Note
A statement of radical self-subversion of the way of doing theatre in order to be able to contribute to the radical change of people's lives in society.
Source: Pierre Biner, The Living Theatre, Horizon Press, New York, 1972, pp. 225-227.
The structure is crumbling. All of the institutions are feeling the tremors. How do you respond to the emergencies? For the sake of mobility the Living Theatre is dividing into four cells. One cell is currently located in Paris and the center of its orientation is chiefly political. Another is located in Berlin and its orientation is environmental. A third is located in London and its orientation is cultural. A fourth is on its way to India and its orientation is spiritual. If the structure is to be transformed it has to be attacked from many sides. This is what we are seeking to do. In the world today there are many movements seeking to transform this structure—the Capitalist-Bureaucratic-Military-Authoritarian- Police Complex—into its opposite; a Non-Violent-Communal-Organism. The structure will fall if it's pushed the right way. Our purpose is to lend our support to all the forces of liberation. But first we have to get out of the trap. Buildings called theatres are an architectural trap. The man in the street will never enter such a building.
1. Because he can't: The theatre buildings belong to those who can afford to get in; all buildings are property held by the Establishment by force of arms.
2. Because the life he leads at work and out of work exhausts him.
3. Because inside they speak in a code of things which are neither interesting to him nor in his interest.
The Living Theatre doesn't want to perform for the privileged elite anymore because all privilege is violence to the underprivileged. Therefore the Living Theatre doesn't want to be an institution anymore. It is out front clear that all institutions are rigid and support the Establishment. After twenty years the structure of the Living Theatre had become institutionalized. All the institutions are crumbling. The Living Theatre had to crumble or change its form. How do you get out of the trap?
1. Liberate yourself as much as possible from dependence on the established economic system. It was not easy for the Living Theatre to divide its community, because the community was living and working together in love. Not dissension, but revolutionary needs have divided us. A small group can survive with cunning and daring. It is now for each cell to find means of surviving without becoming a consumer product.
2. Abandon the theatres. Create other circumstances for theatre for the man in the street. Create circumstances that will lead to Action, which is the highest form of theatre we know. Create Action.
3. Find new forms. Smash the art barrier. Art is confined in the jail of the Establishment's mentality. That's how art is made to function to serve the needs of the Upper Classes. If art can't be used to serve the needs of the people, get rid of it. We only need art if it can tell the truth so that it can become clear to everyone what has to be done and how to do it.