Author Topic: Directing the Messiah, scene 1  (Read 12639 times)

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The Messiah in London
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2012, 01:05:53 AM »
A new production of The Messiah in London.

"Zebedee presents a site specific production of The Messiah.  It will be performed in a surviving World War 2 Bunker located in London.   It is on from 15- 26 May 2012."

Details are here
www.iainfisher.com/berkoff/berkoff-news.html


Online Iain Fisher

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Re: Directing the Messiah, scene 1
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2008, 01:00:07 PM »
Some more on Messiah by James Bailey who plays Pontius Pilate in the Edinburgh Festival production in 2008:

“It’s a controversial drama and there’s a lot of physical theatre involved,” says Bailey.  “It poses the question was Jesus who he said he was – was he the Messiah – or was he the original spin doctor?
The young cast from Bradfield College have taken Berkoff’s dictums to heart in staging their production.

“There’s no elegant costumes or anything like that.  We’re all dressed in black, the set’s black, it’s very minimalistic, because Berkoff believes that the more props you have, the less focus the actor has.  So everything’s mimed and we only have a couple of blocks to sit on.”

The link is here:
www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/view_item.aspx?item_id=50384

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Re: Directing the Messiah, scene 1
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2008, 11:44:34 PM »
Hi i am directing the openiong scene of the Messiah as part of my third year project at University. I can only haver two soldiers which is a real shame as the play uses chorus so welland essentially the lines are written for 8! But do you have any information you think would help me with interpreting this scene. I saw Messiah performed about 4 years ago, when Berkoff was satan and it blew me away which is why i come back to it now but am desperate for insightful resources. thanks

I saw Messiah twice, once with Berkoff as satan, and once without.  I actually thought Berkoff as Satan was spectacular but at the cost of the play, it was a great one-man show in the middle of the play that broke the pacing.  The version without Berkoff flowed more.

Your two soldiers: you can either do them as two soldiers and pretend the lines are for two not eight people, or you can have two people playing eight roles.  I think you probably have more chance of success if the audience understand that two are playing eight.  Not in a cliche way (changing hats or something) but symbolically, perhaps the actors just moving into another position as they change role.

Does this sound reasonable?

Iain

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Re: Directing the Messiah, scene 1
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2008, 11:29:08 PM »
Berkoff has written some books on how he prepares his plays- Meditations on Metamorphosis and Coriolanus in Deutschland are the best I think.  Not about Messiah, but worth reading.  A sample

"I turn my attention to the problem of creating the 'gates of the city'.  Most directors put huge pairs of gates onstage and have the soldires rushing through them when they open.  For the New York production I had the actors rushing through one of the exits downstage into the auditorium and out and in this way the audience imagined the gates were offstage (Coriolanus, p39).

Iain

Naomi

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also...
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2008, 04:18:31 PM »
I also wondered if anyone knew of any rehersal techniques Berkoff adopted to help actors with the grotesque, or of any documented workshops Berkoff led that may give me some clues into how best to prepare my actors for the scene and the nature of the play...

Naomi

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Directing the Messiah, scene 1
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2008, 04:14:12 PM »
Hi i am directing the openiong scene of the Messiah as part of my third year project at University. I can only haver two soldiers which is a real shame as the play uses chorus so welland essentially the lines are written for 8! But do you have any information you think would help me with interpreting this scene. I saw Messiah performed about 4 years ago, when Berkoff was satan and it blew me away which is why i come back to it now but am desperate for insightful resources. thanks