Theater and audience perception in a postmodern perspective

Résumé du document

Renowned French philosopher Jean Francois Lyotard described the impact of post modernization as ?The genuinely postmodern work, forces us to recognize that reality is something other than our formulations of itself and that those formulations are therefore what is constructed'. An investigation and interrogation into the performance theatre will result in radically restructuring audience perception and understanding of theatre/life. Performance studies can be researched and work will be visible if the focus is diverted to the response received through the analysis of at least two different practitioners. It is Postmodernism that plays the role of a judge in denying the idea of a true and unique reality. Postmodernism questions reality by using irony instead of metaphysics. It plays with the idea that there exists another reality. This thought of another reality was explained by Allan Kaprow (in Kirby between 1965 and 67) in a letter sent to select New Yorkers for the production of 18 Happenings in 6 Parts in the year 1959. The artist in this scenario takes off from life by targeting the different forms of art. This in turn, forces us to question our sense of the world and its reality. It further makes us reflect on the thought of placing the audience in this altered and parallel state by trying to offer new ways of seeing theatre and life. The work of The Wooster Group, Robert Wilson, Shunt and Happenings challenged reality. These groups have worked towards modifying our perception on reality by investigating other realities, and by accepting intelligence and knowledge. An Avant-garde performance piece exposes our constructed models of reality and theatre. In this process of exposing our pre-constructed models, the pulse of the audience would change from a traditional model to a broader vision. From thereon, questions on theatre, its life, reality and its existence would be a debatable topic.

Extraits

[...] Following this idea, Wilson's work also has an alogical function, implying that far from being illogical, in which a knowledge of rational logic is present but not applied, Wilson's theatre has no sense of logic. There is a lack of reason and rational thought which creates an almost incomprehensible reality. As Counsell (1996: 186) explains, ‘events on stage are governed by logics alien to our usual experience'. An example can be found in the following dialogue from A letter for Queen Victoria (1974): 1. [...]

[...] Nayatt School The Wooster Group. Sandford, M. R. 1995. Happenings and Other Acts, London: Routledge, pp Savran, D Breaking The Rules: The Wooster Group, New York: Theatre Communications Group, pp Tropicana A Shunt event. [...]

[...] New York: E.P. Dutton & Co, pp. 46-49. Kirby, M ‘Structural Analysis/ Structural Theory', Drama Review Vol xx no p in Kaye, N Postmodernism and Performance, London: Macmillan, p Lecompte, E ‘Elizabeth Lecompte‘s last stand?' in The Village Voice, pg.un. L.S.D. ( Just the High Points ).1984. The Wooster Group. Marranca, B The Theatre of Images, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp McHale, B. 1992.Constructing Postmodernism, London: Routledge, pp Route 1 & The Wooster Group. [...]

[...] While the lack of answers can be frustrating, the idea seems to be that all that matters is that she had been avoiding the beach. That was her logic. In our practical presentation, all that mattered in our alternate reality and in our parallel knowledge of the space and time we were in was that we knew where the giant kid was, and it answered everything in our world. As Wilson states in relation to audience response, will know what you saw' (1987). [...]

[...] The dialectic he sets in motion between realism and fantasy is not innocent: it violates our assumptions about how the universe works. By juxtaposing dreams and reality, performance theatre questions the idea of reality and its place on stage, as the projection of something on a stage is always an illusion. It is not reality and therefore theatre cannot achieve realism, as Wilson (in Holmberg; 1996: 155) argues, ‘realism on stage looks false and sounds false. It's not real. It's a lie. Theatre is not life. We must acknowledge that theatre is art. Only then can we be truthful'. [...]