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REVELATIONS
The Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London January 2003
'The whole purpose of the Gate theatre Salon is to present plays which the general public do not want to see.'
Context Theatre, in collaboration with The Gate, Notting Hill hosted Revelations, a celebration of European drama, comprised of play readings and a symposium, examining the cultural context of European drama, looking at issues of translation, mediation and censorship. It was an opportunity to look more closely at the work of these theatres - an all but forgotten experimental aspect of our theatrical heritage, in order to examine British theatre today. The plays themselves deal with themes as relevant today as in the twenties: inadequacy of money to bequeath freedom (Georg Kaiser's From Morn to Midnight), the betrayal of political idealism through expediency (Ernst Toller's Hoppla!), and the (non)identification of sexual freedom with female emancipation (Simon Gantillon's Maya).
More: History of the Gate 1925-2003 (PDF)
Symposium
A range of practitioners, experts in their field, were invited to discuss the issues both the original Gate Theatre, and the present Gate at Notting Hill, face when presenting avant-garde work in translation. In the twenties, one of the most difficult was that of censorship: this problem no longer exists in an explicit sense, but looking at cultural context of these theatres does raise questions about today. Does the commercialism of the West End that the original Gate battled against create an atmosphere of self-censorship in the current climate?
Chair: Erica Whyman, Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre. Speakers: Phillippe Le Moine (International Development at the National Theatre Studio), Penny Black (translator), John Retallack Company of Angels), Zoe Svendsen (Context Theatre).
More: Some questions explored by the symposium (PDF), 13 January 2003, 7 pm.
Hoppla! By Ernst Toller (1927) translated by Hermon Ould.
Hoppla! is an extraordinary dissection of a society in political turmoil, as seen through the eyes of a man who as been absent from the world, in a lunatic asylum, for the eight years between the prologue and main action of the play. It was the first play Toller wrote after his own five-year incarceration in prison for his involvement in the 1919 revolution in Germany, and was staged by Erwin Piscator in Berlin. It uses film and radio technology throughout to create a powerful impression of an increasingly mechanised society on the verge of breakdown. The Gate’s production in 1929 was a great success (the run was only terminated when the entire cast went down with mumps…): they were able to put the play on in its full form, unlike the other English production of the time (at the Cambridge Festival Theatre) which was so severely cut by the censor, that the director, Terence Gray, applied to the Lord Chamberlain for permission to announce during the course of the action (from a loud speaker in the wings), which sections had been cut. A potent examination of personal and political responses to imprisonment and failed revolutionary action, this epic social drama is also an exploration of the problematic relation between belief and system, intention and action.
Performed with the kind permission of the PEN Society.
Directed by Zoe Svendsen
Acted by: Clare Barrett, Scott Brooksbank, Jot Davies, Nick Fletcher, Grant Gillespie, John Kirk, Sally Lavelle, Andrew Macbean, Kristen Milward, Damien Thomas and Steve Ventura.
Tuesday 14 January, 7 pm - From Morn to Midnight By Georg Kaiser translated by J M Ritchie
Written in 1917, the play's success at the Gate in 1926 was decisive in launching the club theatre as the place to see the latest in experimental European and American drama. The play is typical of Expressionist drama as it charts one man’s journey towards truth, in a series of surreal episodes. Under the impression that money will transform his world, a beleaguered bank clerk, defects from his position with a huge sum of money, going to seek happiness in a series of locations, including his home, a cycle race track, and a night club; until he finally ends up at a Salvation Army Refuge where he realises the truth - that money ultimately devalues human life - and so casts his remaining riches to the grasping 'saved' souls around him.
'Is it a satire on our mechanical civilisation; for the one thing which expressionism can really express with force and conviction is the rebellion of the individual against the mob.' (Telegraph, 1928)
Rights Holders unknown. Should anyone know who holds the rights, please contact info@contextheatre.co.uk.
Directed by: Kate Wild
Wednesday 15 January, 7 pm - Maya by Simon Gantillon (1924) translated by Frank and Virginia Vernon
Maya, despite being performed in some 8 different languages in cities all over Europe - and New York - did not receive an English production until 3 years after its premiere in 1924 at the Studio des Champs Elysées.
It had been firmly banned by the censor, but the Gate’s status as a private club theatre meant that Peter Godfrey, artistic director, and driving force behind The Gate Theatre London was able to produce it – it was a huge success and ran to 53 performances with numerous revivals thereafter. It was heralded an 'amazing play' (The Sketch, 1927), but caused a furore in the press about its sexual content. The natural consequence of the press attention to the play's supposedly salacious content won the Gate a large number of new members – sparking an equally furious debate over the extent to which censorship was effective.
Nevertheless, the readiness of the general theatre-goer to watch these plays on the open-minded level on which they were written, remained in question;
'... the community that boggles at beer in the middle of the afternoon and at chocolates at 8pm has still a long way to travel, I fear, on the road of common sense and broad mindedness before it is likely to accept plays whose venue is the seaport brothel.' (The Times, November 1927)
Rights Holders unknown. Should anyone know who holds the rights, please contact info@contextheatre.co.uk.
Directed by: Erica Whyman
See also Festival
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