takes your wrist to remove your arm. Then she notices terrible bruises and deep cuts on your forearm. She peels back the sleeve, to reveal many more. Then silently, she opens the neck of your shirt, and tenderly, curiously, traces more wounds. You step back, open your shirt, turn round, and show terrible burns and welts on your shoulders. And looking intensely at this woman you say, 'Now let us imagine that the surviving members of this time altering group, realising their terrible mistake, met up to correct this wrong. Before they could join minds, they were captured by the authorities, tortured, and sentenced to be shot. On a grey cold morning, not unlike today, they stood before the firing squad, and as the bullets cracked through the air, they touched hands, and leapt their minds once again back into the past. This time to restore things back to how they once had been. (All this is passionately acted out. The storm outside is very close. The lights flicker out, and struggle to come back on). 'It's nearly back, nearly back to how it was', you say. And you walk over to Marie, hold her head, and breathe deeply the rich scent of her hair. Then with great sadness, you kiss her forehead and step back, mouthing 'Goodbye'. The storm explodes outside. The thunder shakes the building. Proud, defiant, you lift your arm to the heavens. The sleeve falls back to reveal an old blue tattooed number. 'I am citizen NB3 J296, also known as John Robertson Strong. I was born in the Nationalist Socialist Republic of Lesser Britatin, in the Reich year 42'. You are exultant. 'And I have done a great and terrible thing'. The light fails, and one startling lime flash of lightning reveals you as a small, but triumphant figure. You are the hero before the pit. Thunder crashes, and the room is plunged into darkness. A second or so later, and the lights click back on. And the stage is bare. It is as though you never were. To finish the piece, the industrial music pounds out, as images of your show, and a restored world, rush passed on the screen. (You are simply not there to take a bow, and this lets the audience know that the theatre is over.) Would this be do-able emotionally? Too much, or is it where we should be headed? I'm not sure. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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Andrewdavidson12 Loyal user England 232 Posts |
Caleb
I'm in awe! This is exactly the sort of thing that we should be considering. I think that one of the things we, as performers, need to be thinking about is how to thrive in an "experience culture". People are crying out for this kind of experience I think. It would be like appearing in a movie for each of the members of the audience. Whether it's workable or not it's certainly a step in the right direction. When you find the right location let me know and I'll come and be an audience member! All the best Andrew |
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Seance Elite user Talking on the other side with 427 Posts |
Caleb,
This is very good! I am really starting to think Gene Poinc, a late performer and writer of bizarre magic("The Practitioner" was his last and best book) has somehow touched you. The interesting thing about your writings is the strong infusion of morality shown in your pieces. Did studying for the laity influence you? I also see a person who is very well read, which is startling in this age of video. Please continue with your musings and ideas. This is a refreshing change and would direct me more into the direction that I think magic in general should go. The story is more important than the method. Cheers, Dave |
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Peter Marucci Inner circle 5389 Posts |
Awesome, simply awesome.
I don't know if it's "do-able" but it certainly makes for a helluva story! Folks, what you have seen is the direction that one branch of magic will take in the next few decades. And, I suspect, Caleb is on the cutting edge of it. |
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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Oh wow! Thanks for the great feedback. I am deeply touched. I wasn't sure if I wasn't over-reaching with this one.
Dave, I couldn't have put it any better, the story is more important than the method. I'm a great believer in the power of stories. They form, for want of a better word, a technology, that we can use to heal, to teach, and to broaden all our horizons. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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Doug Byrd Veteran user VA 361 Posts |
Unbelievable! I saw the whole thing with my mind's eye and felt every bit of the emotion. That is a rare treat. If it plays out only half as well in real life as it did in my mind you would have a sold out show a year in advance continually.
Keep the midnight oil burning. Your fans are gathering as we speak. :0) Your Friend in Fright, Doug
"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
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David de Leon Elite user Sweden 418 Posts |
How I would love to see a show like that! And how I would dearly love to take my friends along! I don’t know what your day job is Caleb, but you should probably quit it.
Incidentally if you are interested in alternative history there is a great site that catalogues much of the literature and which you might find useful. There are lists both of fiction and of works by serious historians that use contrafactual history as a method: http://www.uchronia.net/ In addition to praise for Caleb I also have a germ of an idea for a time-themed effect. This may or may not be appropriate for the show being discussed. The idea concerns the fact that if time travel (of objects, people, or even just information) was possible we would inevitably end up with causal loops. That is, with effects being their own causes. You know the kind of thing: travelling back in time, chatting up your mother and eventually becoming your own father. Now I don’t really have a solid idea for a routine, but I think that it would be interesting to place an audience member into a causal loop. I’m not sure how to do this convincingly, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to see someone struggling to unravel such a loop? To make myself clearer I'll give an example. The following is not really offered as a proper routine, it is more of an illustration: Two black boxes are set on a table in front of a volunteer. Each box has a hole in the side with a black velvet tube coming out of it, large enough to fit a hand through. The boxes are opened and a scorpion placed into one and something nice into the other. The volunteer is blindfolded and the boxes mixed behind a screen. The volunteer will probably decline the offer of putting his/her hand through one of the velvet tubes and into a freely chosen box. So you ask them if they would like some help. Assuming they accept your offer of help you then show them a short film in which someone’s arm is seen reaching into the rightmost box and withdrawing the prize. On the film the arm is then handed a stick and proceeds to poke into the remaining box. When the stick is withdrawn there is a scorpion clinging to the end of it. The film is stopped. The volunteer is again given the opportunity to choose a box. Assuming they now agree to, they can only really chose the same box as they saw chosen on the film. They do, and they get the prize. You then hand them a stick and instruct them to poke into the remaining box. They do, and withdraw the stick with a live scorpion clinging to it. The spectator will have to agree that what just transpired was certainly scary, but that there was actually very little risk considering all the help they got. But who helped them? You play the same film again (and it is essential that there is something that makes it clear that it is the same film: perhaps the camera jerks at a certain point, or there is a noise made, or something...). At the end, were you previously stopped the film, you let the film continue playing. The camera pulls back to reveal that the film is a film of the spectator doing what they just did! |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Caleb,
Lots of raw nerves in the WWII stuff. This for the over 60 gang on both sides of the pond. As another poster suggested, there is some amazing literature on 'alternate histories' and this genre is becoming popular. The leading edge on this may be a monthly serialized meta-fiction about victorian era storybook heroes living togher in a merged literary superimposed world. That's right, The invisible man and captain Nemo have met. Given the tradition we might associate with PKDicks 'Man in the high tower' about people moving between alternate histories... it might be more 'popular' to stay away from the global attrocities that seemed pandemic in the early twentieth century. Please try to remember that eugenics was happy here and there, and even in America there were laws prohibiting 'miscegenation' on the books until 1969. Please don't ask a diverse audience to suffer through the horrors again.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Xiqual Inner circle Upper left quadrant 4935 Posts |
Wow,
That is so weird, or should I say Bizarre!!! The same thing happened to me. I could picture the whole scene in my mind's eye just like a dream. Caleb, you are a Master storyteller. Please, More!! Sincerly, James Quote: On 2003-01-19 18:42, Doug Byrd wrote:
Still with the Chinese circus
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Graham_Salisbury New user UK 68 Posts |
Excellent stuff Caleb, fantastic theatre!
Stephen Fry has covered almost exactly the same plot idea in his excellent book "Making History", I'm sure you are familiar with it but if not check out the paper-back edition. If you need to research the topic any more (you are clearly already quite familiar) then some good Alternative History works are: 1) "What If?: Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been" Edited by Robert Cowley. 2) "Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals" Edited by Niall Ferguson 3) "Third Reich Victorious: Alternate Decisions of World War II" If you are more interested in fiction then try: "Roads Not Taken: Tales of Alternate History" Another work of fiction that might be worth a look is "The List of Seven" by Mark Frost (co-creator of Twin Peaks). This is set around the time of Hitler's birth and weaves many of the contemporary characters (including Bram Stoker, Madame Blavatsky, Conan Doyle etc.) into the tale. It might even spark off a few more ideas ... Again, wonderful stuff Caleb!! |
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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Many thanks for the kind words. JonTown's right in that there are many raw nerves stemming from this period in history, and I'm sorry if this routine tweaked them for anybody. I do believe, though, that it's possible for art to address just about any issue. However, as bizarrists, we have to work hard, and constantly strive to earn the epithet 'artist'.
I loved David's idea of the causal loop film. I found it thought provoking, intelligent and theatrical. It would fit very well with the CCTV/back projection presentation. Perhaps we should be looking to collaborate with artist in other fields, such as video art? David's idea also raised another point, namely that, as artists, we can choose to explore complex intellectual and emotional issues in our work. That's partly why I suggested having informal discussions with the audience. In fact, I believe that bizarre magick is uniquely suited to discussing the mind-stretching concepts that lurk at the edges of modern science and philosophy. And as people have suggested, 'time' is not a bad place to start. Finally, I was interested in Andrew's ideas about putting the audience INSIDE the experience. Like being in a film. That's exactly what I was aiming for. An audience member's normal life should end when the houselights dim. And we should transport them all to a garden of strange and wonderful things. I passionately believe that we bizarrists have a great opportunity at this moment in history. People in general are unfamiliar with our branch of the magical arts. We are not hemmed in by their expectations. There is no established canon of material to which we have to refer. The great pioneers of bizarre magick have opened up a staggering new land for us to explore. And we must rove this mapless terrain with imagination, burning imagination, as our guiding star. Exciting, isn't it? Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Caleb,
You may have hit on several workable ideas for perfomance. That of using a larger space with A/V displays setting mood and context. The option of using the H/V/AC as well as lighting to anchor mood and 'magical' moments. Just FYI, the 'time' stuff really wants a good presentation and has been tried again and again even on TV in 'Sapphire and Steel'. The idea of doing a PKDick story on stage has been explored, though not in terms of direct audience involvement or to great effect. You may be the first to make this workl. Go for it! And would you believe there is some rumbling in the closeup field of using chronofractures as a running theme and 'explanation' of some effects including my coins across? What timing you have. Let me know if you ever get to NYC. And let Curtis Kam know if you get out to Honolulu. PS I've traced the theme back to Lovecraft. Where are you taking inspiration? :) -Jon Townsend
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Jon many thanks for the references and feedback. I'll have to read some of PK Dick's work. The sci-fi writers I read last year included Herbert and Simak.
I've never managed to get 'into' Lovecraft's work, but as his name crops up again and again here, I'll give him another go. I'm reading Henry James' Ghost Stories at the moment, and having a whale of a time with Gibbon's 'Decline and fall...', albeit an abridged version. As for the A/V presentation, the more I think about it, the more I like it! Look at David's great causal loop idea, where film becomes a time machine. It becomes possible to express things such as 'her life flashed before her eyes', visually. Historical stories can use jerky newsreels and headlines. Words can flash hypnotically or menacingly. Until Mr. Copperfield or Mr. Blaine come looking to buy the exclusive performance rights from me , please feel free to develop the idea and use it. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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Xiqual Inner circle Upper left quadrant 4935 Posts |
Hi Caleb,
What if outside the gauzy curtains, in the dimly lit warehouse, soldier types appeared and seemed to be pushing people? Maybe you could have several screens with different magnification and clarity levels. Also, what about using the potshard trick to "tattoo" a few spectators with numbers? Some design that becomes prominent as the drama unfolds, is suddenly realised on peoples wrists or forearms? You could also have confederates in the audience fall to their knees and sob or be taken away. I love your idea, Cheers, James
Still with the Chinese circus
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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
James, nice ideas. I'd wondered about the tattoo on spectators myself, after reading some posts elsewhere in the Café. In the end, I decided that I'd only refer to the tattoo in passing, as it has horrible connotations.
In fact, I'd toyed with the idea of creating a routine around such a tattoo. All I could think of was that such a mark appeared on a racist audience member, rather like an extreme 'altruistic prank' (see earlier thread). But in the end, I decided it was too strong, and abandoned working that particular idea through. I love the gauzy curtains idea, especially with the shadows of THINGS on them. I've just got back from seeing 'The two towers', and the opening shot of that is a spectacular fly-over of snowy mountains. Hold your arms out in front of that sort of film backdrop, and you could dispense with any levitation rig. You fly in your heart. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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Zack Special user 551 Posts |
Caleb:
I like it!! Now put down your computer and go DO IT!!! --Zack |
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FrankStone New user South Africa/Taiwan 74 Posts |
Caleb
If you were to give a name or title to this act what will you call it? |
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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Off the top of my head, 'Tempus fugitive'. But don't hold me to that! Actually, I like the iambic pentameter (almost) of the thread's title.
Regards, Caleb Strange. Another routine for this presentation should hopefully appear soon in the forum. And, believe it or not, for once there's a bit of cuteness about the method! Actually, when I tried it out on my magic jaded partner last night, she was flummoxed, and the Caleb stock rose briefly chez Strange. Sorry to tease you like this, but it's been a long week, and I'm too tired to write it up now. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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Ellen Kotzin Loyal user UPSTATE, NY 280 Posts |
Caleb--
Ever thought of being a writer too? Ellen harryandersonfan.com |
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Caleb Strange Special user Manchester UK 676 Posts |
Ellen, thanks for the implied complement in your question. In answer, I've THOUGHT of being many many things. Not all of them realistic.
I'm still waiting on getting the go-ahead from a fellow Café member, before I can post the new routine I mentioned before. Caleb's stock has taken a beating today chez Strange, as the magic's worn off. And I'm anxious, edgy, and losing sleep, because I hate sitting on an idea, however dumb. As many of you might have noticed! Regards, Caleb Strange. Anyone who's not seen Doug's 'The Gathering', at bizarremagick.com, get over there now. You're in for a rare treat. He's taken the basic warehouse setting, and transformed it into something mind-boggling good! Fifty bucks for the night of your life? Sounds like a fair deal to me. Regards, Caleb Strange.
-- QCiC --
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