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This is an area I work in quite a bit & do a lot of thinking about. What strikes me immediately is that a performance about the history and and theory of magic won't necessarily be the same as a magical performance: ie, a piece of art created with magical intent. The concerns of the former might not necessarily be the concerns of the latter.
On a similar note, the requirements for successful theatre are often ignored by magicians using theatre as a vehicle for their project. This is where I think most contemporary occult theatre falls down: didacticism and three page speeches about an inscrutable point of doctrine would seem to be obvious traps to avoid, but they're surprisingly common. Over-explanation is a related problem - no audience needs to be told repeatedly what they're seeing and why it's so important, but it's easy to do if you're anxious they won't get recondite, complex symbolism. I tend to find the best solution to both of these things is to stay grounded in the human, in the personal effects of magic, something your audience can sympathise with.
Take a look at predecessors in the field: Crowley's Rites of Eleusis, Florence Farr's Shrine of the Golden Hawk and Beloved of Hathor, Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Plays (The Portal of Initation, The Soul's Probation, The Guardian of the Threshold, and The Soul's Awakening) and perhaps grab one of the DVDs of Oryelle Defenstrate-Bascule's more recent performances. All the Steiner, Crowley and Farr works are specifically mystery plays, certainly written with the medieval mystery cycles and the occult roots of theatre in mind, and, to my mind, fail as theatrical work. That partly reflects my taste, of course, but I also think it demonstrates (particularly in Crowley's case) that it's important to respect the medium in which you're working - theatre isn't the same as private ritual, and I think it's also distinct from public/open ritual.
One of the avenues I think it's important to explore is how symbolism operates for you in a dramatic context -- an array of complex qabalistic colour symbolism might resonate with an audience of magicians, but it will be lost on a wider audience. It's a question of finding something that will resonate without relying on prior knowledge. Physical theatre is particularly good at this, as it can enact ideas through the tensions and positioning of the human body. (This is why I felt that Mark Rylance's production of the Tempest at The Globe in 2005 never really attained its full potential - Rylance knows a LOT about the neoplatonic/occult streams of thought, and that came out in the play. At times, however, it didn't really wear its learning as lightly as it needed to, and it even occasionally obscured Prospero as a human being.)
A couple of obvious things: sit down with the company you're working with and let them know what's going on. I don't know what they're like in your case, but some companies that aren't formed specifically for this type of work can freak and run a mile. Also, think hard about the pentagram ritual as a piece of theatre: this is less a case of "OMGdeepdarkmagick who knows what eldritch happenings may come to pass!!" and more a case of having seen so many audiences reduced to "LOLspooky" when some guy in an ill-fitting robe waves his hands around and mutters in bad Hebrew. I think it can be done successfully, but it requires a lot of imagination.
It sounds like a fabulous opportunity, and I'd love to hear about what you come up with. |
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