Towards a theory of experimental music theatre: 'showing doing', 'non-matrixed performance' and 'metaxis'

Although recent years have seen the emergence of sustained research on experimental music theater, most of this is of a largely descriptive nature. To address the shortcomings of such approaches, this essay outlines a theory of experimental music theater based on a clear definition and a number of constitutive features. A number of theoretical terms from the fields of performance theory and theater practice are introduced, namely “showing doing” (Richard Schechner), “non-matrixed performance” and “non-matrixed representation” (Michael Kirby), and “metaxis” (Augusto Boal). The analytical effectiveness of this theoretical framework is demonstrated by discussion of case studies drawn both from the “classics” of experimental music theater (John Cage, Mauricio Kagel) and from recent work (Christopher Fox, David Bithell, Trond Reinholdtsen)

The Meaning in Mimesis: Philosophy, Aesthetics, Acting Theory

Theatre as mimesis, the actor as mimic: can we still think in these terms, two and a half millennia after antiquity? The Meaning in Mimesis puts canonical texts of acting theory by Plato, Diderot, Stanislavsky, Brecht, and others back into conversation with their informing paradigms in philosophy and aesthetics, in order to trace the recurring impulse to theorize the actor's art and the theatrical experience in terms of one-to-one correspondences. I show that, across the history of ideas that is acting theory, the familiar conception of mimesis as imagistic representation entangles over and over again with an "other mimesis": mimesis as the embodied attunement with alterity, a human capacity that bridges the gap between self and other. When it comes to the philosophy of the theatre, it is virtually impossible to consider the one-to-one of representation or re-enactment without at the same time grappling with the one-to-one of identification or vicarious experience

Detritus and the ritualized theatre of the modern West

While theatrical performance is not an inherently religious act, the similarities between public, performed storytelling and religious ritual have been much noticed. Theologians talk about the Incarnation and the Christian life in performative terms, anthropologists have long used a theatrical metaphor to describe the workings of ritual, and modern theatricalists often use the language of ritual to explain theatrical potency. This dissertation surveys and critiques the ways these metaphors have been used in theology, anthropology, and theatrical studies, viewing theatre as an example of a meaningful cultural practice in the sense developed by Pierre Bourdieu and applied to ritual by Catherine Bell. It suggests problems in many common understandings of the ritual/theatrical overlap and proposes instead a particular strand of modern Western theatrical practice that has been subject to Bellian ritualization. This Ritualized Theatre of the Modern West is characterized above all by the presence of detritus: objects whose meaning and potency exceed the parameters established by their context and which are function and are recognized simultaneously as sacraments and as junk. This strand is explored with examples from the work of Samuel Beckett, Tony Kushner, and Glen Berger. In addition, this dissertation argues that the theatre provides a counterexample to Bell and Bourdieu's contention that a practice must necessarily misrecognize its actual effects. The Brechtian insistence that theatrical performance include an acknowledgement of its own conditions of production has led to the incorporation of a discourse about the theatre into theatrical practice itself. The Ritualized Theatre can thus provide a case study of what happens to a meaning-making practice when it ceases to misrecognize its own ends

The vocabulary of acting: a study of the Stanislavski ‘system’ in modern practice

This thesis aims to examine the extent to which the vocabulary of acting created by Konstantin Stanislavski is recognized in contemporary American practice as well as the associations with the Stanislavski ‘system’ held by modern actors in the United States. During the research, a two-part survey was conducted examining the actor’s processes while creating a role for the stage and their exposure to Stanislavski and his written works. A comparison of the data explores the contemporary American understanding of the elements of the ‘system’ as well as the disconnect between the use of these elements and the stigmas attached to Stanislavski or his ‘system’ in light of misconceptions or prejudices toward either

“The World Can’t Tell You How You Are”: The Actors’ Studio, Inside the Actors Studio, and the Performance of Being

This thesis explores the shifting styles of self-presentation that are bound up with the Actors’ Studio’s promotional history. It argues that the self-presentational style inscribed by the promotional and pedagogical discourses of Method acting c. 1955 can be located within distinctly modem modes of capitalist production (cf. Ernest Sternberg’s Romantic and Modernist styles of self-presentation). It then explores ways in which a similar style of self-presentation seems to be perpetuated on the contemporary television show Inside the Actors Studio. After considering the additional inclusion of various “anti-Method” performance styles on ITAS, however, this thesis concludes that, although the discursive contours of Method self-presentation may seem to be intact, the program’s evocation of Romantic authenticity is wholly allegorical - a pastiche performed according to the logic of promotional culture

Actors and artisans: The use of objects in the training of actors

This study is based on the description and analysis of acting exercises in which actors work with concrete objects. The exercises are drawn from various acting methodologies, including disused and marginal methodologies as well as those in common use in British and American acting schools and studios. It is argued that every theory of acting presents a theory of human relations to the material world, and that the specific possibilities of interaction with the material world which are offered by an acting methodology are demonstrated by its treatment of concrete objects. The introduction places these 'object exercises' in the context of contemporary actor training. It surveys the main trends in actor training in British drama schools, and notes a problematic division (reflected in prospectuses and timetables) between 'acting' and 'movement' studies, and a further division between 'Stanislavski-based' approaches and the various approaches gathered under the heading of 'improvisation'. It is suggested that the concept of 'improvisation' has an importance which goes beyond the conventional taxonomy of theatre practice. 'Improvisation' refers to a particular attitude to the world, a form of 'free play within constraints', which can be found in various acting exercises from different traditions, in musical improvisation, and in the practice of 'bricolage' or 'making do'. The question of how humans interact with matter, which is raised by 'object exercises' for actors, has a bearing on wider questions of material transformation and physical work. The second section of the study places the theories of acting under consideration within the cultural context of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It examines the trope of 'work' - as a theme for drama, a subject of movement analysis and an image of the performer's activity, looking particularly at the work of Decroux and Meyerhold. A distinction is drawn between two approaches to objects in performance: objects may be treated as 'constraints' or as 'texts'. The object treated as a constraint denies the actor access to habitual responses and socialised behaviour and thereby frees the potential for other ways of being; the object treated as a text is seen as a reservoir which both records its own history and proposes actions to the performer. Examples of both approaches are given in five sections which analyse specific acting exercises -- in the exercises described in the first two sections, the object is primarily treated as a constraint, and in those described in the remaining sections, the object is primarily treated as a text. Section One looks at the simple, concrete use of objects such as balls and sticks in exercises to develop physical, mental and interactive skills, and at how these exercises promote a 'dialogue' between human and object. The practitioners discussed include Clive Barker, Meyerhold, Stanislavski, and Lee Strasberg. Section Two looks further at the 'dialogue' between actor and object, and at how various 'ways of being' on stage can be transmitted through specific approaches to concrete objects. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Subversive acts : the politics of the female subject in performance

Summary in English.Bibliography: leaves 146-155.This study analyses the role of theatrical discourse in the relationship between patriarchal ideology and gendered subjectivity. It explores ways in which theatre might be used to encourage the social transgression of patriarchal gender norms and investigates the problems associated with the practical realisation of these strategies for gender subversion. The study is structured in two parts. Part I lays the theoretical foundation of the discussion. It argues, in Chapter One, that the concept of gender identity as a natural, inherent facet of human nature is an ideological construct and that gender is not, therefore, an innate aspect of all human beings, but rather a learnt behaviour. In Chapter Two, the connection between the social and theatrical performances of gender is made and the role of theatre in teaching the social performance of gender is examined. Part I concludes with an exploration into possible strategies for gender subversion within the paradigm of theatre. Part II concentrates on the application of the theory discussed in Part I to the practice of theatre. Chapters Four and Five focus respectively on the author's experiences of producing and receiving performance texts from a gender-subversive perspective. In conclusion, this study argues that there are particular problems associated with attempting gender-subversion through theatrical performance texts, due to the extent to which patriarchal ideology is entrenched within the cultural practice of theatre. It also argues, however, that theatre offers unique potential for intervening in the interpellation of gendered subjects and as such, all attempts to use it to this end should be encouraged and supported

The Homonculus Cycle: A Compositional Examination of Poetic, Narrative, and Musical Meaning

This compositional thesis is a song cycle for baritone voice and small ensemble of upright bass, violin, and steel-string guitar, based on the poem “Homonculus” by MacKenzie Regier. In Part 1, I explore several sources of inspiration for the cycle’s compositional rigour, including cross-application of Stanislavski acting method to composers and the selected works of Radiohead, Tom Waits, and Koji Kondo. In Part 2, I give a detailed accounting of the application of the principles explored in Part 1 and explain many of my compositional decisions in relation to the meaning of the source poetry. The scores, program notes, poetry, and lyrics are attached in the appendices

Technology, Theatrical Aesthetics and the Changing Role of the Director

Technology has long ago been acknowledged as one of the leading components in the work of modern theatre directors. However, little attention has been paid to the specific medialities of technology into the formation of directing models and their crucial contribution to the development of the role of the theatre director. This research sets out to examine and compare the directorial work of three well-known directors (Elizabeth LeCompte, Rabert Lepage and Kalie Mitchell) relating to the use of the medialities of technology and technology's impact on the production of particular theatrical aesthetics, as well as to the developmental identity of the aforementioned three directors. It also presents a historical background of key issues surrounding the relationship between director's theatre and technology, and formulates a homogenous systematic theoretical framework by discussing major premises of this specific type of director's theatre. In an attempt to extend previous efforts to formulate directing theatre theories based on acting systems and dramaturgy, a methodological approach is adopted based on data (such as printed and audio-visual material, attendance at productions and rehearsals, as well as training in courses on media arts, directing, production and stage management, lighting and sound design, philosophy and film theory) in order to study the theatrical effects of the use of technology. This thesis argues that the directing models of fragmentary technology. totalising technology and technological hybridisation through three key techniques, namely the use of technology-based collaborators, old and new media and techno-acting, manifest the development of the role of the director within a trajectory from mediality to multi-mediality and inter-mediality. The findings suggest that an important dialogue between the three models exists and that even though the three directors have used differing theatricalities, a significant development of their roles as directors suggests the inextricable link between theatre directing and technology. The findings indicate that technology should be granted a greater recognition by theatre scholarship for the development of the role of the theatre director and that the formation of a homogenous theatre theory from the point of view of directing and technology should be examined as one of the most significant criteria for researching theatre directing today.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Acting Beckett : towards a poetics of performance

Samuel Beckett’s writing stalks the progress of twentieth century art and culture. Seen as both symptomatic of the practices of high Modernism, as well as influential within the fragmented tropes of postmodernity, his drama is often referred to as exploring the limits of an incrementally reductive approach to performance in which fine margins – through time and space; sound and image – are used in the determination of an authentic rendering of his work. This study argues that it is the figure of the actor, in all its rich signifying complexity, which provides us with a lens through which we can evaluate Beckett’s work for theatre and other media.In considering the Beckettian actor, the study grounds a poetics of performance in a principally phenomenological discourse in which theatre history and popular culture throughout the twentieth century is seen as a key factor both in Beckett’s writing and theatre directing, as well as in the often contested development of the actor’s craft. Throughout, it is the theme of music and musicality that provides the actor with a starting point, or modus vivendi, in which the individual self or personality of the actor is valorized alongside other practices based on acquired technique and its application.This study does not propose instruction or a range of techniques for the actor to pursue in furthering their understanding of Beckett’s canon. Instead, this work establishes an understanding of the Beckettian actor in which strategies of implication, born out of sometimes paradoxical representations of silence, absence and abstraction, subordinate acting pedagogies based on programmed curricula. This examination of an implied actor illustrates the various ways in which notable, as well as relatively unknown, actors have sought to reconcile some of these issues. In doing so, the study also interrogates my own creative practice as a director and performer of Beckett’s drama over a fifteen-year period