Theatre from the cracks in the psyche of culture

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TRINCULO'S SHADOW News Letter archives

 

WELCOME          

SHADOW HOUSE PITS is Canberra's leading experimental theatre offering an alternative laboratory and performance arena utilizing drama, dance, digital/photographics on-stage, on-screen, on-line to explore the psyche of culture. It began in 1995 under the name PITS Productions and became Shadow House PITS in 1998.

    SHADOW HOUSE PITS uses rituals, symbolic action, new texts and meta-textual revisiting old texts to evoke the powers of nature and focus on areas of experience that are not easily defined or explained. Sex, power, love, hate, survival, acceptance and rejection and the need for some representation of a paternal god and an all embracing goddess are themes that appear in virtually all layers of art throughout history. However, new technologies pre-empt new modes of expression.

    SHADOW HOUSE PITS has a mission to:

  • create and present theatre, digital media and dance events and works of art capable of stimulating personal and cultural challenge while affirming the struggles and joy that is humanity;

  • create works of art that inspire local cultural, spiritual and creative exploration in form and content;

  • publish radical and / or other writings in theatre arts expression, communication and philosophy;

  • research and experiment with metaphorical cross-cultural referencing for theatrical presentation to challenge and heighten perceptions.

  • Shadow House PITS affirms the value of the personal "i": the power of individual thought, perception and feeling as a tool for artistic endeavours. The personal 'i' is being jettisoned from both the ideological 'right' and 'left' of the socio/political spectrum. "i" is harder to manage than the self-conscious "we" of perception. "i" is silenced by self-censoring and imposed constraint. The paradox is lost. For without a strong sense of "i" there is little sense of "we" and what there is can only be made seem real by unseen controllers of agendas to which the "we" sheepishly follows. It's not only up to the social scientists, the agendists and the high priests to examine the truth and falsehoods which present to social humanity. It is also up to the artists and those who practice the art of theatre.

    SHADOW HOUSE PITS offers and presents exciting theatre scripts and productions which elucidate the shadows and invisible binds that can both connect and destroy our connection to the universe and to each other.

    SHADOW HOUSE PITS offers a dynamic and provocative theatre practice that contributes to culture while challenging its belief systems and practices.

    SHADOW HOUSE PITS offers "meta-textural" and experimental theatre approaches to the development and presentation of all its theatrical offerings and draws significantly on the writings and inspirations of people such as Antonin Artaud, Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook, Bertolt Brecht et al.

    SHADOW HOUSE PITS offers investigations into the shadows of the cultural and personal psyche inspired by the thinking and analogies offered by C. G. Jung.

    Artists have long given extensive credence to the shadow. Long before C.G. Jung, Shakespeare described the shadow as:

    "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine."

    Jung spoke of it as:

    "Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag thwarting our most well-meant intentions."

    Venture into our site. Read NEWS of what is happening for SHADOW HOUSE PITS. Have a SCREAM indulging a little philosophical gazing with essays and articles about theatre and art. Spend a moment on our MANIFESTO. It's a conspiracy of Shadows. Visit our beautiful GALLERY. Find out a little about the HISTORY of this unique theatre group. And why not LINK into some great sites that we visit regularly for inspiration and companionship. Check out our TRINCULO'S SHADOW news letter archives for valuable insights and information re theatre around the world.

    Participate in a WORKSHOP on the Actor's MESH: the 4 States of Artaud.

    Check out our exciting extreme theatre scripts available for performing. FREE SAMPLES for reading.
    Purchase on line for only $12. Just click on the title for
    a sample of a theatre script and synopsis.

 

SHADOW HOUSE PITS  productions

Ich Bin Faust (2010) TICKETS NOW ON SALE HERE!!

Dying Love: Theatre In A car (2009)

Beyond Weimar (2008)

Tunnel Drive: Theatre In A Car (2008)

The Celica Of Existence: Theatre In A Car (2007)

The Naked Goddess (2006)

Homeless Minds (presented with DNA 2005)

Acting Artaud (2004)

Violine (1995/2001/2003)

sex&violets.com (1999/2002)

Coleridge's Christabel and Geraldine (1999)

Sanctimonious (2001 formerly "Sanctimony" 1996)

Shadow In The Dark (1995)

APE (1982/2003 new version still to be produced)

 

Plays with bite for teenaged performers
 (click here)

Children Of The Bauhaus (2007)

Cathedral Song (2002)

The Flies (1999)

Alice Is Missing (2001)

Have a look at these art and music Links:
The Art of Konrad Lenz
The Music of Tom Woodward

Naked Goddess Art


Joe Woodward, Artistic Director

Have a quick look at:

Shadow In The Dark (including 
Jessie's Cathedral Song by Joe Woodward 
ART WORKS

Faust Spectres in Future Past Meta-Textsa2010
Missing Meta Structures in theatre

COMING SOON IN 2011
Trinculo in his own imagination

 

This site is updated weekly, and in most weeks, on a daily basis. The general tone is influenced by the Jungian concept of the "shadow" and its evidence in both the personal and cultural psyche. We see no contradiction in accepting the spiritual, material and erotic manifestations of human existence and behaviour. This may place us at odds with some accepted social practices. However, we trust you will find points of convergence with our views and approaches and we would very much like to hear from you.

Contact us: sp@shadowhousepits.com.au

Trinculo's Shadow 
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    venture into the very psyche of cultural and personal expression, and

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