‘"The particular action of the light upon the mind, the effects of all kinds of luminous vibrations must be investigated, along with new ways of spreading the light waves, in sheets, in fusillades of fiery arrows..."…”
First Manifesto, Theatre of Cruelty, 1953 - Antonin Artaud
The Enlightement
Often before the start of a theatrical show, the house lights are switched off in order to set a climate of awareness to something which is about to happen. The ratio of questions to answers is raised to its maximum interrogation before this total blacked-out stage with the vision extending beyond the visible. Similarly, a fogged, blackened photographic surface seems deep, looking empty but maintaining a maximum of un-answerable questions yet introspective as a ‘singularity’ in the paradigm of Suspension of Belief.
With the first touch of light onto the staged set, enlightenment rather that illumination occurs. As the act becomes visible the storytelling provides the possibility for emphasis and creative constructs. It is through this intervention that the insertion of aesthetic content and astute statements articulate and become expressive for the narrator and meaningful to the viewer. The frames puncture the sequence; elucidate the shadow play, these ‘in between cues’ contain the emotional intensity released by the pictorial form and its mise-en-scène.