The Waste Land

by T.S. Eliot

'We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.'

Eliot unfolds a nightmarish landscape of sexual disorder and spiritual desolation. The Waste Land is both a poetic diagnosis of, and a desperate quest for, spiritual renewal.

'I do not know whether a man or a woman
- But who is that on the other side of you?'

"What shall I do now? What shall I do?"
"I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street"
"With my hair down, so. What shall we do tomorrow?"
"What shall we ever do?"

About the play

As T .S. Eliot so eloquently points out, the only way to learn about life is by exploring. This stage adaptation will help you explore his poem The Waste Land. Holdfast Theatre translates the words into action, and it shows The Waste Land in a new light. The aim of our spectacle is to show one meaning of the poem; The Waste Land will have its own meaning for you when you read it. The task of finding meaning is a difficult one, and here, as always, it remains the reward for the toil of the explorer.

Eliot's humility , which is often perceived as melancholy, makes his poetry some of the most personal, as well as the most intellectually satisfying poetry in the English language. Just as Eliot's renewal of symbols crusted with obscuring familiarity demands provocative visualization so Holdfast Theatre's endeavours to show that female presence is in
reality fundamental.

'I had not thought death had undone so many'

About T.S. Eliot

T .S. Eliot is considered one of the most important poets and playwrights of his time and his works are said to have
reshaped modern literature. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888 he studied at Harvard and Oxford. Eliot became
a citizen in 1925 and received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948.

Eliot's most distinguished piece of work was The Waste Land, but he also wrote three essays around the same time in which he anticipated some of the critical viewpoints his poem woud be subjected to. His poetry mirrors the changes of his time as women began taking jobs and gained the right to vote. Alongside Pound and Joyce, he applies to modernity a 'mythic composition' drawing 'a continuous parallel between contemporaneity and antiquity', thus giving historical perspective to Modernism.

'I will show you fear in a handful of dust.'

Director's thoughts

The fragmented nature of Eliot's modernist masterpiece was initially both a hindrance and a blessing. Theatrically it looked inaccessible, but at the same time the possibilities for interpretation were endless. The complexities of the work
seemed to form a puzzle, a codex written in a lost language. Here we attempt to decode it through the media of physical theatre and live art.

Some academics have described The Wasteland as a misogynist piece; I saw an opportunity to reverse this focus to highlight the suppression of women. Throughout art, literature, mythology and history , the concept of 'woman' has consistently been represented as three women who have the power to influence human destiny. In classical art and literature, she is divided into the three Roman Furies; in Germanic mythology they reappear as the Norns; in Greek mythology as the Moirai; and in Shakespeare, three witches. It was whilst directing Macbeth in 2000 that I first considered the Bard's hags in this light, and my fascination initially began. The performance you are about to see is the culmination of research and ideas that have developed over a long period of time. I saw a link between the female tri-part identity and Eliot's three Thames maids, and so dramatised the poem with three female voices. At last I am able to add my own insight to the wealth of artistic material exploring the power of women.

Eliot refers to ancient religions and the medieval legend of the Holy Grail, finding in them a common thread of the mythic cycle of death and resurrection. Modern poetry, such as Eliot's, was the first great ideological response to social crisis and breakdown of shared religion.

The show contrasts with Eliot's concept of an 'objective correlative'. The Modernist idea that there can exist a formula of images that will provoke a specific response, and that this response may be repeated if the images are repeated also. We take our images from his, yet make his emotional equations, once again, non-linear. The images you see are shown to elicit emotional responses, but there is no prescription for what one should feel.

The production team has worked with courage and determination without which none of this would be possible, and I glow with pride. My greatest praise, though, must be reserved for my cast; these talented, exciting and dangerous actors have been a delight; brave and unflinching, illuminating this dark tale. My love and thanks go out to them all.

Literary work on The Waste Land often claims that Eliot was directly influenced by the tale of the grail legend, but I found that the best proof of this rests on incidental imagery and allusion. At times I have felt akin to the grail knight, with meaning and answers to the puzzles of Eliot's work being my own personal Holy Grail.

'... what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?'

Thanks to:

Mr & Mrs Iggulden
Mr Ian Rushton & 17Ma yfieId Road, Leicester
The Cast & Crew's long-suffering partners; a show is, after all, a bit like giving birth
The crew: Midland Arts Centre
The crew: The Y Theatre
Flexpress Ltd
UK Flyers Ltd
& James Bober

'Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over'