This blog presents the structure of Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare method. Enclosed is the 8-page Appendix of my PhD Thesis: From the Liminal to the Visceral.
The Thesis was completed in February 2009.
In April 2008 I thought it may be interesting to be in Europe for a change. A former colleague and I tested out a casual performance idea. I also wrote to three independent small theatre groups. All three replied. One, Caspar Schjelbred of The Improfessionals, replied in a few minutes and in the following email he asked if I would teach a short, 3-hours workshop for their group. We did that a few days later. That single workshop in 2008 led to about 40 overseas trips from Brisbane early 2008 to late 2019. But in May 2009 en route in Paris to teach a short weekend workshop I had an epiphany in the Metro, on the train a few stops before my destination. I wrote some quick notes on a piece of paper. The epiphany was for a template of exercises some of which appeared at that moment, some I had done previously. The title for the whole template came too at that moment, The Four Articulations for Performance.
The Four Articulations for Performance is the practical shortcut to the grand scheme of Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare. That grand scheme I began in 1993.
The 8-pages presented here are complex, rich, interesting, esoteric, and more.
The full title of the PhD Thesis was: From the Liminal to the Visceral: Professional Learning (PLA) for Acting in Australia (February 2009). The Four Articulations for Performance from May 2009.
The Structure of Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare – AS PRESENTED HERE – preceded Destiny’s form of logic as per Ecclesiastes (Koheles) most famous adage in translation: “All things in their time and season“.
The reason, at least consciously, that I am writing today is that in the last few days coincidently four of the I.S.A.A.C. Associates posted photos on their own sites on Facebook. To me, those photos are perfect examples of what in Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare method is referred to as The Principle of Four. There is some information about The Principle of Four in the attachments below. It was in January of 1976 that I began to create my method. I was at the time a theatre student at the Dell’arte School. I had just turned 24. I had been in the US Navy from the age of 17-21. From 21-23 I studied Liberal Arts/Humanities including Sociology; Political Science; Literature; Psychology; Classical Acting; Modern Dance. In May of 1973 I saw two clown theatre troupes at a festival and decided that I should become or test out being a clown. From September to December I apprenticed a senior Circus Clown who was 63 and had been in Circus since he was 7 years old as a child acrobat. My teacher was Danny Chapman former Boss Clown for one of the two Ringling Circus Units. About October of 1973, I had what might be considered a spiritual experience in which my Creativity was triggered directly. Soon I began to experiment with some physical and esoteric trainings taken from books and conducted in my own ways.
Simply put The Principle of Four is the underlying source of creative embodiment. My method is to say that there is a way, I believe/think/imagine/hope that a person can directly tap into the highest source of performance creativity in action.
The recent photos of my friends and Associates reminded me that “A picture is worth a 1000 words”.
Nonetheless this blog is a few thousand words and not the photos from those four people. There are more, but those four people just posted the photos coincidently within days of each other.
Those four artists are: Caspar Schjelbred; Marijana Matokovic; Michelle Cajolet-Couture; Gemma Macdonald. Caspar’s photos were of the actors in his recent workshop.
Here are the last pages, the Appendix, of From the Liminal to the Visceral: Professional Learning (PLA) for Acting in Australia.
FOR DIRECT CONTACT WRITE TO IRA: iraseid@gmail.com – website including 80+ blog/essays www.iraseid.com
Here is Caspar Schjelbred’s wonderful site https://improsupreme.com/