Brooking no Complaints

Blog by Gareth K Vile | 10 Apr 2010

Tramway ought to be paying me a stipend. Given the number of my ex-lovers I meet there, I have obviously been using my love life as an extension of their marketing policy. Then again, I went to Meetings With Remarkable Men on the recommendation of a former partner- and she promptly apologised to me afterwards for the pedestrian first hour.

Made in 1978, Meetings is Peter Brook’s film hagiography of Gurdjieff, the Russian-Armenian guru who has influenced Kate Bush and Brook himself- to the extent that there is a rumour that he argued with fellow director Robert Lepage over the precise representation of Gurdjieff’s exercises. It ignores the more controversial areas of his life, taking the text from the great man’s autobiography and not challenging the questionable claims made about a secret order of wise men, hidden somewhere in the mountains and upholding a pre-Egyptian mystery religion.

Alongside some neat cinematic nods to the style of Pasolini- focusing on desolate landscapes pregnant with spiritual meaning and panning crowd scenes for the intimate detail or flicker of emotion- Brook’s direction is consistent with 11 and 12’s measured unfolding. Emphasis is given to speeches and iconic performances: Terence Stamp is especially Shakespearean, and Warren “Alf Garnett” Mitchell is a sensitive father who encourages his son’s spiritual and scientific ambitions. The words are at the centre of the film. It was this emphasis on script that made 11 and 12 feel dated.

My own spiritual quest has most avoided deserts and mountains. I don’t need to trek across Egypt to find out the secrets of the lost religions. I picked up a paperback version of the Gnostic texts for a couple of quid in a remainder book shop and have had most of my teaching from Live Artists and cabaret performers. It’s also far more feminine than either Gurdjieff’s of Brook’s adventures. The lack of female characters in 11 and 12 was surprising, picturing an Africa populated by striving men and reducing mothers and wives to brief caricatures: the women in Meetings are incidental. It is this patriarchal slant that distracts me from the message of Gurdjieff in the first place. Esoteric spirituality is identified with masculine energy and for all of its claims, it retains the bias that has made mainstream monotheism struggle to adapt to the feminist revolutions.

However, the posturing and pontificating is redeemed when Gurdjieff finally arrives at the secret location of the secret society. In a series of too short scenes, the monks and nun dance in a style that borrows heavily from Sufi sources, shaking it like early Elvis or bouncing in precise unity. It’s as if Brook finally realised the divine potential of dance, the raw point of contact between the holy and the physical, and silenced the chatter for a moment of contemplation and beauty.

This is what 11 and 12 lacked. It was inevitable that I’d be disappointed by this late work of a great post-war director- having seen Sarah Kane, Iona Kewney and more burlesque than is healthy for any God-fearing man, I like my performance rough and physical. Like it says on the YouTube  I  immediately downloaded, I want to see the illuminated master get down with his bad self.