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The Theatre of the Ridiculous is a theatrical genre that began as an American movement in New York in 1965〔Bottoms〕 with the beginnings of "The Play-House of the Ridiculous" and the spin-off group formed in 1967 "The Ridiculous Theatrical Company".〔Edgecombe〕 "The Theatre of the Ridiculous" made a break with the dominant trends in theatre of naturalistic acting and realistic settings. It employed a very broad acting style, often with surrealistic stage settings and props, frequently making a conscious effort at being shocking or disturbing. "Ridiculous" theatre brought some elements of queer/camp performance to avant-garde theater. Cross-gender casting was common, with players often recruited from non-professional sources, such as drag queens or other "street stars".〔Arcade, Penny, quoted in ''Please Kill Me'': "Anybody could be in the Playhouse () of the Ridiculous Theater. It was all street stars. Homosexuals, heterosexuals, lesbians – it didn't matter, nobody cared about those things. It was all outsiders." McNeil and McCain, p.91〕 The scenarios used in "Ridiculous" plays were often parodies or re-workings of pop-culture fiction, used as vehicles for social commentary or humor. Improvisation played a large role in the often chaotic Ridiculous productions, where the script was treated as just a starting point.〔Bottoms: "Seeing 'acting' as a form of cowardice – a hiding behind the facade of character or stagecraft-- director John Vaccaro focused instead on the unbridled expression of his performers' outrageous personalities. ... the Ridiculous also dispensed with choreographic precision.. introducing instead a kind of improvisatory onstage chaos. ... the execution of a piece could vary substantially from night to night, as performers pursued ad-libs and spontaneous impulses, sometimes taking the performance careening off on tangents from its scripted backbone"〕 The phrase "The Theatre of the Ridiculous" was created by the author Ronald Tavel to describe some of his works, which were later recognized as the beginning of the genre. In a reference to Martin Esslin's concept of a Theatre of the Absurd, in 1965 Tavel promoted the first "Ridiculous" performances with the one-line manifesto: "We have passed beyond the absurd: our position is absolutely preposterous."〔Tavel, Ronald ("Beginning" )〕 Some more prominent productions from this movement are: *''The Life of Lady Godiva'' *''Conquest of the Universe'' *''When Queens Collide'' *''Camille'', and *''Irma Vep''. The Theatre of the Ridiculous became a strong influence on 1970s culture. Elements of it can been seen in glam rock, disco, and most directly in the ''Rocky Horror'' sub-culture. Since then, the genre has broken out into more mainstream theatrical productions, such as ''Bat Boy'', ''Urinetown'', and ''Reefer Madness''.〔Miller, Scott ("Inside the Robber Bridegroom" ) "... this style has emerged as the 'next new thing' in musicals like Bat Boy, Urinetown, and Reefer Madness."〕 ==Play-House of the Ridiculous and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company== The Play-House of the Ridiculous was an underground theater group founded in New York in the mid-1960s, with John Vaccaro as director, originally producing some works written by Ronald Tavel. They began with ''Shower'' and ''The Life of Juanita Castro'', which were originally film scenarios intended for Warhol's Factory. When these were rejected by The Factory, Tavel resolved to have them performed as plays, putting them together on a double-bill, under the heading of "Theater of the Ridiculous".〔〔Comenas〕 The next production directed by Vaccaro, and the first official production of the Play-House〔Wilmeth, Don B and Miller, Tice L. ''Cambridge Guide to American Theatre'', Cambridge University Press, 1996: "In 1967 the Play-House of the Ridiculous opened on Off-Off Broadway with ''The Life of Lady Godiva'', written by Ronald Tavel,"〕) was in 1967: ''The Life of Lady Godiva'' also written by Ronald Tavel. Charles Ludlam – who became a major figure in the "Ridiculous" movement – acted in the play as a last minute replacement. Vaccaro then produced a play with Ludlam that Ludlam had written earlier: ''Big Hotel'', opening in an East Village loft in February 1967. David Kaufman, discussing ''Big Hotel'', has said: "Various features of Ludlam's 28 subsequent works figure prominently in his first play. His predilection for collage - folding in cultural references, both popular and obscure - is especially pronounced. Characters include Mata Hari, Trilby, Svengali and Santa Claus, and Ludlam acknowledged no fewer than 40 sources for ''Big Hotel'' - everything from ads and Hollywood films to literary classics, textbooks and essays."〔Kaufman, David ("The Roots of the Ridiculous" ), ''The New York Times'' (September 24, 1989)〕 Ludlam wrote a second play for the Play-House, ''Conquest of the Universe'', but during production he had a falling-out with Vaccaro. Ludlam left to form his own company The Ridiculous Theatrical Group, taking many of the other actors with him〔"When Vaccaro fired me in 1967 – from my own play – nearly everybody quit and left with me." Ludlam (1992)〕〔"A few months later, after a row with director John Vaccaro, he walked out of the Play-House with eight other actors to form his own rival troupe" Elliott, Kenneth. "Ridiculous! The Theatrical Life and Times of Charles Ludlam (review)" ''Theatre Journal'' (March 2004), pp. 150-151 E-ISSN: 1086-332X Print ISSN: 0192-2882 〕 Vaccaro held the rights to ''Conquest of the Universe'', and was able to perform it first, legally delaying the production of Ludlam's competing version (''When Queens Collide'') for several months. Vaccaro's ''Conquest of the Universe'' was performed at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre with many members of Andy Warhol's Factory: Mary Woronov, Taylor Mead, Ondine and Ultra Violet.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Theatre of the Ridiculous」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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