<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#a6caf0>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Dear Colleagues,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>There has been a strong, impassioned debate in Canada
about the role of theatre in times of crisis, such as those now affecting the
United States and perhaps soon much (all?) of the world.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>We have had this debate before: during the FLQ crisis
of 1970, and the subsequent imposition of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister
Trudeau: both the work of the FLQ <EM><U>and</U></EM> of the Federal Government
were argued then, as they have been argued since, to have been exercises in
intra-national terrorism.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Not surprisingly, these events have given rise to a
significant body of plays, films, articles, and so on; and indeed these events
continue to be treated artistically, as in the recent NFB film on Trudeau,
<U>Just Watch Me</U>. (I should be happy, in due course, to send a partial
list of these works.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>As I have been reflecting over the last three
weeks--especially with my students, whose insights have been astonishing,
troubled and troubling, and strangely restorative--about <U>some</U> of the
roles that theatre can take, and <U>some</U> of the roles (positions?) that
critics can take, I happened to read Howard Barker's <U>Arguments for a
Theatre</U>, first published in 1989 (though many of the articles in it were
published earlier, in varied outlets, such as <U>The Guardian</U>), and recently
republished, in its Third Edition, by Manchester UP.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>In a provocative addendum to the ultimate essay, "The
Audience, the Soul, and the Stage," Barker schematises "The Humanist Theatre,"
on the one hand, and "The Catastrophic Theatre" {which he has sought to develop
throughout his career), on the other.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000><U>The Humanist Theatre</U></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>We all really agree.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>When we laugh we are together.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>Art must be understood.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>Wit greases the message.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>The actor is a man/woman not unlike the
author.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>The production must be clear.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>We celebrate our unity.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000><STRONG><U>The critic is already on our side.
</U></STRONG>(Emphasis mine.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>The message is important.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000>The audience is educated and goes home happy or
fortified.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>VERSUS (Barker does posit these modes in
opposition)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000><U>The Catastrophic Theatre</U></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>We only sometimes agree.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Laughter conceals fear.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Art is a problem of understanding.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>There is no message.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>The actor is different in kind.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>The audience cannot grasp everything, nor did the
author.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>We quarrel to love.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000><U>The critic must suffer like everyone else</U>
[emphasis mine].</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>The play is important.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>The audience is divided and goes home disturbed or
amazed</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>{This was first published in "Theatre en Europe" in
1989}</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Denis Salter</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><U><STRONG>PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL AND FAX
ADDRESSES</STRONG></U>.<BR>*************************************************<BR>"What
we call truth is always a story, always an interpretation, and, therefore,
largely fictitious, or at least made-up. Indeed, it is a <BR>great illusion to
think there are things called facts. The moment we identify a fact we begin to
invest it with interpretation and<BR>fit it within a story. Truth, it
seems to me, is a great fiction agreed upon."--David Weale<BR>********<BR>Denis
Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill University<BR>853 Sherbrooke St
West<BR>Montreal <BR>H3A 2T6<BR>Telephone (514) 398 6573<BR>Email via
Fax (309) 294 0444<BR>Regular Fax (514) 398 8146<BR>Email
<<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
<BR>Home Office<BR>4965, avenue Connaught<BR>Notre Dame De Grace<BR>Montreal
<BR>H4V 1X4<BR>Telephone (514) 487 2568<BR>Email via Fax (309) 294
0444<BR>Regular Fax (514) 487 0157<BR>Email <<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>********************************************</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><BR></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>