What's New; 397; Theatre America: Story Theatre

Im緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊緊 All drama tells a story. The kind of stage and style of acting which illustrates the story changes with each age.

The theater in America today is alive with vigorous new experiments that demand an ever-increasing versatility from its actors. To bring this variety of theater experiences to the students of the Yale Drama School, its dean, Robert Brustein, has created a reputory theater company of professionals and students. Whether involved in a classic like the Back Eye or a modern play, the company is always experimenting with fresh techniques and new styles of performance. One of the productions was based on an idea first created by director Paul Sills for his Chicago Theatre, and then introduced to the Yale Company during a recent teaching visit to the Drama School. Taking simple narrative stories, in this case, the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm, he has provided them with a new life in the theater, eliminating the customary use of sets and costumes, and utilizing only the talents and imagination of the actor.

He has created a fresh theater piece, story theater. He was scorned and despised by the others and kept in the background. The eldest son was going into the forest to cut wood, but before he started out. His mother gave him a little sweet cake, and a bottle of wine to keep him from the hunger and thirst, thanks, mom. Hey, give me a bit of that cake in your pocket, and let me have a drink of that wine I'm

very hungry and thirsty. I give you any of my cake and wine I won't have enough of myself, so be off with you. Now, this was no accident. It was brought about by... The second son had to go out into the forest to cut wood. Well, before he left, his mother gave him a little sweet cake, and a bottle of wine. Thank you, mother. Hey, give me a bit of that cake in your pocket, and let me have a drink of that wine I'm

very hungry and thirsty. If I give you any, I shall have the less for myself, be off, and not in my way. Please, let me go cut the wood, father. It is brought to your brother's nothing but harm, and you know nothing about it, you'd best stay at home. Well, be careful. Well, if you let me cut the wood, I'll cut... You'll never have to cut the wood. All right. Very well. You'll be wise, or once you've hurt yourself. Well, he left, his mother gave him a little cake, mixed with water and baked in the ashes.

A bottle of sour beer. Golly, thanks, mom. Hey, give me a minute, I'm taking a pocket, and let me have a cup of that wine. I'm very hungry and thirsty. Well, I only have a little cake baked in the ashes and some sour beer. Well, if you like that kind of thing, we'll sit down and have some together. It's sweet cake. That's good, sweet wine.

It is. That's such a good heart, and you're willing to share your goods. I'll give you a good luck. There. There. It's there. Cut it down, and you'll find something at the roots. Oh. It's a goose. It's feathers and made of pure gold.

So he took the goose under his arm and made his way to an inn where he went to spend the night. The innkeeper had two daughters who saw the goose and were curious to know what kind of a bird it could be, and wanted to get one of its golden feathers. I'll soon have an opportunity to pull out one of its feathers. I'm stuck.

I guess we'll have to pass the night this way. In the morning, simple together, I took the goose under his arm without noticing the two girls behind and went on his way. What are you shameful, girls, doing candy after my son that way? He's a very simple boy, let go of him.

By and by, they came for town where a king ruled whose only daughter was so solemn and sad that nothing and nobody could make a laugh. Accordingly, the king had proclaimed that whoever could make a laugh should marry her. I give you my daughter in marriage. Have a lovely honeymoon, my children, young man, just help me. There was once a soldier who served this king well and faithfully for many years, but on account of his many wounds, he could serve no longer.

So he went before his king. Well, you can go home now. I have no further need of you and I can only pay those who serve me. The soldier went on his way. Pray, give me shelter for the night and something to eat and drink or I shall perish.

Who gives anything to run away soldiers? But I'll keep you for the night if you will do something for me. What is it? I want you to dig up my garden tomorrow. Papa! Well, I see you can do nothing more this evening. I'll keep you for one day more.

Tomorrow you can chop logs for my fireplace. Tomorrow you shall have an easier task. There's a dry well behind my house. My blue light that never goes out has fallen into it. I want you to bring it up to me. Down there.

Do you see it? You see it? I found it. Bring it up to me. Pull me up. Give it to me. Now, pull me up first. I said, give it to me. I won't give it to you until I have both feet safe on dry land again. Will you stay there until you rot? Help me someone. You can't let me die. My bike.

On this be my last pleasure, I wonder. What orders, master? What do you mean? I must do whatever you command. You must do whatever you command. Get me out of this well, then. Look, the witches go.

Shake it. Come. Go. Find the witch and bring her before the judge.

Everything is as you commanded it, master. And the witch hangs on the gallows. What further orders have you, master? Nothing at the moment. You can go home. Only be at hand when I call. You need only life your pipe at the little blue light. And I will appear. The witch hangs on the gallows. The witch hangs on the gallows. The witch hangs on the gallows. The witch hangs on the gallows.

I served my king faithfully for many years. But he sent me away to die of hunger. Now I want my revenge. What do you want me to do? Late at night, when the princess is sleeping in her bed, bring her a sleep to me.

And I will make her do menial service for me. That's an easy enough thing for me to do. But there will be a bad business for you if it happens. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Sit about your work.

Sweep my floor. Clean those windows. Take off my boots. Take off my boots. Clean them.

Father, I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that I was carried off at lightning speed and taken to the room of a soldier for whom I did medial tasks and served as a maid. I swept the floor and I cleaned his boots. Of course, I know it's only a dream. I'm as tired this morning as if I'd done it all. Your dream cannot have been true. But I will give you a piece of advice. Before you go to sleep tonight, fill your pocket with peas

and cut a little hole in the bottom. And if you're carried away again, they'll drop out and leave a trail on the road. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Peace, peace, peace, peace. I sent out my people to follow the trail of the peas.

Father. But in every street the poor children were picking up peas and shoving, it must have rained peas in the night. I had the strangest dream. We must devise a better plan. Wear your shoes to bed tonight. But before you leave the place you are taken, hide one shoe under the bed. I shall be sure to find it. One, two, three, four, five, six. Master, I no longer know how to deal with their craftiness of this shoe is found. You'll be very dangerous for you. One, two, as I say. One, two, three, four. Before you leave the place where you are taken, hide one shoe under the bed.

In the name of the king we will search your room. Here it is. Not with us. Must have my bundle. You won't need it. Come, rat. Come, rat. You remember me? If you get me the bundle I left at the end, I'll give you a ducket. Unless you come, rat.

Don't be afraid. Go where they take you and let what will happen. Only take the blue light with you. I will. Death. I've done nothing wrong. See that my order is carried out. May I have a last request. What is your wish? That I may smoke one last bite. You may smoke three of them, but don't imagine I will spare your life. What does my masters command? Strike them to the ground and do not spare the king for all his cruelty. I will give you my king, Thomas. I will give you my daughter, Stanley. I accept.

There was once a cold, cold ghettel, and she wore shoes with red knots on them. When she went out with the mom, she used to turn around this way. Then she turned around that way. And she stayed quite contentedly. You are a very pretty girl. When she got home, she had a glass of wine for sheer joy. And as the wine made her hungry, she used to taste the best that you had. Well, she said, a cook often knows how a cooking tastes.

Not at all. Oh, well, a grattle. I've invited a very important guest for dinner tonight. Could you cook too far? Very nicely, please. I'll see to it directly now. So she killed two fouls, plucked them. Stuck them and spitted them. And when evening came, she put them in front of the fire to roast. Soon they began to brown and cook through. If your guest doesn't come soon, I shall have to take these fouls off of the fire. And it would be a pity not to eat them at once, while they're nice and juicy. I'll tell you what. I'll go get them myself. Good. I've been standing in front of this fire all day. I'm hot. And I'm thirsty.

I'm going to the cellar to draw myself a good job. She went to the cellar and took a good pull at the beer. God bless you, Gettel. And she took another pull. God bless you, Gettel. Went back. With the foul in front of the fire, turned the spit quite merrily. So one of the people搜 you in the red eye today. First pudding butter Banana base with the skin. I think I ate the gravy. Oh, that foul is delicious. I wonder if the master is coming. Nobody!

That wing is burnt, I bet he ate it. I bet he ate the other one. Or the master will notice that something is wanting. Hit pussy! I'll see if the master is coming. Kitty! Perhaps he isn't coming. Perhaps he stopped off somewhere. I will, Gretel. Be of good courage. One foul is begun. Finish it off and your mind will be at rest. Besides, good things shouldn't be allowed to spoil. So she took off the first foul. But first she went to the cellar to have a good draft of it. God bless you, Gretel. God bless you, Gretel. What's good for one is good for the other.

They belong together. So she let the second foul slip down after the first. Gretel! Gretel, quickly he's on his way. I'll be back in a minute, master. I'll just sharpen my carving knife. Kitty! Kitty! Coming! Oh! He's quickly away. If my master finds you here, you're lost. No, no, no, no. I know he invited you to suffer. But he intends to cut off both your ears. Listen, listen to him sharpen his knife. What is it? Oh, what do you mean? I'll just take him to the foul and put him on the platter.

He bolted away with the pair and the knife. Well, that's fine, manners indeed. Oh, why do you have to take both of them? Could you have left one for me? I don't know. Stop! Stop! Just one! So hold! Please! Come on! God bless you, Gruddle! During a studio break, the Yale Company talked about story theater. It had been a unique experience, working with the new techniques developed by its creator and director, Paul Sills. He's hard to talk about, Paul, because, you know, he's quite vague. He says, little more of this, little more of that. Well, all right. It's very hard, but you have such complete faith that he knows what he wants. And you have such complete faith in his taste and in his integrity.

And you say, well, when I get it, he'll say, hmm, you'll go on and play it that way, you know? But that's the thing that I like most about, Paul. It's that he's really continuously creative. And always, with a real idea, he always gets real ideas. He's not a hokey. He's not gimmicky. It's not fashionable. It's a real idea. And he always surprises you with another real idea. He has two, and then maybe even a third. Why am I? He's really interested in setting that kind of thing up, creating electricity, a spark between actors that had very little to do with psychological interpretation. It had to do with the real life really happening at the real moment between the real actors and the real space. Was that gibberish? You think I'm working? Yeah, more of it.

Yeah, he's got a little body in it too. Are you a late in touching him? Yeah, well, I don't know. It works differently every time. I was in one of them, I had a late son. I'd have been three-haired late. Yeah, man. All right. And so it has a sad... So then when they start off, you're there already. Yeah. Oh, I think. Yeah, I think there's a little bit of the cynicism and there's a touch of the old man. I realize that. And so just open it up, you know. Yeah. He stressed a great deal that we should stay away from the kind of characterization and behavior we were really used to working on in terms of a straight acting project of play. And at the story was the thing. The narrative line was the most important thing. And it was always very difficult for actors to go with the story rather than to go in an almost... In this case, it would have been a self-indulgent way of creating for oneself a whole life and character that really were in a situation of this kind totally extraneous.

I mean, in that way, it's simple. Black, red, yellow, green, colors. No mixtures. They confuse the issue. Paul goes a step further than no props, no scenery. He in a curious way relates constantly to truth. For instance, you say you're playing a witch and your tendency is to kind of get witchy. And he says, no. Just let it be. Just let it come. Just tell the story. And curiously enough, he's absolutely right when you try to do it. Then it gets phony, or it gets from a height looking down, or it gets something else again. But if you really can go by osmosis or something or other with Paul, well, it works. And you get quite excited.

You don't know why, but you say, I'm still in a fluid state. It will work. Once upon a time, there was an old queen whose husband had been dead for a long, long time. And she had a very beautiful daughter. When she grew up, she was betrothed to a prince in a distant country. When the time came for the maiden to be married, her mother packed up quantities of clothes and jewels, silver and gold, and cups and ornaments, and everything suitable for a royal marriage. For she loved her daughter very dearly.

She also sent a waiting woman to travel with her and to put her hand into that of the bridegroom. They each had a horse. The prince's horse was called Falada. And it could speak. When the time came for departure, the old queen went to her bedroom. She took a little silver knife and cut her finger until it bled. Then she took a piece of white cane brick and let three drops of blood fall on it. Take good care of this, my daughter.

It will stand you in good stead on your journey. I'm thirsty. Will you get down and get me some water from the stream in my cup? If you want a drink, dismount yourself, lie down by the water and drink. I don't choose to be your servant. And the three drops of blood replied, if your mother knew this, it would break her heart. She said, if you want a drink, dismount yourself, lie down by the water and drink.

I won't be your servant. And the three drops of blood replied, if your mother knew this, it would break her heart. As she stooped over the water to drink, she did not notice that the piece of cane brick with the three drops of blood fell out of her bosom and floated downstream. The waiting woman however had seen it and rejoiced at getting more power over the bride who by losing the drops of blood had become weak and powerless. But rights for a lot of belongs to me, that jade will do for you. Take off your royal robes and put on my mean garments. Now swear before heaven that you will not tell a creature at the court what has taken place.

Swear or you will be killed on the spot. When they arrived at the castle, there was great rejoicing. The prince hurried towards them and he lifted the waiting woman from her horse thinking that she was his bride. The old king looked through the window and saw the young girl.

Who is that delicate, pretty little creature in the courtyard? She's only a girl I picked up on the road to keep me company. Give her something to do to keep her from idling. I know I'll have a helpless little conrad with the geese. Dear husband, I pray you do me a favor. Anything at all. Well then let the knacker be called to cut off the head of the horse. I wrote it angered me on the way. Of course, we'll be done. Really she was afraid that the horse would speak and reveal her treatment of the princess. Oh knacker, a piece of gold if you will do me a slight favor. There's a great dark gateway through which I pass every morning and evening.

Will you nail up for lot his head so that I might see it as I pass? The last falada, fair thou hangest. The last falada, fair thou hangest. The last falada, fair thou hangest. The last queen's daughter, fair thou gangest. If thy mother knew thy fate, her heart would break with grief so great. The last falada, fair thou hangest. The last falada, fair thou hangest.

The last falada, fair thou hangest. The last falada, fair thou hangest. The last queen's daughter, fair thou gangest. If thy mother knew thy fate, her heart would break with grief so great. The last falada, fair thou hangest.

The last falada, fair thou hangest. Come, Rad. How do you like your new little helper? I'm not going to tend the geese with that maiden again. Why not? Oh, she vexes me every day. How? In the morning, when we pass under the dark gate, she speaks to a horse's head, which is nailed to the wall. She says, Alas falada, fair thou hangest. The last queen's daughter, fair thou gangest. If thy mother knew thy fate, her heart would break with grief so great. So great.

And then, when we go out into the meadow to tend the geese, I just go to touch her hair. And she says, Oh, blow, blow, blow, little breeze, and come and attach it. Let him join in the geese, let him join in the geese. Let him join in the geese, let him join in the geese. To lie, trust his heart and I rest in my place. Who are you? And why do you do all these things? I cannot tell you that. Nor can I tell any human creature, who I have sworn it under the open sky. If I had not done so, I would have lost my life. Well, then, if you can't tell me, tell your sorrows to the iron stove over there. Here I am forsaken by all the world.

And yet, I am a princess. A false waiting woman brought me to such a pass that I had to take off my royal robes. Then she took my lover for her own. If my mother knew my fate, her heart would break with grief so great. Bring forth royal robes. Send for the prince. Son, you have a false bride. She was only a waiting woman.

But this is the true bride. This is the true princess. Let us prepare a great banquet. I have a riddle for you. What does a person deserve who deceives his master if someone is entrusted with another's most precious possession and betrays that trust? What doom does he deserve? No better than this.

He must be put stark naked into a barrel stuck with nails and dragged from street to street by two white horses till he is dead. And that is your own doom. When the judgment shall be carried out. When the sentence was fulfilled, the young prince married his true bride and together they ruled their kingdom in peace and happiness. The past decade has seen a tremendous growth in the reputory theater movement in America. And here the actors talk about the Yale Company and its director, Robert Burstein. I think his prime purpose is building a great school.

And it seems that the finest schools are connected with very fine theaters. And the plan is to have the professional company there which is now made up of professional actors from New York who he is brought in. But which will eventually be made up primarily of students who have graduated from Yale University. Like David and Joan are the first graduates into the company and now they are on the professional status. Next year there will be some more graduates so that maybe in five or ten years, which is not a long time in terms of building a reputory theater. It is conceivable that this theater will be Yale graduates exclusively. And who will have the very full status of professional actors because they will have been doing it at the same theater. For all this time. There is a feeling of being part of a change in theater or at least part of theater before it was a nebulous.

You weren't sure you had no connection with professional theater. It was oriented towards academics more than towards professional theater. Now the students that are there, definitely I would say at least 95% of them want to become professional actors. I'm talking about actors now, not that other parts of the school. So that for me, even though my parts I've played this year haven't been all that wonderful, I still had probably a better opportunity at Yale with a better company under better conditions than I would in New York certainly, and probably in a lot of other areas too. One of the best parts of the experience. First of all, three years, we've all been trying to find a way to what it is that we're trying to create. I think Mr. Bruce Dean as well. But I think the most enriching part of the fact was the exposure very largely due to the fact of having a professional company on the premises. Because as students, even before we were allowed to do any acting on a stage by ourselves, we could always just drop into the theater and watch rehearsals in any stage that we wish to see it and sort of share in the learning experience

by watching the professional actors and how they approach their roles and what they do. There was an old queen, and she had a very beautiful daughter. I like to act, and wherever I get a chance to act, I go ahead and do it. I came into the theater chronologically late. I mean, I should be part of another era of acting, but I was older when I came in, and so I came in part of a younger group of actors, and I've always found myself constantly working with much younger people than I, and liking it very much. I like the exploration, the experimentation. I like to find new ways of doing things and saying things differently, and I like the use of movement and speech. And everything is beautiful. And I love to work under somebody who's exciting and stimulating. These are all these different qualities that we give it. It did catch, but really was working hard. I had wanted, for the professionals, to be in classes with us more,

maybe to criticize us more, to talk with us more, because I found, unless you were directly involved in productions, often you would have no contact at all with many of the professionals, unless you sought them out, and then you always feel that you're in sort of tenuous grounds, do I really have anything to say, or do they want to be bothered? How these people make it, and is the living theatre type professional, what really are the difference between that kind of person, and let's say an Alvin Epstein, or Michael Lombard type professional, is there one standard, even that? Parts. I could play parts in regional theaters that I could not play in New York, not only because I wasn't a big enough star in New York to be able to play those parts, because those plays weren't being done, nobody was doing them. The plays that I was interested in, and the parts that I was interested, only were available to me outside of the so-called commercial theatre in New York. There are a lot of theaters now, and there's a lot of opportunity there wasn't 20 years ago.

Well, I think 20 years ago everybody was doing something new, trying to find, in particular, the methods way of approaching acting, which was from the self, from the truth of oneself translated into the truth of the part, or of the play, and we were very much involved with that new approach, rather than a so-called classical approach, which has to do with techniques of behaviour. Ten years ago when I graduated from Boston University, graduate school, then the method was very big, and that's what everyone thought in terms of going to New York and getting into the studio. Yeah, I don't think people are very interested in that anymore, except as a part of study, and there's theatre all over the country now, and there are places to absorb people who graduate from schools like Yale. Somebody stopped me on the steps yesterday and said,

I used to see you in those wonderful television stories, and I said, well, we don't tell stories anymore in the theatre, but this particular story theatre, it goes back again to the story in its simplest terms, doesn't it? It was good to learn that one could be that simple, and that effective, providing. Everyone was together, absolutely essential. Everyone working together, no standout bits, no standout performances, no grasping to shine and flash. It's true ensemble work, very difficult to achieve with a play. We just don't seem to communicate that well together when we're working on a play. I'd say from the ensemble, repertoire, and standpoint, this is probably the most successful production we've had as a group. A certain man had an ass, which, for many years, carried sex to the mill without tiring. At long last, however, its strength was worn out, and it was no longer of any use for work.

Accordingly, its master began to ponder how best to cut down on its keep. The ass, however, sensing mischief in the air, ran away, and started on the road to Brennan. There he thought he would become a town musician. Why are you panting so growler? Well, just because I'm old, and every day I get weaker, and also, because I can no longer keep up with a pack, my master wants to kill me.

So I've absconded. But now, how might I earn my bread? You know what? I am going to Brennan there to become a town musician. Come with me. I will play the lute, and you can beat the kettle drum. OK. Aha! Aha! Why so cross-whiskers? Well, can I be cheerful when I'm out at elbows? I am an old cat, and my teeth are blunted, and I'd rather lie by the fireplace and relax,

rather than go out chasing mice. Just because of this, my mistress wanted to drown me, though I ran away. Only now I don't know which way to turn. Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Whiskers! We're going to Brennan to become town musicians. Come with us. You're a great-handed, serenading. You can join in the music. That sounds like a good idea. I think I will. Aha!

Aha! Aha! Aha! Aha! Whiskers! You crow so loud, you pierced one through and through. What's the matter? What's the matter? Why didn't I predict fine weather for Lady Day when our Lady wants to wash the Christ child's little garment and hang it out to dry? But notwithstanding this, my mistress has no pity. And just because Sunday visitors are coming tomorrow, she wants to make me into soup. Aha! Tonight I'm to have my neck roll. So right now I'm growing with all my might while I still have the chance. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Redcomb, we're going to Brennan there to become town musicians. You have a fine voice. Come with us. together there will be quality in it. Not bad, not bad, I accept. We all we are, we all we are, we all we are, we all we are. they Yeah.

Ah! Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh. Everybody up! Everybody up! Everybody up! I see a light not far off. There must be a house. Maybe there's a nice juicy bone I can chew on. There's a fireplace I can lie beside. Maybe they've got some chickens. Very well, let's set out and make our way towards it, because the entertainment here stinks. You've got to work. What do you see, old jackass?

What do I see? What do I see? They see a table spread with delicious food and drink. That's right. And Robert seated at it, enjoying themselves. Well, a feast would just suit us. Yes, if only we were in there. Bop-bop-bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Hey, we ought not to have been scared by a false alarm. That's right.

Go back and examine that house. All right. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Bop-bop-bop. Be on! Be on! Bop-bop-bop. Well? There's a gruesome witch in the house who breathed on me and scratched me with a long finger. It's cold. Me, behind the door, there stands a man with a knife who stabbed me. What do you mean? Well, while out in the yard there lies a black monster who hit me with a club. I'm going in there. Wait a minute.

And all the while, the judge sits on the roof and cries, bringing their old here. So I ran away as fast as I could. We better not venture in that house again. Meor, meor, meor! oma ma'am. Dah-hawr! Dah-hawr! dah-hawr! Dah-haw! Dah-hawr!

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