The Possibilities of Intercultural Theatre

In an age of rapid technological advancement and personal disconnectedness, a captivating form of physical, interactive performance has startled the global audience. Performance ethnography's unique ability to engage allows for greater participation, learning, and dialogue between cultures. How can performance ethnographers go about their craft in a manner that promotes participation and instruction from the culture being emulated? This is most powerfully seen in Joni Jones' installation Searching for Osun, in which the roles of Yoruba women were portrayed by performers acting out the different tasks and activities of daily Yoruba life. Both wonderful opportunity and great risk are present as ethnographic performance moves forward, for just as it looks to connect cultures, an attempt to imitate can often bring about an interpretation of disrespect. In Performance Ethnography: The Role of Embodiment in Cultural Authenticity, Jones acknowledges that "the power inequities between ethnographer and the community being shared can compromise the integrity of the work," but she indicates through the words of Dwight Conquergood that "the work can move toward commitment rather than detachment, respect rather than selfishness, dialogue rather than exhibitionism, mutuality rather than infatuation." If theatre is to become a tool for globalization, or a means by which cultures can interact and communicate more peacefully and effectively, the form of performance ethnography is laying a foundation rich in active participation and learning that will could one day be part of a greater worldwide understanding -- we're ultimately headed for a single culture, comprised of an amalgamated identity created through centuries of interaction and conflict. Embracing a changing identity does not erase the sense of self.

Close To and Far From Yoruba Ritual

In reference to the article Ritual Play about Play: “Everybody knows that the spirit images are human beings, but at the same time they protect the secret of the mask, which is really no secret at all.”

This is in reference to the Yoruba rituals performed with masks, but I directly relate this quote to my work in Rep Company thus far. In “A Helping Hoof," I have been playing a servant who turns into a monkey, and the main costume piece has been my mask. Although the audience fully understands that I am a human being, my main goal has been to convince them otherwise. Obviously, the Egungun festivals have an entirely different meaning from Rep Company. They are honoring their ancestors in a sacred ritual, not entertaining children. I’m not a ‘miracle worker’, but I can say I have had a small taste of how hard these performers worked. “The audience is to perceive only what the performer wants it to see, that is, an elusive being continually changing form and color in plain sight of everyone.” I change in plain form of everyone, but I am not positive that my audience sees only what I want them to see. I think there must have been a strong amount of catharsis that is present in their performances that we can’t really recreate here. Granted they are totally different audiences. I am really just trying to relay the similarities in our performance styles but the complete differences in our audience’s perception. It makes me question what it would be like if we attempted to perform our bastardized techniques for the Yoruba culture. How would they react? I assume if the Egungun rituals were performed for an average American audience, we would appreciate the artistry but I don’t think an American audience could ever truly understand the depths of meaning behind this particular piece of theatre.

I think there is a connection between the two performances (Egungun Festivals and Rep Company) in their attempt to educate their audiences, and the essence of Rep Company is ritual in itself; the set up and break down of the set and costumes as we perform in new and different spaces each time. But overall, I almost feel silly comparing the two, especially because the Yoruba rituals have a very specific meaning to their culture and Rep Company is mostly based entertainment.

The Bacchae's Others

When I first began reading Soyinka’s adaptation of The Bacchae, it was easy to see Dionysos as “the other." He was referred to as the outsider, he is the ‘stranger who came to town’ causing chaos and disruption. But I also see Dionysos as having the most power in the play. He is the catalyst of change. Dionysos enters the play with intentions of manipulating the people against Pentheus, which he does successfully. There are definitely situations where ‘the other’ holds the power or ignites fear in the mass of people, but why wasn’t that how I always pictured ‘the other‘? I originally held otherness in terms of marginalized people and my assumption has always been that marginalized people hold the least power over the masses. In this definition of otherness, I would argue the only real ‘others’ in the play are the Bacchante women. It seems they are the embodiment of the chaos, in a drinking frenzy at the top of the mountain, but we rarely see them present on stage. They are referred to over and over; Pentheus orders to have them chained up and disgraces their actions, Dionysos is using them as pawns to support his power over Pentheus. It seems the women are in the least control, and this proves to be true when Agave doesn’t comprehend the actions of killing her son Pentheus. Perhaps the death of Pentheus was supposed to happen in order to restore the rights of the people, to help Thebes reclaim what it is to be human; but Agave had no choice in her contribution to the process. If anything, she is the other in the play, pushed like a pawn. So both Dionysos and Agave fit the boxed definitions of what it is to be an “other” and yet both are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

In a global context, I now question what underlying statements are being made about women's roles in society. In both Euripides' version and Soyinka's version of The Bacchae the women hold the least power. In a simple analysis, I think this inadvertently puts a negative hold on cross-cultured views of women.

In Search of the Universal Language of Theatre?

I must admit, I was a little lost reading this article; searching for its direct points got muddied in the discourses. However, I was interested to hear of Peter Brook's visit to Africa in search of an universal language of theatre. I think that this visit sounds like an incredible "first" experience with true interculturalism, where there are dialogues and workshops with both cultures. However, Jeyifo seems to be very wary of Brook's visit, "Jeyifo does not condemn intercultural options a priori, but he is alert, with good reason, to the dangers of a vision that is blinkered to the inequality of economic relations." Jeyifo recognizes Brook's visit as an open-minded and positive attempt to understand African theatre, but he describes most of Brook's writings as "ambiguous" where most of the understanding of the culture's theatre is based on how it is described as non-Western. I think I understand Jeyifo's points, that Brook's writing on his visit may be good-hearted but could now be interpreted as the white man's description of the "other" or the "indigenous peoples" and may be looked at with a lack of sensitivity.

However, I would like to acknowledge how interculturalism has grown since the last time euro-centric outsiders commented on African theatre. Jeyifo quotes the book The Drama of Black Africa by Graham-White, and entry from 1932: "British Drama League sponsors a conference on Native African Drama and formally decides that there is no indigenous drama." The drama the British saw was not Aristotelian and therefore it could not exist as drama. Whoa. I believe in Brook's mission in search of an universal language of theatre and I don't think that mission should stop. But perhaps Brook wasn't fully equipped with the sensitivity and cultural understanding needed to explore that mission. But I think he (along with Western theatre's attempts) have come a long way since 1932, which makes me wonder if it is possible that some day interculturalim could exist without tension.

The Bacchae

I have always loved The Bacchae when it was written by Euripides, I love it even more now that it has been translated by Soyinka. When I first approached The Bacchae we were using it to analyze religious ritual and its relationship to drama. But I don’t think that is why Soyinka translated it.
To me Dionysus was the forerunner of Jesus, the very first resurrection God. Having been considered twice born just as Jesus was it proffers some very interesting ideas about the originality of Christianity. Then there is the wine connection. Wine has always been connected with religious ritual. It was connected even before the Christians stole it for their rituals.
To me the ending that Soyinka has placed at the end of the play is far more hopeful than the banishment of Agave. This version posits a potential redemption for Agave in drinking the gift of wine from her sacrifice. This brings not the doom and gloom of banishment that we see from the end of the original version but a positive result from the worship of Dionysus. I don’t know how anyone could get through the original version of the play and not be terrified of the cult of the Bacchae.
Imagine if we woke up one morning and found that all the women had gotten completely trashed and headed to eastern Kentucky. Imagine if they were parading through the Appalachian Mountains tearing animals to shred and generally giving themselves over to mindlessness. I only see that in one place Spring Break. To me spring break parties sound like the perfect place for mindlessness such as this to settle in. If that makes me Pentheus so be it.
One more side note, Soyinka makes a far more militant translation out of this play. It reads as though the events of this play were taking place in Nigeria. I find it in characters such as the slave leader and most especially in Dionysus. He does appear as an effeminate beauty “When the present is intolerable the unknown harbors no risk.” Wise words that bring out the most desperate of ourselves.

Shango De Ima

It was difficult for me to pin down this play. I wasn’t really sure where the Yoruba culture stood on women’s rights. I’m not sure if this was the central theme of the play but it sure seemed that Shango treated all this women like crap. And that wasn’t what bothered me the most. The most troubling for me was that he didn’t seem to be punished very well. Olofi didn’t punish him. Shango didn’t even meet his death at the hand Ogun. He simply battled him forever and neither of them was the victor. To be honest I thought the play was heading towards Shango’s death. They kept hinting at his death through prophecy and continual comments referring his stay of execution after his father tried to kill him and eat him. I wonder if this is just me reacting to the otherness of the culture. I may be in a privileged culture that makes an attempt to see and treat women as more than the Mother (Obatala), the wife (Obba), and the Whore (Oshun).
By the end of the play it seems that none of the women have made a positive leap forward in way shape or form. Obba: “I was blind and dumb when I met Shango de Ima. I submitted to him in silence so as not to annoy him, and I wish to remain silent so I will continue to be both a pure and faithful woman to my husband.” WTF, you cut off your ears for the man and he still treated you poorly.
Shango’s punishment is that his power in cyclical? That doesn’t make any sense. This play kept reminding me of the Greek Pantheon of gods and their philandering gods. Probably because we just read The Bacchae. The Greek would often use their stories and worship of the gods as a way to explain happenings in their lives. An earthquake was the work Hephaestus at his iron work. Zeus messes around behind Hera’s back and that’s just the way things are. I imagine that this culture works in a similar way. However, I am not sure the exact purpose of this story. What exactly does it teach to its culture beyond female subservience? I’m not really sure how I would use this play as a Tool for a World Theatre. How do I use it a tool?