The Seeing Place


     To me, the root of the difference between theatre and performance comes back to the Greek translation of the world to “seeing place”. It is the place that makes the difference because the place often dictates the rules of the social interaction between those seeing the theater piece and those performing it.  Performance is a broad term that can apply to many different disciplines, but theatre stems from this specificity of place.
            Let me be clear, theatre happens regularly outside the designated playhouses. As a veteran of Shakespeare in the park, I myself have made theater outside of the confines of a designated building. Two years ago, I performed in a production of Twelfth Night that walked our audience through a nature preserve, where each scene happened at a different point along the path. What made this performance theatre was the social agreement between we the performers and our audience who came to see the show.
            As best as I can articulate it, the agreement comes down to one group of people getting up and promising a fulfilling performance along the lines of expected theater conventions. That is to say, we put on costumes, we recited lines, we did our best to create truth, and we stayed in a planned space. The audience payed for the performance, they followed along, they listened respectfully, and they stayed within the planned space. And of all these, I think the designation of space works as the key to or signifier of the other aspects of the social contract.They came to our space, the rules were clear, the social contract was followed.
            For another example, if I were to walk into the House of Blues tomorrow in New Orleans, I would expect to see people doing their best to create truth, probably wearing costumes, staying in a planned space, reciting lines (albeit lines of music), and I would be expected to listen respectfully. The difference is if I walk into the House of Blues, knowing the fact that it’s a concert hall changes the nature of my social contract. I can listen respectfully, but I can also scream, and dance, and sing along. I can crowd surf, have conversations, mosh pit. The rules are different, and the space was the indicator.
            The same holds true if I were to walk into a football stadium. I would see athletes performing, the goal would be entertainment, they would all be wearing costumes, but the rules for that social interaction would be different. Again, I could cheer. If we were at a Minnesota United game specifically, I could sing all the fight songs along with my fellow football fans. You could even argue that my show of support for my team is a type of performance as well; that I am fulfilling an expected role within a given societal context. To me, the big cue that lets me know what type of performative interaction I’m having is the space. Where is the theater? What kind of seeing place?

Comments

  1. The word "disciplines" is well used in this response. Performance having multiple disciplines is an excellent way to describe how performance is a broader term than Theatre, a specific discipline under the umbrella of performance.

    This sentence is excellent: "What made this performance theatre was the social agreement between we the performers and our audience who came to see the show."

    It sounds more like the "seeing place" isn't necessarily a place/location, but a social/artistic contract between the audience and the performers. Perhaps a place in the minds of the performers and the spectators/audience. I think you do a good job at attempting to break it down a little and compare it to other types of performance, but I feel like it could be more clear what the social agreement in Theatre is specifically.

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  2. I love the idea of theatre not as a place but as a contract (a convention). How do we establish the conventions of theater? How possible/easy is it to renegotiate those conventions in the moment?

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