ABSTRACT
In attempting to convey a sense of the staging choices made by Foreman, it is necessary to begin by acknowledging the fundamental paradox of such an endeavour. By definition, staging is physical, visual, aural, kinetic. A description on paper, on the other hand, is restricted to words, which are, as always, open to all manner of slippage and misreadings. This dilemma afflicts all attempts to write about theatre and performance, but is particularly problematic when speaking about Foreman's work, since his productions have their own unique dynamic, instantly identifiable by someone who has seen any of his plays in performance and stubbornly opaque to those who have not. Foreman has repeatedly asserted that it is not necessary, or even desirable, to copy his stagings. For each fresh production of any of his scripts, the dialogue alone is the starting point, stripped of any indication of who said which lines in their original stage form.
