‘Theatre artists and scholars dedicated to advancing theatrical discourse have been placed in a position of having to struggle for not only the continuing growth and effectiveness of the form’, Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich assert, ‘but also its very importance in a society that has made theatre, especially the kind of theatre made by experimental artists, an increasingly elitist form’ (2002, p. 6). In this current climate, arguably caused by what Peter Brook terms the ‘Deadly Theatre’ – a form which we have marked for death in our manifesto – it is essential for our company to ask itself whether our performance is important to anything outside our institution, or whether it is part of the elitist, internecine form that has muted theatre’s relevance.
‘We’ve failed to get through,’ argues Peter Sellars regarding the construction of this elitism; ‘we’ve failed to connect our self-absorption, our smug self-satisfaction’ (2002, p. 130). Sellars’s deplored lack of social engagement can even be physically seen within the Deadly Theatre, in the development of the fourth wall. Tori Haring-Smith notes this device makes actors ‘oblivious of the community to whom they are supposed to be talking’ (2002, p. 100), inherently reminiscing Artaud’s desire for theatre to return to communal ritual. This community factor is included in the current second goal of the Arts Council, ‘developing arts opportunities for people and places with the least engagement’ (2011, para. 5 of 9). As Berkoff writes; ‘We were the world’s greatest video watchers, since we had lost the ability to speak to each other’ (2000, p. 97), charting the gradual transformation of the audience from engagers to voyeurs.
Our company’s emphasis is primarily on the performative rather than outreach, but The Trial itself is a play about one man’s confusion in the face of the opaque workings of the law – with Joseph K’s bafflement at Berkoff’s hyper-performative characters perhaps mirroring an uninitiated audience member’s own responses. Yet, just as our manifesto seeks to eliminate Deadly Theatre ideals with Deadly Theatre styles, so perhaps can we invigorate new audiences with high theatricality. Theatre, as Haring-Smith asserts, ‘was born so that communities could tell their stories’ (2002, p. 102).
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Works cited
The Arts Council (2011), ‘Our goals and priorities’ [Online] <http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/national-portfolio-funding-programme/how-we-made-our-decision/our-goals-and-priorities/> [accessed 10 February 2013].
Berkoff, Steven (2000), Greek, in Steven Berkoff: Plays 1, London: Faber and Faber, pp. 95-140 (‘Author’s Note’, pp. 97-8).
Delgado, Maria M. and Svich, Caridad (2002), ‘Theatre in crisis? Performance manifestos for a new century: snapshots of a time’ in, Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich (eds.), Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 1-15.
Haring-Smith, Tori (2002), ‘On the death of theatre: a call to action’ in, Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich (eds.), Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 97-102.
Sellars, Peter (2002), ‘The question of culture’ in, Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich (eds.), Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 127-44.