Feeding the darkness
Lynn and David Morris, of Journeyman Theatre, give an account of the creative and spiritual journey behind their recent production, ‘Feeding the Darkness’, commissioned by the Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT)
The challenge offered to us was that of creating and delivering a theatre piece that would address head on the issue of state-sponsored torture in relation to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 2. Journeymen Theatre exists to explore dramatically such Quaker concerns and we regard this work as both our Quaker witness and our ministry.
From the outset we were deeply impressed by the conviction and determination of the Q-CAT committee to bring this Quaker concern to the fore, and to find ways together of alerting and informing both those inside the Religious Society of Friends and beyond as to what is actually meant by state-sponsored torture.
The torture ‘industry’
Originally, we ‘soft-pedalled’ in the early stages of writing, being too cautious of treading on people’s sensibilities, trying to find appropriate language and ways of making the potentially unpalatable less so. This was in spite of what our research was unearthing – then we had a vital meeting with Q-CAT, who made it very clear that people needed to acknowledge just how filthy and destructive the torture ‘industry’ is to all concerned. In short, if this project was to make its mark, we would need to tell it how it is.
The title for the piece felt like a leading: Mansfield Quakers’ email chosen quotes from Quaker faith & practice on a weekly basis and at exactly the right moment there came the James Nayler quote: ‘Art thou in the darkness?’ The final title was ‘Feeding the Darkness: Shining a Light on State-Sanctioned Torture through Stories, Poem and Song’.
Nayler was speaking not only for himself but also for many other tortured and abused souls. As Quakers (along with many other religious bodies), state-sanctioned torture forms part of our historical narrative. For those of us who are Christocentric, the story of Jesus’ persecution, crucifixion and that of his followers to come builds a strong and unedifying association with man’s intention to ‘break bodies, minds and spirits’ (‘The Hamilton Declaration’, Friends World Committee for Consultation Triennial Meeting minute, 1976).
Crucifixion
Dave’s poem ‘The Apprentice’ hopefully prompts people to think about these links, as well as to reflect on the current use of crucifixion by both Saudi Arabia and ISIS. Incidentally, the title of that piece is also appropriate as crucifixion was a specialised trade in ancient Rome.
Through our extensive and, more often than not, troubling reading we were learning how individuals can be conditioned and ‘groomed’ to carry out the most appalling actions on fellow human beings, and that the damage done to the perpetrators’ mental and spiritual wellbeing almost mirrors in many cases that of their victims.
The Hamilton Declaration, written by Friends, expresses this so well: ‘Both tortured and torturer are victims of the evil from which no human being is immune.’ These words were vital in helping us test the integrity of what we were creating. They are also strongly resonating in the ‘No Murder Intended’ piece, which explores a torture sequence as described in Torture and democracy by Darius Rejali, but through the imagined eyes of a state-sanctioned torturer who is attempting to justify his actions. This piece also asks Quakers to stand in the Light and consider what their response might be if they knew they had such a man in the heart of their Meeting for Worship.
A particularly disturbing facet of the research centred on the role of ‘highly trained medical professionals in the so-called interrogation process’ (as described by an Anglican minister in the ‘Art Thou in Darkness?’ piece). Q-CAT were especially concerned that we explore this issue.
In many ways, this was the most harrowing reading that I needed to do. Journals such as Physicians for Human Rights and The Atlantic journal were quite graphic and hard-hitting, the details both appalling and heart-breaking. There was a point where the reading had to stop and where the creative process needed to kick in. Dave and I listened to each other’s writing and made decisions about how far descriptions could go without alienating audiences or straying into voyeurism, which are always risks with this type of material.
Feedback
Feedback from people who have witnessed the drama suggests that we have been led to make the right call in the difficult balancing act between giving a ‘voice’ to the victims of torture and trying to maintain their dignity.
A Friend, from Brazil, saw the work and commented:
‘Having lived in Brazil through the twenty or so years of military dictatorship when torture was common practice to curb all and any student and/or social unrest, especially in the first three years when totally unashamed and manifest, in your face brutality and murder was the norm, one did become hardened to what one knew was happening in our military police shops that sprang up everywhere, especially on uni[versity] campuses…
‘So, to numb feelings of anger, fear and sheer helplessness, the heads down, don’t look, get on with your life as inconspicuously as possible, worked best for most, including myself… Feeding the Darkness has shocked me into reflecting again on this wretchedness in the human race.’
Music and sound are integral to all of our performance works. Once again, in this production, songs and music that were appropriate often came through in serendipitous ways and locations. As our theatre takes a Brechtian approach, the sounds that are used need to be quite unexpected and removed from any original context, so our soundtrack borrows from popular music, niche country and western, Stockhausen and Beethoven, amongst others.
There is a ‘homage’ to Tom Waits in the penultimate piece. The results represent painstaking hours with a perfectionist sound engineer, together with two other actor friends who gave of their voices freely for the project. This is to acknowledge that other people were very much part of this journey.
The publicity for Feeding the Darkness brought its own challenges. We had yet another artist friend design the all-important imagery for the project. Q-CAT quite rightly pointed out the flaws in early designs and through a pretty rigorous process of design, redesign and refinement we all finally arrived at the ‘one’ that ‘worked’ for everyone. What was particularly fascinating about this was the depth of analysis of the images by members of the committee. The feedback (then relayed to our artist) examined composition, colours used, fonts chosen and so forth. It was frustrating at its height but out of it came the right result – a sterling example of Quaker discernment at work.
‘Ministries’
Dave and I struggled to find the right language to describe this project, especially when devising the wording for our flyers and programmes. Words such as ‘play’, ‘dramatic event’, ‘ revue’ and ‘sketches’ seemed to diminish the magnitude of torture and also the importance of the human being at the centre of it.
So, we settled on calling the work a series of ‘ministries’ as this seems to be the more accurate term for what people will experience when witnessing Feeding the Darkness. We also describe it as ‘an immersive theatre experience’ in that the characters giving their ministries and the audience are one body for the whole of the sixty-five minutes’ duration.
The Hamilton Declaration is in many ways our framework as Quakers – but the words must be made into action if they are to carry any meaning and intention so that, together, we can start to starve the darkness.
Further information: www.journeymentheatre.com and www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/334
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