Theatre Practice Research Articles

BUDDHIST MOTIVES IN THE CREATIVITY OF TSYRENDORZHO BALZHANOV (PROBLEMS OF DIRECTING AND TRAINING ACTORS IN THE BURYAT THEATRE IN THE 1990s and 2000s)

The article examines the creativity of the Buryat director Tsyrendorzho Balzhanov, formed in connection with theatrical phenomena and events that determined the future of the Buryat drama theater at the turn of cultural epochs. Having chosen the Buddhist theme as the main motive of his work, Tsyrendorzho Balzhanov faced a number of issues that raised the problem of staging solutions and the problem of training an actor while creating Buddhist images and characters, as well as the possibility of achieving a special state of «satori» in terms of theatrical action. The lack of experience in the religious productions in the Buryat drama theater, the theatrical and directorial legacy that remained from the theater of the Soviet years did not allow the Buryat director to consolidate the state of «satori», which he managed to achieve in the play «Damdin Lama». Based on this experience, which is more intuitive in nature, Tsyrendorzho Balzhanov de-voted the main part of his creative career to the search for directorial ap-proaches and tools, the development of acting training. The result of the search for the solutions that the Buryat director faced after the play «Damdin Lama» in 1990 was his scientific research «The Mys-tery of Tsam as a Buddhist philosophical text and ritual action» and the crea-tion of the acting training based on the methods of Oriental theater and Bud-dhist religious practices. The author concludes that the modern theater, which has experience of performative theater and postmodern philosophy, has the potential to create such productions, however, only in the director’s interpretation, without partic-ipation of the «actor-personality», who, according to Tsyrendorzho Balzhanov, remains the center of the director’s idea in the play imbued with the Buddhist motifs.

Stage as the Extent of Artistic Exploration of the Director-Author. Part 4. Luchino Visconti: Theatrical Practices of the Film Director

The purpose of the article is to identify the problems of creativity of directors-authors who have realised their artistic potential both in author's cinema and in the plane of the stage and to define scientific landmarks that will contribute to the comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of the film author in stage art. Research methodology. The methods of scientific analysis, comparison, generalisation, and introspection of the artist were used in the development of the topic. In addition, analytical and systematic methods were applied in their unity, which is necessary for the study of the art history aspect of the problem. The scientific novelty of the study consists in determining the universality of directing as a specific type of artistic and aesthetic activity; in clarifying the mutual influence of stage and screen arts in the use of expressive means; in the determined features of the film author's activity in the stage space through the adaptation of screen means in theatrical productions, which became the subject of a special study for the first time; in coverage, the universal activity of directors-authors who resorted to reforming the language of cinema and the language of stage production; in the discovery of original principles of the creation of a film and specific means of film expression, which not only found direct embodiment in films and contributed to the emergence of notable author's film works, but also had a significant impact on the author's theatrical direction, which was distinguished by the search for visualisation of stage images. Conclusions. It is proved that the stage creativity of film directors-authors calls into question the theoretical postulates about the perniciousness of the intrusion of the theatre culture into the territory of the screen. It has been found that the visual and expressive means that provide the chronology of image creation (long shots, intra-frame montage, acoustic, light-shadow effects), the use of which is considered a high degree of skill in cinema, have their origins in stage art. Keywords: director-author, stage space, director's tools, theatre, stage, screen, acting skills, musical art, television.

Theatrical Interactivity as a Model of Communication in Modern Culture

The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of theatrical interactivity as a model of communication in modern culture and to consider interactive theatre as a means of social transformation. Research methodology. The terminological method, the typological method, the method of functional analysis, the method of synthesis, as well as the method of systematisation and generalisation are applied (for consideration and scientific substantiation of the concept of theatrical interactivity, identification of the characteristic features of interactive theatre as a phenomenon of modern cultural space). Scientific novelty. Theatrical interactivity as a model of communication in modern culture has been studied; analysed models of interactivity by M. L. Ryan, McIver Lopez, S. Dixon and others in the context of the interaction between the participant and the production; the theatre methodology of A. Boal "Theatre of the Oppressed" is considered (the audience is an active participant in the performance). Based on the analysis of modern European productions of interactive theatre, the main criteria of the approach to their creation are identified. Conclusions. Interactive theatre is a form of theatrical action that involves the active participation of the viewer, who ceases to be just a spectator, turning into a full participant in the joint creative process. Theatrical interactivity involves taking the viewer out of the comfort zone, from the position of an "observer" and bringing them into the sphere of live communication and perception. At the same time, this is not always synonymous with empowerment or satisfaction, and the desire to give the viewer some freedom is in some cases restrained by manipulative performances. As an alternative communication space, a place where people listen to each other, express their own thoughts – interactive theatre is a means of social transformation. They establish direct contact with their audience, who not only perceives and evaluates the productions, but thanks to the live dialogue becomes a partner in the stage action. Theatrical interactivity involves the observance of the following criteria: thinking outside the place of the performance, substantiating the relationship between the audience and the actors, moving away from the demonstration of the audience, maximum simplification and consistency. Individual practices of interactive theatre allow participants to distance themselves from social roles and bring their own values to this experience.
 Keywords: theatrical interactivity, interactive theatre, actor, audience, communication model, modern culture, interaction.

Legislative Theater and Modern Slavery: Eploring a Hyperlocal Approach to Combatting Human Trafficking

Since 2018, Act for Change (AfC), a Ghanaian applied theater company, has been using Boalian theater techniques to address issues of modern slavery and human trafficking in their community. Here, using the framework of Boal’s Legislative Theater, we discuss the ways in which AfC has developed Boal’s work, innovating it within a specific context to find new and powerful ways of using performance to engage with intractable issues of modern slavery and human trafficking. Focussing on the specific dynamics of a single community, this article explores how employing a ‘hyperlocal’ approach in James Town, Accra, enables a focus on the local stories that highlight how modern slavery and human trafficking operate. More specifically, while using a Marxist-Freiran framework and by engaging with Augusto Boal’s concepts of Legislative and Forum Theater, this article focuses on how performance methodologies can engage with complex international issues by developing intra-local dialogue and partnerships at the local level. The goal here is not to argue that community action can act as a replacement for statutory instruments or state-led initiatives, but that they are a potentially significant and under-developed complementary tool in the fight against modern slavery, as they place the community and the survivor at the center of change. By taking this approach, we aim to reflect on how theories of legislative theater can aid the development of a hyperlocal methodology and how the project in James Town exemplifies modern legislative theater practice. 

Tactics of Resistance in Zimbabwean Post-2000 Street Theatre Performances

The aim of this article is to set post-2000 street theatre in Zimbabwe apart from earlier post-1980 postcolonial theatre as representing a new radical aesthetic based on “hidden” rather than “public” transcripts and representing new forms of subaltern aesthetic practice of more direct engagement with audiences. This article analyses performance techniques whose effect is to disguise the playing of resistance against Zimbabwe’s authoritarian regime. The article applies a combination of public and hidden transcript theory and post-linear theory, examining how street theatre adopts techniques that produce and disguise resistance, making the performance appear innocuous. The focus is on how post-linear techniques, which reject dominant theatre practice, provide convenient cover for subordinate groups, appearing less confrontational and placing the hidden transcript beyond the reach of the dominant. Through a combination of James C. Scott’s theory and post-linear theories, the article interrogates the use of performance techniques as necessary in rendering the performance innocuous in contexts where authoritarian regimes censor critical and divergent art.

Dinka Jeričević – the Iron Lady of Croatian Scenic Design

The paper examines the theatrical career and artistic expression of Dinka Jeričević (Vukovar, 26 September 1947), a distinguished Croatian scenic designer and one of the few women in the profession, especially at the time of her formative years, when she also served as the only female technical director in Croatian theatres. Creating over six hundred scenic designs, collaborating with the most prominent Croatian theatrical directors, and working in almost all Croatian theatres, as well as several theatres abroad, as both an in-house and guest designer, Jeričević significantly influenced and personally marked the history of Croatian scenic design over the last fifty years. Furthermore, her long-standing educational work with directors and producers at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and her passionate mentoring of emerging designers in theatre practice contributed greatly both to the education of numerous young theatre professionals and to shaping contemporary Croatian scenic design. Finally, by becoming actively involved in continuous and pertinent efforts of the Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts (ULUPUH) to improve the professional and legal status and working conditions of Croatian designers, she actively participated in the social betterment of Croatian scenic design(ers). Even though she is recognized and acknowledged in her professional environment, and presented with numerous prizes and awards, her career in the theatre has never been the subject of any scholarly analysis. The paper therefore attempts to address some of her design principles and contribute to the systematisation, valorisation and contextualisation of her multiple, diverse and outstanding artistic and professional accomplishments in national theatre.

Building an Ideal Theatre

Throughout the course of theatre history, many actors and directors have dreamt about an ideal theatre. Many young European theatre makers in the twenty-first century have preferred working in their own groups with like-minded colleagues instead of joining big institutional theatres or have tried to revolutionize the institutions.Dwelling on theoretical arguments about the terms “ideal”, “idealism”, and “utopia” in theatre, the article investigates what are the ideals of contemporary theatre makers, which ideals/utopias are realizable in theatre practice and how. To answer these questions, the case study of Estonian theatre NO99 is used. In 2004, Tiit Ojasoo and Ene-Liis Semper became the leaders of the state funded theatre Vanalinnastuudio and tried to reorganize it into an ideal theatre. The article investigates what were the ideals of the theatre makers of the NO99, how their ideals were realized, which ideals endured, and which ones failed during the fourteen years. Finally, a discussion on the developments of theatre institutions in the twenty-first century will be presented.

A generative refusal: body inclusive methods with racialized women in knowledge creation

This paper illustrates the moving body’s direct engagement with discursive and material spaces, as well encounters in theatre methods used in knowledge production. Body-inclusive theatre-based methods aim to address two paradoxes. First, the racialised and gendered body in feminist epistemology is often theorised without the body being actively engaged in the methods that produce its theorisations, and therefore neither are body-inclusive methodological practices. This has an impact on feminist epistemologies as corporeal modes of existence, such as lived experiences, self-definition and agency require the presence of and an engagement with the moving body. This knowledge project offers another way of being in knowledge acquisition. It recognises that research often refuses the agency and personhood of the ‘researched’, and it also sets limits on epistemologies (Tuck 2009; Ng 2018; Salami 2020). There is an epistemological refusal taking place in this theatre practice: through the enactment of lived experiences with an aim to transform them; a non-binary way of making meaning of them; creativity as a process of becoming anew; and activating the agency driven human body. In this practice, racialised and migrant women explore their subjugated bodies through kinaesthetic means, namely with, from, and through their bodies. The co-creators explored the playfulness and creativity of their bodies through theatre games, living images and the creation of Physical and Forum Theatre performances (Boal 1992/2005; Lecoq et al. 2000) linked with the experience of having a female, racialised, migrant and othered body.

Buddah Still Works— the Work on Oneself Never Ends: Essay on Grotowski

This essay uses the personal recollections of Italian director Gioacchino Palumbo, including the experience of viewing of Apocalypsis cum figuris as well as some personal encounters with Jerzy Grotowski, to present a subjective account of selected aspects of Grotowski’s theatrical and non-theatrical practices, with an emphasis on understanding theatre as a lifelong work on oneself. Palumbo highlights those aspects of Grotowski’s work and quotations from his statements and writings that have contributed to his own development as a theatre artist. Particularly interested in Grotowski’s attitude to diverse sources of inspiration, Palumbo extensively discusses Grotowski’s interview on Gurdjieff, considering it as a representative example of artist’s approach to cultural phenomena that influenced him. The essay is preceded by an introduction in which Giuseppe G. Condorelli presents the original theatrical work of Palumbo, who has been running his own theatre laboratory in Catania since 1981.

THEATRE AND TECHNOLOGY

This article discusses the place of technology in theatre, as a potential tool to address some of the questionable ecological practices inherent in traditional theatre making. With a focus on augmented and/or virtual reality (AR/VR), the article posits some potentials and pitfalls of embracing technologies as integral components of the narrative development and presentation of performance. The tensions between art and technology in their incorporation into creative theatrical practices are discussed, particularly in light of the tendency for technology to favor pre-recording in contrast to the necessary liveness of the theatrical, dramatic event.

Power and Theory: Structural Racism and Zones of Sanctioned Ignorance

Abstract: Through a case study of the creative process on the thirtieth anniversary revival of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum in 2023, this essay argues for centering theories of power in theatre practice as well as scholarship. The limits of mainstream US theatre models manifested in the workings of structural racism and what Gayatri Spivak calls “zones of sanctioned ignorance”—structurally overdetermined blind spots—about race, history, acting theory, and the division of labor in the “creative”/ labor process. Knowledge of cutting-edge “theory,” the continuing critique of our own worldmaking assumptions, and expansive visions of “theory” integrated with “practice” could disrupt mind/body dualism and lead us to reimagine conventional US theatre protocols, opening possibilities for progressive change.

Pandemic, theatre and performance: Democratizing the subalterns through the Theatre of the Oppressed

The presented work analyses Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) methods impacting the pandemic. It follows the WHO timeline, when the COVID-19 pandemic had cast a dark shadow, making sustenance difficult for the marginalized section of Indian society. TO methods, though reflected, adapted and accommodated exhaustively in Indian applied theatre over the last four decades, offered a fresh, collective, democratic space during the pandemic. Forum theatre (FT) and legislative theatre (LT) praxis rendered a platform for activism, awareness and emancipation of the ‘subalterns’ during the pandemic. Thus, TO renewed psycho-social dialogue and critical, creative, experimental space during this time. The applicability of such methods facilitating social change is gauged using Boal’s ‘spect-actorship’ and Freire’s ‘conscientization’. The article looks forward to the TO signposts to serve as nodal points for further scholarly discussion and study on democratizing the disenfranchised population through FT and LT during the pandemic.

Connections, collections and costume construction: Performative reanimation through observation and making

Drawing on a material culture approach, this research report explores how a making methodology based on a theatrical costume construction practice can be applied to historical costume re-creation, particularly where the researcher must rely on the interpretation of other available primary sources such as costume drawings, sketches, tailors’ notes and archival records. The report builds on previous research investigating the value of reconstructing historical performance costume where the original costume itself has not survived. It identifies appropriate terminology to describe the practice, as well as the specific contribution the theatrical costume maker can make to this type of research. The report argues for consideration of the phenomenological value of a remaking approach to researching historical performance costume, and how this might sit alongside more established observational, archival-based research methods. It also further questions whether a re-created costume can contain the same power and agency as an extant costume stored in a museum archive, in terms of its direct physical connection with the original performance, designer, maker and wearer. Reflection on all of these points is needed for the development of practice-led research within the field of costume construction for performance.

Iannucci and Branagh’s Adaptations of David Copperfield and Much Ado about Nothing: The Problematic of Race-Bending

This paper embraces a counter-argument approach to the contemporary theatrical trend of race-bending mostly through color-blinding. Two cases are examined: Armando Iannucci’s film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield under the new title The Personal History of David Copperfield, and Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing under the same title. Color-blind casting is a non-traditional theatrical practice that encapsulates undermining the actors’ ethnicities when playing a certain character, cancelling the typical alliance of ethnicity between character and actor. The paper utilizes Stuart Hall’s theorizations on cultural identity in addition to August Wilson’s objections to the method, questioning the compatibility of the race-bending strategy with its stated purposes: embracing equality and multiculturalism. It seeks to demonstrate that, on the contrary, this strategy neither enhances cultural diversity nor advances equality, as it both demolishes historical authenticity and causes distraction in the construction of the cultural identity of people of color. Keywords: Race-bending; color-blinding; Stuart Hall; The Personal History of David Copperfield; Branagh’s film Much Ado about Nothing.

Closely Reading Community Audiences: A Simple Twist of Faith and Site-Specific Community Plays

This article offers a close reading of audience member reflections of A Simple Twist of Faith, a Canadian play that uses community-engaged theatre practices and site-specific dramaturgy. What can we as scholars, researchers, and artists learn from long-form audience responses? How does site, time, identity, and community infiltrate and overlap in this play? By centering audience reflections, this article offers a critical case-study in ethnographic audience research.

Reinstalling the Fourth Wall: Digital Performance and Spectatorship in (Post-)Pandemic Era

Summary Theatre can be interpreted as a place where various modes of participation in the community or patterns of citizen behaviour can be rehearsed. In pre-pandemic Lithuanian theatre (as well as theatres of other Baltic countries) various forms of audience engagement were conspicuously emerging, ranging from physical co-creation practices to interactive forms of entertainment. After the global lockdown of theatre institutions the emerging forms of “virtual theatre”, ranging from performance recordings to zoom theatre, redefined the role of theatre spectatorship, in particular the notions of “active”, “passive”, “collective”, “individual”, fundamental for the understanding of the role of publics. Analysing the abundant examples of “pandemic theatre” one starts to think about the return of the digital “fourth wall”, where audiences are becoming distant spectators. This poses important questions to theatre research: whether these forms of theatre are strengthening the feeling of passivity and isolation, serve as platforms for much-needed psychological escapism or offer a critical revaluation of the essential principles of theatre art. With the help of two case studies, this paper will define and analyse the prevailing practices of pandemic Lithuanian theatre and will outline whether and how the fundamental categories associated with the spectator’s experience of theatre have changed in the post-pandemic era.

Du théâtre au cinéma : Molière dans la campagne vaudoise

"From Theatre to Cinema: Molière in the canton of Vaud Countryside. Rediscovered on the occasion of a retrospective on Molière in films at the Cinémathèque suisse (Lausanne) in 2022, the movie Monsieur Molière aux champs looks at the theatrical practices of a farming community in the canton of Vaud countryside. Directed by Swiss photographer and journalist Yvan Dalain in 1988-1989, the movie depicts the real lives of the inhabitants of Orzens, Gossens and Opens, drawing links with Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, a comedy-ballet by Molière and Lully, almost 320 years after its creation. This paper looks back at the origins of this ambitious project, analyzing the format and adaptation processes used on stage and screen. Keywords: Swiss movie, adaptation, Bourgeois gentilhomme, comedy-ballet, Molière."

Methods and lessons in theatrical practice as social work

ABSTRACT Stemming from the combined philosophies of social work and professional artistic practice, this paper recounts five years of working with populations of fifth graders to craft their own original plays. Application of group development theory in our evolving theatrical process emphasizes several lessons, including utilizing a population’s observed need(s) to derive socioemotional purpose; the ownership a group discovers when creating its own material; and the importance of centering what two communities have to offer each other in mutual aid. The 509 classroom at PS3 is a case study for the immense socioemotional impact artistic practice can have when student need is not neglected in favor of academic skill acquisition.

The Letter Cloth: Sensory Modes of the Epistolary in Prison Theatre Practice

In this article, I explore performances of letter writing within the archives of the London-based theatre company Clean Break, who work with justice-experienced women and women at risk. Clean Break’s archive at the Bishopsgate Institute in London contains an extensive collection of production ephemera and letters. Charting the company’s development across forty years of theatre productions, public advocacy, and work in prisons and community settings, these materials of the archive—strategic documents, annotated playscripts and rehearsal notes, production photography and correspondence—reveal the acute importance of the letter to people living on the immediate borderlands of the prison. Despite these generative resonances, however, the epistolary form is very rarely used in Clean Break’s theatre: as the archive reveals, since the company was founded by two women in HM Prison Askham Grange in 1979, stagings of letters have occurred in only a handful of instances. In this archival exploration of the epistolary in three works by Clean Break—a film broadcast by the BBC, a play staged at the Royal Court, and a circular chain-play written by women in three prisons—I investigate what lifeworlds beyond prison epistolary forms in performance propose.

Addressing SDG16.2: Eliminating violence towards children – An applied theatre approach

We offer a case study of a long-running Aotearoa New Zealand-based applied theatre programme, Everyday Theatre. As both academics and Everyday Theatre practitioners, we explore how the programme addresses the aspirations of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.2, which is centred on eliminating violence towards children. Our reflections are informed by the qualitative data collected in our ongoing discussions as facilitators, our reflective journals, teacher evaluations of the programme, and a series of collaborative research workshops. We investigate the role and place of the drama conventions of teacher-in-role, pre-text, aesthetics, and framing. They are potent constituents of participatory theatre practice that can provoke both students and teachers to collaboratively conceptualise themselves and each other as active, responsible, critical, and empathetic agents for social change. These explorations throw light on how applied theatre practice can form small but significant contributions to engendering opportunities for students and teachers to consider how they could change their own future narratives, creating more socially cohesive local communities, and, in this way, addressing SDG 16.2. Cover image: photo by WOKANDAPIX on Pixabay