Theatre Design & Technology - May 1972 - 20

a manner that is out of kilter with
and in violation of the space within
which it is played. The violation of
architectural space to develop the
existential space of the play itself
is common to almost all Lee's work
whether in collaboration with Gregory or not. For example, when he has
had to work on a conventional proscenium stage he will design a construction that will overpower the
stage and audience or he will play
in front of the curtain on platforms
over the seating (Trinity Square,
Providence). If he is given an "experimental room" he will destroy its
scale by superimposing one larger or
smaller relating to the play ("Slaveship," Brooklyn Academy).
With "Alice," Lee and Gregory
turn the typical experience of theatre
-the grand entrance, the parade to
one's seat, the search for acquaintances in the audience-inside out.
One is led in through a labyrinthine
passage walled by old beat-up doors.
One is disconcerted and disoriented.
One senses Alice's tumble. One
lands at a tiny door. One must duck
one's head before entering. The
space itself has crude bleachers with
the seats and backs of old chairs
na iIed here and there at random.
It is roofed by a faded parachute and
lit by a single fixture with a single
lamp. There is no fixed set. But 6
old wooden chairs, a 4 by 9 foot
table, an old victrola, a tarpaulin
and 9 black umbrellas come into
play in the course of the performance. The audience is generally qu iet
and
apprehensive. It has been
stripped of any preconceptions by the
journey to the space. It has been
prepared to rece ive the adventu res of
"Alice in Wonderland."

Gregory describes the environment
of "Alice" "as a kindofsecretclaustrophobic and subterranean playhouse where audience and actors
can play-a playhouse that is also a
padded cell where mad children can
give vent to any impulse they have."
Then he cited a deserted mid-western carnival town as the ideal setting
for the creation of this environment.
Given the dependence of "Alice"
on a specific spatial ambiance and
the paucity of deserted mid-western
carnival towns abroad, it must have
been a real challenge totake "Alice,"
her cast of 6 actors (who playa total of 7 roles), wives and husbands,
her stage manager, technical director, her "equipe" of table and chairs,
parachute and umbrellas, light source
and tarpaulin; on a back-breaking
tour of Europe and the Middle East
last summer. Nonetheless they succeeded in touring six countries playing almost every night for 11 weeks.
They began in Holland where they
drove 10,000 miles by bus to play
12 performances in 5 cities in 14
days. The tour was arranged by the
Dutch Theatre Festival. Their procedure was to send their stage manager and technical director ahead to
canvas the theatre space that had
been assigned to them and make
whatever preparations were required.
They did not carry the doors that defined their environment and created
their labyrinth or their bleachers from
found objects. In Holland they used
Dutch doors, in Iran onion and garlic
crates, in Berlin the posts and rails
of horse jumps.
In Holland they played in a variety
of spaces from a room in a building
belonging to the Dutch Communist

party (where they were constantly
watched by the C.I.A.) to typical
proscenium theatres. The first time
they played in the latter, "Alice"
went flat. Gregory felt neither tension nor contact between audience
and actors. After 15 minutes, he
stopped the performance, invited the
audience onto the stage to sit when
they wanted, and began again from
the start. From then on, the audiences (usually some 215 people)
were led directly onto the stage. In
one house, which Gregory describes
as the largest theatre in the world,
they discovered a massive sheet steel
fire curtain with a tiny access door
cut in at the bottom. He lowered the
fire curtain and allowed the audience
to enter the house and seat themselves in the conventional manner.
When the performance was about to
begin, he opened the tiny door,
stuck his head out, and with leering
glance and crooked finger beckoned
them to enter.
Their tour of Holland was immensely successful. Tickets had
been sold out 2 weeks after their
arrival was announced. In fact tickets
were so much in demand that theatre
owners were reported to have" iced"
tickets at $ 40 a head for people to
stand outside the doors of the environment just for the privilege of
hearing the show.
Their next stop was the Festival
of Two Worlds at Spoleto, Italy.
They were booked for 4 performances only in a space whose capacity was a fixed 90. The space was
the Teatro Dei Sei which had been
scooped out from the foundations of
an ancient building on the Piazza del
Duomo some years ago. However it

THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

MAY, 1972

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