'At times in the grip of my headaches, when the attack reached its height, I experienced an intense desire to make another human being suffer, by hitting them in exactly the same spot on the forehead.'
Simone Weil, La Pesanteur et la grâce
'The production Red Beard, Red Beard takes place in tandem with Kurosawa's film Red Beard. The film is shown in Japanese without subtitles, and the actors sit in a line either side of the screen, speaking the dialogue "oratorio" style. They also act out certain parts of the film, which allows them to dub the parts, and to highlight or counterpoint aspects of the action.
In order to maintain the two-way relationship between the 'live' action and the film, the film is shown on a small television screen, rather than projected. Stressing the intimate quality of this relationship, the production at Gennevilliers will feature four groups acting simultaneously, each with its own small audience. At times, the four simultaneous performances will melt together and inspire each other, or diverge.
The film strives to offer a way out of the vicious circle of de-spiritualisation described by Simone Weil, in which suffering and victimisation become motives for the infliction of greater suffering and victimisation. How do you break the circle of suffering, just at the moment when things have reached their most unbearable, their most despairing?'
John Malpede
About the film: Red Beard (1965)
Director Akira Kurosawa
After the work by Shugoro Yamamoto
Dr Kyojio Niide, known as Red Beard, is the director of Tokyo clinic caring for the poor. Dr Nilde's new assistant is Yasumoto, a young up-and-coming doctor who scorns the clinic's work. But his future is transformed by the arrival of a little girl suffering with schizophrenia.
'Red Beard is the archetypal saviour. He's an imaginary figure, but in creating him, I have illustrated an ideal of goodwill… People are weak, we can only hope that we might be able to change them.'
Akira Kurosawa, Cahiers du Cinéma, September 1966.
| | The Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD)
was founded in 1985 by the director, actor, activist and writer John Malpede. Originally, LAPD was the US's major performance group consisting chiefly of homeless actors. LAPD is dedicated to the forging of a community in the Skid Row district of Los Angeles (Central City East). Since 1985, the company has presented numerous free workshops, open to all the people of Skid Row in Los Angeles, together with performances in partnership with local social services and residents' associations. LAPD is a 'theatre without walls' designed for the people of Los Angeles, with extensive links to communities and cultural associations worldwide and across the USA. LAPD's performances are part of a dynamic programme of social action, and have attracted widespread praise throughout the US. Shows by LAPD include: South of the Clouds, I Was Sleeping with my Eyes Open, Taking Back my Place.
http://lapovertydept.org/ |
