Julie Taymor: Transforming the Body

"I put myself into situations where I'm forced to do something, to create, to respond, to see differently" (achievement.org). There are some artists that find an inspiration and replicate it. They find themselves in such wonderment at its perfection that they will use that object or that style, with relish, but have trouble adding something of their own to it. To them, it may seem to perfect already to revamp. Others find the ability within themselves to take said object, or style, and honor it, by making it their own and creating something new and innovative. Director, playwright, puppeteer and designer Julie Taymor belongs to the latter. Her intense fascination with puppetry and performance art combined with a love for foreign culture and tradition has led her to create works of theatre and film that are both ground-breaking and nostalgic.

Born in 1952 in Massachusetts, Julie Taymor grew up with a love of theater and travel, both deeply influencing her throughout her life. At age ten she was already involved with the Boston Children's Theater Company, and had travelled to India and Sri Lanka by the time she was fifteen. At sixteen, she studied at mime school in Paris. Throughout her schooling, she involved herself in classes on Indonesian dance-drama and various types of puppetry. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1974 with a degree in folklore and mythology, she returned overseas to Asia on a fellowship, remaining there and opening her own theater company in Bali. Naming it Teatr Loh, it involved performers of all cultures acting, dancing, playing music, and manipulating puppets. Taymor claims her inspiration became clear when she witnessed an ancient ceremony being performed by elders of the village where she was living. Aroused by the purely spiritual motivation, she continued to find encouragement in the daily lives of the people there, stating, ""I was very taken with the fact that the theater productions there were a part of everyday life...You don't do it because...you're going to be reviewed in Time magazine, but it's part of what it is to be a human being" (biography.com).

Returning to the United States by 1980, she continued to adapt previous works to fit her own definitions. For example, one of her earlier works after returning was titled Transposed Heads. It was her stage recreation of a story by the German 20^th Century writer Thomas Mann. Taymor was also recognized with an American Theater Wing's Hewes Design Award for Scenic, Costume, and Puppet Design for the production The Haggadah. Her incredible efforts on this work revealed a large Seder tablecloth that billowed out to become the red sea. Large Rabbi Puppets debated Passover in front of images of the Ten Plagues and shadow puppets.

"In The Haggadah, I used a piece of flannel cloth split down the middle for the parting of the Red Sea. By abstraction, it became an image, a poetic metaphor. Same thing with the...Plagues. By using shadow puppets to symbolize them, I could present the essence of each one with artistic economy and in a stageworthy way" (Taymor 112).

This set is where she met her life companion, composer Elliot Goldenthal, with whom she continually collaborated with her on various projects. A perfect example of her multi-cultural influence is in her collaboration with Andrei Serban, a Romanian director, on a version of The King Stag, a fairy tale originally by the 18^th century Venetian playwright Carlo Gozzi. Drawing from Japanese kabuki theater, Balinese rituals, and commedia dell'arte (a form of Italian improvisational theater), she designed and choreographed the puppets, masks and costumes. Goldenthal composed the music for this piece.

Her most well-known mainstream success has most likely been her Broadway version of Walt Disney's The Lion King. This work found such overwhelming acclaim in consideration to the fact that all of the characters are animals. When asked for a costume proposal by executives, instead of going in a traditional route of placing actors in bodysuits, she suggested the actors wear traditional African costumes, placing the animal faces on top of their heads. This way, their facial expressions could be exposed. This opened up an interesting dialogue between the carrier and the face itself, as well as changing the typical way to address the puppet to the audience. All gears become visible, and the audience is then allowed to focus on both the character played and the actor. Because of Taymor, The Lion King comprised of over one hundred puppets, representing over twenty-five species of animal. She received two Tony Awards for the production, and was the first woman to receive one for directing a musical. Of her reasoning behind her puppet designs, Taymor claimed in an interview, "...if theater is going to survive, it has to do what it does best. What it does best is non-literal" (Taymor 112).

The success of The Lion King opened up even more doors for Taymor. She began working on film, beginning with Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins. Continuing her method of reclaiming old works, Titus was a reinterpretation of the original Shakespeare play. Filmed in Rome, she mixed clothing and settings from various eras to stress the importance of the viewer relating to the story. Once again, Goldenthal composed the music. And he did so again on her next film, Frida, created in 2002. In Frida, she depicted the story of the life of the Mexican artist Friday Kahlo, who lived in pain due to a childhood bus accident. She portrays Kahlo alongside her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, and their tumultuous marriage that is so clearly portrayed in many of her works. One of Taymor's most interesting touches in the film is having the effect of Kahlo's paintings come to life. The touching film was widely acclaimed, winning six Academy Awards.

Most recently Julie Taymor's work has included using the Beatles songs to tell a period love story about the 1960's. Across the Universe seems to be her biggest work yet, calling for five thousand costumes and three hundred dancers, besides her usual required giant puppets, masks, and choreographed dance pieces. She also included more computer graphic effects and animation than she had in her previous film.

Regardless of all the awards she has won, they merely show the recognition of her innovative work. Taymor's use of culturally traditional props and performances addresses timelessness in reinventing old works. Her stylistic puppetry personifies objects and brings a new life and character to objects. Taymor's fascination with the ways to portray emotions with the human body as a neutral canvas leads her to state in an interview, "What is it about 'sad' that makes the body hard or soft? What rhythm does this 'sadness' have? So your body becomes a tool...You should be able to transform" (Schechner 37).

http://www.amrep.org/past/stag.html

http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=320772

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/tay0bio-1

Taymor, Julie. "Interview: Working with Puppets." Performing Arts Journal. Vol 7, No 1, 103-116

Hornaday, Ann. "Julie Taymor and The Beatles: She Can't Work It Out." The Washington Post. Sept. 14,

2007

chechner, Richard and Julie Taymor. "Julie Taymor: From Jacques Lecoq to 'The Lion King': An

Interview." TDR. Vol 43, No 3, 36-55

Wiltz, Teresa. "Five Women at a Certain Stage in Their Careers." The Washington Post. Sept. 15, 2007