Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1977 - 36

Other questions and issues about facets of the theatrical
event are raised throughout the book. A very intriguing section
concerns the relationship of the audience to the event. Drawing
upon Freud and recent psychological studies, the author concludes
that the responses most likely to characterize theatre audiences are
passiveness, ambivalence, and vulnerability. He feels these states
of mind, which theatre induces, are most favorable for its comprehension; thus he places himself in complete opposition to the proponents of "audience participation." Cole believes that an audience's job is perceptual: " ... in a word, what theatregoers need
to participate in is an awareness - a layered awareness of how the
illud tempus manifests itself at once through actor's bodies,
scenic resources, and language" (P. 80).
The Theatrical Event is intensely written with a provocative
content. It is sure to cause meaningful debate among those most
concerned with the staging of a production - especially directors.
Although it occasionally seems idealistic in matters related to
theatrical production, this does not diminish the relevance and
importance of what the hook has to say.
Joseph Appelt
University of Missouri
Kansas City

PROJECTIONS: TOWARDS A THEATRE OF LIGHT
by E. Feher
Toronto: E. Feher, 250 Davenport Road, n.d.
no ISBN
308 pp., illus., $14.00
E. Feher, in Projections: Towards a Theatre of Light, provides
a comprehensive look at optical projection with specific reference
to its use in the theatre. In perhaps the first work since Kook's
Images in Light, Feher has assembled in a single volume aspects of
projection normally found only in journal articles or chapters in
texts. This new work is informative, interesting, challenging, and,
at the same time, frustrating and disappointing.
There is a considerable amount of factual and theoretical information on all aspects of projection. In Part I Feher provides a
historical survey covering such wide-ranging topics as optics, light
in painting, theatrical lighting, dioramas, and photography - all
in relation to the history and development of projections. The
final portion of Part I is an essay on the philosophy of light in contemporary theatre with particular reference to the functions that
projections might play.
Part II deals with theory and practice, and includes an extensive section on optics with many diagrams and formulas explaining
reflection, refraction, lenses, lens systems, and projection surfaces.
Other broad aspects discussed include projection instruments
(with a brief cataloguing of manufacturers), light sources, slide
preparation, screens, and control devices and programmers (with
detailed wiring diagrams). The last section describes a lighting/projection laboratory in which several experiments w~re conducted
testing screen shapes and juxtaposition, image forms, and viewer
location.
The thrust of Feher's philosophy and theories of projection is
toward multi-media. He suggests the exploration of movement,
juxtaposition of images, contrasts between transparency and opacity, and contrasts in terms of tone and pictorial information as
considerations for the lighting artist. He challenges the artist to
analyze the underlying function of projected images in terms of
their communicative value in relation to the manner in which
man perceives and assimilates visual information. It is obvious
that his theories are based on a firm foundation of knowledge
and experience.
Yet the work (I hesitate to call it a book) is disappointing and
frustrating to read because the import and substance must be
dredged out of writing which is laborious, convoluted, and often
confusing. Generally, the text suffers from lack of clarity and
frequent repetition. In addition, production and typographical
errors and/or omissions abound: the footnoting in the historical
section is incomplete and substandard; many of the tables and
figures are unclear - often because key letters or identifying
labels have been omitted; and illustrative data specifically mentioned in the text is sometimes missing.
36

SUMMER,1977

Privately printed by mimeograph and Xerox and bound in
a paper cover, the pUblication is overpriced in its present form.
Yet, there is much of value in it and it would be a useful addition to a designer's library. It provides much detailed information on the optics of projection, the wiring of projectors and programmers, and correction for keystoning; this kind of information is not readily available elsewhere. If the publication could
be p.roperly edited and rewritten for clarity, it has the potential
to become a standard text on the subject. Even in its present
state, it provides valuable resource material.
W. Joseph Stell

University of Georgia

STAGE LEFT
By Jay Williams
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974
ISBN 0-684-13660'{)
228 pp., illus., $8.95
In Stage Left author Jay Williams observes the American
theatre caught up with the idea that it could not escape the
social and political realities of the age when the depression of
1929 brought the avantilarde and the political theatre together.
By joining forces, a raucous, volatile, opinionated, serious, ofttimes silly, but dedicated group of young artists and revolutionaries brought the theatre to the point at which, for the first time
in America, the public realized that theatre was a serious and
necessary institution. Williams argues that most of what is important and interesting in contemporary theatre can be traced back
to the exciting accomplishments of those artists and radicals
in the small theatre groups of the thirties. And he presents a
very convincing case.
The creativity of that period has been documented by theatre
historians, but its ongoing vitality and its similarity to the late
sixties as a period of widespread and energetic political theatre
activity has not been perceived and described with the incisiveness and enthusiasm that Williams contributes. His accomplishment can be attributed in some part to the fact that he was part
of the radical theatre movement in the thirties and recalls it with
the special insight of a participant; but it is more likely attributable to his introduction of fresh material in the form of anecdotes,
interviews, reviews, and scripts to flesh out the story of the time
plus his organization of that material indicate the extent to which
members of the various groups borrowed, shared, and worked
with each other and each other's ideas. For instance, he notes
that the play, Newsboy, was based on a peom of the same title
published in New Masses. It was transformed into a sophisticated
agit-prop drama by the collaboration of ideas from the members
of the Workers League Theatre and the director, AI Saxe, who had
in turn been influenced by the Group Theatre experiments in
improvisation. Other influences in shaping the script were the
film experiments in montage of Eisenstein and the dramatic
experiments on scene dissolves explored by Paul Sifton in his
play, 1931-. The script of Newsboy is reprinted in its entirety
in the book.
The account of the horrors attendant on the Theatre Union's
production of Brecht's Mother will elicit sympathetic nods from
directors and designers still caught in the dilemna of pleasing the
play or of pleasing the audience. Brecht was so disgusted with the
production that he shouted obscenities during the preview and had
to be ejected-forcibly from the theatre.
Another contribution to the human side of the era comes from
short caricatures of Lee Strasberg and Jules Garfield, written for
the Group Theatre house organ by Luther Adler. It shows how
clearly Adler recognized possible excesses in "method" acting and
thereby punctures some of the myth of apostolic zeal associated
with his fellow actors. Williams gives a clear account of the personal cost to the young members of the Group Theatre torn by
what he terms "America's own ambiguity of purpose - idealism
or wealth." He conveys the tension of a time when the artist
felt that he could act as a catalyst for social change and proved
that he could.
Williams' main focus is on the years 1931-1937, the six year
period which saw a spectacular growth in the number of amateur

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1977