In this essay I will be exploring the nature of the challenges Site-Specific theatre presents. It is ever growing as a genre with practitioners such as Punchdrunk and Station House Opera leading the way in the UK, as performances not set in conventional theatre buildings are becoming increasingly popular. Conventional theatres provide a comfortable performance arena with unspoken rules an audience adheres to, as explored by Nicolas Bourriaud in Relational Aesthetics suggesting that ‘forms, patterns and functions’ of artistic activity ‘develop and evolve according to periods and social contexts’ (Bourriaud, 1998, p1 ). If an audience sit in a Victorian theatre, they will act as if Victorian manners still apply. Site Specific and Immersive performance have no such boundaries and I will be arguing that this genre of theatre produces its own specific challenges and to what extent must we as an audience adapt to these. I will also be analysing the works of established practitioners in this field and similarly my own practice.
Wilkie in her work Mapping the Terrain comments that site specific theatre ‘engages with site as symbol, site as story teller, site as structure’ (Wilkie, 2002, p), enhancing the significance of the location, of a site-specific performance. It must be a specific place of which the performance is inseparable from.
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The spectator, free to decide where to explore, can come across such places, exploring components of enacted narrative. This draws upon Machon’s suggestion of ‘deep involvement’ implying the participant must also be invested in the performance thus becoming a willing participant, that is, a spectator who actively engages with the performance. In The Drowned Man, the spectator may be invited to dance with a performer or be engaged in conversation which gives an element of chance to the
Ever heard of a story that sings of the “Angel of Music” and the “Phantom of the Opera”? A tale that once you have listened to the sweet melody that you will realized that you've pasted the “Point of No Return”? This love triangle has captivated multitudes ever since the 1910 original Phantom of the Opera was published in France by Monsieur Leroux, although most story lovers recall the musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber or the motion picture adaption. Although this story has been entertaining people for over a century, in this new era have prerecorded voices and movements begun to overshadow the talented performers of live theater? Although “The lavish screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera (2005) only deepened the damage” of the dislike of musicals made into film “with non-stars in the leads and an unimaginative production,”(Musical),which version, the live performance or the film, makes the story more attractive? To answer these questions, permit this essay to analyze two methods of storytelling: 2011 live performance Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall and the 2005 film, and decide if music and story lovers everywhere have too “turned from true beauty”.
Modern professional theatre is characterized by the widespread challenge to established rules surrounding theatrical representation. This resulted in the development of many new forms of theatre. Such included modernism, expressionism, impressionism, political theatre and other forms of experimental theatre. It is also characterized by the continuing development of already established theatrical forms like naturalism and realism. As years went by, the reputation of modern theatre has been improving, after being belittled through the nineteenth century. However, the growth of other media, more specifically movies, resulted in a smaller role culturally.
The duration and cost of the production have been compared to other media which provide entertainment, such as television and film. A theatre performance is more expensive to attend than cinema. The play only lasted for 85 minutes, a film can go on for two hours or even more. This can have a big influence on why people would choose one medium over the other. Accessibility has also to be taken into account when investigating the relevance of theatre in the 21st century. Television is a medium which can be accessed from home, and usually doesn’t cost a lot of money, whereas theatre costs money and is harder to access. Although the production was Australian, the actors talked with an American accent. Bearing in mind that the play was written in America, which could make it harder for an Australian audience to familiarise with the dilemmas going on, on stage, while the themes discussed seem to be more relevant there than in Australia. Overall this play doesn’t contribute to the relevance of Australian theatre in the 21st century, due to the many other sources people can access for entertainment, and because the play seems to be more relevant for an American audience rather than an
Colette Conroy, senior lecturer of drama at University of Hull, in her work Theatre and the Body, discusses how the body is used within performance. Conroy focuses on four fundamental issues: bodies and meaning, bodies and power, bodies and mind, and bodies and culture. This paper will discuss bodies and meaning, power and culture in association with The Nether, Lysistrata, and Disgraced respectively. Conroy employs the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Judith Baker, and many others to help discuss the purpose of human bodies within theatre.
"Elizabethan Theatre Audiences." Elizabethan Theatre Audiences. Strayer University, 16 May 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
...o the performer, as a creative artist, but it also helps to bond the group of collaborators to create a more dynamic and personal relationship, which is reflected in performance. Every single devised theatre company is different from one another because the works created by the company are unique to the performers and collaborators for the company. “Devised theatre offers the performer the chance to explore and express personal politics or beliefs in the formation and shaping of the piece.” (Alison Oddey 11). Devised theatre holds importance today because it gives an outlet to the performer to be able to express their political views which is relevant to the climate of the time. This type of theatre is often about more than performing pieces that are created by the group, there are often elements of current culture, whether they are political, social, or economic.
Theatre Journal 37.4 (1985): 426-439. Print. Wheeler, Kip. " Literary Terms and Definitions M." Literary Terms and Definitions "M" Carson-Newman University, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
To begin, with theater is a type of collaborative art, which consists of live performance. This is also a type of art in which performers present before live spectators. Actors dispose before their audiences an experience of genuine or fanciful events. Performers divulge meaningful messages to spectators through language, gestures, music and songs. In order to enhance or intensify their audiences experiences things are also used such as, scenery, lighting, prompts, make up, costumes and the blending of tones and sounds. Also messages are passed to spectators that will evoke a range of catharsis, feelings and empathetic reactions. Theater can be a space, a stage, room, area, range or even a territory. Theater has during times joy, conflict and sadness boosted individual moral, and has served as a point of focus during times of our Nations struggles and opposition.
Community performance can include political debates, social commentaries disguised as autobiographical self-debasing monologues as well as Renaissance Faires with their celebratory and informative performances. Each example can be said to include elements of Brechtian Alienation, even if they are not, perhaps, the performances that Brecht himself had in mind. However, the performances are important in that they force us to examine our own place within both the world of the theater and within our respective realities.
Societies progress can lead to intercultural similarities, and vastily obvious differences. These influences can be seen within the contemporary theatre of the times, explaining and progressing the status of community through storytelling and performance. The reactions to these changes are important, and help shape the society we have today. These elements are best seen between the medieval ans renaissance period.
In this paper, I will be focusing briefly on my knowledge and understanding of the concept of Applied theatre and one of its theatre form, which is Theatre in Education. The term Applied Theatre is a broad range of dramatic activity carried out by a crowd of diverse bodies and groups.
In her intriguing article “Avant-garde theatre: has Britain lost its mind?” arts and media correspondent on the Observer, Vanessa Thorpe, describes avant-garde as follows:
Performance art can simply be described as the type of art presented to live audience (Irvin, 2016). The performance can either be carefully orchestrated or random; scripted or unscripted; carefully planned sometimes with or without audience participation or otherwise spontaneous. In addition, the performance can either be via the media or live; sometimes the performer is present while other times the performer may be absent. In general, performance art encompasses four basic elements: the body of the performer, time, space, and the performer-audience relationship. Performance art can take place anywhere and in any type of settings and venue for any time duration. For the sake of this assignment, I decided to attend a live art performance,
For thousands of years, people have been arguing that theatre is a dying art form. Many people think theatre is all just cheesy singing and dancing or just boring old Shakespeare, but there is much more to theatre than those two extremes. Theatre is important to our society because it teaches us more about real life than recorded media. Theatre has been around for thousands of years and began as a religious ceremony that evolved into an art form that teaches about the true essence of life. Theatre can incorporate profound, and provocative, observations of the human condition that can transcend time; lessons found in Greek plays can still be relevant to the modern world. People argue that the very essence of theatre is being snuffed out by modern