As a whole, I had a lot of issues surrounding
the distinction between performance and theatre. I have found that I’m this
weird pseudo-traditionalist yet an experimental fiend all at the same time. I have no qualms with accepting the idea that
everything we have discussed is performance, but in my mind most “performances”
are not theatre and it is frustrating when something that, in my mind, clearly
is not theatre is just thrown into the theatre category because no one knows
where else to put it. An example of what
I mean, even though I have a huge soft spot for Boal, is Invisible Theatre. My only qualm is that they don’t do something
like bow and then run off or tell the spect-actors after the fact that it was a
performance when it’s over. There needs
to be some mutual exchange or knowledge that theatre is happening for it to be
theatre, in my head. And I know this
sounds ridiculous but it really bothers me.
It has everything that satisfies my inner traditionalist like a texted
core, a clear concept and reasoning behind it, and rehearsed actors and it satisfies
my experimental side by leaving so much in the air about the spect-actors
reactions and doing it in non-traditional spaces because that’s awesome and
exciting. However, since the audience
never knows that they are the protagonists and the audience all at the same
time the whole concept is lost on me. I think
it honestly makes me sad for selfish reasons more than anything else. This is the sort of theatre that I would like
to do. But the way it’s set up makes it
impossible to be able to do it for a living and leads to me having no career.
It’s upsetting that this is the way we have to let our art resonate. Artists need basic necessities like food and
places to sleep too. Why can’t we be
compensated for our hard work and still be effective? So since there is no
recognition between the audience and performers I can’t call it in good
conscience theatre. I'm unfortunately still struggling with my apparently limited opinion on what theatre is but, I'm hoping I will find peace with it once I'm forced to think out of the box more because I can't afford groceries anymore.
