Download - The Wall Dramaturgical Packet

8/13/2019 The Wall Dramaturgical Packet

1/24

DRAMATURGICAL PACKET

Compiled by: Alicia Tycer

[email protected]


2/24

2

THE WALL:A MUSICAL MISDEED

Based on The WallBy Jean-Paul Sartre

Composer and Conductor: John M. KennedyLibrettist: Alicia Tycer

Director/ Choreographer: Tanya Kane-Parry

January 30, 31, February 1, 2013 at 7:30The State Playhouse

California State University, Los Angeles

Note on the origin of the title:

Opera = work or deedOpera has traditions, conventions, and expectations that we want to avoid in ourtitle and performance.Not opera = mis-deed

bad event, bad actoA musical = not good opera

full of mischief


3/24

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jean-Paul Sartre: Biographical Moments 4

Existentialism: What is it? 6

Pre- Existentialism: Platos Cave 6Existentialist Philosophy 7Examples of Existentialism 8

Theatre of the Absurd 9

The Wall: The Short Story 10

Summary and Style 10

The Spanish Civil War 11

Republicans vs. The Nationalists/ Fascists 11

An Overview 14

Literary and Artistic Responses to the War 16

Federico Garca Lorca 16Ernest Hemingway 16Russian Constructivism 17Salvador Dal 18Pablo Picasso 18

Character Influences 23

The Doctor: 23Dr. Mengele 23Woyzeck 24


4/24

4

Jean- Paul Sartre: Biographical Moments

(June 21, 1905 April 15, 1980)

"The world itself destroyed Sartre's illusions about isolated self-determiningindividuals and made clear his own personal stake in the events of the time."

Ronald Aronson Camus and Sartre

1905- Born in Paris, the only child of Jean-Baptiste Sartre, an officer in

the French Navy, and Anne-Marie Schweitzer.

1929- While in college pursuing a degree in philosophy, he meets Simone deBeauvoir. He begins a lifetime open relationship with her and they become aleading intellectual couple. Her 1949 book The Second Sexis considered afounding text of modern feminism in which she writes One is not born, but ratherbecomes, a woman.''

1939- Drafted into the French army, he is captured and is a prisoner of war fortwo years

1941- Returns to German occupied France. He forms the "Socialisme et Libert"resistance group. In 1943, after the group disbanded, Sartre joined a writers'Resistance group in which he remained an active participant until the end of thewar.

1943- Being and Nothingnesspublished

1946- Existentialism is a Humanism published


5/24

5

1947- The Wall is first published. He also publishes his most famous play NoExit including the often quoted line: Hell is other people.

1948- The Roman Catholic Church puts his works on the List of Prohibited Books

1960- Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir meet with Che Guevara inCuba

1961, 1962- Sartre supports Algerias right for self determination and separationfrom France. He was targeted for assassination with two bomb explosions at hisapartment building.

1964- He publishes the autobiographical The Words. He is awarded the NobelPrize for Literature, but becomes the first to person to refuse the award,explaining: The writer must refuse to let himself be transformed into aninstitution. Le Monde

1967- Helps organize the Russell Tribunal intended to expose U.S. war crimes inVietnam

1968- Arrested for civil disobedience during the strikes in Paris, but is pardoned

1980- Sartre dies of a lung condition.


6/24


7/24

7

Existentialist PhilosophyExistentialism is the movement in nineteenth and twentieth century philosophythat addresses fundamental problems of human existence. The existentialists arenot a self-consciously defined homogenous school However most of them are

interested in some of (the questions): What is it to exist? Does existence have apurpose? Is there an objective difference between right and wrong? Are we free?Are we responsible for our actions? What is the right sort of religious, political orsexual commitment? How should we face death? (20)Priest, Stephen. Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings. New York: Routledge, 2000.

What does the term existentialism mean in its application to Sartres philosophy?To say that something exists is to say that it is. To state somethings essence isto state what it is. Understanding Sartres existentialism requires understandinghis thoughts on the relation between existence and essence. (Priest) Accordingto Sartre, human beings have no "essence" before their existence because no

god exists. Therefore his famous quote goes: existence precedes essence".This makes for the base of his claim that since no one can explain their actionsnor their behavior by referring to human nature, they are "necessarily" completelyresponsible for all of their actions. Sartres famous quote for this is that, "We areleft alone, without excuse." www.jeanpaulsartre.orghttp://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/existentialism.htm#sthash.tzly6aR0.dpuf


8/24

8

Examples of Existentialism

Sartres No Exit:

Dont you feel the same way? When I cannot see myself, even though I touchmyself, I wonder if I really exist.Estelle, discovering that there are no mirrors in Hell, in No Exit, Act 1, Scene. 5.

The Matrix:

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon - that's impossible. Instead,

only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

Neo: There is no spoon?Spoon boy: Then you will see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only

yourself.

Keanu Reeves, The Matrix 1999


9/24

9

Roz Chast, The New Yorker

Theatre of the Absurd

Existentialist themes are included in Theatre of the Absurd, notably in SamuelBeckett's Waiting for Godot, in which two men divert themselves while they waitexpectantly for someone (or something) named Godot who never arrives. Inexistentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has beencalled "the existential attitude," or a sense of disorientation and confusion in theface of an apparently meaningless or absurdworld. While they debate themeaning of human existence, they often do so in a humorous way, whichinspired some of the humor in the adaptation of The Wall.Solomon, Robert C. Existentialism(McGraw-Hill, 1974, pp. 12).


10/24

10

Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow, and Ian Mc Kellan in Waiting for Godot.Photograph: Neil Libbert

The Wall The Short Story

Summary and Style

The Wall was first published in 1938 and then republished in a collection ofshort stories. Sartre wrote it in response to the growing power of the Fascists inSpain.

The title refers to the wall prisoners are lined up against before being shot. Theprotagonist, Pablo Ibbieta, along with two others in his cell, is sentenced to death.He is offered a way out if he reveals the location of his comrade, Ramn Gris.Pablo refuses to cooperate until just before his scheduled execution, when,seeing no harm in it, he gives the authorities what he believes to be falseinformation on Ramn Gris' whereabouts. Ironically, it turns out that Ramn Grishas moved from his previous hiding place to the very spot where Pablo tells theauthorities he may be found. Thus Ramn Gris is shot and Pablo is, at leasttemporarily, spared from death.

Existentialist writers such as Franz Kafka and Sartre often use prisons andsolitary confinement to tell their stories. Often, neither the reader nor theprotagonist is aware of what crime has been committed The story takes placeduring the Spanish Civil War in an old hospital being used by the SpanishFascist's to house prisoners. "The Wall" is told from a first person, stream ofconsciousness point-of-view, and uses existentialist philosophy, to illuminate the


11/24

11

follies of totalitarian governments like Fascism, and Nazism. Like mostexistentialist writers, Sartre chooses to tell the story of "The Wall" from the firstperson stream-of-consciousness point-of-view. We get dialogue from othercharacters, but the dialogue is filtered through the mind and thoughts of Pablo.www.essortment.com For more on Kafka, see: http://www.kafka.org/

Ibbietas acceptance of death did him little good: existence still intruded on him.His friend was found by coincidence in the cemetery, and Pablos life was spared.No man can understand his own death or use it to solve the problems of his life.(Sartre argued That kind of attitude toward death, closely related to stoicismdoes not solve the problem. The destruction of that existence or the acceptanceof the termination of that existence offers no solution (24). Plank, William Sartreand Surrealism

Robert Capas Falling Soldier: A Republican Fighter killed in action 1936,published in Life Magazine

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

(July 18, 1936- April 1, 1939)

Estimated 500,000 deaths

The Republicans vs. Nationalis ts/ Fascists

Democratically elected government Military led uprising


12/24

12

Supported by: Liberals Conservatives

Socialists/ Communists upper classes

International Brigade Catholic Church

Stalins Soviet Union Hitlers Germany

Mexico Mussolinis Italy

Characters: Pablo, Ramon, Tom Interrogators, Guards, Doctor

The Republicanswere made up of factions with different views on governmentand political goals who were united in opposition to the Fascists. The prisoners inthe play represent some of these groups.

Pablo- Anarchists- Anarchism historically gained the most support and

influence in Spain, especially in the seventy or so years before FranciscoFrancos victory in the Spanish Civil War the movement gained speed with therise a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labor movement as a potentialforce for revolutionary social change and the creation of the huge union, the CNT(Confederacin Nacional del Trabajo). http://struggle.ws/spaindx.html

Tom- The International Brigade- Between 1936 and 1939 over 35,000 menand women, from over 50 countries, left their homes to volunteer for theRepublican forces. More than 2,300 of these came from Britain, Ireland and thecommonwealth, of whom over 500 were killed Perhaps 80% were members ofthe Communist Party, or the Young Communist League, though volunteers withan alternative political background or who were active in the trade unionmovement were also accepted. Recent research suggests that a significantnumber, perhaps 20% were Jewish in origin. The volunteers came fromoverwhelmingly working class backgrounds with large numbers involved inindustrial occupations, such as labouring, construction, ship-building and mining.http://www.international-brigades.org.uk/content/volunteers

Basquesare a single people who live in two countriesnorthwest Spain andsouthwest France. The Basques may be the oldest ethnic group in Europe. Theyare thought to have inhabited the southwestern corner of the continent since

before Indo-European peoples came to the area approximately 5,000 yearsago During the regime of General Francisco Franco (193975) the Basquelanguage and culture in the Spanish provinces were ruthlessly suppressed.http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Basques.html#b


13/24

13

General Francisco Francoemerged as the leader of the Nationalists who

overthrew the democratically elected government in Spain. He secured the

support of Italy and Germany while integrating the many heterogeneous rebel

factions into the Movimiento Nacional. After winning the civil war, Franco had the

Spanish Parliament dissolved He then established a dictatorship and went onto rule Spain for nearly forty years.

Arnold Blumberg, Great Leaders, Great Tyrants


14/24

14

The Spanish Civil War: An Overview

In a longer historical perspective the Spanish Civil War amounts to the openingbattle of World War II... Viewed internally, on the other hand, the Spanish CivilWar was the culmination of a prolonged period of national political unrestunrest

in a country that was increasingly polarized and repeatedly unable to amelioratethe conditions of terrible poverty in which millions of its citizens lived. Spain wasa country in which landless peasants cobbled together a bare subsistence livingby following the harvests on vast, wealthy agricultural estates. The hierarchy ofthe Catholic Church, identifying more with wealthy landowners than with theSpanish people, was in full control of secondary education; education for womenseemed to them unnecessary and universal literacy a danger rather than a goal.Divorce was illegal. The military, meanwhile, had come to see itself as the onlybulwark against civil disorder and as the ultimate guarantor of the core values ofSpanish society.

When a progressive Popular Front government was elected in February 1936,with the promise of realistic land reform one of its key planks, conservative forcesimmediately gathered to plan resistance... The military rebellion took place onJuly 18, with the officers who organized it expecting a quick victory and a rapidtakeover of the entire country. What the military did not anticipate was thedetermination of the Spanish people, who broke into barracks, took up arms, andcrushed the rebellion in key areas like the cities of Madrid and Barcelona. It wasat that point that the character of the struggle changed, for the military realized they faced a prolonged struggle against their own people and an uncertainoutcome. They appealed to fascist dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and Portugalfor assistance, and they soon began receiving both men and supplies from

Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Antonio Salazar.

The 1936 Spanish election had already been widely celebrated as a great victoryin progressive publications in Britain, France, and the United States. In the midstof a worldwide depression, the military rising was thus immediately seen as anassault against working people's interests everywhere. But the rapid interventionof German and Italian troops gave what might otherwise have remained a civilwar a dramatic international character. Almost from the outset, then, the SpanishCivil War became a literal and symbolic instance of the growing worldwidestruggle between fascism and democracy. Indeed, the Republic, the electedgovernment, perceived the country as being invaded by foreign troops. By thetime the pilots of Hitler's Condor Legion reduced the Basque's holy city ofGuernica to rubble the following April, many in the rest of the world had come toshare that opinion as well.

It is important to remember in this context the curiously contradictory character oflife during the Great Depression. Hand in hand with widespread poverty andsuffering went a certain fervent hope for change and a belief in the possibility offinding collective solutions to common economic problems. The government


15/24


16/24

16

Literary and Artis tic Responses to the War

Federico Garca Lorca:A well known Spanish poet and author of plays such as

The House of Bernarda Alba and Blood Wedding. The shrouded women in ouradaptation are allusions to the widows often depicted in his plays. Lorca was apolitical leftist and open homosexual. He was assassinated by the Nationalists atthe beginning of the war. His body has never been found and he is considered amartyr.

Lorca Quotes: I will always be on the side of those who have nothing and whoare not even allowed to enjoy the nothing they have in peace.

In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in theworld.'' "The Poet in New York.


17/24

17

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

Ernest Hemingway served as a reporter in Spain during the Civil War. He wrotethe novel For Whom the Bell Tolls based on the brutality he had witnessed.

Hemingway got the title from the poet John Donne who wrote, No man is anisland, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, andtherefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee. (1624)

Concha and Pablos relationship in the adaptation of The Wallwas partiallyinspired by the relationship between Robert and Maria in For Whom the Bell Tolls.Robert is an American fighting for the Republic who meets Maria, a youngSpanish woman who had been raped by Fascist soldiers. They fall in love, bothacknowledging that the earth moved when they first had sex.

Russian Constructivismwas a movement that was active from 1913 to the1940s. It was a movement created by the Russian avant-garde, but quicklyspread to the rest of the continent. Constructivist art is committed to completeabstraction with a devotion to modernity, where themes are often geometric,

experimental and rarely emotional. Objective forms carrying universal meaningwere far more suitable to the movement than subjective or individualistic forms.Constructivist themes are also quite minimal, where the artwork is broken downto its most basic elements. New media was often used in the creation of works,which helped to create a style of art that was orderly. An art of order wasdesirable at the time because it was just after WWI that the movement arose.http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/constructivism/


18/24

18

The Persistence of Memory

Salvador Dals Mustache and Melting Clocks

During the Spanish Civil War, the Surrealist painter Dal fled from the fighting andrefused to align himself with any group. After WW II, he moved back to Spain andwas supportive of the authoritarian regime, congratulating Franco for his actionsaimed "at clearing Spain of destructive forces" and for signing death warrants forpolitical prisoners.

Navarro, Vicente. "The Jackboot of Dada: Salvador Dal, Fascist". Counterpunch.December 6, 2003.

Pablo Picasso's Guernica

Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them.Sartre, Libration1953


19/24

19

What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes ifhe is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre in everychamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer, justhis muscles? Far, far from it: at the same time, he is also apolitical being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking,passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shapinghimself completely in their image. How could it be possible tofeel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to

detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you soabundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. Itis an instrument of war-- Pablo Picasso

In 1937 Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, a mural that was the

centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the World's Fair in Paris. Theofficial theme of the Paris Exposition was the celebration of modern

technology. The Aeronautics Pavilion, featuring the latest advances inaircraft design and engineering, was a centerpiece of the exposition. It

is a bitter irony that Guernica, the most lasting monument of theexposition, is the Twentieth century's most enduring symbol of the

horrors of war and the inhumane use of technology. It is a portent forthe terrors of the next decade. The painting is based on the events ofApril 27, 1937, when the German air force, in support of the Fascist

forces led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, carried out a bombingraid on the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain. At that time

such a massive bombing campaign was unprecedented. The hamlet

was pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three


20/24

20

hours. The non-combatant townspeople including women and childrenwere indiscriminately cut-down as they fled their crumbling buildings.

The town of Guernica burned for three days leaving sixteen hundredcivilians killed or wounded in its smoldering remains. The Fascist

planners of the bombing campaign knew that Guernica had no

strategic value as a military target, but it was a cultural and religiouscenter for Basque identity. The devastation was intended to terrorize

the population and break the spirit of the Basque resistance. In effect

it was intended to "shock and awe" the Basques into submission. Thebombing of Guernica was a sensation in the world press. The Timesof

London called it the arch-symbol of Fascist barbarity.Picasso's painting is without question the most important anti-war

work of art produced in the Twentieth Century. It is a testament to thehorrors of Fascism. The authority of thisimage is reflected in the hanging of a

tapestry reproduction of Picasso'spainting outside the Security Council of

the United Nations, an institution which

emerged after the defeat of Fascism. Itis poignant that this symbol served as

the backdrop to many of the publicstatements by diplomats engaged in theSecurity Council debate during the

winter of 2003 over the use of military force in Iraq. On January 27, ablue curtain was used to cover the tapestry, because someone (it is

not clear whether it was a diplomat or member of the media)confidentially approached U.N. officials expressing concern that it

would not be an appropriate background if the ambassador of theUnited States at the U.N. John Negroponte, or Secretary of State Colin

Powell, talk about war surrounded with women, children and animalsshouting with horror and showing the suffering of the bombings.I think Guernicadeserves our serious attention. It testifies to thepower of representations of war, and should serve as a cautionary tale

to us. Although "smart" bombs can be targeted with extreme accuracy,their impact on representations of war in international public opinion

cannot be controlled. While preparing this webpage on March 26, 2003,reports came in concerning a bombing of a market in downtown

Baghad. Both Iraqi and "coalition" spokesmen deny responsibility forthe bombing, and there is a major public relations campaign on bothsides accusing the other side of responsibility.


21/24

21

PBS has produced a valuable website focusing on Guernicaas part of aseries entitled Treasures of the World. Review this site. Make sure to

read the linked pages. In considering the painting, I think it isimportant to understand it in relationship to the tradition of history

painting that dominated European painting at the end of the 18th and

beginning of the 19th centuries. The large size of the painting and itsoblong format echoes these history paintings which represented the

most privileged form of painting. Painters like Baron Gros in works like

Murat at the Battle of Aboukirwere important precedents for Picasso.Compare Gros' painting to Picasso's:

History painters like Gros produced grand public displays of the

accomplishments of the French forces of Napoleon in his variouscampaigns. Gros' painting of Murat at the Battle of Aboukir illustratesthe heroic cavalry charge of the French General Joachim Murat to

retake the fortress at Aboukir as part of the Egyptian campaign againstthe Turks. Paintings like this have an added power today considering

our current campaign in Iraq. Again they raise the critical question of

representation.


22/24

22

Guernica ComparisonsBush statements

Farber, Allen. Language of the Visual Arts.http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth200/guernica.html


23/24

23

Character Influences

The following are historical and literary references that relate to some of thecharacters in this story that are incorporated in this particular production.

The Doctor : though in the original story we don't know much about the characterof the Doctor, there are several important references that inform who thischaracter is symbolically.

Dr. Josef MengeleHe became known as the Angel of Death, determining from among the mass ofhumanity arriving at Auschwitz who would be retained for work and who would

perish immediately in the gas chambers with full license to maim or kill hissubjects, Mengele performed a broad range of agonizing and often lethalexperiments with Jewish and Roma (Gypsy) twins, most of them childrenThroughout his stay in Auschwitz, Mengele collected the eyes of his murderedvictims, in part to furnish research material Mengele firmly endorsed the doctrineof National Socialist racial theory and engaged in a wide spectrum ofexperiments which aimed to illustrate the lack of resistance among Jews orRoma to various diseases. He also attempted to demonstrate the degenerationof Jewish and Gypsy blood through the documentation of physical oddities andthe collection and harvesting of tissue samples and body parts. Many of his testsubjects died as a result of the experimentation or were murdered in order to

facilitate post-mortem examination. After the Nazis defeat, Mengele fled toSouth America and successfully avoided authorities.Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museumhttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060


24/24

Robert Wilsons production, 2000

WoyzeckWritten in 1837, Georg Bchners play was ahead of its time, seen asforeshadowing numerous movements, including existentialism. Bchners Doctorcharacter was an influence on The Wall adaptation. The Doctor experiments onWoyzeck instructing him to eat nothing but peas and then observing andrecording the effects on Woyzecks body and psyche. Bchner died before theplay was finished, and fragments of the play were found and then piecedtogether, leaving the plays narrative order uncertain. Woyzecks styleinfluencedourproductions minimalism and shifting of time. Alban Bergs opera Wozzeck,first performed in 1925, is one of the most famous examples of employingatonality (music that avoids establishing a key).http://www.401modernoperas.com/

Download - The Wall Dramaturgical Packet

Top Related