Great Influencers Of Today's Performance Practice example essay topic

How (and to what extent) does the work of practitioner-theorists such as those studied on this module influence performance practice today? Discuss with reference to two specific performance examples: one must be a year two production and the other a 't The study of practitioner-theorists. Great influencers of today's performance practice or old men and women whom we study because they wrote big books with big words then died. Only idiocy would argue the latter. To me, theatre is a question and an answer.

It is a question in that it can offer incite to such matter as what it is to be human? And it is the answer in that I believe questions of that nature and that depth can be given some light through it's use. This juxtaposition conceals itself on an island of truth surrounded by the waters of study and practice. My point is that for whatever reason a practitioner-theorist may have for working in the theatre, they are, with all the other performers and writers of the world, swimming in these waters eroding away at the island of truth. Some may enjoy great gains in the erosion of these questions and some may only ever see the island from afar but all, by necessity, help and influence each other. For those that succeed there ideas will be taken and built upon.

For those who do not, they do not fail for they show a path not to be walked and close this up so attentions may be directed to other techniques. In this essay I will show how the theatre visit from a professional company and the year two production I saw, when considering these as examples of today's performance practice, are influenced by some of the practitioner-theorists studied in the module. Performance practice is not a competition, we all help each other to swim closer to the island, thus by necessity performance practice is influenced by practitioner-theorists before them, even if it is by showing what not to do. The second year performance is a good example of a piece that tried to employ the ideas of practitioner-theorists studied. Perhaps so evident because of their position as students of theatre. Personally I feel the angle taken was a little too media backed.

It was a little too much anti government over objective thinking and on occasion felt like we were watching a live newspaper column listing point after point rather than a performance. However, there were many superb elements of the performance, which we can link to their influences. The setting of a live TV show immersed the audience into the performance whilst always making them aware that what they are watching is a performance to be considered. This political way of theatre was effectively theorised by such playwrights as Brecht.

The work of Brecht could be seen to be influencing the performance on stage and I would say that the piece fell inside the epic theatre genus. Brecht created a table to show the two types of theatre, the dramatic theatre of the time alongside the new epic theatre pioneered by Brecht. DRAMATIC THEATRE EPIC THEATRE Plot Narrative Implicates the spectator in a stage situation Turns the spectator into an observer, but Wears down his capacity for action Arouses his capacity for action Provides him with sensations Forces him to take decisions Experience Picture of the world The spectator is involved in something He is made to face something Suggestion Argument Instinctive feelings are preserved Brought to the point of recognition The spectator is in the thick of it, shares the experience The spectator stands outside, studies The human being is taken for granted The human being is the object of the inquiry He is unalterable He is alterable and able to alter Eyes on the finish Eyes on the course One scene makes another Each scene for itself Growth Montage Linear development In curves Evolutionary determinism Jumps Man as a fixed point Man as a process Thought determines being Social being determines thought Feeling Reason (Modern Theories Of Drama. George W. Brandt. P 227. Oxford) I shall put the year two performance 'Bridging The Gulf' to my own test to see if it drew on Brechtian influences.

It certainly contained more narrative with direct audience address and shifts from scene to scene without any continuous plot or story. We, as spectators were certainly there as observers, we were told at the start we were watching CNN and were instructed when to applause and we were always explicitly aware that we were supposed to be considering what was being done on stage and to take decisions on how we felt about the presented argument. They chose to address the situation in Iraq so fulfilled the 'picture of the world' requirement. We had to face the consequences of the action we took in Iraq just by watching and it was a satirical argument against the so called 'super powers'. I will not continue in this way but the piece certainly matches all of the criteria that Brecht theorised as political epic theatre and shows how they have been influenced by his teachings in their performance. So the year two performers were swimming with the ideas of Brecht and showed how he as one practitioner-theorist certainly influenced their production.

What about a professional production? When Pam Woods performed for us we saw a completely different piece of theatre, less explicit and far more subliminal it roused interest and curiosity to watch her perform. Pam's performance was an example of site-specific theatre and moved us to a more dance-based performance. Unfortunately I found it difficult to pin down where exactly she may have got her influences from so I looked for what I could see in the performance. It conjured up images of what I had seen performed when studying Tadashi Suzuki. She was elevating her emotions and movement and sounds over language.

Suzuki's theatre is about the discovery of an inner physical sensibility and playing with it. I believe that Pam was trying to find an inner physical energy and bring that out through improvisation. An additional factor that I recognised from Suzuki's work was the attempt to move away from naturalism and realism and use the body and mind to move into new territory, waters unknown. Her improvisation to what was around her appeared to come from this use of body, mind and sounds to express the emotion and reaction. With many more words and pages no doubt I could extend on my initial argument that all practitioner-theorists affect all performance practice all the time.

There were certainly many more practitioners who could have been identified in their work. For me personally Boal, Art aud and Grotowski come to mind for what I have seen. There were harsh realism's raised by one and physical expressionism by another and in my mind both expressed themselves both successfully and unsuccessfully in different parts of the performances. That is the point of theatre though and to me helps to enhance my own theories of theatre as an island of juxtaposition between question and answer. These performances were two examples of swimmers trying to erode away at that island and explore new territory and create something new and where they have succeeded others will follow and where they have failed others will succeed but all are as important as all others.

They are joined in their journey by all practitioner-theorists and are all connected, both influencing and being influenced. By necessity the work of practitioner-theorists studied on this module influence the work of today and tomorrow's performance practice. Hopefully some day the island will be eroded away and an inner truth can really be discovered. Brandt, George W. Modern Theories Of Drama (Oxford: 1998) Suzuki, Tadashi. The Way Of Acting (TCG: 1986) Braun, Edward.

The Director And The Stage (London, Methuen: 1982) Hartnell, Phyllis. The Theatre (Thames & Hudson: 1985).