Tarot Card Reading
NAME - Chris O'Connor
OCCUPATION - Amateur Tarot Card Reader / Spiritual Enthusiast
PERFORMANCE REVIEW - What have you done to me?
A Tarot Reading for What Have You Done to Me.
Some preliminary remarks:
I had been in conversation with Stephen and Nisha about weaving the Tarot into the show somehow. Cards were drawn every night, ten shows altogether.
Stephen and Nisha popped by after the season and we did a Celtic Cross spread, the question being, what is the show?
The Spread
The Heart of the Matter - 5 of Wands.
Crossing/opposing this - THE MAGICIAN
What is known/concsious - THE HANGED MAN reversed.
Past and receding influences - 7 of Swords.
Roots of the show - 10 of Cups reversed
The result - 8 of Swords reversed
The Self - JUSTICE reversed
Surrounding Environment - THE DEVIL reversed
Guidance - 5 of Pentacles
Outcome - King of Swords.
The 5 of Wands was drawn on the 5th night of the season. It suggests collaboration, and warns that conflict ensues when ideas become rigid in a group dynamic. In What Have You Done to Me, this speaks to the relationship between audience and performers. In WHYDTM the audience is invited to participate in the work, to be present with the performers. The performer is invited to let go of being a performer and be prsent with him/nerself and the audience. In such a charged exchanged, potent and unpredictable, any kind of rigid idea about how a performance should be would be as counter productive, in this show, as the chaotic waring staff bearers on the hill in the 5 of Wands.
THE MAGICIAN was not drawn during the season, and this could be taken is a sign of the success of the work, as THE MAGICIAN represents a formula for the performer that WHYDTM rejects. M is the master of his craft, the performer extradinaire, the skilled virtuoso about to wow his audience… The formulal of WHYDTM requires both audience and performer to guard against the influence of THE MAGICIAN.
The creators of the show are aware of this. Above is THE HANGED MAN reversed. This card suggests the charlatan, elitsit attitudes present in THE MAGICIAN formula, a sham that serves to separate performer and audience.
A receding influence is the 7 of Swords, which suggests a process of gathering ideas from others. That these influences are receding is great! WHYDTM works best when it cuts ties with the inspirations of the wider creative context influencing its makers. The truely miraculous event of a meeting of people, present to each other, in a collaborative and creative space, would not be served by old inspirations.
Many cards came up over the season that suggested the importance of shedding outworn ideas and moving ahead into new territory - DEATH, JUDGEMENT, 8 of Cups, 3 of Wands, THE TOWER, THE FOOL, THE SUN…
The show has its roots in the 10 of Cups reversed - self pity, separation, dysfunctional relationships… all strong themes in WHYDTM. Right way up, 10 of Cups suggests a down to earth, non-aspirational motive, yet playfully inclusive, and welcoming. Under the WHYDTM roof, audience and performer are one family.
The show leaves us with a revelation of the power of our own ideas to limit or liberate us - the 8 of Swords reversed. Right way up, the 8 of Swords is an amplification of the conflict warned of by the 5 of Wands, pertaining especially to limited beliefs and a victim mentality. Reversed we are suddenly shown that these negative reactions are merely a result of a fixed idea in what should be a fluid collaborative state. This realisation is the a gift, humble and powerful, that WHYDTM offers us. Over the season the appearance of the Ace of Cups, THE WORLD, King of Pentacles seem to speak to this.
