In much of the literature of the Theatre of The Absurd the style that has come to be to some
extent common to the genre is used to comment of a lack of meaning. For this purpose action is at
times portrayed as outside the generally accepted realm of the possible so as to illustrate it?s
meaninglessness. Character?s tasks are fragmented or committed in repetition so as to comment on
their innate lack of purpose or effect. Scenes are played in impossible settings so as to illuminate the
feeling of man/woman existing in a void with no purpose or ability to direct their course. None of
these themes is in keeping with the writings of Bruno Schulz. Neither are they the meaning that
motivate this theatrical work.
The issue of the devaluation of the individual is also explored here to great effect. It is
perhaps a nod to the tradition of the renowned polish dramatist – director Tadeusz Kantor. In his
Theatre of Death he depicted the hopeless state of the individual by substituting an inanimate object
for a person. A puppet of sorts is used in conjunction with live actors who carry out a ritualistic
murder. Ionesco deals with the same subject matter in his Killing Game. Yet again, when this device
is employed in The Street of Crocodiles it is only a visual resonance of a style that is given a different
value here. When the character of the father is lost to Joseph he reapers in wooden effigy. In no
time the wooden effigy is destroyed methodically by another character. Yet it is Joseph?s experience
of loss that is being illustrated. The father?s demise is only presented for its? effect on the son. the
father himself is given the line ? No, no, no, there is no dead matter. Lifelessness is only a
disguise…?
The Street of Crocodiles speaks about searching for purpose and meaning just as the
aforementioned work does. It is however an innately different style of art. Throughout the piece there
is evidence of finding meaning and purpose. While a similar style is shared, it is used here to draw
vastly different conclusions. Often in the plays of the absurdist theatre words are shown to have no
meaning or use. Their very lack of purpose or impact can be identified by the void on which they
continue to have no effect. In Samuel Beckett?s Krapp?s Last Tape the playwright?s sad clown
unwinds the word ?spool? until it has lost it?s meaning. At first it becomes a silly plaything and then
finally is discarded as debris. Words lose their value when a character discovered that they can not
use them to communicate anything.
The question of the possible impact of the spoken word Makes several appearances
in The Street of Crocodiles as well. The characters speak in a number of different languages
throughout the play?s dialogues. At times they are understood by Joseph whilst sometimes their
meaning does not reach him. Yet here again, as with the example of the play?s opening sequence, it
is only the appearance of an absurdist characteristic. Here the use of language explores the outer
limits of it?s means of communicating. In several instances, Joseph?s lack of understanding what is
being said to him is positioned as a metaphor for his uncertainty of being understood himself.
In the end the Theatre de Complicitie?s production of Street of Crocodiles benefits from
weaving a number of different styles together and possible creating a new one in the process. While
elements of absurdism are evident they serve a different purpose than that for which they are usually
used. The mime work incorporated into the body of the piece empowers the strength of the play?s
language, yet the movement is never enacted on it?s own. Indeed no single pure element from any of
the formal genres on which this creation draws is utilized on it?s own. In their note on the script,
Simon McBurney and Mark Wheatley speak about the plays composition and nature in the following
terms. So, this book is more the record of a process than a text for
performance; a map rather than a play. A play is a place
which demands to be inhabited; both origin and destination,
linked by a clearly determined path. A map indicates the
landscape, suggests a multitude of directions, but does not
dictate which one you should take.
Bibliography
The Fictions of Bruno Sculz Picador
The Theatre of the Absurd Martin Esslin Penquin
Notes and Counternotes Eugene Ionesco Evergreen