Crosspurpose [La Malentendue] by Albert Camus

[La Malentendue] WHAT :

Test run of the hybrid theatre adaptation and performance of Albert Camus absurdist play ‘La Malentendue’ (CrossPurpose).

The [cross-purpose] WHY :

The adaption gave voice to the philosophical weight Camus assigned his characters and connected at a deeper level with the absurd (as defined by Camus), migrants experience in the 21st century.

In order to dig deeper into the character’s emotional and mental state (being members of the same family) and how their roles felt interchangeable in the context or fate they were trapped in, the adaptation discarded any naturalistic vein of the play. The actor was so enable to play all three characters, in a rather abstract archetypal way, using masks. This amplified the dramatic effect of the absurd, the philosophical weighting in the dialogue and the anxiety characters experience to a boiling point. The vey opposite of showing the returning son as a migrant who’s done well and came back to save his family as a naturalistic act – so often seen in other adaptation.

Presented in a Western context the adaption spoke to a migrant and fragmented audience in a non-culinary manner. The above were meant to emphasise this was not ‘culinary theatre’ (Brecht) to be consumed from a passive position of enjoyment.

Hybrid theatre refers particularly to an approach to live performance developed here. In this case the performance occurred in two spaces ie. on stage and on a large screen (projection). The main three characters in the play were played by one actor alone. The actor had to interact with himself as a different character. The characters had parts played on stage and parts that were played on the screen. The continuity of the action, dialogue and performance between these two spaces ie. the stage and the screen; was very important to achieve during the live performance and it was integral part of my adaption of the play.

The adaption made use of music, video material, and altered religious iconography. These were created during the R&D and were embedded in the adaptation from the start as the organic non-naturalistic, mixed media component in the work. This component played both an aesthetic role and is there to support and underline the mood and performance of the actor.

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