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Executive Summary

From my research I believe Schechner has the closest definition to what I think performance is; this idea can be summarised with the quote “people as never before live by means of performance.” (Schechner, 2013:22) I interpreted this as meaning an increasingly larger amount of our lives is broadcast to an audience; this means even when you do not have someone physically observing you they can still observe you through digital media. After analysing the works of Schechner, Brook and Pope.L I realised performing can be seen on a much broader scale than theatrical performance.

Richard Schechner said performances occur in eight sometimes separate, sometimes overlapping situations: in everyday life, in the arts, in sports and other popular entertainments, in business, in technology, in sex, in ritual – sacred and secular and in play. (Schechner 2006, 31) These eight situations can be applied to any task in life and as performance essentially means ‘carrying out any given task to a specific standard I believe this idea provides a good generalised view of performance. Although I believe a weakness of this idea is that it does not state what needs to happen within these situations for it to be considered a performance, I believe that for a situation to be considered a performance it must be witnessed by an audience.

This brings up the debate on whether the audience need to physically see you or if they can view you through broadcast or e-media platforms. Due to the advancement of digital media performances are using technology more than ever before to affect the way the audience perceive a production. I personally believe this advancement will become more prominent in theatrical performances and may begin to merge with the movie industry. If this is the case I think theorists like Brecht and Stanislavski will soon become outdated and this may lead to practitioners such as Schechner and Brook becoming more renowned in the performing arts industry.

I believe that if theatrical performances merge with the movie industry then performance art and street performances will become increasingly popular; I believe this because aesthetics are becoming increasingly popular in modern day society. If this is the case, this will lead to postmodern performances becoming more common which may help encourage an audience that are less interested in dramatic theatre pieces.  Not only will this affect the demographic of performance, but this may also change the people’s perception of theatre; this will be due to the uprising of a type of theatre that a lot of people won’t be familiar with.

Overall, I personally believe that performance can be simple as being observed within any given space. However, even for such a simple idea I believe it is important to have training in the performing arts industry, so you can perform even the simplest of pieces with a strong level of conviction. This training is not essential for the initial performance however I do believe that if a performer wishes to pursue this industry they should have research in a variety of practitioners and theatre companies prior to performing. Although I personally believe theatrical performances should always be done to the highest standard possible, this is not a necessity. With the information I have researched I have concluded that as long as a performer is aware that they are being observed then this an act of performance.  

- Merlin, B (2014). The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. 2nd ed. London: Nick Hern Books Limited.

- Stillman, N. (2003). William Pope.L. The Brooklyn Rail.

- Anon. (2018). Vocabulary. Available: https://www.vocabulary.com/. Last [accessed 17th Feb 2018.]

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Builders Association

The builders association are a contemporary theatre company that focus on multimedia theatre performances, these productions often address political and social issues. After watching a few performances by this theatre company I realised how using multimedia layering could have a positive effect on my own performances.    

I believe the use of multimedia is effective as it is more relatable in the western democratic society; this is because digital media is becoming increasingly popular with the younger generations. The use of media also opens an array of possibilities when creating a narrative. A performer no longer needs to consider a singular position on stage and the scenery that can be created, these elements can now be projected through speakers and visual images.

We used multimedia in our adaptation of the crucible in the postdramatic module. This was beneficial to us as it allowed us to portray simultaneity more efficiently; to do this we used a live camera to project narrators behind the performers physicality and therefore the audience only needed to focus in one place rather than two. This allows the audience to understand details of the narrative that they may have missed if they only looked at one of these elements. 

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William Pope.L

Pope.L is an American visual artist who is known for his performance art. He endured multiple crawls in America of various distances in often bad conditions. His most well-known piece took five years; this was a 22-mile crawl across Broadway which he called ‘The Great White Way’. This particular challenge reminded the audience that “both his country and culture have a long way to go before the discomforts of race and stereotyping have safely receded.”

           I find the works of William Pope.L inspiring as they address negative aspects of modern society without any use of dialogue; this is effective as his audience must interpret the message and therefore think about the ideology he’s portraying rather than just being told what the message is. These performances are free and therefore easily accessible if you’re in the local area, however none of William’s work is publicized prior to his performances. This is because he does not want the psychological influence on the audience to be affected by the idea that they’re watching a choreographed performance, instead he wants his audience to feel uncomfortable by the messages he portrays.

-Stillman, N. (2003). William Pope.L. The Brooklyn Rail.

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Time Critical

Time critical is a piece that is devised and performed by Stan’s Cafe. This piece focuses on the concept of time. For every year that Stan’s café has been running two minutes are added to the performance, one minute for each year that Stan’s Cafe has existed and one minute for the history of the world over these years.

           This idea interested me as they needed to compact so much information into such a short space of time; I personally believe this was effective as the pace required to do this keeps the audience engaged, however to improve this piece I believe they should choreograph the dialogue to ensure all the information from each year could be covered in the time constraint that they used. Whilst watching this piece I enjoyed the balance between acting out specific scenes to the narration that surrounded them. This inspired me to state the information I would cover in a performance prior to performing it, I believe this is effective as it allows the audience to leave with similar perspectives rather than interpretations of the narrative.  

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Schechner

My understanding of performance was broadened significantly when I investigated the works of Richard Schechner. This is because Schechner introduced me to the idea that day to day life is a performance in itself; this perspective came from the quote “people as never before live by means of performance.” (Schechner, 2013:22)

           This idea intrigued me; it made me realise that any animal that is observed by another person in that moment or even in the future can be considered a performance. This theory runs similar to Peter Brook’s perspective of performance however Schechner does not state that any specific location or venue is required to perform. I personally found that this perspective was effective when devising a postdramatic performance; this is because I no longer considered dramatic theatre when choreographing movement or dialogue within any given scene.  

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Stanislavski

I believe Stanislavski has a large impact on contemporary theatrical performances. Constantin Stanislavski saw acting as something that should connect physical and psychologically elements unconsciously rather than having them consciously thinking about how their character ‘should’ be behaving. This allowed theatrical performances to appear more authentic and closer to reality; due to this I found his methods were more easily applicable in dramatic performance rather than postdramatic performance. Although Stanislavski focused on psychological realism and replicating realistic scenarios, his work was still intended for theatre and was therefore distinguishable from everyday life.

           I personally believe that despite the fact that the Stanislavski method helps an actor effectively portray a character, his teachings are less important in abstract and postmodern performances and therefore I would only consider his teachings a factor of performance rather than a way to define it.

- Merlin, B (2014). The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. 2nd ed. London: Nick Hern Books Limited.

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Postdramatic performance

Postdramatic performance is a term coined by Hans-Thies-Lehmann in 1999 in his book ‘Postdramatic Theatre’. This idea had developed from a lot of traits that were common in avant-garde theatre in the late 1960’s. This time is significant as this was also when the postmodern era began and with this era came countless new perspectives on the art industries.

               Postdramatic theatre expanded the parameters of previous performances; this type of performance mainly focuses on the aesthetics and their effects on the audience rather than the drama itself. During the postdramatic module we create a piece called ‘The Ible’. During the rehearsal process of this piece we explored and incorporated ideas such as: theatre of states, simultaneity, multimedia layering and we also spent a few weeks of the rehearsal process choreographing performers physicality.        

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Dramatic Performance

The concept of dramatic performance is something I’ve been familiar with since the early days of my acting career, however I’ve only recently began to develop a more in-depth understanding of the term. The definition of dramatic performance is “the act of performing a drama”. However, if this quote is analysed in more detail then performing could be as little as carrying out a task to a specified standard and the drama could be anything that includes an exciting, emotional or unexpected circumstance. Although this definition could be perceived as broad there are still parameters within this form of performance.  

The parameters of dramatic performance became clear to me when I began the rehearsal process for The Crucible by Arthur Millar. Throughout my dramatic performance module, I discovered various techniques which aided for the development of my characterisation. I personally found that using the Stanislavski method allowed me to portray a believable character on stage without having to think about my character as a fictional idea.

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‘Nightclubbing’ was the first post dramatic performance I’ve seen. I believe this is an example of post dramatic performance as it conveys a message using a fractured narrative and emphasises it using palimpsestuous intertextuality. Both of these elements are common within post dramatic performances.  

This piece was performed by two actors as it tackled the issue of modern-day racism, specifically focusing on racism in nightclubs. Although this was their intended narrative this was not clear in the actual performance; I believe this was effective as it allowed the audience to interpret the narrative and therefore felt more like pull-media rather than push-media. However, if the director of this this piece wanted the audience to leave with a specific reaction then I believe the choreography of this performance was ineffective.

Both the set and costumes used in this performance were minimalistic, the props consisted of a large black sheet, a microphone and a laptop whilst the central protagonist only wore underwear throughout the entirety of the performance. I believe this was effective at keeping the audience engaged with the narrative as it was unorthodox to be seen in such a revealing outfit, however if you take the male gaze theory into account this may have also may have distracted some audience members from key moments in the narrative. 

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The first of many performances that I’ll be watching during my time at DMU.

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What is performance?

This question can be answered very differently depending on who you ask, but Peter Brook once said “A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged” - Brook, P (1996). The Empty Space.  United States of America: Touchstone. 7.

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“Breath + Rhythm = Emotion” - Merlin, B (2014). The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. 2nd ed. London: Nick Hern Books Limited. 34.