QUANTUM THEATRE: SLAPSTICK TO SHAKESPEARE

Photo above: Ira 2008 in France

The facts and the truth

In Ira's autobiographical show Harlequin Dreams (1993), Harlequin ageing to become Pantalone, says

“There's the facts and the truth. The facts are very simple…the truth is more interesting.” 

The facts are that in 1993, based on 20-years active research, I established and articulated Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare as a set of universal principles for acting and theatre. I created three simple systems of Ten Principles each. The systems are The Dot, The Circle, and The Practical. The dot and the circle was a concept put forward by Jeff Love in his book articulating a relation between quantum physics, kabbalah, and intuition. Love's book Quantum Gods that I found in 1993 was published in 1976.

The truth is more complex and more interesting.

In the past many of my colleagues were astounded at results I achieved with their actors. I could not explain how the results were achieved. Amongst the colleagues were numerous directors who I assisted in various ways. Perhaps the most extreme case was when I assisted a man who had directed twenty years for CBS television in the USA and he happened to be the last person to direct Buster Keaton. We taught at a small part-time acting school and he asked me if I could do anything with a dysfunctional actor. I took the actor away for 45 minutes when the actor returned to rehearse the director witnessed what he considered a miracle.

It was then, 1987 that I began a process to articulate what I considered universal principles of acting and theatre.

In 1989 The Australian described my collaborative work as “a different way of seeing, feeling, and perceiving”. In 1990 The Sydney Morning Herald claimed “Ira Seidenstein is one of the treasures of our fringe theatre”. Indeed most of my work is in the fringe. Occasionally I work in mainstream companies such as Cirque du Soleil, San Diego Repertory Theatre, and the Australian Opera or present my work at mainstream venues such as Sydney’s Belvoir St. Theatre or Sydney Theatre Company.

In 1992 while I was employed to help establish the national Bell Shakespeare Company, I researched and tested my theories within my position as Resident Teacher and Choreographer. During that year, I also acted in all four productions, coached the actors in performance, character and text, and also was co-director of Richard III.

In 1993 I came across the book Quantum Gods by Jeff Love and I had a ‘eureka’ moment immediately and found the way to organize the principles that I was working with.

These universal principles of acting and theatre are now called Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare.

These principles are not an aesthetic, nor an individual style. They are simply universal principles that can be used in infinite ways. There are various directors who in their own aesthetic are utilizing these principles subconsciously. I did not teach such directors nor did I give them the principles. These directors discovered them. I am simply articulating the universal principles and offering them publicly.

Research begins with questions, the key questions I began with were:
What is theatre? (and) What makes a great actor a good actor?

I consider QTSS ecumenical as a counter to an unspoken fundamentalism that differing theatre aesthetics and acting methods often create. I think all acting methods are good, but that most do not work for most actors. When a ‘method’ works, actually this shows that an individual actor has discovered subconsciously the universals of acting.

The most essential universal principle from QTSS’s Practical System is the Principle of Four.

This universal principle shows that there are four united aspects to acting:
body-voice-performance-creativity.

In 2002 I found via Frank Theatre’s production of Doll Seventeen that Suzuki Tadashi’s Suzuki Actor Training Method was obviously based on the same universal understanding. The four practical aspects of acting are in every one of Suzuki’s exercises as well as those of Frank/Suzuki Performance Aesthetics.

The SATM is Suzuki's effective hybridization of exercises from Noh, Kabuki, Kendo and applied to the needs of modern actors. The Noh is in fact based on indigenous martial arts, agricultural practices and shamanic roots.

As actors, the field in which we operate is three-fold:

a) the realm of theatre, and

b) the realm of global society, and

c) the realm of Earth and Cosmos in which the Human is perhaps pivotal in some aspects.

The three-fold wisdom (Earth, Humanity, Cosmos) is clearly articulated in Indigenous cultures, as well as in Tao, Vedic, and Kabbalistic knowledge.

In 2002 I began to train in both methods (SATM & F/SPA) and applied them via QTSS to my own productions that have always focused on the three-fold wisdom (Earth,Humanity, Cosmos).  In February 2007 via Frank Theatre’s production of Hamlet Stooged Suzuki Tadashi saw me train and perform for the first time and personally acknowledged my level of achievement in both areas. He then invited the Frank Theatre company to his festival in August 2007. There at Toga, Japan I was able to see in his productions that Suzuki Tadashi is clearly utilizing what I consider the universal principles of theatre as articulated in the Quantum Theatre systems: The Dot; and The Circle as well as the universal acting principles of; the Practical System.

Like almost any great modern theatre director Suzuki had to ask ‘What is theatre?, and, What makes a great actor a good actor?’. Additionally like almost any great modern theatre director he went to the Greek classics, Shakespeare, and Asian theatre/acting practices for inspiration to create contemporary works.

QTSS does not exceed nor supersede the greatest treatises on theatre/acting such as the Indian Natya Shastra, the writings on Noh by Zeami, or as acknowledged by Suzuki Tadashi the greatest books on theatre/acting by Stanislavsky.

What QTSS does is articulate the essential elements and principles of theatre/acting in a disarming and simple way.

The general workshop is an enjoyable, creative and practical way to show that the universal principles defined by QTSS are real, clear, adaptable, and will directly enhance the work of any actor, school, director or method.

The field in which we operate is three-fold: the realm of theatre, the realm of global society, the realm of Earth and Cosmos in which the Human is perhaps pivotal.

In the theatre realm if we look only at voice methods, for example, we have a range of great teachers each of whom has found their way and their truth. Some of these more notable ones known by the founders’ last name are: Rodenberg, Linkletter, and Fitzmaurice. Yet where would we be without the deep, passionate and political work of Cicely Berry as a part of the spectrum of great teachers? Or do we overlook the mastery of Arthur Lessac? So QTSS does not replace any preferred method of voice, acting or movement.

Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare provides a fulcrum for greater discussion and for individual visions to arise and to succeed based on clear and simple universal principles.

For information and booking contact:
ira@iraseidenstein.com