Theatre of Catastrophe

David Ian Rabey 
Howard Barker; Politics and Desire  
Published by Macmillan, 1989 +44 (0)171 881 8000  

Theatre of Catastrophe takes as its first principle the idea that art is not digestible. Rather, it is an irritant in consciousness, like the grain of sand in the oyster's gut...  

The Humanist Theatre We all really agree.   When we laugh together.   Art must be understood.   Wit greases the message.   The actor is a man/woman   not unlike the author.   The production must be clear.   We celebrate our unity.   The critic is already on our side.   The message is important.   The audience is educated   and goes home   happy   or   fortified.

The Catastrophic Theatre We only sometimes agree.   Laughter conceals fear.   Art is a problem of understanding.   There is no message.   The actor is different in kind.   The audience cannot grasp   everything; nor did the author.   We quarrel to love.   The critic must suffer like   everyone else.   The play is important.   The audience is divided   and goes home   disturbed   or   amazed.

 

Howard Barker 
First published in 'Theatre en Europe', 1989 
Reproduced in Arguments for a Theatre, Manchester University Press 

Theatre of Catastrophe is not a discipline. This alone marks it out from the general world of theatre practice which masquerades as a market-place for competing truths but in practice just exchanges one moral imperative for another. In this instance of theatre, the audience is relieved of the infantile burden of being brought to the author's point of view - who cares about his point of view? - we ask him to be imaginative.

  

First Prologue to The Bite of the Night They brought a woman from the street   And made her sit in the stalls   By threats   By bribes   By flattery   Obliging her to share a little of her life with actors   But I don't understand art   Sit still, they said   But I don't want to see sad things   Sit still, they said   And she listened to everything   Understanding some things   But not others   Laughing rarely, and always without knowing why   Sometimes suffering disgust   Sometimes thoroughly amazed   And in the light again, said   If that's art I think it is hard work   It was beyond me   So much beyond my actual life   But something troubled her   Something gnawed her peace   And she came a second time, armoured with friends   Sit still, she said   And again, she listened to everything   This time understanding different things   This time untroubled that some things   Could not be understood   Laughing rarely but now without shame   Sometimes suffering disgust   Sometimes thoroughly amazed   And in the light again said   This is art, it is hard work   And one friend said, too hard for me   And the other said, if you will   I will come again   Because I found it hard I felt honoured

Howard Barker 
The Bite of The Night

Theatre of Catastrophe: New Essays on Howard Barker
By Karoline Gritzner and David Ian Rabey
Fifteen varied essays discussing the style, language and vision of Howard Barker's plays. Fifteen international academics analyse the political, moral and historical aspects of his work, its poetry and eroticism, its depiction of the figure of the artist, and his writing in performance.

Published by Oberon Books in hardback at £40 and paperback at £14.99. Along with volumes of Howard Barker's plays and single editions of his latest work it can be ordered from oberonbooks.com or any good bookshop.