September 13, 2004

Story as Life. 10 years ago theatres performed plays, and readings in war-torn Sarajevo and all over Europe. The aim was to stage a play every Friday until the fighting ended. The project was named "Scheherazade 2001".

A.S. Byatt briefly mentioned the project in her article "Narrate Or Die". The film "The King Is Alive" (review) borrows this idea and casts its protagonists into the desert; stranded, they stage King Lear to stay (somewhat) sane. This reminds me of a quote from Stephen King: "Life is not a support system for art. It's the other way around." Have you ever heard of anything similar? A person or group of people using narrative to survive; do you have any favorites? If you were stranded/facing almost certain demise what would you perform/read? Me, I'd go with "The Shawshank Redemption".

posted by lilnemo 20 years ago
  • Interesting question, it made me think of Fahrenheit 451 though that's not really the same thing. I doubt I would remember enough of anything to actually stage it, though the improv that came out of it could be pretty interesting. I would probably sing. Songs about death and acceptance are some of my favorites anyway, and it seems appropriate.
  • lilnemo, thank you SO MUCH for this article. I am reminded why I do Theatre in the first place. Many Bananas! ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
  • whoa. that didn't look like I intended. Preview, dammit, preview!
  • So many bananas they have colonised the sidebar :)