Blog #8 Time

Time and Pace reinforces the reality effect of the types of theatre we have discussed this week because it allows the audience to experience the experiences that the performers are experiencing at the same time.  If the audience has been in the theatre watching a performance for 20 minutes, it has only been 20 minutes that has elapsed on stage as well rather than a “normal show” in which sometimes months or years could elapse on stage within only 20 minutes, depending on the show.  It creates a stronger sense of reality between the performer and audience. The audience buys into it more, thinking it is more “real” because time is operating under the same rules in the show as it does in their normal reality.  For example, in Forced Entertainment’s durational Quizoola, after a while the performers’ answers to the questions became less creative and it was obvious that they were getting tired due to the exhaustion of having to be on point for so long—this created a sense of uncertainty in spectators because it was no longer easy to tell what was a fabricated response as opposed to what their responses would actually be if they weren’t in this performative setting.  The link to reality seemingly got closer and closer as the timing and pacing burden affected the performers and the audience.  It didn’t feel like any sort of performance anymore.  It was reality. Or was it?

The first thing that popped into my head was this video I saw a couple of months ago in which a girl took a picture of herself everyday for 6 1/2 years and compiled it into a video.  The photos are technically in real time because they are taken a day apart but the pace at which we see them in is obviously accelerated to mark her development.  I think this is a nice example of achieving the real time goal.  We are limited by only seeing one snap shot of her every 24 hours, but it allows us to be able to go through the motions of her essentially going through puberty—We are still taken on that 6 1/2 year journey. Through a period of the video she was also going through depression and when watching it, the audience can almost go through the motions and see her battle with it.  It’s fascinating to watch.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRvk5UQY1Js

Blog 7 Space and Fancy New York Homes

I would totally take Neil Simon’s Rumors and put it in an actual fancy house in New York.  Essentially, I would have each couple be sort of a leader for a track, so there would be 4 tracks one per couple and depending on the ticket you have you follow that couple you picked.  The audience would only be able to see the folding of events from that couple’s perspective, because the other couples’ side conversations would be told to a completely different group of people.  The farcical chaos would ensue even more because I would also have some local focus utilized.  For example, I would have Claire pull someone aside in another room when Mailee the maid calls and have that actor get the audience member to help her make up an excuse for Myra and Charlie being gone and so forth.  It would be pretty funny and in the end I would like that when the officers do come in for questioning that all the groups meet up and actually concluded the show in the living room.  

I think that this framework can definitely serve this script and be successful, if it’s not directed by me.  I think that fact that it’s farcical and already is meant to confuse the audience and have them jolted out of being able to keep track of everything as is could work really well.  The play sort of center’s around each different couple’s drama and rumors and they all come to the party at different intervals so I think that following any particular couple’s story could be kind of fun and exciting.     At the same time though, I think that it could also be a dis-service to the script.  The holistic piece is fast paced and dependent on the comedic rhythm for it to be successful, the show could be clocked at an exact time every night because of it’s flow and I think that messing with that could very much tarnish the energetic spark it requires for audiences to be able to enjoy it.   Personally, I would love to see an experimental theatre version of it, but only because I love and know that play.  I would honestly be upset if some one saw an experimental version of it without having ever seen it how it was originally written.  That would be a travesty.  The audience would miss out on all the funnies. 

As for Kantor’s quote, I disagree.  Maybe I’m taking his quote to literally, but “anything” is always happening, it’s constant and undefined so regardless if your believing in something happening or not, it’s happening and it can’t be stopped or controlled.  It just does.  So if something happens, of course you would unquestionably believe in it.  If someone randomly pulls out a taco in front of me and eats it, that just happened.  I didn’t prompt that and of course I unquestionably believe in that because I’m a stable human being with sensory abilities.  In addition, if I’m an audience member, often if I really want to go see a show that looks interesting to me, the chances are that I have read the script and I full expect to know what will happen in front of me and if something is going on stage in front of me and in my mind I consider it “good” and accept it (which Is what I’m expecting if I know I like the show) then my neurons of connection to the piece are firing and that drama is being materialized within and before me.  I see where Kantor is coming from, but I think that it’s a very limiting view, though I would assume that he may think that my view is limiting as well. 

Blog 6 Performance art and Snapchat

Although I do see an argument for the potential danger of theatre dying out due to our culture of instant gratification, I don’t think that that will actually happen or at least not anytime soon.  To be fair, I may just be an optimist. I think that performance art and theatre even though they do have heavy overlap at times will always still have an equal amount of separation.  Even though tons of people aren’t rushing to the theatre today, there are even less rushing out to see performance art.  If either of the two dies out, I think it will be performance art even with its new wave, not theatre.  In my observations of my generation, mixing performance with media in a theatre context has been for the most part successful, but only successful when they can feel connected to the stage in what is going on, while still maintaining a distance from it.  Audiences want the gratification of having a say, but not be the center of attention.  Where as performance art, focuses much more on directly influencing the audience as a way to connect to them,, rather than the medium connecting them.  This sort of puts the audience more under a microscope and in my experience that connection is too strong and rather unpleasant for many young modern audiences considering the topics that are explored in performance art.  Performance art takes very specific stances that are crafted to incite some sort of intense reaction, where as theatre, at least more popular theatre, does that as well, but many times will leave things resolved to settle tension, making audiences want to be exposed to it.  Now, I’m not saying that’s necessarily a good thing and theatre shouldn’t always have a clean resolution, but many times it does and those are the shows that are commercialized and are almost guaranteed to bring in a specific audience.  Performance art does not have that commercial appeal so to say that with the rise a new movement in performance art could override theatre is far-fetched. 

            I definitely think there is truth to Huyssen’s concept of “imagined memory” based on some of my personal memories being colored by media-built experiences. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/snapchat-hacked-more-than-100000-photos-leaked/

This news clip speaks about how snapchat was apparently hacked and nearly 100,000 photos could potentially be posted due to this third party hacker who breached the snapchat privacy walls.  After watching this, I’m not so concerned to where I would never use snapchat again, but whenever I use the app now I will not necessarily hesitate but I think it will be in the back of my mind that whatever I’m taking a picture of could easily be exposed and posted online and seen by people that I’m not contsenting to see it.  When I think of the app or use it now, I will be hyper aware of the possibilities of exposure more so than I was before especially since that before I saw the news clip, I didn’t know that the creators of snapchat were actually app making newbs and are sort of learning how to deal with security and privacy as they go. I think that this defineitly has an impact on art and theatre.  This news clip was carefully constructed and specific things were included and excluded from it to make it an effective video and raise awareness. For instance, the potential of underaged nude photoes being leaked would be a huge concern because it would be considered child porngraphy, but if that little tidbit was excluded I honestly wouldn't be nearly as concnered because since I am an adult, in my head I would only thinking of photos of adults being leaked, which don't get me wrong, is messed up and not ok.  But children's photos being leaked is a whole new level of crime.  Art is carefully crafted like this as well to convey a specific message that the audience will perceive and to shape the audiences thoughts on any given issue.  The media's tactics are mirror images of artist's tactics.