Richard Schechner And New Theatre Essay Research

Richard Schechner And New Theatre Essay, Research Paper

Richard Schechner envisions a .new theatre. in three of his major essays,

.Happenings. (1966), .Six Axioms for Environmental Theatre. (1968), and

.Negotiations with the Environment. (1968). He does not spend time

discussing his famed .not not themselves. ideology of the performer or

ritual ecstasy; instead he discusses a new genealogical hybrid termed the .new

theatre. by Allan Kaprow. Schechner uses the traditional theatre as a

comparison and first comments in .Happenings. .because it is unlike

traditional theatre, the familiar locutions of these arts, e.g., dance, music,

sculpture, painting cannot describe what.s going on or provide criteria for

which to evaluate it. (145). Still, Schechner does provide many a comparison

between the traditional theatre and this new form. Schechner recognizes that the

.theatrical event is a complex social interweave, a network of expectation and

obligation. The exchange of stimuli.either sensory or ideational or both.is

the root of theatre. (158). Knowing this, the author claims all theatre, both

traditional and new, is a set of related .transactions. (changes in outlook

and situation). How these transactions occur is what defines the art form. For

example the traditional theatre .works from an organic system of correlations

concerning character, story, and locale. Likewise, Susanne K. Langer states,

traditional theatre .runs on a continuum of past and future as parts,. (147)

organic parts developing the situation.. It involves a series of

understandable transactions. However, the new theatre lacks this destiny of

time. .There the referents to everyday life are purely functions of sounds,

textures, and images. (147). Schechner basically breaks down all the major

components of the traditional theatre in a comparison with the new theatre. To

start, the traditional theatre involves plot as a means of telling a story, but

the new theatre involves images/events. There are three kinds of new theatre as

Schechner describes in .Happenings.: the technological, essentially

electronic event (a la John Cage concerts), the free-for-all happenings or party

gone wild in which the event is roughly sketched by the author, a group of

people are told to do something and another group is invited to

watch/participate, and the .ceremony. (a la Kaprow) in which the

participants are given a set of instructions which they are not to improvise on

but simply do. .All three kinds share autonomy and revitalization..

.Disconnections are made so that the isolated event or image can be seen in

itself, seen as revitalized. (154). Schechner points out that the traditional

theatre is action whereas the new theatre is about activity. In .Negotiations

with the Environment. he further makes the distinction that the activity is

usually .self-documentational. (197). As well the traditional theatre

supports resolution, however the new theatre thrives on open-ended ness. For

this reason, .shows tend to be often unrepeated and unrepeatable. (147)–

for how can you repeat something that will give you a very different result.

Likewise, the traditional theatre revolves around themes/thesis, however in new

theatre there is no pre-set meaning. .When audiences exist they are left to

themselves to put together or make sense out of what.s happening. (148).

Therefore, the meaning can be almost anything, and everyone will most certainly

have a different impression. The traditional theatre is oriented around roles;

the actor is the most important figure. .He .becomes. a human being other

than himself. (149). The new theatre, on the contrary, is task oriented.

People are themselves simply doing something. Their job is not to build roles or

circumstances in which they are .justified. (149). This lends itself to

intermedia performances in which .the production elements need no longer

support a performance. (163). At certain times these elements are more

important than the performers and so a new term .performing technicians.

(163) is created. The performers are then free to be treated .as mass and

volume, color and texture, and movement.not as .actors. but as parts of

the environment. (178). Like the set and text, they are a part of the piece,

not taking focus, but just facilitating. Schechner points out that the

traditional theatre revolves around a stage, which is not necessarily true of

the new theatre. The new theatre tries to reach beyond the boundaries of space.

Allan Kaprow is quoted in .Negotiations with the Environment as saying, .it

doesn.t make any difference how large the space is, it.s still a stage.

It.s pretty comfortable working in the middle, but as soon as you get to the

edges you have to stop, I didn.t feel like stopping. (181). Schechner, then,

in .Axioms of the Environmental Theatre,. spends much time on two speci

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать