Antonin Artaud’s SPURT OF BLOOD by Marissa Blair
Antonin Artaud’s SPURT OF BLOOD by Marissa Blair is an immersive and sensorial Theatre of Cruelty experience. Written by Antonin Artaud in 1925 as he was emerging from the Surrealist movement, Jet de Sang was envisioned during the development of Artaud’s philosophies on the avant-garde. His morally rigorous and violent criteria for spectacle are employed in this production which imagines the play as a dark, nightmarishly absurd underworld tragedy.
A Young Man has lost his love in the apocalypse and must traverse the new cultish landscape to find her. A Knight flees from his demons and drags his beloved Wet Nurse through the rubble, selling her as livestock, shoving his face full of cheese. A Priest gives a sermon with her real cancer-survival story intertwined. Blood is spilt, and we are all cleansed.
SPURT OF BLOOD’s stage is any room with as many or few audience members as can fit into a circle. The audience faces each other, and the action takes place within and around the audience. Detailed instructions at the start of the show are given as would a flight attendant before take-off - all audience members are given a small white LED light that they may turn on in case they feel they need to leave immediately. If they choose to turn on their LED light, the show is abruptly halted, the audience member(s) is/are escorted out, and the play continues.
SPURT OF BLOOD by Marissa Blair includes vivid projections, intense soundscapes, complete darkness, audience participatory actions, dance, and washable, non-toxic stage blood.
The suggested age for the experience is 18+ due to mature themes: blood, nudity, language
Running time: 1 hour
Director . . . Marissa Blair
Technical Direction . . . Eric Wrazen
Projections . . . Courtney Moses-Orbin
Sound Engineer . . . Eric Wrazen
Music . . . Eric Wrazen, Philippe Battikha
CAST
Marissa Blair, Tofunmi Famotibe, Joanna Felemegos, Laurie Labrecque,
Jeroen Lindeman, Rahul Mishra, Kathy Slamen
