The Directions: 9 Gates to a Mansion
1. To express Poe's vision one must bring the following into acute focus: exacerbated sensibility, accuracy on the verge of madness, uncertain witness, the impossibility of escape, double identity, unspeakable horror, ambiguous brotherhood, antique genealogy, crimes of passion, and the and the ever-dizzying ballet between mad love and death.
2. Begin with the gothic tale. Exploit its taste for the fantastic and powerful penchant for suggestion. Dare to glance into the darkest abyss knowing that the bottom, if there is one, lies far beyond the discoverable. Unite terror and beauty and declare the sublimity of shadows.
3. Show blood lines as stains of enigmatic transgression. Mix without melding the paths of consanguity, incest, and vampirism. Signify the diminution of a dynasty in the thin insubstantiality of its blood.
4. Blur all borders and distinctions. Embody the house as the fusion of mansion and family - of which it is both ancestor and descendant. Confuse the animate and inanimate, stone and skin. Unite costume and décor, set and wardrobe.
5. Play on the enigmatic point of view. Show the friend as a biased witness and subjective storyteller. Question the verity of his observations. Lower the veil of uncertainty over all notions of objectivity and truth.
6. Simultaneously pinpoint imagination, reason, and meaning . Through Roderick Usher, show hypersensitivity driven to madness and madness at the gates of hyper-rationality. Allow the audience to identify with his perceptions without specifying their origin - rational or hallucinatory. And let them give him a chance, even if it means condemning the entire world except for Usher.
7. Unearth the essential and implicit power of Madeline. Show man's fear of woman and her unspeakable power -something he would rather bury than recognize. Uncover the impotence of masculinity.
8. Let the body speak. Through dance, gesture, and mime, allow the body to communicate what lies behind and beyond the text. Words are voice are only the beginning of color and meaning.
9. Provoke a unique aesthetic experience. Allow beauty, emotion, and absolute intensity explode with beautiful expressionist lights and almost supernatural music. Ally humor and signification.
1. To express Poe's vision one must bring the following into acute focus: exacerbated sensibility, accuracy on the verge of madness, uncertain witness, the impossibility of escape, double identity, unspeakable horror, ambiguous brotherhood, antique genealogy, crimes of passion, and the and the ever-dizzying ballet between mad love and death.
2. Begin with the gothic tale. Exploit its taste for the fantastic and powerful penchant for suggestion. Dare to glance into the darkest abyss knowing that the bottom, if there is one, lies far beyond the discoverable. Unite terror and beauty and declare the sublimity of shadows.
3. Show blood lines as stains of enigmatic transgression. Mix without melding the paths of consanguity, incest, and vampirism. Signify the diminution of a dynasty in the thin insubstantiality of its blood.
4. Blur all borders and distinctions. Embody the house as the fusion of mansion and family - of which it is both ancestor and descendant. Confuse the animate and inanimate, stone and skin. Unite costume and décor, set and wardrobe.
5. Play on the enigmatic point of view. Show the friend as a biased witness and subjective storyteller. Question the verity of his observations. Lower the veil of uncertainty over all notions of objectivity and truth.
6. Simultaneously pinpoint imagination, reason, and meaning . Through Roderick Usher, show hypersensitivity driven to madness and madness at the gates of hyper-rationality. Allow the audience to identify with his perceptions without specifying their origin - rational or hallucinatory. And let them give him a chance, even if it means condemning the entire world except for Usher.
7. Unearth the essential and implicit power of Madeline. Show man's fear of woman and her unspeakable power -something he would rather bury than recognize. Uncover the impotence of masculinity.
8. Let the body speak. Through dance, gesture, and mime, allow the body to communicate what lies behind and beyond the text. Words are voice are only the beginning of color and meaning.
9. Provoke a unique aesthetic experience. Allow beauty, emotion, and absolute intensity explode with beautiful expressionist lights and almost supernatural music. Ally humor and signification.