Everything Is Permitted

“Had a transcendental storm of colour visions today in the bus

going to Marseilles. We ran through a long avenue of trees and I

closed my eyes against the setting sun. An overwhelming flood

of intensely bright colours exploded behind my eyelids: a multi-dimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space. I was swept out of time. I was out in a world of infinite number. The vision stopped abruptly as we left the trees. Was that a vision? What happened to me?”

–extract from the diary of Brion Gysin, 21 Dec 1958

Brion Gysin and the Dreamachine

Everything is Permitted

Who are the people that make up the subculture of Dreamachine builders and users?

What are the possible repercussions of individuals with no training in brain functionality or mathematics experimenting upon the subconscious minds of themselves and their peers?

Is the Dreamachine art, because it evokes feelings and visions in its viewers? Is it science, because the brain is responding to stimuli and thus anyone can use it successfully? Or is it an amalgamation of the two that

creates an altered state in which the user experiences the elusive “drugless high”?

If a Dreamachine could be made and successfully mass produced in this day and age, what would be the financial and commercial ramifications of such a commodity? Would the motives of its maker remain artistic or altruistic? And who would be held responsible for its misuse?

These are the questions that we explore in our project Everything is Permitted, one-act play with accompanying video installation. The play

centers around four characters in their early twenties who are drawn into the culture of the Dreamachine for their own specific reasons. After months of experimentation and numerous successes, the questions surrounding the device cede themselves to questions of human nature: how do we relate to each other, who is in control, and how long can a gift exist without engendering greed? Four actors, three simultaneous texts, a video, and music all combine to create the effective of going around in hallucinatory circles as the the play hurtles toward its arresting conclusion.