The Alchemical Theatre
YOU WANT THIS TOO
Texts by Paul Virilio and Maurice Blanchot
Directed by Carlo Altomare
Assistant Director Gia Lisa Krahne
Films by Bradley Eros/Erotic Psyche and Zak Sherzad
Music by Carlo Altomare and Zak Sherzad
Light and Sound Technician: Pei-Wen Huang
The Company: Chelsey Clime, Andrew Greer, Gia Lisa Krahne, Zebedee J. Row, Katarina Vizina
ABOUT THE PLAY
Pure War / Madness of the Day is an enigmatic examination of the coupling of metabolic speed and technological speed, and its inevitable consequences on consciousness, human appearance and the perception of one's "place" in the world.
The texts are drawn from urban theorist Paul Virilio’s book Pure War, which questions the accelerating developments of technology; and French author/critical theorist Maurice Blanchot’s short story "The Madness of the Day" which introduces us to the character we consider the protagonist par excellence for our time: The Disappeared One. The piece is devised through a reciprocal reading of Blanchot's text through the lens of Virilio and vice versa.
Individually the actors become Blanchot’s protagonist and together conspire to create a series of exhibits, confessions and briefings as a simulation of the relationship between technology and the human body. The actors employ techniques of "jazz acting" and biomechanics in a series of micro-narratives and vignettes.
Pure War / The Madness of the Day is set in a “box full of speeds” and images, and functions in the context of a public hearing. The actors place themselves under public scrutiny in order to engage the audience in a para-theatrical experience about the terms of appearance between actor, character and audience, pointing to the societal value of theatre as a technology of human recognition and interaction.
We live in a society where the substance of self is negated. The Age of Reason is transforming; and technology has become a contemporary prosthesis on consciousness. We are nearing that point of exhaustion in both the Enlightenment and ourselves where each of us disappears. The question “Who am I?” becomes increasingly eclipsed by the question "How do I appear?"
"...and if seeing was madness, I madly wanted that madness!"
– Maurice Blanchot
"The speed of light, the light of speed. We have gone from the aesthetics of appearance, stable forms, to the aesthetics of disappearance, unstable forms. ...Too much speed is like too much light. It's blinding. It's blinding. It's blinding." – Paul Virilio
Pure War / Madness of the Day is the first part of a trilogy entitled Deus X Machina being developed by The Alchemical Theatre. The next part is There Is No More Firmament by Antonin Artaud, and the final piece is entitled Deus X Machina. The production is supported, in part, by New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
The current production is a revival of Pure War / Madness of the Day, originally produced in 1983 by The Alchemical Theatre. The company at that time included Carlo Altomare, Philip Brehse, Elena Jandova, Mary Krapf, Martin Reckhaus, and Jessica Slote, with projections by Bradley Eros, and Text Editing by Jessica Slote, whose contribution to the creation of this piece should be acknowledged.
More about The Alchemical Theatre
Paul Virilio
Author of Pure War
Maurice Blanchot
Author of The Madness of the Day
This production is made possible through the generous support of
The New York Department of Cultural Affairs
See performance videos by Sergei Krasikov of Pure War / The Madness of the Day on
