The street performance in France of the "Six Public Acts" 1977 (part from a larger project that started in Brazil: "The Legacy of Cain") was actually the historical culmination of the Living Theatre revolution.
(See video down)
After Julian Beck´s death in 1985 the Living Theatre was not the same. Julian Beck was the real spirit and public image of the Living Theatre. The project Living Theatre fade away with Julian Beck, even if Judith Malina, with other members of the troupe, had tried to keep the Living afloat (presenting retrospectives of old plays as The Brig, etc., keeping the Living in the past) or some new plays (suggested and produced by the new members under the brand of the Living Theatre) and directed by Judith.
The Living Theatre, reach it´s apogee in the 60´s with Paradise Now, a shockwave effect that lasted until the end of the 70´s.
The troup was the consolidation of a communal life and communal creation. The collective experience with "Paradise Now" -the emblematic work of the Living-, and also "Antigone", "Mysteries"; "Frankenstein", etc., was the opening-up of the company to new talented members (non-strictly actors) who were greatly contributing to the success of the company and to the remix of the creative process for the final universal intercourse with the public.
The openness to the so called "collective creation" was a great input for the company. The creative potential of each new individual member and the diversity of information emerging in the debates, made the dynamic of the group very prolific on ideas. Julian and Judith, as directors, were pulling the new ideas -or the most innovative or breakthrough ideas- from the discussion and they documented and compressed before they put it into action. All these wonderful ideas emanated from the talented members and processed by the passionate directors made out of the collective performances an inevitable success.
Let me put it like this, the glory and success of the Living Theatre were triggered first by the socio-cultural environment of the 60´s and second, by the creative enthusiasm of the members, and finally, by the passion of the directors to interpret those ideas in accordance to the Artaudian and Bretchian thesis.
The harmonious correlation of talented members, living and working together in a community of great interaction, good vibes, similar wavelengths, etc., made out of the 60`s -70´s a great momentum in history. The Living Theatre Collective Julian Beck and Judith Malina were part of the counter-cultural, anti-establishment movement of the time.
Vicente Segura
"Six Public Acts" in La Chaux de Fonds, France 1977
Click the photo to play:
Rio de Janeiro - Ouro Preto
My Rock Star Tour to Jail
By Vicente Segura
(Work in progress)
while the guitar of Echnaton gentle plays.
Minas Gerais - Brazil
- Sao Paulo - Brazil
"In 1968 The Living Theatre, an anarcho-communalist troupe led by Julian Beck and Judith Malina, returned to America from years of self-imposed exile in Europe with what would become their best-known production: “Paradise Now,” a play that sought to completely dissolve the boundaries of human interactions through a practice of live collective creation, forging a revolutionary harmony between actors and audience (...)
What happened each night onstage—and offstage, and then out into the streets—was a series of purposefully provocative and interventionist actions, from marijuana smoking and full-body group nudity to screamed declamations, intense arguments and (yes) orgies, often involving audience members.
"
Text extracted from ARTHUR MAGAZINE
relation of Jim Morrison with the
Living Theatre.
Click here
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(About the Living Theatre)
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in his book "life" on the Living Theatre troupe
Click
in ARTS Magazine
Rio de Janeiro - 1970
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In a press conference with the Living in one of the daily brain storming meetings - Ouro Preto House. Judith Malina, Julian Beck, Mary Mary Kraf, Luke Theodore, Pierre Biner, Pamela Badyk, Ivanildo Silvinho and Vicente Segura in Ouro Preto, Brazil 1970
Minas Gerais, Brazil
Ilion Troya and Ivanildo Silvino
Right: Thomas Walker, Bill Shari, James Anderson
The Living Theatre get busted in Brazil:
Sheila Maru, Sergio Godinho, Hans Schano, Jose C. Temple, Ivanildo Silvinho,
Vicente Segura, Mary Kraf, James Anderson, etc. in the police.
They all were facing trial and expulsion
The Living Theatre get busted in Brazil:
Sheila Maru, Sergio Godinho, Hans Schano, Jose C. Temple,Ivanildo Silvinho,
Vicente Segura, Mary Kraf,James Anderson, etc. in the police.
( Veja Magazine Brazil )
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From the book of John Tytell:
"The Living Theatre, art, exile and outrage"
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The decree of expulsion by president Emiliano Garrastazu Medici
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The expulsion of the Living Theatre from Brazil "The New York Times":(English)
The arrest of the Living Theatre "Der Spiegel":(in German)
O dia em que Marlon Brando, Mick Jagger e John Lennon venceram Médici "Journal Global":(Portugués)
Read details of the arrest of the Living in Brazil (in portugues)
here:
The experience in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais Wikipedia (Portugès)
Premio Nobel Mario Vargas Llosa: About The Living (Español)
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A book from Carlos Granés
"La Invención del Paraiso: El Living Theatre y el Arte de la Osadía"
¿Influye de alguna manera el arte sobre el ser humano?
¿Transforma su conciencia? ¿Cambia su vida?
En la apasionante historia cultural del siglo XX nadie intentó responder estas preguntas con tanto empeño como el Living Theatre.
Eslabón entre la vanguardia europea, la generación beat, el hippismo y el tercermundismo, el legendario grupo de teatro experimental
liderado por Julian Beck y Judith Malina se planteó un ambicioso objetivo: primero quisieron revolucionar la sociedad estadounidense
con sus obras, en especial con Paradise Now, y luego liberar a los brasileños sometidos por la dictadura militar del general Médici
con otra de sus creaciones, El legado de Caín, inspirada en las turbulentas novelas de Sacher-Masoch.
Lanzaron una revolución cultural en una democracia y meses después en una dictadura. ¿Cuáles fueron los resultados de esas dos batallas? ¿Logró el Living
Theatre cambiar la realidad?
Tanto en su peregrinaje a lo largo y ancho de Estados Unidos llevando el mensaje de Paradise Now, como en su búsqueda de los más
pobres entre los pobres en las favelas y barriadas de São Paulo, Río de Janeiro y Ouro Preto, el grupo se reunió y conspiró con las
grandes personalidades de la cultura de todo el continente.
Quiso inventar un Paraíso y finalmente lo consiguió. Pero, ¿era el que
buscaba? Hasta el día de hoy, el Living Theatre ha luchado por ampliar la esfera de libertades, actuando no solo con osadía, sino
con valentía, para desafiar el autoritarismo y las convenciones que acotan la libertad individual.
La crítica ha dicho...
«Este ensayo es ideal para entender el papel del teatro experimental en el avance de la sociedad a través de sus propuestas políticas y de una suerte de utopía comunitaria»
La Razón
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VIDEO: 5:22
Photo: Gianfranco Mantegna
The naked man
Photo: Michael FrescoI was sitting watching the Living Theatre’s performance of “Paradise Now” with
my New York girlfriend Philly, when the cast on stage declared “We are not allowed to travel without a passport,
we are not allowed to take our clothes off in public!” whereupon they all stripped naked and rushed around the
audience. I turned around suddenly to find Philly was talking energetically to a naked man in front of us, bag in her lap,
with a disapproving man, hat on lap, sitting next to her.
The photo was on the front page of every paper in the land and the next day my colleagues asked me what was going on.
I learnt later that the naked man was, in fact, an excited member of the audience!"
Jonathan Parks.
Paradise Now 1968 - Paris
Germany, Berlin, Sportpalast 1968
Paradise Now 1968
Paradise Now 1968
Performance of the Living Theatre in the Politecnico, Rome
The Living Theatre in New York 1968
Julian Beck and Judith Malina(Directors)
Steve Ben Israel
An Improvisation on Paradise Now
Steve Ben Israel, Henry & Nona Howard,
Jim Tiroff, Mary Krapf. 1969
Photo by Max Waldman
Birgit Knabe (Gypsy) and Nona Howard (Luna)
Photo by Robert Altman
Mary Mary Krapf
Jenny Hecht
Petra Vogt
Hans Schano (center), Rufus Collins (left), Mary Mary Krapf (right)
James Anderson
Bill Shari
Luke Theodore
Pierre Binner
Tom Walker
Vicente Segura
( Arriving to San Francisco, from New York,
after a week on the road, through the Route 66 )
- 1971
Work in Progress...
(The chord from "Mysteries and Smaller Pieces")
in the 60´s & 70´s.
Passed away on 4 June 2012 at 74.
Read his poetry here:
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R.I.P. 1935-2011
He was part of the scene
