Theatre .
OIllIC 3m
Miles Fielder talks to Steve Lucas, whose version of Beckett’s installation-like
piece of theatre BREATHE] left film director Atom Egoyan gobsmacked.
s experimental theatre goes. Brmr/z/c/
is most definitely out there. It employs
no actors. utilises no dialogue and there is no story. Instead it uses sound and light. projected onto an empty stage. It's arguable whether you can even call it theatre: it might more properly be labelled a visual art installation. Whatever the case. avant garde and internationally acclaimed (‘anadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan (Erotica. The Sweet Hereafter) has loudly and widely proclaimed Breath/cl to be ‘one of the most exciting productions I’ve seen in Toronto. It engaged all my senses.‘ Egoyan has enthused. ‘and
mesmerised me into an altered state of
consciousness — in short. it was unforgettable.’ Theatre or installation. Breath/e] is based on Samuel Beckett‘s 35-second play BI‘(’(II/I. Canadian director-designer Steve Lucas has expanded the original to 30 minutes (hence the addition of the ‘lel‘). and following a world tour. he's bringing Breath/cl to Edinburgh where it will be ‘performcd’ to Traverse audiences of no more than 27 people per show. Lucas. who‘s a four-time recipient of Canada‘s Dora Mavor Moore Award for set and lighting design. says he first read BI't’tlI/I back in school. ‘lt completely fascinated me.’ he says. ‘The idea of theatre without actors was beyond my grasp at the time. I had directed small—scale productions in high school and at small festivals in Toronto. but I had never taken an artistic risk like this before. Was it a natural move‘.’ For me. yes. directing was my first love. before I discovered what design was. But the first time I did Breatlz/e/ it was an experiment in the truest sense of the word: actually doing the show seemed the only way
It) tIiscoy'cr if it could really work.’
Breath/ifs origins can be traced to a late night conversation Lucas had with a friend. over several bottles of wine. ('ommissioned to design a festival of short Beckett plays. Lucas requested that Bruit/i be included in order that he could try his hand at directing it. The
festival never did materialise. but the idea of directing stayed with him. ‘After IS years of
realising other peoples visions I wanted to do my own work.‘ So one night. he came tip with the idea of extending Beckett’s 35 seconds so that it could stand on its own. Lucas subsequently secured a small grant and conducted a workshop with actress and singer .Iane Miller and playwright .Iolm Delacort. ‘\\'e explored everything we could think of within the confines of recorded breath and ended up discovering the “chakra narrative".' he recalls. Inspired by the Hindu notion of energy circulating through the mind and body. Lucas. Miller and I)eIacort hit upon a way in which to expand BIY‘tII/I to Breath/cf ‘()ther than the duration. the big thing we have added to Beckett is a second sound: .Iane's Iieart-beat.’ So what. exactly. is lfi‘i'iiI/i/c/I’ It’s varioust been described as a journey of the heart and mind. a journey through colour and sound. a sensual sensory voyage. a play that enters the body through the eyes and ears and mouth. where the action takes place inside of your lungs. In short. a play that happens directly to you. 'I‘hat's all very evocative. but without having experienced Breath/d. it's hard to know what to expect. So what have audiences in (‘anada and .-\merica thus far made of it'.’ "I'Iieir reactions haye been incredibly personal} says Lucas who has since gone on to
itten
direct another show. a musical called Tequila Lump/re .Ilulinec. and is also working on another actorless show. ‘Some find it relaxing. others terrifying. We have had people come back many times. Some guy in 'l‘oronto saw it I7 times: I wish I had met him.’ Lucas says one of his friends wants a smaller version of the show staged in his basement so he can see it whenever he likes. ‘I adore listening to people describe it or explain it to others.‘ says Lucas. ‘It is a bit of a theatrical Rorschach test.~
l)oes Bl't'tll/I/(‘/ change in different theatres or spaces'.’ ‘.\'ot really'.’ says Lucas. “because we travel with our own space. The foyer of the theatre is the only real difference. but an important one as it is the bridge between the real world and the one BIY‘UI/I/U/ exists in..
If these descriptions sound somewhat ethereal. that's the nature of the show. But in recognition of this. Lucas says he and the crew have conducted backstage tours in the past. ‘for any one who hangs out after and asks‘. The business of the 'I‘raverse at Festival time probably won‘t allow him to conduct tours in lidinburgh. but the director-designer may be on hand after the show to talk to audience members.
‘Some people come out quite shaken and need to know how it was done.‘ he says. '()tliers. for whatever reason. really do not want to know. .-\tom ligoyan (who tackled Beckett. with a television version of lx'ru/i/i'x Lust 'lii/icl came twice because he was trying to figure how we did it. but in the end he got caught up in the show again and forgot about figuring it out.‘
Traverse, 228 1404, 6-21 Aug (not 8), various times, £5.
Scenes from the actorless production, Breath[e]