SHADOW
HOUSE PITS operates
like a cockroach at the table of culture. Up through the cracks from
the pits and the shadows it feeds from the crumbs, making an
appearance before disappearing into the darkness. Somehow it doesn't
respond to the niceness of marketing smiles from the affirming
Western cultural art scene; nor does it placate the aspiring
competing cultures of opposition or creeping world insanity! Give us
multi-cultural perspectives over any decrepit insular mono-cultural
belief system any time. This said, we acknowledge the deaths and
struggles of the thousands of individuals who fought hard to win
basic human rights over the centuries and face the horrors of
dogmatic cultural and religious might that continues to squash the
personal "i" with an insane psychosis proclaimed by the
books of prophets.
SHADOW
HOUSE PITS
seeks to challenge and inspire audiences and participants through
theatre development, presentation and education.
We
wish to:
-
create
a centre of constant rejuvenating force for arts practice;
-
create
and present outstanding theatrical mixed media and theatrical events;
-
provide
international networking with like-minded people who seek cultural
and social reform through theatre arts practice and related
by-products, writings and practices;
-
promote
and stimulate new writing and works of art that inspire local
cultural, spiritual and creative exploration in form and content;
-
publish
critical and perceptive writings in theatre arts expression,
communication and philosophy infected with the personal "I";
-
operate
an education unit capable of stimulating community knowledge and
action in theatre and multi-media challenge to orthodox mass media presentation;
-
conduct
experimentation in erotic arts links with theatrical presentation
and social / cultural / psychological perceptions;
-
conduct
research and experimentation in metaphorical and spiritual
cross-cultural referencing for theatrical presentation and audience perceptions;
-
provide
cross media links in the development of content for live on-stage,
on-screen and on-line presentation;
-
challenge
cultural perception to re-evaluate its precepts and assumptions.
How
Do We Proceed?
A
theatre beyond cultural subsistence; a "theatre
from the cracks in the psyche of culture"
requires that we be very realistic in our strategies and daring in
our art and our creative processes.
Strategies
for a theatre beyond cultural subsistence
Our
theatre will harness digital technologies involving the Internet and
interactive live and pre-recorded video. By using projections and/or
screen monitors in the design of live theatre performances, we can at
once heighten the live performance while re-focusing audiences on to
aspects that would otherwise be missed. It also means that the scope
for audience interaction is greatly enhanced. Where possible,
audiences should be able to link on to a huge universe of information
which the performance should tempt them to access. And so we engage
the emotions and, then through them, the minds of our audiences.
By
integrating on-line and movie making technologies, we aim to break
down the barriers of live and recorded performance. This integration
is a most significant and important tool and a major component of our theatre.
The
more we can add value by way of linking our work into the eyes and
ears of popular culture, the more we can create awareness of our
being in relation to that culture.
To
break the new subsistence of cultural, artistic and spiritual ennui
and commodification, our theatre seeks to awaken the powers of:
-
metaphors
constructed from Nature
-
anger
and the urge to destroy
-
poetic
violence
-
lust
and erotic instincts
-
dangerous
journeys and adventures
-
dreams
and the sub-conscious truth
-
fear
and courage
-
pure
love ... even naive love
-
artistic
action and daring
-
Nature
and the Universe
-
the
body, skin, blood, pain and the senses
-
thought,
feeling, passion and aspiration
-
vicarious
association and experience of extremes in action and feeling
-
the
vitality of words
-
staking
a claim on the arts to wrench it from the clasps and binds of ugly
cynicism and cowardliness
-
struggle
and perseverance
-
exposure
-
individual
perception
-
contradictions
and dialectics.
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
declares its commitment to the personal "i" of artistic
creation and uses this commitment to challenge orthodoxy and
charlatan practices where-ever they emerge; and then to create and
present the highest quality theatre from within our imagination and
intuitive connection to the natural order of the universe.
