Judith Malina & Julian Beck – The Living Theatre

New York City, 1963. It’s a sweltering August evening on West 14th Street, and inside a small, dimly lit theatre, hell is breaking loose on stage. The play is The Brig, a searing depiction of a day in a U.S. Marine Corps military prison. Under the unforgiving glare of fluorescent lights, young men in khaki uniforms bark orders at other men who scramble, heads shaved, chins dripping sweat, performing endless punitive exercises. “Move, move, move, you maggots!” a guard shrieks as prisoners jump at top speed in place. The sound of boots hitting the floor in unison—thump, thump, thump—creates a brutal rhythm. The audience is wedged on benches almost within arm’s reach of the action, flinching as each abuse is hurled and enacted. In the front row sit Judith Malina and Julian Beck, co-directors ...