Mike Daisey is determined to quell notions. The building blocks of his theatre rest on the idea of freedom. His stage knows no paraphernalia — there are no sets, further there is no script, just notes. It is just the 37-year-old Daisey at the table and his monologue.
The solo performer from the U.S., who attracted attention and reviews with his monologues, is now on tour of India with his latest production “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.” He performed the monologue directed by Jean-Michele Gregory at The Hindu Metroplus Theatre Festival in Chennai too.
Daisey is at his 16th monologue, a structure he grew into to find his voice. Monologues happened, he says, “In a desire to find a form of my own, a voice that could fully express itself.”
If he saw regular theatre “dominated/frozen by time, space and scripts,” he aimed his monologues to unfetter these constraints. A script, Daisey says, “freezes and quantifies the work. When a script exists it becomes a living event, I become an actor playing the story of my life.” He recalls a recent request for the script of his monologue to review the play. “You can't review what is not in word. Words are free and written words bind,” he says.
On his current production, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” based on the life of Apple CEO, Daisey says, “Principally, I have been the user of Apple products my entire life. I have been determined to tell Steve Job's story on stage for many years.” It dwells on the influence of technical shapes and designs on us and our blindness to stories around it.
Daisey generates the stories he wants to tell by pursuing his obsessions. “Sometimes these obsessions will be in conflict with one another. All art that is worthwhile intends to communicate and reach a communion. It has to reach people deeply,” he says. For him, there is always the quest for the political in art. Though he never likes to anticipate his works, his visit to India has been a “compelling, wonderful, interesting and startling in a wide variety of ways”, he adds.
“The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” will be performed at the India International Centre, Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
