Quotes from Ariane Mnouchkine
Henry IV, Part I
I offer more of Mnouchkine's thoughts on the theatre, again without much comment, except to say that she is on to something...many things...
The following quotes are from Ariane Mnouchkine and the Theatre du Soleil by Adrian Kiernander.
On what a theatre company is...
"A theatre company is not an artistic entity cut off from life. A company is a group. A group is always a maternal structure. At the beginning, I didn't know that, but I've discovered it. I discovered that it is not enough for actors to be good creators. It is also necessary for them to be free and happy. And that's not easy. Because there is constantly amongst us all a strange mixture of generosity and selfishness, of availability and reserve. This is an explosive which has to be handled delicately. It is passion in its pure state. It is life. It is restricting, certainly, but it is also wonderful." (p. 15)
On watching, paying attention...
"I try to create an atmostphere of tolerance where one can try anything, and where there at least a minimum of respect on the part of the actors for each other, where they watch. I hate it when they don't watch carefully what the others do, because I know it is by watching that they will understand things. If there are those who don't concentrate or who don't watch what their comrades do, I'll throw a shoe at them because I hate that. But I think there is quality in their watching now. They know that they must watch. They know that it is valuable for them to watch the others. To watch the others properly. Not to think while the others are working, 'What am I going to do?' No. To watch the others." (p. 15)
On looking for 'the theatre'...
"In the beginning I thought that a director was someone who had an interpretation of the play, a unique one. But then what I came to love more and more was the theatre, that is to say Actors in a Space before and Audience...I believe that what feeds the work of the theatre is first of all the theatre itself. It is discovery, adventure. It is 'looking for' the theatre. In the history of the theatre, what nourishes me is the questioning, the discoveries, the illuminations of the people of the theatre who have preceded us, their desires...in the case of Copeau, for example, it is his desire which is very interesting, and very beautiful, more so certainly than what he was in fact able to achieve...Is it really the countryside which fed Monet's poppyfield, or is it really painting which discovers, which truly reveals the field of poppies? In the process of rehearsal I look for the theatre, second by second, and when it appears, truly appears, it is undeniable." (emphasis mine)
...that last sentence is, for me, the key...
11:05:06 AM
