Ambient Space in Twentieth-Century Theatre: The Space of Silence

Abstract

The concept of space as an element of theatrical presentation is as old as the medium itself. Space has been consistently engaged and manipulated: from the natural space that surrounded the earliest Greek theatres; to the dispersed space that typifies medieval performance; to the containment and control of illusionary space in the Renaissance culminating in the "fourth-wall" realism of the modern era. While the expression of space may vary in the above examples, one thing remains constant: a superimposition of textuality onto spatiality in which the inherent qualities of the space are subsumed by the locating force of the narrative. The natural world in the Greek performance is easily linked to the exterior of Agamemnon's palace, the fragmentary quality of performance in the Middle Ages conveys a secluded spot where Abraham intends to sacrifice Isaac, the interior of a banquet hall is magically transformed into a city street, and the familiar proscenium arch theatre becomes the home that Nora inevitably escapes