Tuesday, 23 October 2007

As Joe said earlier on, the Fall of Jerusalem seems to be a possible performance from the programme if I was trying to achieve at least some of Artaud’s ideas in a practical sense (I don’t think it’s possible to use them all and not be contradictory). Although it is not entirely clear what Artaud is referring to in his description of what he would present from the Bible and the Scriptures of the Fall of Jerusalem (the blood flowing from it and also the prophet’s metaphysical quarrels), there are a few possible texts that he could have had in mind. One of these is in Jeremiah, a book in the Old Testament where the prophet Jeremiah prophesies and warns against the coming fall of Jerusalem. It was most likely written 6 years before the actual fall (586BC), and gives a rich visual language from the time. For example, Jeremiah 6v6-7:

This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Cut down the trees 

and build siege ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.
As a well pours out its water,
so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
her sickness and wounds are ever before me.

(you can read more at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%206;&version=31;)

I think that a staged performance of this could be effective if I were to the Bible as a stimulus rather than a script, and refer directly to Artaud’s notes on musical instruments in his ideas on subjects. Here he talks about musical instruments evoking ‘sensibility through the senses’ through ‘utterly unusual sound properties and vibrations’ and using ‘ancient instruments’. Of course, instruments were used much more often in warfare in this in history, and an experience of an extreme nature could be created through the use of instruments, rhythm and vibrations alongside movement and gesture to depict the fall of Jerusalem, without necessarily using words.

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