Today we continued to discuss Applied Theatre but with Luis. We began by getting into partners and telling each other a story about a time we went to the doctors. I was partnered with Hannah and she told me about going to the doctors because of chest pain and having to do various tests but the tests being inconclusive. I then told Hannah about the time when I went to the doctors, failing to persuade my doctor to put me on medication for my anger and depression. Once we had told each other the stories we got up in our pairs and one by one had to tell the class our partners story, making sure that we remembered the correct details. If at one point our partner made a mistake we would have to silently make them aware of this mistake. Me and Hannah told each others story pretty well with no mistakes.
We were then told we would be doing a spoken word session with these stories. We set up a microphone in each corner of the room and had to go to a corner to tell our story for others to listen to. At times there would be four different stories being told simultaneously and we as an audience could decide where to go and which story to listen to. However, there was also an added difficulty. We had to tell the story in third person, for example, I would say “Lauren went to the doctors”. A lot of people struggled with this and switched back to first person on multiple occasions so we had to correct them and help them to stay on track. I enjoyed this exercise as some of the stories were fun to listen to and I enjoyed telling my story for others.
We then talked about a theory called the “bifurcation of space” which is actually related to the mathematical “bifurcation theory” but can in some way be related to drama. Bifurcation of space (in drama) is when there is a specific area of the space that is classed as the stage. We cornered off one area of the space with a line of shoes representing the stage but we then talked about how in applied/unconventional theatre there is no bifurcation of space. In participatory theatre the whole space is the stage, depending on whether there is an actual stage present.
We then talked about what conventional theatre actual is. A dramatic convention is a set of rules which both the audience and actors know of and follow. Dramatic conventions can also be related to plot and character, for example in melodrama the conventional characters are the hero, heroine, villain and sidekick and the plot will always be that the villain has a plan to capture the heroine in which the hero will then have to rescue her. The conventions of standard theatre are the ideas that the audience will sit on chairs, watching a performance on a stage which is why forms of participatory performance are unconventional.
Our reading for next lesson is an article on Yoko Ono’s “Cut piece”. We must read about her piece and watch an example of her performing it, thinking of ideas for our own performance in which we will perform to the class next week.
Participatory Performance Practices 