Experiments in an ancient craft

Press, 1 July 1978, Page 15

Experiments in an ancient craft

Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa. By John Heilpern. Faber and Faber. 317 pp. $14.50.

(Reviewed by Peter Murray)

“Conference of the Birds’’ is the story of a theatrical safari. The renowned director of plays. Peter Brook, engaged in an expensive, timeconsuming and energy-draining experiment. Directors like Brook want drama to enlighten and inspire actors and audience alike. Theatre can be therapeutic, the audience a

congregation in ecstasy. So Brook is always innovating, endlessly searching for meaning in his art. Peter Brook is like those linguists who think there is a universal, basic language structure to be found beneath the variety of known languages. He

prizes communication that does not depend on these languages. For one production he invented a new language of strange cries. Brook took his international troupe of actors from their base in Paris into the Sahara Desert in Landrovers and down into tropical West Africa. They acted, on a carpet they took with them, in remote villages where the language barrier was total. What they acted was sometimes a brief script about shoes, with actions and sounds, but no words. Sometimes there was sheer improvisation. The results ranged from utter failure to communicate, to surprising success. Brook treats his actors as a guru treats his disciples. The actors trained hard, though they did not learn parts in the normal way. Their arduous work — music, acrobatics, breathing exercises — was none of it on “set

pieces.” The director aimed for a trained spontaneity that could produce a series of theatrical happenings which would carry the audience along. A brief exchange shows Brook’s method: 'When do we rehearse?” I asked. He looked at me as if I were mad “Rehearse? I don’t think we’ll rehearse. Let’s see what happens.” Brook’s intention was to work towards staging the play of the book’s title. "Conference of the Birds” is an ancient Persian fable, the storv of birds journeying in search of understanding, in search of God. The modern actors motored down to the sacred city of Ife in Eastern Nigeria to try to learn something of the spiritual world. The narrator of the book, John Heilpern, conveys the mysterv and excitement of this journey of exploration, geographical and spiritual. At the climax of their journey the actors were permitted to enter the Holy of Holies of the Yoruba religion at Oshogbo. near Ife. For Heilpern this was a “vision of sheer existence — God passed before our eyes.” This followed the production of “Conference of the Birds” seen by the famous Ulli Beirer. a Scandinavian who was at the centre of the recent expansion of drama in Eastern Nigeria and is now in Papua New Guinea. His comment on the production was: “Worst thing I’ve ever seen in mv life.”

In the book no final production of “Conference of the Birds” has been achieved. Not all the actors are interested in mystical experiences. The drama they see staged by Africans never fails to enthrall the audiences. Brook and his actors depart; their experimenting continues. “Conference of the Birds” is very readable, gossipy at times, but with respect and even reverence for the ancient, sacred and very, human craft of the theatre.