Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd.
Allan Goldfein
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Hello Stuart
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"O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! I would not be mad."
Shakespeare.
There is no madness that isn't firmly grounded in reason. True craziness can only come from a sound mind. Only the logical thinker is truly insane. It takes daily inspiration to be a practicing lunatic. The goal of all learning is authoritative silliness. Only a rational man can provide any genuine nonsense,
Take flying, for example. Why would anyone in their right mind stuff themselves into a metal tube, on a seat that is probably too small and hard, to be thrown through the air at an inhuman speed to get to an airport which probably takes almost as long to get out of as it took to get there?
And space flight? Even worse. You are tucked, tied, plugged and lashed into clothing that doesn't fit any human body, just to be able to enter a totally hostile environment, and then to be strapped into a small space awaiting a blast from a rocket that will thrust you as far away from home as it can. That's not crazy?
Now let's take sports. Baseball. One adult throws a ball at another adult who tries to hit it back with a stick. Meanwhile seven other adults stand around hoping for something to do. Basketball. Adults chase each other around a large room and jump up and down, arm pit to face, after another ball. Football. Adults chase each other around and knock each other down, passionately trying to get their hands on a ball. A what? Yes, a ball. Nonsense.
Incidentally, football games all have half time shows. But none of the TV Networks that broadcast the games will ever show you those. They act as if the game had to stop for a half hour because some other group had booked the field and that we. the viewers, are much more interested in watching guys who don't know as much as they think they do, discuss the game we've just been watching, than to see some expert cheerleaders and marching bands perform a well prepared entertainment. Madness.
Now let's take the arts. Otherwise intelligent people will paint their faces, put on clothes, that might fit, and go out in front of other smart people and present a piece of total fiction as if it was reality. And when they're finished those otherwise smart people beat their hands together. Seriously.
A symphony orchestra has musicians who play most of the time and others who hardly play at all. The harpist almost never plays. Isn't there something else she could be doing, ironing some shirts or spending time in the nursery taking care of the children of the other musicians. And the guy in the percussion section who's only job is to play the triangle in the last movement. Why doesn't he go check on the furnace or something, instead of sitting around in his tuxedo for an hour. Ridiculous.
There are times in out lives when we eject the clear light of reason and do things that are purely absurd. We go chasing after other people. We stand or sit watching other people do silly things. Or we put ourselves in ridiculous circumstances for the sake of something we think we want.
And it's a good thing we do, for if we didn't we might all go "mad."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
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Showing posts with label Allan Goldfein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allan Goldfein. Show all posts
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Gibbering Greatness 2/14/09
Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd.
Allan Goldfein
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Happy heart-on-your-sleeve day.
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I came of age as an actor at the same time the Theatre of the Absurd. Although the movement began at the end of the Second World War, it didn't hit the major stages of the world until the late 50s and 60s. The major "absurdist" writers who crossed my path then were Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Fernando Arabal and Herold Pinter. There are many others.
The term "Theatre of the Absurd" was pasted on them by a writer named Martin Esslin, a Hungarian/American author who wrote a book with that title. The "absurdist" writing arose out of an existential philosophy, notably that of Albert Camus, that looked at what appeared to be a senseless, hopeless life and tried to explain it, or at least find a place in it. And as with any important revolutionary movement in art, there has been more criticism written about it than there are plays.
The plays are a tearing apart of situations, places, language, characters and relationships, but that doesn't make them depressing or nihilistic. In fact many of the plays have almost a vaudevillian quality to them. For us in the theatre they were a joy to find and experience simply because "common sense," the rules of human behavior and rituals of conduct were thrown out. Characters did not behave in a rational way, nor was their world a rational environment. But throughout them there was the intellect working to redefine existence and establish new myths in order to make life comfortable in an uncomfortable, atom bomb world.
The great masterpiece of the time is Sameul Beckett's play "Waiting For Godot" which appeared on Broadway with Bert Lahr and E. G. Marshall. Audiences and critics didn't understand it. It was also performed at San Quentin prison. The prisoners understood it completely. Someone suggested that maybe the New York drama critics should spend some time in prison, which might not be a bad idea on several levels.
I had the great pleasure of performing one of the roles in "Godot" a few years ago and even at that late date people were still unable to grasp what the play was about: it has no boy-meets-girl, no detective solving a crime, no domestic drama. It's a play in which nothing happens but everything happens. To understand it one needs a sense of humor, a sense of the absurd..
Last Thanksgiving evening I was here alone with a stove/oven that didn't work, I had a stack of canned food to eat and, behold, my can opener broke. My Thanksgiving dinner was bread, peanut butter and bananas. That was theatre of the absurd, and if you don't think that was funny you've got no sense of humor.
The Vagabond Journeys
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Someone is thinking good thoughts about you right now. Think back.
Allan Goldfein
*************************
Happy heart-on-your-sleeve day.
-----------------------------------
I came of age as an actor at the same time the Theatre of the Absurd. Although the movement began at the end of the Second World War, it didn't hit the major stages of the world until the late 50s and 60s. The major "absurdist" writers who crossed my path then were Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Fernando Arabal and Herold Pinter. There are many others.
The term "Theatre of the Absurd" was pasted on them by a writer named Martin Esslin, a Hungarian/American author who wrote a book with that title. The "absurdist" writing arose out of an existential philosophy, notably that of Albert Camus, that looked at what appeared to be a senseless, hopeless life and tried to explain it, or at least find a place in it. And as with any important revolutionary movement in art, there has been more criticism written about it than there are plays.
The plays are a tearing apart of situations, places, language, characters and relationships, but that doesn't make them depressing or nihilistic. In fact many of the plays have almost a vaudevillian quality to them. For us in the theatre they were a joy to find and experience simply because "common sense," the rules of human behavior and rituals of conduct were thrown out. Characters did not behave in a rational way, nor was their world a rational environment. But throughout them there was the intellect working to redefine existence and establish new myths in order to make life comfortable in an uncomfortable, atom bomb world.
The great masterpiece of the time is Sameul Beckett's play "Waiting For Godot" which appeared on Broadway with Bert Lahr and E. G. Marshall. Audiences and critics didn't understand it. It was also performed at San Quentin prison. The prisoners understood it completely. Someone suggested that maybe the New York drama critics should spend some time in prison, which might not be a bad idea on several levels.
I had the great pleasure of performing one of the roles in "Godot" a few years ago and even at that late date people were still unable to grasp what the play was about: it has no boy-meets-girl, no detective solving a crime, no domestic drama. It's a play in which nothing happens but everything happens. To understand it one needs a sense of humor, a sense of the absurd..
Last Thanksgiving evening I was here alone with a stove/oven that didn't work, I had a stack of canned food to eat and, behold, my can opener broke. My Thanksgiving dinner was bread, peanut butter and bananas. That was theatre of the absurd, and if you don't think that was funny you've got no sense of humor.
The Vagabond Journeys
--------------------------------------------
Someone is thinking good thoughts about you right now. Think back.
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