Stretching the Boundaries of Performance & Theatre
Theatre of Being
Lee Gershuny produced a very extensive ‘body of work’ across the genres of playwriting and poetry but she was interested in something far broader. The role of arts – and more generally the performance arts – as process; as a vehicle for transcending limitations and boundaries, whether those inherent within a conflict or more fundamentally our limiting sense of identity.
As a result, she experimented with a variety of formats and styles. Jazz Theatre morphed into Theatre of Being and text flowed seamlessly into dance and music rather than these being discrete ‘additions’ or accessories.
At its heart was improvisation and a search for authenticity in the moment. The sub-title for Theatre of Being – Creative Development of the Whole Person – says much about the underlying ethos of much of her work.
One of the recurring ‘venues’ for these explorations was The Cafe of No Tomorrows, a surreal cafe where a waiter served up not just food but provocative insights and interventions. Another framework was the Katie Xpresse Interviews, a series of short pieces where a fictional female media reporter cross-examines a notable character – the first Pregnant Man or a Jewish Hitler – to get the root of the subject.
This fluidity – in style, pace and format – placed considerable demands on the members of the company so perhaps it was no surprise that many were not just accomplished actors but also musicians, accustomed to ‘jamming’ and improvisation.
The focus on process was also dramatically different from much of the Agitprop theatre or ‘social realism’ prevalent in Scotland at the time. Combined with her use of myth and archetype it placed her work outside the then current mainstream and in a sense outside of time.
While audiences often responded very positively, without perhaps knowing why, many conventional reviewers clearly struggled. When positive reviews were forthcoming comparisons were made with Artaud, Beckett and Ionesco.
“Theatre of Being has changed my life”
Actor