Richard Foreman

Richard Foreman has been writing, directing and designing avant-garde theatre in New York since he first founded his Ontological-Hysteric company there in 1968. In all that time, few directors have taken up the challenge of staging his problematic, rewarding texts, and Foreman's work remains under-explored by other practitioners. Richard Foreman: An American (Partly) in Paris argues that Foreman can productively be viewed as a (partly) European artist, whose thinking and theatre-making have been radically shaped by contact with Europe. Through a detailed account of his European productions, interviews with Foreman himself, a set of practical strategies for staging the plays and the full text of Foreman's previously unpublished play Georges Bataille's Bathrobe (1983), Neal Swettenham introduces the director's work to a new generation of readers and theatre-makers.

Neal Swettenham is a former head of drama and visiting lecturer at Loughborough University, UK, and founded the Richard Foreman Research Archive housed there.

ForewordIntroduction PART I 1 An American in Paris Classical Therapy sous l'influence de...ou Thérapie Livre des Splendeurs 2 O. H. Theatre Place + Target Café Amérique Faustus ou La fête électrique Die Fledermaus 3 An awkward ugly American La Robe de Chambre de Georges Bataille Birth of the Poet Ma Vie, Ma Mort Africanus Instructus Love and Science Don Giovanni 4 On the road Permanent Brain Damage Pearls For Pigs Hotel Fuck Bad Boy Nietzsche! Now That Communism Is Dead My Life Feels Empty! Panic! (How to Be Happy!) The Bridge Project PART II 5 Foreman's unbalancing acts What is drama for? The manifestos Postdramatic theatre Staging the texts 6 Cracking the code Directorial strategies The actor's task Scenography A critical question 7 Staging and Subjectivity In the rehearsal room The inevitability of failure Film is evil... ...Radio is good Hysterical Scenography revisited Wake up! Todo Con Nada PART III Georges Bataille's Bathrobe (La Robe de Chambre de Georges Bataille) Afterword