Читать книгу The Marowitz Compendium - Charles Marowitz - Страница 10

Marowitz was born in Manhattan on January 26th, 1932, and raised in poverty, the third child of exclusively Yiddish-speaking immigrants, on the Lower East Side of New York City. At the age of sixteen he read The Fervent Years (1945) by Harold Clurman. Clurman detailed the troubled history of the Group Theatre (1931-1941). At the age of seventeen Marowitz founded his own acting company on the Lower East Side of New York. In 1950, while still in High School Marowitz became the youngest theatre critic for the newly formed Village Voice and experienced first-hand the advent of the Off Broadway movement. Greenwich Village, where Marowitz spent his youth, was also the site of Off Broadway Theatres. ‘Off Broadway’ is a geographical demarcation but also has roots in definitions of the alternative theatre movement in America (Aronson 2000).

During the early 1950s Marowitz considered American life to be dominated by superficiality and conformity. He was drafted by the US Army during the Korean War but ended up spending two years stationed in France. He believed French culture could have a civilising influence upon him and began to imagine that he would have a more meaningful life in Europe. In due course he endeavoured to find a drama academy in France that he would be able to attend. However, there were no G.I. Bill approved drama schools in France whereas in England there were approved drama schools in both Glasgow and London. Marowitz opted to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the hope that he would be able to return to France on a regular basis.