Talented newcomer Jonathan Ball's Clockfire is a suite of poetic blueprints for imaginary plays that would be impossible to produce - plays in which, for example, the director burns out the sun, actors murder their audience, and the laws of physics are flagrantly violated. The poems in one sense replace the need for drama, and are predicated on the idea that modern theatre lacks both 'clocks' and 'fire' and thus fails to offer its audiences immediate, violent engagement. They sometimes resemble the scores for Fluxus 'happenings,' but they replace the casual aesthetic and DIY simplicity of Fluxus art with something more akin to the brutality of Artaud’s theatre of cruelty. Italo Calvino as rewritten by H. P. Lovecraft, Ball’s 'plays' break free of the constraints of reality and artistic category to revel in their own dazzling, magnificent horror.
Authors
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- C811/.6
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Poems Edited by Kevin Connolly--Colophon Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9781770562745 9781552452363
- LCCN
- PR9199.4.B357
- LCCN Item number
- C56 2010eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (103 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00229732 (OCoLC)778435957 (CaOOCEL)443764
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Cover Page 1
- Title Page 5
- Copyright 6
- Dedication 7
- Playbook 8
- 12 Entering the theatre 14
- 13 A New History 15
- 14 All Their Words 16
- 15 Alone 17
- 16 And the Old Gods 18
- 17 Any Animal 19
- 18 As Children Might 20
- 19 The Audience Is Called 21
- 20 The Audience Wants More 22
- 21 Autography 23
- 22 Breakdown 24
- 23 The Burning Bush 25
- 24 The plots endless 26
- 25 But 27
- 26 Catharsis 28
- 27 Cell 29
- 29 Cities of the World 31
- 30 City Dionysia 32
- 31 Clockfire 33
- 32 The Coffee Shop 34
- 33 Contact 35
- 34 Creation 36
- 35 Deus Ex Machina 37
- 36 Dig 38
- 37 To the theatre its themes 39
- 38 The Doppelgängers 40
- 39 The Drama of the Locked Door 41
- 40 Dreams 42
- 41 Eight Minutes 43
- 42 Empty 44
- 43 End 45
- 44 The Future 46
- 45 Ghosts 47
- 46 Gun 48
- 47 Hostages 49
- 49 The Ice Queen 51
- 50 Each actor has her character 52
- 51 If the Sun Still Burns 53
- 52 Improv 54
- 53 In Photographs 55
- 54 Into the Theatre 56
- 55 Isolation 57
- 56 Like Lambs 58
- 57 Little by Little 59
- 58 Lunch 60
- 59 The Magic Show 61
- 60 The Memory Theatre 62
- 61 Messiah 63
- 62 The language of the theatre 64
- 63 The Mirrored Stage 65
- 64 The Music 66
- 65 Oedipus 67
- 66 Of War 68
- 67 Ophelia 69
- 68 Outnumbered 70
- 69 The Play Begins 71
- 70 The Play Is Over 72
- 71 Pomegranates 73
- 72 Red Herrings 74
- 73 The Repetition Compulsion 75
- 74 Whether music or silence 76
- 75 Retrospective 77
- 76 Review 78
- 77 Revolt 79
- 78 Sasquatch 80
- 79 Seven Generations 81
- 80 Sidjeen and Illiyun 82
- 81 Something Comes Out 83
- 82 Something We Have Not Yet Seen 84
- 83 The Story So Far 85
- 84 Surveillance 86
- 85 Tabula Rasa 87
- 86 What spectacle 88
- 87 Taken Apart 89
- 88 They Come Back 90
- 89 To Forget 91
- 90 To the Stars 92
- 91 The Tower of Babel 93
- 92 The Trojan War 94
- 93 Untitled 95
- 94 The Waters Are Rising 96
- 95 Where Is the Audience? 97
- 96 The Willing Suspension of Disbelief 98
- 97 Wormwood 99
- 98 Exit the theatre 100
- 102 Acknowledgements 104
- 103 About the Author 105