Hitzacker, Germany. The Goetheanum hosted the Theater Festival from July 10 to 14. The play Phantasmagor.a.i was performed there under the direction of Thomas Daviaud. An interview with actor Marcus Violette.
What is the performance about?
The performance is in a development phase and has the working title Phantasmagor.a.i. I will be showing excerpts from the process at the festival. It’s about a character called Morph Proxy from the Agency for the Collection of Data on Authentic Human Behavior. This is like a shrine to the traces of a forgotten or veiled self. The Earth translates feelings into beings and machines. It’s about pushing against that, about nudging where things are moving, about stepping into emptiness and heartbreak.
What topics and questions are you exploring?
What makes us laugh, what makes us cry, and what breaks habitual emotional patterns? What is authenticity, and what is deceit? We are exploring different approaches to theatrical performance and narrative forms. All my work is motivated by wonder at the power of imagination and the variety of media through which it can be expressed. I find the use of technology fascinating, exploring a seemingly fine line between a creative experience that stimulates the imagination and being stuffed with so much that there is nothing left.
What influence does Rudolf Steiner’s Drama Course have on your work?
I see the art of speech and theater as intrinsically anthroposophical. Making theater is my spiritual practice. Besides Shakespeare and Stanislavski, I was inspired in my early twenties by Rudolf Steiner’s ambitions for this art. His Drama Course gave a clarity to this work in a way I could not articulate before. Some elements of the course were part of my training, and over the years, I have become interested in all sorts of approaches to language and theater, so in a jumble of experiences, many of Steiner’s words have stayed with me on my journey.
More Theater Festival at the Goetheanum
Translation Charles Cross
Photo Marcus Violette during rehearsals of the play, Source: Marcus Violette
