Together Apart

Auburn University Theatre

Sound/Media Designer: Katie Wolfe

Lighting Designer: Catherine Pyle

Scenic Designer: Lauryn Ross

Technical Direction: Matt Gist

Photos By: Katie Wolfe

The Spurt of Blood was performed by Nick DiJulio at Auburn University as part of a collaboration between the Theater Department and the Honors College. The show used the script by Antonin Artaud to create a space using primarily lights and sound. The lighting design for this show was comprised mostly of side light and texture created by the tattered canvases on the edges of the performance space. The lighting was complimented with rough animations projected onto the canvases, and front light was kept to a minimum. The concept for the show was derived as part of the project and inspired the concept for the Tragedy or Comedy Research Fellowship project.

“Dark, shadowed, and unclear, are the barren fields of the mind”

This is a story about a Young Man who struggles with the anxiety and insecurities that surround his relationship with his girlfriend. The year is 1996 and the location is Detroit, Michigan. It is June, so the air is thick and warm and the ambiance of an abandoned warehouse district surrounds the city. The Young Man has just finished up on a date with the Young Woman, and he decides to give her a call once he gets home. However, when he calls her he begins to get anxious about their relationship, and the story dives into his subconscious as his fears play out in front of him. The two are separated by storm and history and the Young Man is transported (subconsciously) to an alleyway between an abandoned warehouse and a junkyard. The Knight and Wet-Nurse depict the scene of an unhappy courtship, taunting the Young Man with his future. He runs out into the street only to find that the Young Woman is not there and he is instead confronted by the Beale who claims she is his wife. A priest tries to befriend the Young Man, seeking a confession for his lust, but is cut short as the man comes to the realization that life sucks. Another storm hits the scene and God himself descends on the grouping to harass and body shame the Bawd, who responds by biting God in the wrist. More lighting touches down and the Bawd comes to a climax while the rest of the characters are smited. Exhausted from her efforts, the Bawd collapses into the Young Man’s arms and asks about his first time. Just then the Knight and Wet-Nurse reappear, with the dead Young Woman in tow, innocence ruined. After once again being terrorized by her lover, the Wet-Nurse pulls up her dress to reveal her genitals, no longer controlled by the Knight, and scorpions emerge from within her, protecting her from his unwanted advances. The Knight and Young Man run out of the scene in horror, but the Bawd remains to watch the Young Woman as she rises to the realization that he was looking for a virgin as a partner. Startled by her voice, the Young Man is pulled from his thoughts and quickly slams the phone down as the stage goes black. 

We are approaching this text as a commentary on anxiety and relationships as it relates to mental health. The Young Man is plagued by his insecurities in his relationship, projecting the fears of loss and stereotype onto imagined manifestations of unease. In today’s climate, mental health is making its way into the hot seat of conversation, but the stigma still infiltrates the discussion surrounding resources and coping mechanisms. Men’s mental health especially is pushed to the wayside of conversation in favour of women’s mental health. The abstracted and surreal environments within the text of Spurt of Blood support this manifestation of unassuredness, relying on impractical imagery and baffling text to place the audience into a similarly distressed and confused state as the Young Man.

This distressing environment is characterized by mental unease and unrest. Emotionally the air is thick with panic and instability, mood changing rapidly and frequently, jumping from one extreme to the next, keeping the tension high even if the viewer doesn’t quite know why the suspense hangs in the air. The Young Man’s intellectual standing plays a huge part in the established environment, seeing as the audience is immersed into his subconscious. He’s educated and it shows. Every thought is an overthought and to some extent he exists trapped in his own thoughts and anxiety, unable to escape and only sinking deeper instead. 

​“Dark, shadowed, and unclear, are the barren fields of the mind.” Distorted and torn canvases hang from the ceiling, boxing in the acting space to a claustrophobic point. Side and back lights are intentionally placed to create shadows on the actor and the space, and saturate colours provide variety while keeping the space dark. From the back of the space, lights point directly at the audience for the specific intention of blinding them as needed, providing stark and jarring contrast from the mostly dark piece. On the canvases come the haunting thoughts. Symbols and representations of his fears, distorted and jumping. Unpredictable. The white chalk on the blackboard aesthetic emphasizes the re-writability of the Young Man’s fears as he descends into madness.