Marvin CARLSON (2001): The Haunted Stage. The Theatre as Memory Machine. (Theater: Theory/Text/Performance) Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, +S. 1-15 (,The Haunted Stage: An Overview“) + S. 52-95 (, The Haunted Body“)The Haunted Stage: An Overview poplar saying among stents of hen that al f his plays could be called Ghavs” an, indeed the images of ‘he dead continuing to work thee power onthe ing of the past reappearing unexpectedly and uncannily inthe midst ofthe present, are coneerns that lacy sack deep into the poctc imagination ofthe mom infiuetal dramatist of the ‘nodesn European theatre. The comment is perbaps even more ppropriae i we recil that sense forthe play wa Gegen- ge, meaning terally “those that come back again” (dhe French taslaon, Rewoant, capnuces tis concept much more succes fat. Relesant as this obsenaton isto the works of Then, one might ‘expand thiscbsersation to remark that ot onal of Ten lage Taal plays in general might be eae Gos, sine, as Herbert Blau has protocativey observed. one ofthe unitersals of perfor mance, both Fast and West isis ghostines, is sense of retur, the uncanny but inesapable impression imposed upon its spect tors that re seg what we ss fre” Bla is periaps the most pilsophical bute is certainly not the only, recent theorist who thas remarked upon this strange quality of experiencing something as repetigon in the theate. Rickard Schechuer's oftquoted ‘haractercaton of performance ar resored bhavoe” orice:2 / Thetountd Soe behaved bchanioe looks in the sme direction, as does Joseph Roach’stelaton of pésfoinance eo surrogaton, the “doomed search for orginal by continuously anditoning sandins"* The physal theatre, asa ste ofthe continuing eiaforcementof men fry by surtegston snot springy among the most haunted of fhuman cultural structures. Almost aay long-established theatre Ins tales of i sesident ghosts 3 feature walied by the French iector Daniel Meaguic in a number of his metaheatical pro- Suctions and by Mat Wella, who summoned up the ghosts of the abandoned Vietory These to reenact their ores in that space in his sitespectc 1990 prodacdon, Coular IV heatrical cultures have recognized, i some form of note, his ghostly quality, his sense of something coming back jn the theatre, and 0 the relitionsips beneen theatre and cul tal memory ave deep and complex. fut ax one might say that ‘very play might be called hots 0, with eqalusieation, one Inight argue tha every play memory ply. Theatre asa sim Iherum of the eultal and historical processive seeking to flpic he full ange of huni actions within their pysical com> {ext-has alvays provided sien with the mos tangible records of ttsatempt to understand ts ove operations. isthe repository of ‘uur memory. but ke the memory of each indian also ‘subject to coutinl adjustment and modieaion asthe memory is tecilled in new crcumstances and context. The present espe tee is ahaa ghosted by previous experiences and asoclaons tile these ghost are sinultnconaly sft and modified bythe processes of rorscling and recollection. As Elin Diamond has ote, even the terminology swocisted ath performance gests its ineseapuble and continuing negotiations wal memory Whites pesforance embeds aces of other perfarmances i abo produces an experience whose interpretation only pat ‘ally depends on previous experience. Hence the terminology fof re" mn dicussion of performance, atin member, ni Seribe, mconigure,mterate, nstore "Re" acknowledges the preenising discursive field, dhe repetion within the perfor native present, ut “gure.” “script” and “erate” asert the posi of something that exe our knowledge, that alter ‘Te HowntiSoge / {hese of ss And imagines new unsuspected abject pos A panel process can be seca dreaming, which, se samy ream theorists have observed, as etne slates in the pi sate experience to the publie experience of theute. Bert Sates suggests that bod humar tions nd human dear centrally concerned with memory negotiation. “If something i to be remembered at ll smut be Femembeted not as what happened Dut as what has happened again in a dillerent way and wl rely Ihappen again in the fuure in stil another way? The waking dream of heat, like dreaming ets parsiclarly well suited to thisstange but sppareniyesentalproces, Hoth recyele past per ceptions and experience in imaginary configurations dat although diferent are powerfully Haute by a sense of repetition and involve the whole range of human asvty and context. “The close relationships between theatre and tcinory have ben recognized in many cultures and in ran diferent fahions The founding myths and legends of cileares around the world have been registered in their eltresby theatrical epeton, an, 2s modern nationalism arose to challenge the eller religious faiths, national yt, legend, ad historical stories agin tied the medium of theate to present—or, rather, represent, in serbe, and reinforee—this new cultural construction, Cental t the Noh drama of Japan, one ofthe word's lest and most er erated dramatic tradions, isthe image of the ply as try ofthe pst recounted by a ghont, but ghonly sontelers and realed ‘events are the common coin of theatre eveyubere the wor at ‘ory perio. “The reteling af stories already tod, the reenactment of evens already enacted, the reexperence of emotions already experi fenced, chese are an! have vats been central concerns ofthe the- tre inal mes and places, but closely aed to these concerns are the parseatar production dynamics of theatre the stoves i ‘hoo'es to tel, the bodies nd other pisical materials izes to tell them, and the places in which they are ot. Each ofthese peor Aduetion elements are also to astking degre, compened of mate il “thar we have seen before. andthe memory ofthat veeyled$f The taund Sas rateial as moves shrough new and diferent productions com teutes in no small meanice eo the richness nd density of the operations of theatre in general a site of memory, both personal and cultura. The focus of this std wll be upon such material tnd how the memories that i evokes have conditioned the procests of theatial composition and, even more important of fheatrcl reception in thea cultures around the wor and acrom the cents, (OF couse, as anyone ivofved in the theatre knows, perfor mance, however highly controled ad eifed, i never ently repeatable an insight that Dersda used to challenge the spece act theories of Austin ant Searle, aging tha, wile performative speech depends upon the cag of previous speech, the citation i never exatt because ofits shifting context® As Hamlet remarks in that most haunted of al Western dramas,“ have these players / Py something like the murder of my father” That exocative phrase somahing ike not only admits the inesabe slippage fn all Fepetition ut atthe ame me acknowledges the congruence that haunt the new performance, a congruence upon which Ham righty eis to “etch the conscience ofthe kg” through the embodied memory ofthe theatre, ‘One of the importanc insights of modern fterary theory has hen that every new work ma aso be een ata new awemblage of material from old works As Roland Barthes obueves in wily ‘quoted passage from smagy, Musi Tet “We now Kw thatthe texts nota line of words releasing single theological meaning (the ‘mesage’ of an Author Gor) but a multidimensional space in which avaiey of wrigs. none of th nga bend and clash, The text isa tse af quotations drawn from innumerable centers ofeuitnre" This complex reycing of old clement a fom being a ie advantage, ivan abwoluely exert pare of the reception process We are able to “read” new works—nhether they be plays pnt ing, musical compositions or, for thar mater, new sighing surdctures that make no elim to atte expression a allouly Tbecause we recognize win them element tat have Been feck tle from other structures experience hate have experienced tater This “inertexmal” ata, poaching the fexe nots TMheHowsed Sage / 5 nique and essentially selfcontained stucture bet as at pen- ‘ended “tinue of quotations,” has become now ite faa. The ‘ramatic erp, 36 text, readily opens itself to anabss om these terns though, ar wil argue in the next chapter, partite in the reeling of elementain a rather different and arguably more comprehensive manner than do texts create in the tation of ster -iterary” genres. Definitions and examples of the workings of intertextualiy have usally discussed this phenomenon as Barthes does, a6 3 dane working within the text or among’ body of text, ally with a corresponding deemphasis ofthe inva author (or at leasof the originality ofthat author. Such an emphasis somewhat obscures the importance af memory 1 this proces, an impor lance that becomes sch clearer when we shift seention fom the text ie to Hs reception. All reeption se deeply iwolsed ith memory, because it memory that supplies he codes ad tate tes that shape reception, and, ax cultural and socal memories ‘hange, #0 do the parameters within which reception operate, those parameters chat reception theorist Hans Rabert Jas hat called the “horizon of expectations” The expectations an a ence bring to new ception experience are the resi of me tony of previous much experiences The reception group that San 1c) Fish hs ealled the "wnterpreive communi” might in fat Be described asa community in which there significant ose of| Such memory and the reception proces el might he char terized asthe selecave aplication of memory to experienc, ‘This proces occurs, of cours, not only nthe ars but in any human actvey invobing imerprettion, which includes any ‘human activi 0 which consciousness brought, but the aajor feanare general separating work of art 0m other ates of the conseousness hes in dhe patentar way framed, an ats ior object ereated to simulate interpretation that tonite a taience to interact this way with it Their interaeson wll ‘ur be primarily bed upon ther presions experience wth st lar actties or abject, that upon memory. The primary tole for audiences confronted with new paintings. pieces of musi, books o pieces of theatre ate previous examples of these varie ans they hase experienced, An abdience member, bombarded8 / TheHountet See ith a carly of stimu, proceses them by selectively apps ception strategies remembered from previous siuatlons tht seem congruent The proces i a Kind of continuing tal and ceror since manyiterpretve posites ate lays present and, fe the reception experience continues, srateyes remembered from x great many previous experiences ay be succeninely tied inthe seareh forthe one apparent most compatible with thi new Situaon. Ifa work requires reception techniques outside those provided bya anince’s memory then i fills outside their hor on of expectations, bat more cmnonly will operate, or an be made to operate within tha horizon, ts adding & new expe fla memory fr futae se ‘A tamiliar example of this proce can be cen in the oper tons of genre Although the ttm is most closely associated with terae, most ofthe ars ofr groupings of materia Hat could be called genes, and such groupings provide one important and ditional part of the horizon of expectations Whether a lieray gene & a tery broad and flexible one, sich as a comedy oF Fomance, orome mich more specify defined, such ata clic Adetective stor, the audience fora new work i the gare can be ‘nonnull expected 1 have read other works inthe genre and to pply he memory of how thote works are constructed so the “understanding and appreciation of the new example. In is pe eptve recent study ofthe relationship between the concep of ete and of drama Michael Goldman begin hs eson wth 3 Consideration of the emamic of recgnition,otng thatthe fis famcion of genre that tbe recognized” and that recogition, the awareness of wimesing someting once again, has been process pariculsly associated eds drama fom “the very begin hing of dramate theory” ‘This proces of wing the memory of presows encounters 0 lundestad and interpret enconnters wth new and somentat di ferent but appaventy similar phenomena i fundamental (0 human cognition in general and ¢ pays a major role in the the alr a itdoes inal eat Within the theatre, however, elated but somewhat dierent aspect of memory operates in manner isin from, or atleast im a more central way than in the other ats s0 much 20 that would argue tate sone ofthe characte Phe Haunt Sage 7 Isic features of dheaue. To this phenomenon I hive given the name ghatng. Unlike the reception operations of genre (alo, of couse, of major importance in thet), in which sence mem hers encounter a new but itnct diferent example of a pe of antic proc they have encountered belore, ghosting presents ‘he identical thing they have encountered before, although nom in 2 somewhat different context. Thi, a recognition not of sila iy, as im gente, but of ident becomes 3 part of the reception proces, with rests thatcan complicate his proces considerably OF course, on the most basic level all arts ae bit up of ental Imatral used over and over again, individual wort in pocty tones in music, hues in painting, but these semiogc Builing bods cany much of their reception burden im their combing: tions. Certain these combinations ean and do evoke metnories fof similar, and a times identi, use in pater previous works inallofthe ans, bt itscoms tome that the practice of theatre has heen inal periasand cultures particularly absesed with memory ane ghosting, phenomenon tat I propose explore i varios consiuent parts of hat ar. Freie Roker, who ses, as Io, Marcellus! question in Hem 1, "What, as this thing appeared again tonight” as profoundly socathe of the operations of theatre fell faces pom ie significance fr theatrical eepresentasons of hisioricl events, the theme of Rokems book Pafrming His “On the metathestsea level” Rokem observes, his question “mpies hat the represed hoy figures and events from that vel’) historia past can leelappear on the sage in dheatcal performances, The actors pevforming ch historical gute are infact he things’ who are appearing again tonight in the peeformance. And which these hosts are historia figures they are in a sense performing hie ton, Indeed, this re, an thin hos reappearance of i torical, and legendary figures on the stage bas been dhroughout history an essential par ofthe theatre experience, My avn interes heve somewhat eiferent, however, foetaing not Only pon wh is heing performed (or, beter performed again) but alto wpa the means of pertormance, not omy the actors but al the accow terments of theaize the Bera “Uhings that ae "sppetsing again tonight at the performance.” These are the ght that have8 / Theta Sage Dsuned all deawieal pevformance in al periods whatever the Particular subject mae ofthe presentation 1 propose to begin with the functioning of ghosting ln the da ‘atc text, the widely accepted ground of theatre in many eu ‘es Incidng eur own. Although recent writings on imetest ality have called out atention so the fat that all teray texts ae involved in the proces of recycling snd memory, weaving together ‘lements of preexisting and previously ea other tents the dre tate text seems particulasySelfcomecous of this process parte lary taunted bts predecesor Drama, mose than anyother i ray form, seems tobe associate in al cultures wth the retelling ain and again of tories that bear a partie egos social ot paltial significance for their publ. There clearly seems to be something inthe naure of drsinatic presentation chat makes ia particularly tractive repository forthe storage and mechanistn forthe continued recitelation of elural memory Ths common ‘haracterte ofthe dramatie tex il be the subject of my next chapter ‘When we move from the dramatic texto i physical realization Inthe theatre, the operations of memory upon reception become ‘en more siking. Because every psc element of the predic thon can be and often Is wed over and over again in subsequent productions, the apporuuite fora audience to bring memories of presious uses 0 new productions are enormous, Often these memories hae been consowly tized by the theatre culture, bout, exen when they are not. they may well continue to operate, alfectng reception in powerful sid unexpected ays The most familiar eample of this phenomenon is the appearance of an actor, remembered ftom previo role, i new characterization, ‘The recycled boy of a actor, already a complex beater en ‘ticmestages,wilalmost inevitably ina new roe ewohe the gos oF hosts of previous olsif they have made ay impression whatever fn the audience,» phenomeno that often colors and indeed! may dominate the reeepuon process When the new charter io the same general ype asthe previous one, then the reappearance ofa alteady known body operates rather like one ofthe vara ec ‘ing componens that allow eaders to recognize agente, From this has arisen the fair theatre at Ric practice of ypecasing,” TheHHounet tage / 9 ‘when an actor appears again and again as ragged Highter o amie buffoon, in a character who ations and gestures are so sir role to fle thatthe audience secngnives them a dey wold the conventions ofa familiar genre. Bul, even when an aoe ses 0 ‘ary hisoles, hes espedally ashi eputation grove, entrapped by the memories of his piso shat ear new appearance requies enegotiation with those memories. Asking but not unsypieal recent example ofthis is provided byareview appearing i the New Yor Tis June 2000, writen bythat paper's leading drama crc Ben Brae, and concerning eurrene Broadsay production of Math Not on is he review erally concerted with the phenomenon of ghosting buticeven seeks to evoke intsovm se someting ofthe prec digjunctare ‘har the ghosting ofan actor can evoke i the theatre, The open {ng paragraph nfl, ead Acros the bloody Belds of Scand, in the land where dhe stage smoke sil and the synthesizers scream like bashers "Hrides 4 fceless figure in back, thudding long in thick, ‘orpeccking boots Who is this masked man, speaking 50 portentously about how ful and aris dy as been? Ae he rate the gleaming vrard of his helmet and there, behold isa most famiiarwide-browed vise hey, sone of America’s most popular television stars, and, boy, doe he look a if he ‘means bine. The poplar television star in question is Keley Grammer, familar a very unMacbetlike character, an engaging, though Ineticctal piychiatrst on the highly poplar sitcom “Fravier” Branleyhen goes onto consider why thiwell know actor would hose lo make a"semincognito it appearance” in the prod ion and suggests, a one “quite legimate” reason, that nich a foreaalls that disruptive shock of secagaition chat might prompt some rol theategoer to yell out“Where's Niles" in feference to Fase’ television brother, Ie allows that act's twice, most unFraseiike here a solemnly intones Mace10 / The Hew Suge bess opening tine 40 insoduce is character without pre dice “The highly suggestive words darapiand without prjadisg gest the powerful, troubling, ambiguous, and yet undeniable role hat ghomng ean play nthe reception procesin theate roles0 ‘pneu this production (a in many) that Bradley chore to tnake ithe centerpiece of his review. Ironia, 20 doing. he has (uniting?) “blown Grammers cover” Hf there were acy members in the preview or opening night audiences whose frst impressions of the “faceless Sgure” in black were not ghosted by Fraser” (aac publey and program notes alseady having prepared most of then for this eet, then that umber was lobes considerably reduced by the asociaion being stressed inthe mot visible profesional esew ofthe production, An effect ‘ofthis sor ghosting pon reception i to means coatined (0 ‘constant theategoers such a Broday reviewers Almont anyte fvegoet can doubles recall tuations when the memory of a8 {ctor seen ia previous role or goles remained in the mind f0 Inunt a subsequent performance. Despite is commonality, this Familiar reception phenomenon has been accorded very ile et ical or theaesielsitenton. The hunted body of the performer snd operations will be the concer of wy third chapter. Ifthe roiling of the bois of actors has received it aten- sion an npc of reception, sil Tee attention hasbeen given to the interesting fact thi these bodes are only one part of ‘ami of rerycing that affects almost every pat of the theatrical faperience and dat, imi extent ane aie) is more ental tO the reception operations af theatre dhan ts wo any other at on Tn my fourt chapter wil examine these operations 3 they have len aanifested in the saious prodvetion clement that sar ‘ound and condo the body of the individual actor costumes, lighting sound, andthe resco the predation appara wll then move in ny fh chapter from these components of dhe per formance space tothe space Ruel, discussing some of the ways in ‘which reception memory operates in relation to the places perfor ‘mance takes place. Each, wll argue, is centrally iol, in all theatre eulutes, with the recyeling of specie material and the The Haunted Stage / 11 homing arising from this recycling contsbutes, sometimes pos tive sametimes negatively. bu aba sigaiicanty, to the recep sion proces ofthe theatre asa whole Alltheatre,Iillargi, curl ait deeply iol wih memory and haunted by repetition, Moreover as an ongoing social insution i almost gvarablyeeinforces this involvement and haunting by bringing together an repeated occasions a ‘the same spaces the sume bodies (onstage and in the audience) and the same physical material, To indicate the importance and “biqity ofthis involeinent Iwill present examples fom a wide range of theauical cultures Yet, while Ido hope to demonstrate that the operations of repetition, memory, and ghosting are Aeeply voted in the notre of the theatrical expernence tell am fly aware that justas the dheautel pe manifests self ‘ery diferent manne: in diferent periods and cultures, so does the particular way im which these operations ave carved ont ‘Highly tational theatrical organizations, such thew af ase Japan and China, ae so deeply commited wo the process of rc ling of material tht hosting tight well be considered a thelr ‘most prominent reception featre. There iseareey an element of| the theatrical experience in these adiions that audiencercannot immediately recognize a8 having witnemed before. The sme ‘tots appear year after year playing the same role in the came pla, wearing he same makeup and the sme cstomes wing the ‘aime movements, gests, and sca intonation al of which are inkeited by the succesor of these actors In sich performance cultures the attempt to repeat the original has resulted in a Coditcaion of actions and physial objects 30 detiled as to be ‘moat teste ‘On the other hand, some sheave cultures, parila more recent times, have so prized innenation and orghaty tha they fave atemped (never with complete succes) to avoid entirely the sort of performance ciationabiy that eharscteres the chic the dees of the Eawt and, 10 a somewhat lewer extent the major ational pesfrrance radon of dhe West. The passion of roma ticarsts and theorists for orignal expression and the ges who sould repeat nothing of his forebears (an eal now almost oll screed by postnoder theory and though) and the vogue for12 TheHountel Sop ‘hcatricl realism. and the varios avantgardes that came in the ake of romanscm very mich weakened the major traditions of itatonaiy in Western theate- Among them one might mension the wadional lines of business, she genealogies of performance, oth certain gestures and patterns of movement handed dow from actor to actor, and the common practice of using the she scenery, Costumes, and properties in production after production, all of these normal practice in the prevomantie European theatre and Increasingly rected inthe wake of romanticism. ‘Nether romantici’s desire forthe original nor is jection ‘of theatrical tations inthe name of the presumably sare ind vidual, even unique experiences of teal fe in fact removed the theatre from itsclose es octal memory. Nor aid they emnove the perfonmatve memories that inentably haunted is prod omy, the bodies of te pesformers, and the physical object hat surrounded them. Inthe major theatrical manifesto of roman ‘Gam, Vitor Hag’s preface to his play Com dhe author cot ‘demas the traditional neu chamber or peisyle used indi riminately a6 the seting for coundess French tragedies since ‘Comelle and Racine and elle, instead, for exact and speci st tings nique o each situation and fee of the memories of 3 the eal tradition “The place where this or that eatatrophe ‘cued isa incoruplble and convincing witness tothe ctr strophe,” Hugo argued, and the absence of this species of allen ‘character would render incomplete upon the sage the grandes The romantic (and ealiti) interest in the specif iasrated by this panage encouraged x trend in the Western theatre aay hom dhe wadtion not only ofthe generic stock stings that Hugo would replace with settings nique to each event ut the entire Intereated tradition of rey materal—in comming, plot ting, character ype, ad ineepretietradons. Nevertheless, the contections between memory and theate went far deeper that these changes im performance practice, an, ay fist emmanticm ‘hen realism srongl altered theatre practice, the opertions of memory in this practice in some ways (hut by no means ll way) Shifted yet hes remained of ental mportance tothe experience ‘and reception of thet. The HHountt Sige (13 ven the radial change in the atiiude wovard sage Seng proposed by Hugo simply shit the operations of memory and “ssacation in different directions. Kin fact the “exact local” hat he proposes were tobe achieved (as it never was nism thease Tt subscquenly would be in certain “skespecfie™theate of the twentieth century), then the stings would be haunted not bythe thericalasoclations of thei sein previous productions but by historical asoctaons that, as Hugo notes, could be relied upon rodce “efit impresion of the [historical] fe upon the Inind of he spectator” Is operations, theatcally sill depend ‘pon an auence's recognition of ta “restored” materi The new approach represented by roantcxm and real in Wester theatreal practice did not. moreover, ever really chat lenge certain af the most common and power acon of rey ‘ed material, the most important of which was the body of the Individual actor Fos all his tees in unigue and individual se ting for etch production, Huge wilingy indeed eagery, sought to tse his favorite actors, such as Marie Doral and Frédetick Lemaitre, again and agin, fll aware that they would inet ‘bang anocations from old productions to neve ames. Indeed, is afterword to the publshed text of fy Blas Hugo prabes Lemaitre preety in term of the awocatons he ewes After noting that enthuse aclamations roe histor “an s00n 8 he comes on tag” (a practice el common even inthe moat eal ie there and pethape the mow obvious sign of the audience's reception being taunted rom the beginning by presous acai tance with the nvidia ator in other work), Hugo proceeds to laud him forthe ating asociations he evokes, At hs peak says Hig, “he dominates all the menor of his rt For old men, hei lain and Garick a one: for ws, his coal, he Kean’ action combined with Talia’s emotion oral ois passion oe ong tai, the romani Mhatre remained deeply iavolved wih ea tural memory forts subjects and theascal memory for thir “The particular manner in which memory, reycing and ghost lng has been tiie! inthe theatre has taken 3 dite erent Aiection inthe wie variety of theacial and dramatic expression ‘har maybe generally characterized ss postmodern, Ina move thatMo / ThetHounet Sage created relationship berwcen theatre and memory ite disint both from the clasial search forthe preseradon of pater rnc mode a! radiions and from roman and fala’ “0 fo is ddl igh sn eprein, pos ease of eter haunted by memory, but in am iron and see ‘concious manner quite different fom canical wage. The post modem stage one cult arg, sas ceeplycommited tothe ee cling of previous tized! materia, hoth physical and text, a have cen the tonal theatres of Asa ad ofthe presomantic West As Peter Rabinonitr has noted, "We lve in an age of artistic recycling" The actual manifestations of this commitment, hot fer, eect vey diferent ental consciousness. ‘Theatre anise of the seventeenth and eighteenth century Ise much oftheir work upon what Derida speaks ofa ciation bt eae i they present dectarcitaton. The postmodern ‘hear, om the other had eahmowt obkemed mith cation, with ‘esta, psa, and text! material consciously reryled, often Almost tke pieces of «colge. into new combinations wih hile tempt to hide the fragmentary and "quoted" nature of these Pleven This i centanly tue for example, ofthe work of Heiner Niles, widely considered one ofthe cental examples of a “post rmoderi™ dramatist. In his study of Miler, Jonathan Kalb describes him 36" new kind of master author whose identi pastiche of other entities and speaks of Mille's"postmadera Valuing of fragmenta." This can be cleary seen in what proba by Maller’ besehnown text, Hamlamachine which, a8 Kalb note, ‘packed with quotations and paraprases from Et, cummings, Holden, Mare, Benjani, Artaud, Sar, Warhol, Shakespeare, the Bible, Miler himsel, and other, often strung together wath ft connecting tex “The conscious an calculate reeling of materia rom one’s ‘on previous fe and work well at those of others, ie widely ree Denized as one ofthe halinarks of postmodern expression. 20t ‘nly eras texts bu in theatrical performance. Robt Simon ‘omic essay on the actor Spalding Gray inthe popular the- Sire publication Plah calle Gray "a walking pice of mastertl postiovdesnim,” using tix appelation by Gray's comin The Hain Stage 15 ‘and highly selfonsciousteeyling of materi largely from ie on ie and work Gray's drama never ends One nec hardly observe that i hardly the nnobeered Iie, The caran ies hen he get up and fllswih his head upon the pillow: Once onstage eating, the details of that existence, he Gray the Prforner in Gray {he Drama. And, sean actor n Gore Vidal's The et Maw he Gry the Performer playing Gray the Actor—a chapter in Gray she Drama, and a ole he wall no dubt disect in his ex monologue ashe did hisexperience in Our Tein the pec, Monatorin Bax)” Gray was one ofthe founng member of whats probably the schon experimental theatre company ofthe postmodern es the Woonter Group, and the company alo, ike mos companies, around the world iavaled in experimental performance i the ‘osng years of the twentieth centry, has been cently con ‘cerned with the process ecctng In my final caper Iwi focus ‘pon the work of his group, not only Because iis key wo be the ‘most familiar pstmosiern experimental company for my ears ‘balk because provides so clear an lsration ofthe partials manner in which theatre's Tongatanding fascination with reap pearance sbeing worked ou in contemporary postmodern terms Although the Wooster Group maybe especially for American ‘he mos familar example of ths proces, an almost obsessive com em with memory, claton, and the reappearance of bodies ad ‘other material fam che pas fet wldesprea i the conte: porary theatre internationally Its indeed so widespread that one nay be tempted to think of thi concern aa pariclaly contr porary one hope to demonsrate, however, the pages tht fo Tew thatthe theatre has een obese abs with things hat return, that appear agin tonight, eventhough his bse has Teen maniested in quite diferent ways in iferent cual sit Hons. Everything in the theatre, the bodies, the materia ized, ‘he language the space sels now and has aly een hated, and hat haunting hasbeen an esental par ofthe theatre's mes ing to and reception by te sucences inal nes and al placesthree The Haunted Body Iie dhe dramatic text has tratonaly been consi ‘red a Kind of founding element of theate, tha ext ‘does notin fac become theatre unl its embodied by an actor and presented to an audience. Although there Ihave been man intaces of theatre eing crested hy ators ith ‘out a comentional preexsng text and ocesional though very Tate) examples ofa actors text being presented to an sd cence, the conventional basic elements of theatre are text and ctor. Ere Bentley, in The fof the Drama, sagt that "the the- uta situation, reduced toa minimum,” occurs when “Aimer ‘onates Bul C looks on," the Bin most case being provide by 2 preexisting dramatic text. Having now considered some of the ‘eaysin which the tex that wadidonallyprondes this Bis ghosted, Jecus now tn tothe operations of the actor, where we wil ind a rather different but often even more poverful set of ghostings that condion, n ery significant ways the “ooking on” of the ‘The common stew of theatrical production a the embodiment ofa preesisting literary extend tg take the actor asa more ores transparent vehicle for that text, physically congruent with the stated requirements ofthe text and poses adequate vocal nd physical skills o deliver the tex effecshely tothe audience, This | | | The Hane Boy / 8 simplified view, however, does ot ake nto account what dhe actor ‘renvely add othe literary text, nor es ita into account the ‘corel concem of thischaptr, the major cosibation ofthe actor tothe proces of theatrical reciting and tele upon exception. ‘Whi any dase eulttesucence members pally ce many ofthe same actors in many diferent prodvtons, and they wil inevinbly cary some memory of thowe actors from production t [production The operations of that srt of recyling, the reveled ‘bay and persona ofthe acto, il be the focus of this chapter. In every culture in which theatre is developed at an ongoing ‘ularl acts, a group of specialist in that actity appear, the tector, In theatre tradsions East and West the most common rangement efor groups factors to gather nto ongoing assoc inion for the prodiction of dramatic works. The theatre i noe tally social occasion om both sider f the curtain, Beney peaks ‘fA. Byand Casifthey were india, atin at they ate almost Invariably groupe—a group of audience members amembles to sate group of ators impersonate a group of sage characters. “This puhering of actors into ongoing groups natraly encourages the associaion of particular actors with particular ype of roles in production ler prodarion- Thi not just a mater of assigning pnts that are congruent with the age ind gender ofeach actor but soa matter ofthe parcslr sills or inination each ator pos testera particular plysial ld or quali of vice may seem to thitan actor for darker or hear roles, natural grace and hand tome features tay propel another toward romantic roles, while ‘more iergular, even grotesque features ora it for pial or ‘ert deaterity may ead yet another ioward character and comic Work, One ofthe caries extended treaties onthe ar of acting, StinteAlbine’s Le Comatiow in 1749, remarked that, although ray physical ypes were acceptable on the wage, ator, whatever he abi, could not depart far fom audience expecations of the type of roles they were playng™—herocs mist have imposing oer nd lovers trative one actors must ook the prope age fordheirrolevand have the natural weal qualities suitable fo he sharacten “The highly formalized and yet Mexble comet alate pox vides one ofthe best examples ofthe combined worklngs oftheBL / The Haunted Spe regling of characters and the reeling of individual actors. Within a pica cme company certain ators woul contin ally play the sme basi tratonalcharacters—she young Toners ‘he comic estas, the fos old men, the ridiculous peda ot ‘amboyantsoldiers—all pes wellknown to thee sadences and reappearing in countless sceuasos. But individ actors could ako pot their own mark on 2 tational character, eve eeate a new name for that character: and hus appear agai and agi in part uniquely thei os ane recognized ad anticipated assuch by their audiences sa each new incarmation. In every generation of ‘oman performance, siiences went with a foreknowledge of ttaonal characters and character relaonshipe and often with previous experience ofa particular company in whl tetnory ‘ofthe physical characteris and acting se of pti actors playing the same tpein play ahr play reinforeed the anticipation ‘othow that pe would be experienced in each sew proton, The comma dele provides pariah leat example of@ lowe relationship between actors and ype of roles that et be found, in varying degtees of organizational complexity, in theatre companies throughout history and around the world, Weare per haps most familar th thi tat in connection with the stock ‘wlesinnineteett-eentary melodrama, nic lng before thers of Ieladrama actors specialved in noble far, male oxtanc leads, rams, soubsettes, nd ingenuics, Nori this a pealiany European phenomenon, The clawie Sans theatre mana, the Nassar, contains lengthy descriptions a a great array of tad tional stock character ype, and Jape Kabul contains care fully detineated tadional role categories. Actors perfor inthe same category thoughout theres, the few who change (sachs Tehinatu Sanokau Fin the eighteeath century, who began pla ing young men and changed 1 ili in ater ie} causing com siderable amazement? In theatrical eres in which theatre companies have oper sted under detailed and specific rues of organization, this ose Felatonship between actors and predictable peso oes paged en embodied within the orgtnzational legislation ofthe cot pany. The besthnown Western example & surely the naelasc fheatie of France, whove organization served as model forthe The Hawn Bay / 35 leading profesional Buropean theatres from the seventeenth ough the eary nineteenth centuries The French national the- atee provided a detailed and fy rigid stem of Sting Toles, Called empl, ith each ator ansgned to 4 certain wpe of tole. Posgin's monmentat L889 dictionary ofthe theatre proses For ‘he Comédie Francaise a st of thirteen emplas for the men (pe ie, jas prio, fr oes rem, stand mos, grams ‘muoncar, res nobly eons, er non chants, finances, entenus, grime pyant,cmiusy and le de once) and ten ‘plat forthe women (emir, grands ent, ne fe ‘ey janes monroe, wns amnarwny, tie amon, toes nb, ingen, sobs uss. The subtey of these Aisinctions may be saggested by Pougin’s definitions of ingiuits and sores. The former i "aver Young woman i love, whose ‘heart has barely opened to the emotions and accents of pasion, and whe resins the purest candor and intocence” (the naet ie ‘what separates er from he various amour, while the Ltrs 2 "young comic woman, frank, saci, and gay” In Molere’s “Tanufethe daughter, Marianne, would be payed by an gh and the ald Dorine bya soubrateSnall companies could dante pte empl necesary (Potign remark that his often dome ‘sth grime a nance since they ae bo character old then)? Thue hey were normaly considered quite dsinct by actors, aud ‘ences, aid theatre adminisiators. I the Fanos Massy Deen ‘which Napoléon drew up the legisnve ils to govern the Come Franca, one entire section ir devoted to the Distrib tion of Empl” which notes, in pat, that "no actor ae actress ca be the primary holder of two diferent enpas without a speci authorization from the superintendent, which should be given ‘nly rarely and forthe most presing resons A Brish commentator in the Quarto Review reported on this legislation shorty after. noting that in France the ofl connec tion of actor th emplaisso well understood, thateach actor and setress i obliged to make selecson of patil trom Which these decrees forbid them afterwards to depart. The Pee Sable cannot become Camiqu, whatever be his vocation ths ways aac! the Fngimaté mrt not ook oe the June Poy whatever smbiion she may fel for playing the heroine” The reviewer ses38 /- Thetaund Sage Lis occasion to praise, by contrast, the more Rexibe English the: are, in which “al this oolery would be impossible. We represent ot fae Penis, orga, tw and woe, with al ee The fet ishowever that he British sock ystems, already wel in place when this evew was writen and the dominant for of thetic Snganizaton in Britain theonghowt she centry created a system there chat, while not legislated inthe Fxeneh manner, ws jst igi in she deinention and predictably of types. A in any the atrial cultre, certain actors often becae aust in the py licmind wth certain pes of oles and thi universal tendency reinforeed in a theaucal culture, in sciek many plays were ‘mounted in a ery short period of ime, and nether actors nor dramatists had either the time or the incentive to srtke out in significant new directions In England, nd i the Englishspeak Ingtheaue, the practice of “lines of business act closely para lel the French item of enpisy, was smiost universal The popular dramatie Dion Bockcauledrew upa ist of Bish lines a sine thc comes favorably wth the detail and com plexity of the contemporary French ayatem. According to Bout aul a“Tstlas theatrical company should coi of Teaing tran, leading joveile man, heavy man, Birt el man, Birt low comedian, walking gentleman second oldman and wily, second low comedian and character actor second walking gentleman and uty, leading woman, leading juenite woman, heayy went, fist ld woman, Rist chamermai, walking las, second old ‘oman and ws, second chambermaid and character actress, second walking lady and uty lady* Dutton Cook, who repro- ‘duces this ist, farther comment that, even without French aye legislation Bish actos in fre rately departed from thee accu tomed lines of busines Asin France, plyer once sacated wi {particle tended to resin wth it various and changeable feelings, hunours, and pasion, ‘The ight comedian of went unl found w be sl ight comedian at seventy: the Orlandos of the sage rarely Become iw old Adams. The acteses who hase personated youthial heroines are apt to caregad the ight of ie andthe burden ‘of age and co the last shrink from the asimption of matronly The Hound Bois / 37 or mature charactere—Juliets and Ophelia, as rule, decline Ing to expand sta Nurses or Gertdes. And the ator who i Is youth has undertaken systematically portray seit finds himself eventually the thing he hae merely affected to be? Afr glance the uadllon af the empl or te ine of busines woul seem tobe based on a deste for veriiinade attractive young performers playing stage overs wiry acrobatic actos ply Ingelowns, and older actors, especial thore wth groteaqie oes altactive features, playing character roles Surely hi natal sort tof dison hes st the has of role aignment i the theatre an today dominates the more naturale gente of Bin, in which east Jing according to physical ype ithe normal practice, Inthe the ave, however in which the fundamental organizational unit has ‘eequently been an ongoing established group of actors knox 0 2 contining public, other forces fm casting have prosen more powerful than the demands of versimilitude: "We in the United States, ax members of «theatrical cule that unlike mow others, has provided lle socal or econoaie “eauragement for dhe establishment of ongoing companies and fone that, moreoter, pees particular sires upon versimiitde, tend to be armed by or even contespraoualy dismisive of the common practice i rultres with sach companies to keep the same actors inthe same rles oF tes of roles for most oral of their eatces. We are perhaps ving to accept an actor who spends a career in the portrayal of “character” role, ike the com ‘naa masks~simpletons, vlan, oF comic od men oF worten— tn we tend co isis as grotesque o Foshan actor who simi Tan msinans youthful roles into advanced age. Inthe ease of highty sized thea, sich as Japan's No. in which comwention reigns and all female pare are in any ate ken by me, we maybe ore willing to acept the posi ofan actor een of vanced years al stceeaully portaying youthful maidens, but, when we tend of an actress such as Mlle Mars the leading Indy of the Come Francaise a the beginning ofthe nineteenth centr. sill plaing omanti heroines unt the end of her lenge career we tel osm this an a prott of vanity and pomenivenes of 00d roles and w pity the audiences who were forced to tolerate58 TheHounet Stage {his grotesque affection. Doubles, any has been a factor in sich cases, ut belore we simpy esis the common phenome ‘non on those grounds alone, we must ake into account the impor tance ofthe audience's memory and ameciations. Tn the operations of traditional theatre, East ad West, in which audiences re normally accustomed orelaivey sable ca panies of actors who offer the same pls ote ad ener again they become aetstomed to seeing cern actos appearing sai sd again in specific roles or in specific types of clones teat oes and soon come to anocat those actors with those toes or ype of roles. Before we ton asiy condemn the ppareat fll and vniy fof an aging actor sul playing yaa roles, we mus recall that ‘ery ew performance uf dese roles wil he hosed b «teat tal recollection of the previous performances, so dha audience reception af each new performance is conditioned by inesitable ‘memories ofthis actor playing similar roles inthe past. The voice ‘hat might seem oa cuir grow thin wih age may sl to a faihfal public echo with the resonances of decade of theatege ing tat sigh benc bod til be ghoste by years of memories of iin tl vigor ‘Joseph Roach describes precisely this proces the cate ofthe aging everton, who atthe age of seventy sil was preferred by hs public wolf others in the portrayal of youthfal roles. That publ, ‘oggests Roach, looked past the infirmities of his pysical Body to Iis"other bot the one that iste oid sit in the Facto is performance of Trameending the body of les and blood, his ‘other body consisted of actions. gestures, intonations vocal colors ‘mannersts, expressions, coms, protocols inherited routines authenticated uaditons— bit.” Unlike the phsial body, “the Actions of dis theatrical boy coud not e invalidated by age or decrepit" The power of performance mentry, reinforced by the repetition of fama gestores,intonations, and maanes, here proved more powerful han he actal phil appearce of Beterton himself the ghost had a greater performace visi shan the bods chanted, Ta the eas af welHinown ad highly celebrated actors a phe- nomen that sn some way x even stranger not uncon ven new audiences, for whom a performance cannot pos be The Haunt Bay / 98 hosted by fond personal memories of previous high achievement, Inay be afected by the operations of celebrity icf to ew ad ‘aperience a famous actor throvgh an auca of expectations that, ‘man flings that wold be troubling in someone les eleated. Tewould bean oversimplifaton oasune that sn audience that apparently excessively admis a famous ator wel pat i prime ‘hen secing hm forthe fit sme are simply hiding thei fetings of dsappoinament out of socal preaure, feel of saying tha the "mperor hae no clothes Iis quite posible tht their reception has hen in fac signitcanly condidoned by the actors celebrity hosting thee reception even ia the absence of previous theate fxperience. Asia eer has lng been known to paseolog researchers, the walled halo effec, bythe operations of which teachers prepared for cersain levels of performance fom partic Larstudents ten to experience the work ofthe stidents according to those expectations Ina traditional sd basicaly table theatrical eure in which actors are employed and cast according to certain culturally Metnet empl, oF pes oF lines of busines, eben 3 yung actor never before seen bythe audience well appear onstage already hosted bythe expectations of the role ype in which he appear Astime pases, however, and dhe audience experiences them in ‘ariet of roles, mos actors begin to develop audience expecta ‘ions about their particular approach, even in the highly comen- ‘ionalized and eradkional theatres, like the Japanese Rebuki or Noh, Before many appearances most actors, consciously oF 1%, Mevelop asiociations wit paricular ways of portraying even the ‘most coied mle and so appear new roles witha double hosting the cultural expectaons of the empl isef overlaid with ‘hose ofthe actors own presous appearances. “This dmamic canbe leary see even i the comma dla, ‘he most familiar example inthe West of stable companies with sharacter pes repeated in generation ater generation of heat ‘al production. Despite dhe sppareut sli of these early exam pletoflines of bases when they are looked at notin general inthe actual operations of specie companies and india, we find, not surprisingly, hat in every generation the fair general ‘ypes were developed in infinite vanations, according tothe sil60 / TheHaunud Sage and popularity of individual performers, Instead of there being & Standardized serant mash ike Brighella ota old an sak ike 1 Dotore, ia which the indvidasity of the actor disppeared, these masts were continually adapted often tothe exten creat ing new mass that combined or varied features of the old ote, Thee in tora inspite et ther invdual variations in an endless series while Keeping the wes land/the sdienceforeknomtedge) fof the type. Thun, the great early comnatin actor Francesco Andeini as best known for his parte version af the Hab. ant Spanish captain, I Captano Spavemto, played “wih a vene and braggadaco tat set the pater for all ftire pavers ofthe pet but heat created his own special variations of another ti sltional mask Dotoe, with the DotoreSieiano and Falirone the Magician, each featured in many popula productions. Locatelli a leading conmaia performer in earisseventeent et tury rane, erated an Arlecehino variant called Trielino, mal ing adjustments o both character and cose that were ue to him and ao influential to other, Arlecchinos, Teno, and sell newer variant tha followed Niklas historia ofthe sm sna suggests the complexity of Sgle sich variation, the Ae ‘Quin of Bancoleli a disciple of Locatell Where Locatelt had created varant in which was mare of Brighella than of Aelerchino,Biancolell achieve he fsion of the two. Bergamanque clowns. His Arleguin looked. tke Anlecchino, practised ll the tradiional os, played the sine role: but he behaved with the Bold cunning of Brighella Brighella’ mind entered Arlecehino’s body. Then Bianco ‘enriched that mind wit his own wit and wadom, his omc: ture, an shaded ie witha le of sex acne, Aer Biancolell, this more whimsical, emotional, and deft Allequin was widely inated, an was the throw, croaking vice {hat Biancolell added not a a matter of choice but hecaune of 3 Jaryngeal defect !® But the character continued #0 change and cle wih actor in each new generation making thet om Ale ‘gins repeated eh 3 combination of generic and indi {es in production after production. A highly ghosted role sch Thrown Baty / 6 1 Arloquin proses » particulary clear example of what Joseph Roach has called “effigies fashioned rom flesh which maiest lemsees in performance and whieh “consist of st of actions ‘hat hold oper place in memory into which many ferent poe ple may step according to circumstances andl acesions2”" Te the commalir the responsibilty for developing and main ‘sinng this ving boy of reepeled eter remaned nthe hands ofthe actors, wel sare ar theatre profesional ave aays bee, ofthe public's interest in seeing a patcular actor in a patculatly appreciated role or ype of role Th theatres ubizng writen seis {his process has ao been radionally reinforce by playwrights, “They ao, sx mox hinoriel periods, Mave created new works with panicular existing companies in mind and, whether the theatre ‘a commited to some system of lines of busines or nc, ave analy designed characters to sit the proven sills spec ties ofthe ators that would create hese roles Goethe and Seiler ‘conceived ther prodntions with he specatie of Weimar actos forthe company in which he was the leading plyer Even a ply ‘wight ike Tben, with very tenuous eto hk major producing ‘orgpizaion is revealed through hi leer oe ite concerned ‘ith the specifi actors hat would perform his oles and with what swaciations al phsical and emotional characteristics they wou bring othe roles, certainly prediciable concerns in any dramatist ‘sho writes eth a eye toward age realization, ‘Thomas Baknin's study of the organization of acting compa nisin the time of Shakespeare finds hat infact, 28 in British cm panies three centuries later, “ete ofthe major actors had his pr ticular “business As inthe comma, actors becune ssoeiaed in the pub mind with certain types of roles, bu, als 3 In the ‘namie, popular actors created certain dioayneratie ways of per forming those Wes, establishing an echo effec in role ater Foe to which both publi and dramacins responded. Historians ofthe Shakespearean stage have often noted how sharply the low roles in Shakespeare changed in 1500 hen Will Kemp, asocated with 2 paricalar spe of lowe, left the company and ws replaced by Robert Armin, who specaied in avery different spe. recent study ofthe Shakespearean clown summariaes he cage thisBR / The sountd Sige During Kemp's residency, the clown pars were created to allow for mach improvisation: with his talents fr jig dancing and quick repartee, Kemp could be trusted to make the mot fof any opportunity given him. For him were crested the down to-art belo, those with mac wit td great eat i not always great intelligence: buy Dogbery, bumbling Bot tom, and that mountain of flesh, Si John Falstall Armin Trough tothe company talent for subse acting an fla for msi. For him were written clown parts with Hoist sing and he was given openings for elegant tabling. He ingpited the beloved cour jester, Touchstone, Feste, and Lats Fool In mos periods of deat history certain popular “pes” have emerged in the dramatic weting: the wey maids of Motive’ fomedies the fps ofthe English Restoran: the noble fathers of the eighteenth century: de olla heroes ofthe romani ra the hones British silos, aritocrai villains, ad persectd maidens ‘of nineteenthcentury melodrama the grotesque spies in the Gilbert and Sulla operetas: and 0 on, Most of therm, ike the tradional comma mask, appeared in repeated chaters of rey led characters, while others appeared in ew stations and new felaionshipa in different plas, but all, ike the mass, became sociated with particular actors, and these actors, ike their came mais forebears, newiably introduced speifc variations that marked their individual we ofthe sock ype. This, «new prs tion by an actor specialising is fop, wy maid, or able fathers ‘would be ghested not only by memoris of performances ofthat stock ypebya number of actors but ls by memories of previous perlormances ofthe wpe by tha particular ater. When, as has become increasingly comnmion in the Western sheatre diting the past two centries, major actors purse their ‘aeers outside the operations of tadtonal repertory companies and thei associated collerve memory of & particular group or performers relate in sila ways in production afesprxiution, the eect of what might be called ap ghosting is lessened. but the phenomenon of ghosting felt remsine ar powerful iit ‘ellectupon reception arever. Even more base tthe theatre expe Fence than ongoing theatrical organizations with relatively table Tre towed By) 6 companies of actor isthe devotion ofthe audience elf wo the theatre experience The majoriy of theategoers in any theatre ‘altar ae repeating theategoers s that, even whe there not highly organied ongoing specific theatre onguniation, ach sa ‘nasonal repertory theatre, thee ia nonorganiced bat ey ta ble ongoing collection of devoted theategoers, who singly and collocelyeatry to eich new theate experience a subtaal nemory of previous experience. This continuity i parle, om the otherside ofthe fotighs, bya elavely stable bol of ators, who, efen inthe absence of permanent established theatre con panies, wl be sen bya regula theategoing public in play ater phy Tis these wo contnules, more than thao ay specie p= lucing organizations, hat primarily guarantees the operations and importance af ghonting In ninetentncentary America, when the theatre experience as dominated by popular star actors and when work chracters {ind character yper were more common and more broadly drawn ‘han i more modern times, the asoition of specie ators wth specific ypes of rots was particularly ler and often operated in {manner ery simile to the development and elaboration ofthe traditional comma mask, except that inthe late period pay sight alo contributed significantly to ths process The “rage Yankee," for example, became a familia to American theatego- crs of the early nineteenth century a8 figuve lke Brighella had ‘been to their allan predecesors three cetrie before, The Ya ee, like the cama mas, was particularly ssociated wth cer tain actors, some of whom even, like comma payers ok of thei character name, such as George “ankee™ Hil (1609-48). The Yankee, ab like» commatia mask, powesied certain general qualities but in the cate ofthe estknown actors wou take on Special features associated with that paticular interpreter. One of the most popular Yankee actors was Daun Marble (1810-4), hough Matble appeared in a vasety of Vane plays, among, ‘hem Sam Patch, the Yay ner andi sequels, The Maidan Vn or Tae Vana in Timea The Vermont Wt Delo The Yar Ta ft, writen by 2 variety of eifetent authors and using a eariety of ames of Marble’ characer—Simn Patch, Jacab Jowsharp, Deuteronomy Dutful, Loe Sap Sago—nevestlee all of these64 /- The Heute Sage stage figures were recognizably the unique Marble Yankee varia ‘Son on George Hills character witha dsinly Westernized, Ken {ec eel” Once again close relationship any be seen between the reuse ofa tock character type by one of often abo series of ramatis and the reappearance of une or whole series of ctor specialising in this ype: We have already noted he popularity of Stage pes, such asthe Vankee of Inshman, on the nineteenth century American stage a8 an example of textual veeyelng, bu hee again we must note tat this phenomena marily voter the recyling af specie actors 28 el Although the echoes of revo characters in new reams is by far the more common phenomenon, dhe thea, of couse, alo offere many examples of actors who bterslly apes asthe ‘ame character ina number of eifeent narnave context. The Specific reappearing sequel or setes character lke the more ge eal ype ofstack character, i common feature in drama ier ature, 3s Ihave already noted in my comments on the hated text and is of eure, featre of nondramade iterate a wll The satus of drama as a performed ar, however, gies an extra Impeusto this practice. The desi of eader, pecially of pop Lar Retion (follow the adventures of popular characters trough adaiona narrates has made sequel or eres narratives 3 major partof that radio, so dat Art Conan Doyle to ake afmous ‘ample was foreed quite against his will to produce more and Imore Sherlock Holmes storie fora dedicated publi In the the alte tis popular eas fora character may be created by oF teinforeed by the work ofa particular actor (as. indeed, the Amer iean actor Willian Gilewe did for the character of Sherlock Holmes, that sequel maybe crested not neces becatse of an iteret i the adventes ofthe character bt to repeat the please of once again seeing a specific actor appearing ss this Saracier. Thus, we hae the phenomenon of the actor who becomes astociated with a particu ole, asthe popular m-nine tcenthreentury American actor France. Chaat wat wth Mone, the "Bowery boy.” or the leading French actor of almost the sae period, Fréderick Lemaire, with his colorful outlaw Robert acai In the poplar mind thew actos and characters betaine almowt indistingvishable. New plays were writen in which the TheHawna Boy / 65 lead familar characters could appear, but so song was dhe ienficadon of character wth ctr that no cl itepretations ‘ve achieve any appreciable popular Inthe went eatary television has largely taken over thisapect of poplar theatre, bet ‘one may sil eta Mea of the appeal ofthe recycled actors and Characters ia the enormously popular series televion stom, titer serious, ike the ongoing sap opera, or com ike the vate fray of family sitcoms. “Many ofthe geet aco ofthe eighteenth and ineteenth cen tury became particularly associated wih a single role, even when they appeared with sucess in many other parts Ths, for exam ple, Coquelin, aftr his cretion of Cyrano de Bergerac, was for ‘er after asciated with that role, a Tommaso Saini was with (Onelto and Sarah Bernhard with Camille. lateninetcentscen- tury biographer of Edwin Booth remarks on precisely this qualiy in Booths tendering of Halt and notes i sina to other stor/character bonding in these term "Booth's impersonation ff Hamer ar one of the best known works ofthe drama age In ‘many minds the actor and the character had become intial, and iis not to be doubted that Booths performance of Hazlet tal lie in commemorative dramatic history with great represen tative embodiment of the suye—ith Garie's Lear, Kemble’ CCorolanus, Edmund Keats Richard, Macreadys Macbeth, For rea’ Othello, an Ings Matha" Teach of these famous cues, so dominant asthe pli 380. ation of actor with character snd indeed with the whole patter of action represented by the dvamatic narrative in which thls char fcter appears that these characters were not even tandenved to ‘Succes sequels in the manner of Moe or Robert Macsie. Many great nineteenth entury actors had heir "sgnanure roles” pet Imanently asciated sth thet ates, ike James O'Neil’ Count to Monte Cristo or Joseph Jefferson's Rip Van Winkle. As one of Jefleron'sbiogapiers observe: “He ws Rip and Rip was he. It ‘might be sd thatthe play was a incident, more of let impor tant inthe fe of every other player who had performed it ut that, comparacvely speaking it was etlerson’s whole existence ‘The nineteeth-centry emphasis on the sar encouraged tis sort, of sociation, of coun, but 0 did the related phenomena of66 / The Hound Sage ‘wiespreat touring and frequent revitalk of the “vehicles” An imerested shearegoet of this period would ver key see an acoe like Jeferson man times and would moreoker mest kel see hia ‘man imesin thesame oe, enforcing both the aociations and the ghosted memories ofthat inerpreation ‘The close connection between a popula actor and an often revived veil role les common ithe twentieth century, par ticalarly in dhe American commercial theatre, in which the nine teentl-century practice of equent reals has heen replaced Hy the single long im This Kar certainly not meant, however, the fend ofthe often powerful Bonding ofa particular actor #0 4 pa tienlar part. Very often the actor who creses a patcular role a8 Popular succes orn major eval that overshadows the original Production wl reat so strong a bond between hist and that {ole tha fora generation or more all productions are hated by the memory ofthat interpretation, and all actors performing the role must contend wih the cultural ghos ofthe grea originator Anthony Sher’ study The You of he King, perhaps the best hook eer writen by an S00° about the proves of creating role, resus again and again tthe tension between this creation ad the inevitable ghost of the mos famous modern interpreter ofthe role, Lavrence Olfier The saga begins with dhe Nery opening speech, a Sher ober: “Now isthe winter..." ‘God, Iseems trib unfair of Shakespeare to bey his pay with such a famous speech, You don't hke to pst your mou to 1 so many other mouths have been there. Ort be more hom cnt one parialarly ditncte mouth. His poised, staccato ‘elven imprinted on thoxe word like teeth marks Not infrequendy the public memory of she orignal sso power land so entrenched that younger actors ear to atempt the role, ‘nce they can neither present wtlly relied embediment of the remernbered interpretation, sor ein they reasonably hope to displace i by something dininety fferent, This x almost always the eae when the frst production ofa playisa particulary power ful and memorable one, with stong actors who ate either well Tie Masoud Body / 67 known before the production oF become welHknown aa result of ieand thor remain forever asncated with it, OF the tay ext plesin the American theatre, ope might ce Lee J. Cabbas Wille {Laman in Death ofa Sabon Marlo Brando a Sankey Kowalbki 1n Stacear Named Doe, Mary Marin 34 Nelle Forbush in Soh Pac, Joel Grey asthe Master of Ceremonies in Cabrel For the restof the cencurya major revival of any of these plays could arly bbe mounted without ceviewers comparing the new snterpreter ‘ith these famous orginal, a comparson surely made by many in the audience aswel Even when actors are not asociated in the public (and media) ‘mind wih a certain specific role or een 4 certain tock pe i lil, perhaps imposible, once their career is under way, or them to avoid a certain aura of expectations based on past tle, “The actor's new oes become, in a ver rea sens, ghosted by pre- slows ones. H,L. Mencken describes this phenomenon iu hil acerbic manner Inthe course uf career an actor, he suggest, hecomes a grotesque boiling dwn of ll the preposterous haracer he has eter impersonated. Their characteristics are Seen in his manner, in his zeations to sina he point af view. He becomes walking ater, a stating diary a thematic catalogue ofimbeciiien™ Bers States, to whom Iam indebted for this entraining gute proides his own mach more smmpathetc gloss on this same the aieal phenomenon: Wedo not think ofan actor's portrayal of roles being sled off in the past tense, but as flatng ina pst absolute, at tere, ke the roe il, outside time. Not only is preserved in the communal memory as pat of the history ofthe pay leaving its imprint (fora time) on the tet. but due tothe repeiive clement in all ple, remnants Keep popping win the later work ofthe actor. For example, certain mannerisms of Olisiers Othello—the darting glance, the emphasis on cer lain kinds of ales, the deft economy of gstre—remind one ofthe younger” Hamlet. Of eure, this is only Over repent68 / Me Hotd Sage lng himself, bu iis Hale whois Meetings remembered ‘These alla Hatecin Olin? Apical example of this process in the American theateis the romantic actor Evin Forres, whe favored roles would see (0 hve ile in common (especially ss compared with the narow hie torial and geographical range of the Kentucky Yale or the ‘Bowery bboy: Metamora, a American Ine Spartacs,& Tha ‘an gladiator in classic Rome: Oralloosa, an Incan prince in the time of Pizar. In act, however, each ofthese roles (lin plays created especially for the actor) involved mental and phy aries that wore particulary favored by Forrest expected in any of is ew roles by his audience. As his biographer Richard Moly observes: Forrest found the noble Thracian (Spartacs in ‘TheGladar) an eal role. The play offered abundant oppore tes for muscular exeron,feracious passion, and relteration of the freedom oring sentiments he held 39 dear" Each new For rest eration, scmingly 0 disparate, was th sony ghosted by hispresions ones The whole train ofwhat has Beem ale the tect ply, 2 work constructed procely to featire the already familiar aspects of parsiclar actors performance, sed pon precely this dynam. One say think af the variety of real and note queens Sarda created for Surah Bernhardt or the eure ‘hen, ethereal hetenes D'Annnzo rested for Eleanors ise ‘or, perhaps nos suing Rosa who, after the actor Coquein had achieved a sunning sucess in his eration of Cyrano de Berg crs, created for the sme actor a Cyrano de Bergerac in feathers fe heroic rower the folktale fantasy Chante “The modem American theatrical culce offers few examples ‘of thesortof ongoing theatrical establishments wit comparatively table companies of actors and often sociated playwrights tha Ihave been common elsewhere inthe world, The most fanilar ‘example of American profesional theate is much move adhoc, ‘th a company assembled for partculae production whose rnembcrs may never work tether again and with no guarantee fora playrigh« that any particular actor she may have in mind for ‘particular part wil a aet be stable of be used. This lek of lnsiationalsabilty and predicbiy, however, does not alfet he tsi Bay / 6 the base proces of theatrical reception, however, Wor is hesny reliance upon audience memory and association. Even though dienes ae les key wo associate cern actors with conse tion af other pariealar actors aise ese in an ongoing theatre organization mich a the great national sheatres of Europe or the teonal clase theatres of China and Jap individual actor, ten even relavely minor one, sil ease math themt memories of theie work in peevons productions and audiences ate at leat 3x fen atracted 9 a new production by their previous acquain tance withthe actors dat are appearing ini as they ate by dhe name ofthe dramatist, ‘One need only lok atthe advertisement snd advance public ityfor he plays in any new season on Bray tose the power af this dynamic a work. The leading actors commonly receive dhe ‘major atentin, ten even above that af the play or playwright and almost certainly abuve that of the decor or any other con ‘eibang art. Moreover, eventhough the contemporary Amer «an culture doesnot took favorably pon formulae work either acting or playing any ctor familar enough a be featured the advance adversing wll inevitably bring asocatons to the ‘minds ofa poteatal mdience. Every wellsionn actor bring t0 the mind ofthe theatregoing puble memories of certain pre Sons oF ypes af prodetion, sometimes even of a specific drama 1s oF dramatic school The ator Joe Mantegna, strongly aoc ated wih the plays af Dae Mamet or Jon Malkovich, with those ‘of Sam Shepard, bring associations of those dramatists and thee Soest a new production even If that production i i fet the work of some other dramatist The same thing it more generally tive of dramatic se or tonality; most actors have song asc ion with certain peso piay-—high comedy farce serio aly drama, andso.0n Alan Schneider in his autobiography, Entrance, “seb the atstophe tht resulted when aaencen athe fist “American production of Wasting fr Got came expecting to sce Bert Lalir im a taional busleaque comedy (an expectation encouraged by publicity that led the play as “the laugh ot of "wo continents’) and left in ietation and eonfsion when they ‘could no fi the experience wth those expectations The proceso recalling previo oes while watching the ereTf The Haunt Sige aio of new ones is leary deeply involved in the proces recep tion, buc it also innitusionally encouraged in dhe United Sates and elsewhere bythe rather odd practice of prod in theatre programs actos’ biographies listing previous roles, a practice 40 honored in dhe American theatre that hi information fe ofleed ‘ven in the absence of almost any other background information fom the play of production. Indeed, I have even seen program in ‘which professional biographies of al the ator inthe production appeared butwithouta word about the planer fhe happened to have the misfortune ta be dead, Inthe case of actors eho appear of television or in ils aswell asin the lve theate, the mass cvculation of thee other mdi ‘makes highly tel that even an active thestegoing public may bring to an actor's newest theatrical creation associations den ‘more for that actor's work in the mas media than onstage. Often this ghosting i acvely encouraged bythe production's publicity program, hoping to draw tothe theatre audience members who have enjoyed the work of particular actor on television or in fms. The advertising forthe 1997 revival of the unica Green Broadway segularhy mentioned that ite tat icy Lawless, was well owe on television as the adventure heroine Xena, “Warrior Princess" Indeed, some adveriements metoned unly Xena, not the acues's name, of showed Ber im her Warrior Princes cow ‘ume. Ths, both casting and advertising relied upon and cleat encouraged ghosting ofthe wartr princes upon the role ofthe 18805 cool teenager, Betty Rizo, 2 ghosting that ws aint _rotesquely inappropriate in terme of the misc ie, however succenful it may have been in tern of simulating ticket sales, The combination ofthe appeal of the mase median compa son to theatre, the importance of advertising and public, and the emphasis inthe contemporary commercial theate, especialy {nthe United States upon the star means tha the nos comonon public practice s some variation ofthat atempting to sarket {he Greaserevival by deaning upon the popularity of Kena the War Flor Prines. In February 2000 ected ming that is pic ofthe practice. A teva dis spring of Sm Separ’s Tre Wat hale inthis ger a “Hetfywond comes to Broa.” and i 0 srs iehose head shs prone the onl stration i the fer) MeHountt Baty / 7 ate denied as “Philip Seymour Hotfinann (Magntia, The Tal ‘el Mr ipl) and John C. Reilly (Boag Nigh, Magna)” AM three ofthese ims were dhen among the most popu ning in New York, and the adverzers clearly hoped that the opportunity to see these actors again and ve wuld be at east as power 3b any wish ose this aiety weno play sl. To the exten that they were comtec, this real we strongly and at neces poss inwelyghosted by these curren ns, expecially by Magnet in ‘which both actos appeared. An almost comic concatenation of ‘evoked roles was offered bythe magus Play the opening Sentence of i report onthe then upcoming production of Nell ‘Snon's The Dinner Par Eve Havrington, Sweeney Todd, Baroness Eke Schrader, Jock “Tipper, Flora the Red Menace and “Fonze”—these are the pastes ofthe actor who've asembed onstage for Thinner Pany which opensat the Masi Box Theatre on October 18> A recent, more compe play of ghosting could be seen in a 1901 New York production ealled ow Appt! The premise a his sunasual production was already a remarkably ghoed one, in which an acess studied single television program om how to pe fatea chocolate cae by the well Anon tceision personaly uit Child and then precisely seereated this program onstage, erupt lousy imitating every gestre ant intonation ofthe original {have sea remarked, in speaking of dramatic texts on the patie larly lose reatonship beween ghosting and parody Cleaty, the same observations can be applied to acing, Dramatle pray has bem an important patt of the theatrical experince since clase times, and, although dere i title direct evden that, for exane ple, the aciors in Aristophanes” parties of Greek tragedy phys ‘allyimiated the performance ste ay wel asthe content af those Plays, the humor af the imitation would surely depend heavily "pon this. Certainly sn ater eas the psc ghosting of theatre pry was usualy even more mporant to the entertainment of ‘he audience than the ghosting ofthe walten text. Thus when CGherari,a popula Arlequin ofthe late eighteenth century at the Comédie Waienne,appeated in a pry of Corneil’ casi Le1 | TheHaanud Sage i, sere was Tae crcl comment on theese of the par fy bi much admiration of Gheratd’ initation of the leading tragic acess of dhe tine, Mile Champmesle, im the role of CChiméne.Asone chronicle reported, he imitates in hie walk Mlle (Champmese whose inflections he alo initats in his deliver.” "The exience of the videotaped TV peogram doubles pro ‘ded acres Jean Stapleton with the opportunity to create an even more detailed imitation ofthe gestures nd vocal inflecon her subject, Julia Child, but the seception of her creation as further complicated by the fact that Stapleton here eae before aud fences with an asocate television personality probably as dint in the pubic mind as dat of chet Julia Chie this wa Eth Bunker, the Jongsifering and somewhat loopy wie nthe tle Sion comedy serie “Allin the Fay” probably dhe most popular Such series oF period. An item int New York Nauudayom the day the play opened provided an unusually clear insight Inco the resuling overlaying of penona. I begas: “Three of the most lowed women in America willbe on stage tether tonight There's acizess Jean Stapleton. There's Juin Child, e played by Stapleton, ‘Anu Uiere's the ene ut ineitable presence of Eth Bunker, the lable Queens hontewite Stapleton created for Alin th Fam 1-2 Although Jean Sapleton isa stage actress of considerable experience and aby any role she plays at this point her career wil for mich of the audience be ghost by the “invisible but Inevitable” presence of Eith Bunker. The inset ineitable hosting of previous roles in the theatre ar wll asin television and ‘lms has certain parallels othe phenomenon of itertextaly in reading and, lke literary itevtestualiy, may be a source of dix traction, a vakiable too for interpretation, or a wore of enrich ment and deepened pleasre in the work Teis not only the operations of bit dhat sek to capitalize upon auidiences’ anocatve memories and thus inerease the reception poner of theatrical reciting, Directors and producer, tnd of coune the actors themselves, are al well aware, av they have always been, of the importance of an audience’ previ ‘experience with an actorin condoning thir reception him ot her in a new role Normally speaking the way tat this process works thar an ator is eas eho wil bring toa new roe audience The Howl Bay / 73 associations with a certain pe of character or certain sie of the tire, but the awocation can be much more specifi witha partic Ula previous and wellrememberet roe in pater provha tion. A striking and powerful example ofthis could e wen i the fal 1908 season in Pri when Jorge Lavell staged Tabor’ Min Kampf dhe Theatre dels Collin n Tabor davk, surrealistic farce 2 mysterious elegant woman, Madame La Mort, appear, who, at her name sagget, tums ct indeed so be a person. fation of death and who takes under ler telge the youth Hider. In this ole Lavell cast Maria Cesares, who was recognized a once by French audiences a the atte who in er youth cre sted the memorable personification of Death in Cocteau’ lassie film Orpke The recognition of ths connection in aborts ply With the older darker version of death prosded a stunning fHfet Rosette Lamont, eewing Laells production, apy che aeterized Ceszes a3 “Ting quote “This Kind of ghosting ca sometimes have unexpected effet, ‘when Greg Mosher cas Spalding Gray asthe Naretor in 1988 revival of Our Town at Lincoln Center this was reportedly not for commercial reasons but to give a more contemporary “ea” the play, since audiences conld be expected to auociate Gray with Sich material, This suceeded all oo well The New York aad fences most familar with Gray's work thought not only of his recently release fil Svining to Camladia but alo of his com nection ith the Wooster Group and the parodictetment f Our Tom in the Wooster Group production, Rous ! and 9 Thus when Gray delivered such a line ax “Nice tm, now what I mean?” the ghost of his flip moder persona converted nto & moder, oni, cynical patdown, athe sentimental nesta ‘hae deve he play nan constantly disrupted na period when the ong ras become a extabihed part oftheatialclture, another variation ofthis inevitable compar ‘on with the ghosts of past interpretations hae also appeared. ‘nen when a production as at extender one or me afi leading actors andl sometimes the entire cat wil sooner or later, move on o oder engagements Nineteenth century reals were ‘ery often concentrated on a particular str, and when thal star stopped appearing, for whatever reason, he production soppedTh / Theos Soe 1s well. Certainly, tong ras in the maderm dheatre can aso be Ised on the atactineness oftheir leading perormers, but 1 mally dhe atusctiveness of the production is somewhat more di persed, and itis in any case very mach in the interests of the pro ‘ducing organization o keep the production running #8 long possible, even if leading players mist be replced When this fceur, the nee performer sep ito a production ia which the haunting i parculry concentrated and smmediate, The wu rounding actos, the already established public rettion to the production Urough reviews and word of mouth, and, 40 soe fetent, the specific memories of audience members who are returning fora second lookall work together ta make negotiations between the new actor and his or er predecewor parca ‘comples and the haunting particularly clear othe publ, Anew actor undertaking Macheth or Othello may escape compasaon ia the revews of hit production wih varius predecesors i these roles (though iis rather unlike). An actor mh kes ner lea ingrole in long-tunning production, however can be absolitely cera that crits an public alike wl begin their reception and nalsis of his interpretation by acomparinn wth the ator he bas replaced. The ent a strange hybrid, nox exactly new iter [etuton, since the production apparats the scenery and light Ing, the diction, atl perhape all ofthe cast excep the new ator remain the same, but not exacdy «repetition ofthe ol interpre lation either since the new fighewil inevitably ring somewhat dfereatcolosng and perhaps somewhat diferent mothations to the rot, When it was anaounced ia the fll of 1991 that Howard -MeCilin wax replacing Mandy Ptinkin as the gloony nce in The ‘Str Garr on Broadvay this Was rely reported without 3 it ‘al opinion, before McGlin eve appeared im the play 380 wat his imerpretation of the character would be and how it would ‘compare with Patinkn's. The Nae Vere placed compari of the two ina welter of itetextual reference, drag pon memo ries of previous theatrical experience but also pos ad liter ature, ugestng something ofthe variety of potential ghost hot fring about the reception ofthe new ator Tre Hid Baty / 7 Mr. Paintin exces at projecting jus the wrong sor of gothic Hlepression—he's more Young Werther than Mi Rochester The kind of brooing that Me. Craven (the ele) goes forand he's 2 haunted zor of man—leads to seouthing rather than selFabsorpion. Think of the hgubrious way Her bert Mashalladdeesed the title gir in the 194 movie MeGilin has ex the qualo:™ lewould notbe unreasonable to suggest tha the theatreging pub- lina city ke New York inevitably views any new cretion by a actor with some experience not only hosted by presi oles but ‘by an interpretive persona develop al sainained a in the case of Patinkin std McGiln, bythe insitutonal sructotes of ‘media and publicity, which ole forall but the most obscure pro- Auctions a complex interpretive matrix, often even before te pay pens. ‘A paticulay delicate balance mst be maintained by the aavertning and publicity, now major factors in the reception proces, when sich a shift orcs On the one hand, the pubiiy annot simply suggest that new actor wil simply tntate the departed one, since that would suggest x somewhat inferior copy. ‘nthe otherhand, st must in some way counter the feeling hata ssablsied and successful interpretation being replaced by a new but untested and unfamiliar one, The nora compromive i to replace a departing leatng player by another who comes tothe tole (ike Jean Stapleton or Ley Lawes) with some lami ae {ng persona ates established, often in fim or television, Wher ver postble the advertising then reser how thie ular ‘aground sell bring an imereating new dimension tothe vole Examples could! be found in any season, but heve tx pial one fom Rebrary 2000. A that sme a new lading actor, Jack Wag ner was announced a ansiming the tie ole nthe long running Broadway musical jl and Hyde Wagner was no fait Bir to New York theategoer, But he wan weltknown ta tceison audiences at leading player in two of television's most popular Serial dramas, “Meitone Place” and “General Hoel With por Yieular relerence tothe later, the large newspaper ads, showing76 / The Haunted Sige Wagner ooking ata tet tube, were headed “Theresa New Doctor in the Howse!” The a continued “Begining January 25 the star (f Mow Place and Goeal Hopital injects sone new blond nto Broadvay’s hotest hile" Actually the Vetorian Dr. Jel and the medical figures played by Wagner on television had seareey anything in common, even profesional, but the dest to sell familiar face was far more important than providing an accurate image ofthe production itselh quite diferent yaie operates in what might seem to bea ‘ery sia ination, when becasse of ines or other problems Teading player eannot peeform and iso hex place mst be taken byastundin. Standinsare an excntal part of the moremn satem ‘of long runs and lage advance sales, but they operate quite ier ely fom the replacement tars just diced standin is not ‘ally physically and vocally suited to the tole, but an actor of much less reputation, eho normaly fils smal ole in the prs ‘duction and sis familiar enough with cto tp tothe lea with Title noice. No commercial these could afford co hie standin with the kind of established reputation shat regular replacment almost invariably have, so audiences rarely have much previous Knowledge of these actors Moreover st mtnute replacements, Standins have neither the me aor the authority 0 put ay “sSgnifiant samp of their ou upon the oe as replacement leas ate accustomed todo, Therefore, sttangey enough, the work of standin i frequent ghested toa significant degree not by his or her ci past work but by tha ofthe actor bel seplace, This ‘nue not ony ecause the tani, forthe unity ofthe proton, ‘sexpected to mia the ting al details faction ofthe ato being replaced but also because the afin, which i normally ‘ot informed ofthe replacement until dey have arrived in the ‘tate, have come withthe expectation if they have any expecta tion about this role aca of another, more fiat ato in This sisation isa fit famttar one to ay regular theatregoer, Duc would like 1 state twit an example frown Deceit 199%, when the combined operations of ghosting and reception bbcame parla interesting ane complex. The proction in ‘question was Neil Simon's shecesstal Broadway conned, Lager (the 29nt l,based, a6 al reste apres tees on the pro | he Haunted Buds (77 duction noted, onthe author's expences ta ag wer forthe popular tleson personaly Sd Cac. When I atended, on Deventer 28 the star ofthe prodacion, Nathan Lan, vat aboen, ad hc wa eplace by bs under, Alan amen Lane one of New York's molt popular acon, hang appeared the enon before hs at Naan ett in Guy and Dt ae ing wom in 1998 the Obie Ant for Sstaned Excellence: Bk iment though he has hada long teevon eater, nox parto sll Siiarto New York theatre sence, snd in any ese his Imovenent, even hi gesires al cone “ken nee so any Ime onthowe ote abt Lane, an xtemel fail sage presce,tatn Bmenfeld one could fen se Lane, ghorting 2 partin which he had never Deen een this aon. This ind ‘fac hosing infact oc ncommon when uadertdie "eplice a fails actor whl cecil sf. ‘What mace thi paula experinte of Laugh onthe 2d Aer wuch more expla siren, we tha the hoe ing not op thee, Ac another lol the carcter Max nor tly layed by Late td is cen by Blumenfeld was only tmodeed on Si Cac, hove manners extemel falar o tienes fom bb ieevlonsppenanccs ere Iated by la tented and’ Lane, opening another loc of ghoning, And, beyond this one ofthe high pinto the cen was sence im hich Max andl his ters eer a sh nich Max tied Arion Brando inhi fone “Method” inerpretaton of Ses nthe fm us Car x ded tothe comple of this moment by ot only parsing Brando's le in general bt cally noc ina of A Stmatar Nana Desig wc 6 hive lead noted, the most ela nd ecogizable example of the Brando se. Thus, tis moment we wtnewed Bhsmen fei ghomed by Nathan Lane ghosted by Si Caesar hone by Navlon Brando playing Brus hosed by his interpret of Stanley Kowal The wave of laughcr and ge burst of Spinone that wa ltd by thi soquence provided lear ev nc int the atience nev on recog tt day enjoyed hs complen we of terri acing ferences ™ ure the not nila example honing oie the per sons ofthe talon etabune company that which otT/T aunt Sige when an actors has developed a ceain degree of public recog rition undertakes a wellknown role, 4 major role, for example, from one of the national playwrights—Sciller in Germany Molize in France, or Shakespeare in England or the United Sates. Here wo repositories of pue cull memory can and often have come ino conti, with potentially powerful dramate resulta they negotiate anew relationship either acces new Combination oF a presenation of « dusiy. The most famine ‘example ofthis inthe Wester theatre dhe vole of Shakespeare’ Hamlet, Ofcourse in Hantlet we have one ofthe major repasito- ‘es of Westen cultural metnoy, a in Fast, bt, wile Goethe's ‘ersion dominates that uation, traction that allows, eve ‘encourages, new iterary interpretations in almost every gener tion. Hamlet operates ina diferent manner. Heve new Mery retelling ofthe story ave extremely uncommon, but new deat ‘al enbodiments are inumerabe, and soe have in every genet ation new embodiments of Hanet onstage, each seeking to Feshape the entra memory ofthe character according tt es tiles and orestation, Each seeks to estab "My Hane ‘Valery in iteraey terns, sought wo establish “My Faust” ‘Asboth Ret States and Herbert Blas have noted Ham i nt ‘only the central dramatic pie in Western cultural consciousness bt itis «play ehat isprtetaly concerned with ghost and with Naunting. In addition to the profound ways which these 0 major theorits have demonstrated how the image of bawling appears within this complex and proweative drama, howerer, “aml voted with haunting in git ante dimension: the temporal moxement of dhe work and its accompanying theory and performance through history. Our language is bausted by Shake Spear in general and Hamlin particular, stich so that anyone ‘eading the play fr ehe fir ine is varialy suck by Row many ofthe play's Hines are already knox to ber. Even more exper fenced readers (or viewers) cat hardly escape the impression that the ply is realy a tinue of quotations. Our ionic memories are hated by Hlaml, Who does ot immediatly recognize, in what ser pictorial ale he may appear, the dark habited young man fesingcontempatvey into the sghless eps of« skal he shel fg (and who, seing that image, can keep from her mind the Thetiownte Baty / 7 phrase, “Alas, poor Yorck"}? Our eral and dhcoetical memo- ries re hannied by Homie as Shakespeare in general and Hamlet tn particular have occupied a central positon in crea thought for dhe pas to ceatstes, situation that hae not changed atl cen sith the development ofthe mon rece, tat iconoclastic ‘ital approaches, sch as feminist theory, queer theory, ew hie ‘oriism, and cultural materialism. And, Sally, or thea memories ae haunted by Hamlet, surely the most often prodiced ‘asset dream and ulate esto very apiring young serious actor in the Englishspeaking theatre and to's significant extent ‘ute aswel “The ee thing that makes Hamktae attractive toa young acto, the densi of is ghosting clerally, theatrically, and aad. cally, lo, of coure, makes i a formidable, even daunting chal lenge. Rate indeed wold be the actor who would tempt this ole 2s his fst major serious pare (rare al, proba, would be the reducer o producing organization the woul provide hn with sch an opportunity and expose theives ouch a isk. Much ‘more normally am actor attempts Hama only he he har alten developed astong individual Spe al achieved aficent lve of success and reputation test himself agains the role general fecepted a the Hallmark ofthe are This, every sew major real ff Homtss doubly haunted, gn dhe one hand, by the memories of the famous Hamlets ofthe past (some within the lng memory of auienge members, thers known only through historia repute ion) and onthe other hand, y memories ofthe new interpreter, Who comes with his wn particular ile and technique, most ase aso fia to the suidiences, The siccefl new Hamlet villa his unique vice co the wadidon and join the hosts with ‘hom Haralets ofthe fetre mist de In Cites of he Dead Josep Roach employs the vet ean sur gation co characenize this proces. Surrogation, sess Resch occurs when “survivors atemnpt to ft ssfctory alternates to “the caiies created by om through death rather forms of dea lure” The fit ofcourse can never be exact. “The intended sat ute ether cannot fll expectations, creating deficit, or at all exceeds them, creating sworn Anew actor attempting so haunted a ole as Haslet seme ta me a patclishy complex and8 / The Hanmi Sage imeresting example ofthis proces since he ie atempting to act 36 surogate fora whole hot of departed predecessors aginst hon he ill inevibly be compared, to hiarhntage or disndvantage. This dynamic has long been recognized by actors, audiences and reviewer alike and sone of the features that makes each new Imajor production ofthe play an interesting cultural event. He most conssiendy recorded in ries of and reports on each new prediction, which will almost inevitably make. omparisons bemeen the new Hamlet and others, ving and dead. Occasion aly, however, in the metadieauical move ofthe late twentieth em tury, directors have called attention tothe dmamic within pro- Auctions of Hani aelf, pecially in the already mitatheattc seenes th the Pye. Thus, Datel Mesguic, in his 1005 eel in Lil, Franc, had dhe famous “To be or not o be" speech deli cred weverl historical sles, along with cominettarie on iter Preston from Stnishky. Meyerhold, and Brecht. Simian Andrei Serban, in his 100 revl a the Publ Theter fm New York, aecented Hamlet's advice wo the Players with a sequence Bling the stage wth actors carrying large reprodcons of famous Hamlets ofthe past, many of them from the Public Theater felt but alo incading a few particulary memorable ioral Hat Jet atch as Sarah Bernhard, and dominated by 3 peter ofthe present Hamlet, Lie Schreiber ‘Oceasonaly a single acto hs come 1 Hamlt with 30 power fulanel auractive an iterpretstion that he achieves fo is gener tion the ideal fusion ofthe oo ghosts tha ofthe role and that of the inteepites, making it exterely ditcul for young actors in that particular generation ta challenge tis dominant image. This could certainly be claimed for Ean Booth in latenineteenth and John Barrymore in eristwentet-century Amerie and fora rum her ofgrex Beds ators Hane sso complex and o poplar 2 role, however, that in most generations thre hive been number ‘of compering interpretations, otha the reception experience for regular theatregocts hat not normally involved comparing 3 mew Hamlet wth one specie famous predecesor, a has often been the eae with other famous roes, but with a numberof competing hots, some fom the pst and eahers of the present. The Heel Bad / 81 ames surely the role in the Enghish Ingwage tradition that ‘rokes the most cromded Bele of hon, Monto dhe great roles of the uaditional repertoire, those plays that undergo regular revial, sare in his damier a cen extent, bt pare ofthe cultural memory of Haat has ecome that ia Kind of Yes for api ing young ators creating «special reception paradox where a9 important par ofthe audience expectation has become what the new actor will do to establish hi Hale. Here the compar ‘hon inesably made wit the interpretations af he pas take On paricalar urgency and specifi, Although the parila theatrical and ctrl positioning of Harnlet makes the operations of ghosting nd of cultural memory particularly obvious im thi ole, the mesnor of the bods, the ‘movement, the gestres, of presious actors hats ll theatrical performance. As Joseph Roach has observed in Ci of the Dr "Even in death actors roles tend wo say with ter. They gather in the memory of audiences, ike ghosts, as each new interpretation ofa ole sustain or upsets expectations derived fom the previ ‘ones Modern American theatre audiences are probably lee ‘conscious ofthis important part of the proces of theatrical recep ‘on than audiences in almost ay other theatre cltre, past present for to reasons. The fetta have alveady need i "elation to the rese of dramatic ext material, the tr vowed ‘ealsm inthe modern theate diminished the over reeling of sich material that has characterized mos theatre ofthe pst, both Enstand Wes. The second i thatthe regular revs a ole, epe- tilly clase works, is mul more uncommon in modern Ameria than is almost anywhere ele inthe world, and so the oppor iy ot secaling roost of parr we Unil firyrecen times even in dhe United Sates large mun ber of familar plays were regula ceived, al withthe came a whole repercire of actors! movements and gestures, reinforced om the one andy the memories the sudience anon the other by the tadlions of the acting profession Ise. Lawrence Barrett a Popular American actor and manager in ehe Inte ninetecth cs tury, clearly summarized the peeling practice of hat ns82 /- The Hunt Stags Te s-alled “busines” of neartyall he commonly ate plays has heen handed down through generations of actors, amended and corrected in many case by cach performer, bt ‘ever radically changed. New readings of cera pasages have been substituted for old, but the wadional point” have been preserved, personal characterises and physil peclardes finding ample expression within dhe old readings ofthe plays “This attitude rover acting and performance memory oy senna bit oad, even unatural, to 3 theatregoer in meer Ameria, within 2 theatical culture that places relatively litle value on tithee memory or tradition, but in the great majority of theatrical taltares, past and present, something akin to what Barrett describing hasbeen the performance nom, Te Japanese Kabuki theatre provides an excellent example of this dmamie a work. The ene performance of Kabul i go% rnc! (as indeed are all sheaticl performances, whether they foreground his or not) bya set of fndamental commenti ofthe form in Japanese called yokes Within each performance these conventions work themselves ont through a series of discrete sctions called hate, which Kabuki historian Samuel Leiter. has filled “the bones or building blocks of kabuki performance” We ‘may speak of kaw associated witha single actor, suchas those of Teka Danjuro IX, those of family mich 3 the neitomaye tin the ctwaya Kata, anl so om Some hate ate particularly asc ted with certain oles hile there are alo many that may occur in ‘side aretyof pays. Thus itis posible wo speak of walking Ata, ‘ying hate, running ht, lnghing hts, and so on, forthe fepre ‘enutlon of all emotions and. modes of deporment?™ By efiniion an action dor not become a fata unt ei et and repeated » number of times, to the point where i becomes 3 ree ‘nine enti and is handed dow 0 posterity. Toda napa, asin che Wes, desr for innotation spied aginst the forces of teaon, but Kabuki actors fave found an interesting compro Ise. A contemporary spanese actor seeking sanortion wil Fareyatempt to create a completely new Rl, He wll much more Tkel estote to the sage ol ata that are no longer in commen ‘se, just as Epes ad notso much create new versions of tad The Hound Baby 88 sionil mythic material as to sexore to public consciousnet les familiar ener variants. The father's ghosts pse over bat only to summon the ghos ofthe grandfther. ‘The normal Tineage and recyling of action and geste has ‘wadionaly been handed somewhat diferenly inthe West Up luni the lant centory a more of less conventional interpretive un dition was established within each country far commonly revived plays often descended more oles drety from the originator of {he role in that county This process was pariculary clear the ‘ase of plays that reve with some Fequency, nich 8 the major works of Shakespeare n England or Moiere in France, Angstan {theatre historian John Downes, praising Thoma Beteton's per formance of King Heney VIL, notes that Betterton had been instructed init by Sir Win who ad it fom OM Me, Lae, that had hi esrucions fom Mr. hater hinselL™™ Downes pro- vides‘ similar performance genealogy for Beterion's Hamlet, which, unlike that for Henry VIL iseeaely ncorres" bat even in that ease, as eitors Milhous and Hume note, "however spurious the interpretation ofthe roe, theaneedot indicates respect for 4 performance tradition." Joseph Roach recounts a teling ance fote from Thomas Davies's Dramas Micali (1789) concern ing the importance of pertormance memory othe dramatic prac tice ofthis period. Duving 3 resal of Nathaniel Lees The Rival Quens Betterton "was at los to recover parila emphasis of Han which gave fore to sme interesting sation ofthe part when anther actor, recalling Har’ iterpretation, "repeated the Tine exactly in Hart's ey” thus guning Beteron’s eaety thanks tnd a colnforso acceptable service" The practice suggested by these examples resulted ina perfor ‘mance ration that remained fail sable fora numberof ene sions in the European theatre unless, ax occasionally happened, ’mn ator appeared wit aes aterpretaton that we so sting ‘iginal and popular, hat fora generation, or peeps fr several _eneratonsithauoted al subsequent interpretations of that oe ‘Afamous example inthe British heats Caries Macin’s noted ehteenth-

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