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Julian Beck


1. Je N'ai Pas Le Droit De Voyager Sans Passeport


Recorded Avignon, 1968


2. Interview with Julian Beck by Mark Ari, 1984 (50 minutes, see notes below)


The following is a translation of Beck's sample from Avignon 1968.
Translated by Gael Thomas.

French version

"- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"
"""- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"
"""- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"
"""- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"
"""- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"
"""- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"
"""- Je n'ai pas le droit de voyager sans passeport!"


""- Vous avez choisis l'adjectif "living", vivant pour nous pousser de continuer des recherches, la création et nous avons refait l'Antigone en dépit de nos instincts, a l'invitation du gouvernement de la Grece quand nous avons trouve, il y a 3 ans que le spectacle appelé plus a dire aujourd'hui, il semble qu'ailleurs.

Et avec des oreilles ouvertes, nous avons décide: Bon c'est quelque chose qui nous faut faire.

Même si il y a des personnes qui diraient: "Ah mais ils sont entrain de faire un spectacle qu'ils ont deja crée il y a 15 ans"

Moi j'ai répondu: "Mais c'est vrai que quand nous avons crée l'Antigone nous ne l'avons pas crée seulement pour '67, peut-etre nous l'avons crée pour l'éternité."





English Translation

""I do not have the right to travel without a passport!"
""I do not have the right to travel without a passport!"
""I do not have the right to travel without a passport!"

""You have chosen the word living (fr. vivant) to force us to continue the research, the creation. We have remade the Antigone despite our instincts, at the invitation of the government of Greece when we found 3 years ago that the show has more to say today, it appears, than before.

And with open ears, we decided: Well, this is something that we have to do.

Even though there are people who would say: "Ah, but they are going to make a show that they have already presented 15 years ago"

Me, I have answered: "But it's true; that when we play Antigone we have not only created it for '67, we may have created it for eternity. "

------


"""I met Julian Beck through Jack Gelber in 1984, shortly after the Living Theater returned to New York for a run at the Joyce Theater. The press was harsh; more like ridicule than review. After 10 years of self-imposed exile and more than 30 years of relentlessly experimental work, the Living Theater was broke and broken up. When I arrived at the Upper Westside building where Julian lived with Judith Malina, Illion Troya and Hanon Reznikov, he greeted me at the door and led me up to their apartment.

Books and papers on the floor and furniture all about, Julian's own abstract-expressionist paintings hanging on the walls or leaning against them in standing stacks, he and I smoked a joint, drank tea and talked while Illion tapped at a typewriter a few feet away and Judith whirled about the flat, appearing and disappearing, sometimes skinning vegetables in the kitchen, often talking into a phone she held in place between jawbone and shoulder, it's wire jumping behind her as she went.

Julian's long hands, comfortably clasped on his knee, separated when he was making some point. They moved slowly, drawing on the air, signals more than gestures. His eyes closed while he searched for words, then burst open to train on mine when he found the ones he wanted. His voice modulated from near whisper to the stentorian. But there was nothing false about him. He was gracious and graceful and warmly gentle in his manner, yet passionate when setting the record straight on the history of his troupe or while assessing the state of theater in New York.

At the end of our conversation, Julian gave me a copy of PARADISE NOW, a collectively written play that was meant to help people move toward non-violent, anarchist revolution and a more perfect society. He inscribed the book with the words, "May we both live to see the changes described in this play." That remained his aim. If he knew he was sick with cancer, I couldn't tell. We talked a great deal about the past, but his eyes were on the future. The difficulties facing the Living Theater, arguably among the worst in its history, were merely a nuisance. The troupe would be reunited. The work would go on. There was plenty to do."

-- Mark Ari, 2007