"Theatre is not about theory:" an interview with Reza Abdoh. (experimental theater director)(Interview)

I first discovered Reza Abdoh's work in 1991 when he was invited to present his Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice at Montreal's Festival des Ameriques. Of all the plays presented that year, Abdoh's was both the most astounding and the most original. The imagery, the narrative, the acting, in fact the whole production had a strange quality to it, one that subverted the spectator's customary point of view. I was intrigued as well as fascinated by Abdoh's combination of high-tech and classical elements, modern life and mythology, violence and tenderness. It was clear from the start that his style of theatre was absolutely unique.

After Hip-Hop Waltz, I saw Abdoh's Law of Remains in New York. On this occasion, I expressed my desire to interview Abdoh, but this was unfortunately impossible to arrange as he was extremely busy rehearsing Tight Right White in preparation for a European tour.

A few months later, while at a conference in Brussels, I discovered that Abdoh was presenting Tight Right White at the Vlamms Theatre Festival. I repeated my request for an interview. Since Abdoh was on his way to France, I decided to make a stopover in Paris on my way back to Canada, and that's where this interview took place on 4 June 1994.We met in Abdoh's Paris apartment, and although he was quite tired, he very generously agreed to take the time to answer my questions.

FERAL: What kind of training did you have?

ABDOH: I went to the Youth Theatre in London when I was young and studied acting. Well, I didn't so much study acting. I was very young at the time. After that, really, my training was not in acting at all. It was mainly film, making my own theatre pieces, studying dance, movement, stuff like that. I never had formal training for acting at all.

FERAL: So, how did you get interested in acting and stage direction?

ABDOH: Again, when I was young, I started doing theatre. I don't think any one event really made me become interested in theatre. I became interested in doing it and I did it.

FERAL: What figures or theoreticians have influenced your work?

ABDOH: Some theoreticians have influenced my work for sure. Brecht, of course. Artaud... But beyond them, just popular culture I would say, theoreticians of popular culture and social theorists, as well as philosophers like Foucault or Baudrillard, for example. But I'd say these influences are mainly just intellectual influences.

FERAL: Would you say that your actors have also been influenced by Brecht, Artaud? Do you share the same culture with your actors?

ABDOH: I might with some of them, I don't know... Actually, I don't really discuss it with them. I know that their relationship to their work is a very personal one and that they don't intellectualize or theorize at all in fact, because they come from a perspective of inhabiting their roles or from a point of view of being emotionally connected to them. That does not mean that they don't also have intellectual perspective on it. Some of them read a great deal and they respond to theoretical works. I'm sure they share certain theoretical concerns that I have as well, but I think theatre is ultimately not about theory. It's about something quite different.

FERAL: So, you don't expect any specific knowledge from your actors on the theoretical level.

ABDOH: No, no... It's not a school! I don't test them...

"The less intellectual an actor is, the better"

FERAL: How do you choose your actors? On what premises, on what qualities do you base your selection?

ABDOH: Ah!... Skill and talent, mainly. I'm a big fan of talent. That's very important to me. Versatility, courage that's very important--fearlessness, lack of inhibition, I would say. Those are the main qualities that I think an actor should have. I don't think any actor really needs to be an intellectual in order to act. In fact, the less intellectual an actor is, the better. But if it is there with everything else, then it's even better. I have very intellectual actors, some of them are very, very intellectual.

FERAL: And they are good actors?

ABDOH: And they're very good actors, yes. But I personally find the ones who have less intellectual obsessions more interesting because it seems like there's more force; sometimes they're more animalistic and less cerebral... I mean, for me it's just a more powerful presence onstage.

FERAL: I'm asking these questions because there is a very …