‘WE ENGAGE WITH ART FULL OF VICARIOUS JOY BECAUSE F ICT IONAL CHARACTERS CAN DO WHAT IS UNACCEPTABLE IN LIFE'
yours. a complete world in itself. but a thing perpetuated by language. the discourse we have to share if we‘re to get on. As a breast. it's not mine. it belongs to other people. and has been meticulously fashioned to appeal to as many people as possible.
All this leads to frustration and repression of desire. which we associate with the bringer of language and law.
the father. It‘s obviously why David Beckham was sent off
in that famous international encounter with Argentina in NUS. Having rejected his ‘natural’ father (whatever that means) and after years of domination by his surrogate father. Alex Ferguson. a stern patriarch whom Beckham idolised and rigorously obeyed. he found a significant other and moments of mother surrogation with Posh Spice.
He was ready to rebel and enact the symbolic castration of
his father. With the temporary. weaker father of (ilen
lloddle in place. the ground was set for a petulant show of
independence. With a single flick of the boot at Diego Simeone. he was able to castrate lloddle. Ferguson and his
dad. and move on to create a family of his own as bringer
of phallic law and language. People said his action was stupid. yet I think it makes perfect sense. on an unconscious level. This is also why he played so badly
against West Ham on his return. Their fans’ enquiry of
‘does she take it up the arse." angered him. because it implied that he was going about the creation of a family in the wrong way. denying him the status of potential father.
All that sort of anger and repression is perfectly explicable. Indeed. I‘d be concerned about you if you showed no sign of it. But what of the people who are unable to repress desires‘.’ They are the characters that are appearing at the l‘ringe in numbers this year. These folks don‘t suffer temporary slips. where the bubbling semiotic of repressed desire rises unexpectedly to the surface. fulfilling our unconscious wishes. as with Beckham. They permanently live with their repressed consciousness on the surface. In doing so. they make life difficult for us.
So it is that RP McMurphy (played at this Fringe by
Christian Slater) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest tells us that he‘s been incarcerated in an asylum for 'too much fucking and fighting‘. He goes on to become the most sympathetic character in the play. Yet this is due to the transformative qualities of art. not real life. We need art to enact our unconscious wishes for us. We engage with it full of vicarious joy because fictional characters can do what is unacceptable in life. McMurphy. unable to find a fulfilling significant other. has drifted through life incomplete. enacting his own desires for sexual gratification at the cost of others. His violence against other people is part of the frustration of his incompleteness.
In art we love him. but in life you could guarantee we’d side with nurse Ratchet and label him a sociopath. She
rationalises everything. bringing the phallocentric order of
language and definition (by no means the exclusive preserve of men) to him. curbing behaviour we too would find unacceptable in reality. We all rationalise all the time: ‘Although she‘s my friend. she’s also the best person for me to employ for thisjob'; ‘I met someone else. but I knew it wouldn't work out with the old boyfriend. he was always leaving his socks on the bedroom fioor.’ They go on and on. big and small. hiding our repressed desires. I think rationalisations are more important than sex. I mean. have you ever gone a week without a rationalisation‘.’ This is the problem with Macbeth. a significant presence this Fringe. Like our current prime minister. be is presented with data. and rationalises it. not seeing that he‘s unconsciously refiecting brutal self interest. and thereby leaving us all with blood on our hands. The point about this character. who should be presented with tremendous vigour by the excellent John Kazek in theatre babel's production at Scotland‘s Theatre Gateway. is. without insight into his unconscious drives. that he believes he's doing the right thing. so any amount of deception is acceptable.
DP Schreber had an Alex Ferguson-like father. His was an advocate of new theories of strict and rigorous discipline in mid 19th century Germany. repressing the
5—12 Aug 2004 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 57
Theatre
A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS
insanity has always been fertile ground for theatrical explorations.
O Oedipus Rex
it's no coincidence that Freud should have named his best known complex afterthe best known of classical tragedies. His rather questionable sexual politics were revealed by the nomenclature of his female equivalent. the Electra Complex. 80 the whole gender and adjustment issue was named after two stories from fifth century BC Athens. But the link between theatre and madness has never diminished.
O Hamlet
This story in which both Hamlet and Ophelia reveal breakdowns connected to psycho sexual issues was also something that fascinated Freud. who wrote about the play extensively.
O Antlgono
Lacan was fascinated by Antigone, also available at the international Festival. in his 7779 Splendour of Antigone. he connected the play, particularly. to the urge to masturbate, and the means by which we alibi the act. Moreover, he speaks of how our more primal inner sense. which includes a certain sense of natural justice, comes into conflict with the law.
0 Sarah Kano examinations
of the divided self and inner anguish created some of her strongest imagery. Her work should not be limited to simple biographical reading, yet it is clear that her own inner struggles were part of her aesthetic.