کتاب «در باب هنر تئاتر» نوشتهی «گوردون کرگ» ترجمهی « افضل وثوقی» است. در بخشی از متن این کتاب میخوانید: «اگر بخواهیم شیوهی خلاقیت و آفرینشهای نمایشی ادوارد گوردون کرگ را در چارچوبی سبک گرایانه تعریف کنیم، باید گفت او یک سمبولیسم بزرگ است که در تئاترش روح از هر نظر بر جسم برتری دارد و زیبایی درام تنها در فضا یا اتمسفری ویژه میشکفد که متعلق به روان انسان و روح جهان باشد. کرگ که از مادری بازیگر – که در دورهی خود هنرمندی نامدار بود – ذکاوت و هنرش را به ارث برده است، ابتدا بازیگر بود، سپس کارگردان شد آنگاه استاد آموزش بازیگری، سپس پژوهشگر جدی سبکهای نمایشی و اصیل گذشته، آنگاه طراح صحنههای پرآوازه، سرانجام اصلاحگری بزرگ در زمینهی نظریهپردازی هنر نمایش نوین. جایگاه او – که خود را فرزند تئاتر میداند – چنان والاست که پژوهشگران بر این گماناند اگر عمل و تفکر استانیسلاوسکی یک سر تئاتر باشد، بیگمان کار و اندیشه کرگ سر دیگران آن است...» کتاب توسط انتشارت «قطره» منتشر شده است
Edward Henry Gordon Craig CH OBE, sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings.
Well. Craig is over dramatic--to the point of being foolish at times--and he's a little bit whiny and with a healthy dose of misogyny, this can be a trying read. The editor's notes are helpful both in tempering Craig and in providing context to the time. Craig has some interesting ideas, though, and it's fun to play with how they've evolved since the early 1900s.
Craig's early 20th century seminal work catapulted the ideas of his great successors - Stanislavski, the Actor's Studio, Peter Brook - amalgamating all the crafts (scenic design), movement, scene, action and voice that coheres on a stage dynamically.After reading this you'll likely attend a play and react differently in the future. His essay on the ghosts in Shakespeare's plays - especially Macbeth - expands the feeling of the play and other theatre enormously. I just learned, post-review, that during WWII Craig and his family were interned by the Germans in a prison in Paris during the Occupation and was released only because of the courageous intercession of Sylvia Beach, proprietor of Shakespeare and Company and publisher of Ulysses. She herself was later imprisoned too.
Craig's idea of actors as marionettes, little more than mindless slaves of the director is interesting on the page and probably works well in film, but is rather dull when put into practice on stage. For me, the thrill of live theater is the chemistry between actors, seeing what each brings to the performance, under the unifying force of a strong directorial vision. Part of me wonders if Craig conceived of his brainchild after the hair-tearing experience of directing a pack of egotistical, flakey actors ("What's my motivation?" "i'm having an existential crisis and will therefore be two hours late to every rehearsal"). Craig's ideas on set design and lighting, however, were revolutionary and continue to be in use to this day.
This work is highly recommended to theater majors or anyone else with a love of the theater and an interest in its evolution.
I rated this book in the way I did not because I agree with all his opinions (his definition of art, sexism, etc.) but it was such an interesting read and an interesting way to think about theatre, as well as a snapshot of a particular theatrical era.