Wonderful illustrations. Yours truly had the rare honor of appearing in what I suspect may have been the only high school production of The Cenci ever mounted -- my one and only thatrical appearance, one performance only, c. 1973 or '74. (We were very progressive in those days.)
Robert de Niro?! While I respect his prodigious talents, I would have thought that appearing in a film made 11 years before he was born would be a little beyond even his abilities.
Chris, that sounds amazing. Any yearbook photos of it?! Also, were you behind it, or did the school have an Artaud-like high-school theater director? (Theater of Cruelty and high school go together perfectly in my mind.)
peacay, the "Robert de Niro" referred to in the caption is actually the actor's father, also named "Robert de Niro." (Just kidding. I was feeling extremely deadpan last night. But someone should write an Artaud movie for De Niro. That is also Artaud looking like an old Buster Keaton.)
As far as I know there aren't any yearbook pictures of it, but I'll have to check. I don't have the program any more, though I saved several for shows I wasn't in.
I was the one who initially brought the play to the attention of the drama teacher (I had found a copy at a used book sale), but he deserves full credit for letting us run with it. It was on a double-bill with Pinter's The Dwarves, I think. We had an amazing drama program; one of our other productions -- a staging of Twelfth Night -- inspired Elizabeth Hand's novella Illyria. She went to a different school but was a friend.
Time to reread Artaud here... er...I too was going to inquire about De Niro as Artaud. But curiously I just (five minutes or so ago) reread an old short story I wrote which was, tangentially or not so tangentially, about Abel Gance. Which was brought to mind by reacquaintance with a friend I used to watch Gance films with (not Mater Dolorosa, though). Life's being very strange just now.
Artaud is a lifesaver. I get a knot in my stomach whenever I read "Indian Culture" or "Here Lies"... by the way, how does the Artaud Anthology hold up compared to Selected Writings or the Watchfiends and Wrackscreams?
Buster Keaton as Artaud? Where do you find this shit? Wow... Must give kudos to Susan Sontag for her introduction to Artaud in that book that anthology that came out back in the eighties. Thanks for posting these drawings as well. I plan on making a magic cane for myself one of these days and stabbing a few trees inspired by Le Momo Artaudmo
Chris, your old drama teacher sounds fantastic. To think of all the productions of "Our Town" when kids could have been doing "The Cenci."
I realized my corny, deadpan humor gets lost when the images are circulated on tumblr, etc., so I changed the captions for the last two photos -- those are actually just Artaud.
Fergus, I think I first read Artaud in the City Lights anthology, so it holds a special place on my bookshelves (though apparently I gave it away!). I do remember reading somewhere that the translations are awful, but I don't remember noticing that. "Watchfiends" pulls from the very late work ('45 to '48). Selected Writings claim to fame is being almost 700 pages and pulling from all parts of his career. Even more complete could be the Calder Artaud anthologies (5 or 6 volumes?), which may eventually be reissued by OneWorld Classics.
hey will, i saw a show of his drawings in paris many moons ago and they completely completely completely blew my mind. all the aggression of the writing so clearly manifested in the drawings, especially the "spells". great stuff...!
thank you for this interesting collection about artaud / unforgettable presence /
ReplyDeletesaluti dall'italia /c
Merci beaucoup !
ReplyDeleteWonderful illustrations. Yours truly had the rare honor of appearing in what I suspect may have been the only high school production of The Cenci ever mounted -- my one and only thatrical appearance, one performance only, c. 1973 or '74. (We were very progressive in those days.)
ReplyDeleteRobert de Niro?! While I respect his prodigious talents, I would have thought that appearing in a film made 11 years before he was born would be a little beyond even his abilities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteChris, that sounds amazing. Any yearbook photos of it?! Also, were you behind it, or did the school have an Artaud-like high-school theater director? (Theater of Cruelty and high school go together perfectly in my mind.)
peacay, the "Robert de Niro" referred to in the caption is actually the actor's father, also named "Robert de Niro." (Just kidding. I was feeling extremely deadpan last night. But someone should write an Artaud movie for De Niro. That is also Artaud looking like an old Buster Keaton.)
As far as I know there aren't any yearbook pictures of it, but I'll have to check. I don't have the program any more, though I saved several for shows I wasn't in.
ReplyDeleteI was the one who initially brought the play to the attention of the drama teacher (I had found a copy at a used book sale), but he deserves full credit for letting us run with it. It was on a double-bill with Pinter's The Dwarves, I think. We had an amazing drama program; one of our other productions -- a staging of Twelfth Night -- inspired Elizabeth Hand's novella Illyria. She went to a different school but was a friend.
Time to reread Artaud here... er...I too was going to inquire about De Niro as Artaud. But curiously I just (five minutes or so ago) reread an old short story I wrote which was, tangentially or not so tangentially, about Abel Gance. Which was brought to mind by reacquaintance with a friend I used to watch Gance films with (not Mater Dolorosa, though). Life's being very strange just now.
ReplyDeleteArtaud is one of my favorites (I've recently become a big fan of Walser too). He looks a bit like Kafka in that last photo.
ReplyDeleteArtaud is a lifesaver. I get a knot in my stomach whenever I read "Indian Culture" or "Here Lies"... by the way, how does the Artaud Anthology hold up compared to Selected Writings or the Watchfiends and Wrackscreams?
ReplyDeleteBuster Keaton as Artaud? Where do you find this shit? Wow...
ReplyDeleteMust give kudos to Susan Sontag for her introduction to Artaud in that book that anthology that came out back in the eighties. Thanks for posting these drawings as well. I plan on making a magic cane for myself one of these days and stabbing a few trees inspired by Le Momo Artaudmo
Chris, your old drama teacher sounds fantastic. To think of all the productions of "Our Town" when kids could have been doing "The Cenci."
ReplyDeleteI realized my corny, deadpan humor gets lost when the images are circulated on tumblr, etc., so I changed the captions for the last two photos -- those are actually just Artaud.
Fergus, I think I first read Artaud in the City Lights anthology, so it holds a special place on my bookshelves (though apparently I gave it away!). I do remember reading somewhere that the translations are awful, but I don't remember noticing that. "Watchfiends" pulls from the very late work ('45 to '48). Selected Writings claim to fame is being almost 700 pages and pulling from all parts of his career. Even more complete could be the Calder Artaud anthologies (5 or 6 volumes?), which may eventually be reissued by OneWorld Classics.
Will
so it wasn't buster? now I'm crushed. well i know antonin had a thing for the marx brothers - somebody should photoshop him into horsefeathers
ReplyDeletehey will, i saw a show of his drawings in paris many moons ago and they completely completely completely blew my mind. all the aggression of the writing so clearly manifested in the drawings, especially the "spells". great stuff...!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post as always love the photos too!
ReplyDeleteThis site is amazing - Artauld, Theatre of Cruelty, poignant stuff.
ReplyDelete