Genet's The Balcony: A 1981 Perspective on a 1979/80 Production

Genet's The Balcony: A 1981 Perspective on a 1979/80 Production RICHARD SCHECHNER A CONCEPTUAL SUCCESS, BUT A THEATRICAL FIZZL E The poison of the commercial theatre has so soaked into our ways of thinking about theatre that even in experimental work a production is regarded as a success or a failure. Either the show makes it at the box office, with critics, by word ofmouth, or it is sent away defeated. "Forget about it," is the sign, "and go on to the next thing." This is a stupid way of advancing theatrical thought: for why can't a work in the theatre be neither a success nor a failure but a step along the way, an event that yields some interesting data? In other words, though values of entertainment are truly important in the theatre, they are not the only values. And those of us devoted to experimentation in the theatre need to be particularly rigorous in separating out from each of our works what is useful, regardless of the overall "success" of the project. I don't think that this is an ornate rationalization for my production of The Balcony in 1979/80. This production was the last I did with The Performance Group, and there were many problems with the show, some ofthem relating to the fact that my relationship with members of TPG was strained. The production went through several phases. First there were audition workshops in February/March 1979. These were necessary because only a fraction of the people in TPG wanted to work on The Balcony. Many people were involved with Elizabeth LeCompte and Spalding Gray in their work on Point Judith; other longtime members of The Group had left and were trying their skills elsewhere; I myself was very ambivalent about whether to stay in TPG, quit directing for a while, or start another theatre group. That idea still percolates in my brain. Anyway - I decided to audition new people, thinking I would work independently with them, later either integrating them into TPG or starting a new group. At worst, they would be fun to work with on a single production. Richard Schechner on Genet's Balcony Perfonnance Group members Ron Vawter, Spalding Gray, Willem Dafoe, and Libby Howes- most ofthose still active in The Group - wanted to work on The Balcony. But- and this is a decisive but- they wanted to work with LeCompte on Point Judith too. Directors, like the Old Testament God, are jealous and want no other directors before them: thus conflict, tension, and unhappiness. Besides, the TPG members did not participate in the workshops, except sporadically, during the spring of 1979. And TPG member Stephen Borst who was not working with LeCompte and who played the Police Chief in The Balcony- also participated only occasionally in the workshops. So I found myselfbecoming more and more deeply involved with seven new people. Throughout several months of intense workshops, we investigated together sexual and power fantasies, psychophysical exercises (the core of "traditional" TPG training), vocal work emphasizing breathing, and yoga taught by a man who had srudied with the son of my yoga teacher in India. This kind of work went on from March through May 1979. Then I went away to Connecticut College, where I ran a srudent workshop. Assisting me were Borst, Vawter, and Carol Martin (a dancer specializing in ideokinesics: a body imaging and movement technique). With the students we built a version of The Balcony that included much double casting; for example, four different people played Inna, depending on the scene. But the summer work was successful insofar as it finalized the text:I had been working with Jean-Jaques Thomas and Alex Alland in retranslating it, collating the several French versions Genet bad published. The Connecticut College production gave me a handle on how I wanted the production in New York to be. But then in acrual rehearsals in the Perfonning Garage, all the problems implicit in the split way of working became manifest. Saskia Noordhoek-Hegt, an extraordinarily powerful perfonner, joined the company to play the Judge; Gray came in to do the Bishop; Vawter worked during the summer and fallon Inna, but...