\Fr o w AR D A p o Er r cs o F p ER Fo R M AN ce I decorated caveswere in constant use for more than 10,000 years.What kind of use?

Human bands did nor number more than 40 to 70 indi_ viduals, and more than one band used adjacent and overlappi"g;"C* For most of the year bands probably met oniy occasionally, by chance, or perhaps to exchange information and goods. Maybe relations berween some bands were hostile. But indica"tl 7l

TO W A RD A P O E T IC S OF P E RF O RM A N C E
H U N TINC CIRCUITS , RE MONIA CE L CENT E RS , AN DTH EAT E RS
The earliest human societies were hunting and gathering bands. These bands were nejther primitive nor poor; tn" U"rt evidence suggestsan abundance of food, small families (iirth control was practiced), and an established range. Humans did not live in one spot, neither did they wander aimlessly. Each band had its own circuit: a more or less fixed route, through time,/space. I say ,,time/space,, because the hunting schedule was not gratuitous; it took into account the movement of game according to its own feeding and mating patterns. The cultural level - at least in terms of paintlrrgfarrd scutptiig _ was very high: the masterpieces of the cavesof south-west Europe and the mobire art of Eurasia are testimony enough. Cave art fro- u".y far back exists in many parts of the world, though nothing comparable to Lascaux, Altamira, and the others has b."r, ,rr.ori"red elsewhere. In brief humans occupied an ecological niche that kept bands on the move in reguiar, repetitious patterns, following game, adlusting to the seasons, creatrng artlritual. Repetitious beyond modern calculation: evidence shows that certain

fruits and nuts were ripe for gathering a concenftation of'bands took place. This stili happens.among the few hunting and gathering p;.pl* left' in the Karahari with the lKung, at the corrJborees of the Australian Aborigines. The farming.and huniing tribes of Highlands New Guinea stage elaborate "payback" or exchange ceremonies on a regular basis (see chapter 4). pirgrimages, famif reunions marked by feasting and the exchange of gifts, porlarches, ,.going and ro,, rhe rhearer are other variations on this same acdon of concentratron, exchange or give-ar.r a1, and dispersal. V and F. Reynolds report a strikingly similar phenomenon among the chimpanzees of the Bundongo f"orest in UgurrOu.The Reynolds, account makes me wa other species.

- whengame rimes wasassembred in one...;T;:::llj:'ff.r'i.1

.,ceremoniar g"tr.",i,,g,; T,l ;:r::,1 ::ffir,".:i ;:J};, lT'::,,.:;

Carner (r896: 59-6o) wrote that, ,,one according to nativehearsay, of the most remarkable habits of the chimpanzeeis the kanjo as it is c a l l e di n t h e n a t i v et o n g u e .Th e w o r d ... i m p l i e s m o r e o f th e i d e a of "carnivar'"rt is berieved that more than one famirytakes part in these festivities.,' He went on to describehow the chimpanzees fashion a drum from damp clay and wait for it to dry. Then ,,thechimpanzees assemble b y n i g h t i n g r e a tn u m b e r sa n d th e n th e ca r n i va b r e g i n s. one or two will beat violentlyon this dry clay, while others jump up and down in a wild grotesquemanner. Some of them utter long rolling s o u n d s a s i f t r y i n g t o s i ng ... a n d th e fe sti vi r r e s co n ti n u e i n th i s f a s h i o nf o r h o u r s . "A p a r t fr o m th e q u e sti o no f th e d r u m , th e a cco u n t given abovedescribes quite well what occurredin the Bundongo For_ est in its extremeform, as we heard it six times, once when we were verycloseto the chimpanzees. Only twice,however, did this happenat night;the four other times it rasted for a few hours during the daytime.

I 72 rownn o A p oETt c s oF PERFoRM ANc E consistedof pro|ongednoise for periodsof hours, The ..carniva|s,' outbursts of calling and drumming lasted a few ordinary whereas to know the reasonfor this it was not possible Although minutesonly. with the meetingat associated be to it seemed twice unusualbehavior, a co mmon foo ds our c eof bands t hat m ay hav eb e e n r e | a t i v e | y unfamiliarto eachother' t 965:4o8-9) and Reynolds (Reynolds - they think it The Reynolds aren'r sure what the carnivals were for it occurs when to another: source food may signal a move from one indicating report nineteenth-century The certain edible fruits are ripe. somekindofentertainment(singing,dancing'drummlng)apparently chimpanzees. romanricized and anthropomorphized the gathering of of a mood report nineteenth-century But the Reynolds confirmed the ofexcitementandweli-beinSpermeatingthemeetingofanimalsfrom different bands who are on friendly terms with each other' groups conCalls were coming from all directions at once and all cern ed se em edt obem ov ingabout r apid|y ' Asw e o r i e n t e d t h e s o u r c e and of one outburst,anothercame from anotherdirection'Stamping in front sometimes behind, sometimes heard were fast-runningfeet many as 13 a nd ho wling out bur s t sand pr olongedr olls of d r u m s ( a s yards' few every us surprised ground the rapid beats)shaking 965:4o9) an d R e Y n o l dts ( ReYnolds events? Aren't these "carnivals" prototypes of celebratory, theatrical indinot bands of gathering a 1) Their qualities are worth nothing: other; to each strangers total nor with viduals - who are neither living dancing 2) the sharing of food or, at least, a food source; 3) singing' a place of use 4) entertainment; (rhythmic movement), d.rumming: (In gathering' the for grounds the it ,h"i i, ,ro, "home" for any grorrp held parties culture own in our even regard to the last point I note that "for the in the home use rooms specially marked out or decorated offlimits') less or more occasion." while other rooms are The entertainment aspects of gatherings are of special importance' prlvuWestern thinkers have too often split ritual from entertainment assert to wisdom accepted been eging ritual over entertainment. It has

.l 7 3 To w AR D A p o ETr cs o F p ER Fo R M Ar .r ce that ritual comes first (historically, conceptually), with entertainment arising later as a derivation or even deterioration of ritual' Ritual is "serlous" while entertainment is "frivolous." These are prejudiced culture-bound conclusions. As I tried to show in chapter 4, entertainment and ritual are braided together, neither one being the "original" ofthe other. At celebratory gatherings people are free to engage in behavior that would otherwise be forbidden. Even more, special non-ordinary, otherwise forbidden (frequently promiscuous) behavior is not only permitted, but encouraged, prepared for, and rehearsed. Behavior during carnival combines or alternates with prescribed spontanelty with large-scalepublic performances. where two or more Sroups meet on a seasonal schedule, where there is abundant food either available or stored, and where there is a geographical marker - cave, hiil, waterhole, etc. - there is likelihood of a ceremonial center (see figure 5. 1) . Of the many differences between

C amp

Figure 5.t Note A t pl aces w here seasonal hunt i ng pl ac es i nters ec t at a l andmark , c eremoni al centers ari se.

'5n..'
1 74 T OWA R D
A P OETICS OF PERFORM ANCE

To w AR D A p o ETr cs o F p ER Fo R M AN ce I 7 5 when assuming an area that has left little visual must be cautious is necessarily artistically impoverished. art high of evidence The functions of the ceremonies - the performances - at the ceremonial centers, and the exact procedures, cannot be known precisely. Heel-marks left in the clay in at least one of the cavesindicate dancing; authorities generally agree that performances of some kind took place.2 But more often than not the reconstructions suit the tastes of the 1 reconstructor: fertility rites, initiations, shamanist-curing, and so on. l My own tastes run toward "ecological rituals" such as outlined by Roy r, A. Rappaport: performances which reguhle..economic, political, and ; religious interaction among neighboring groups-frIiose relation with ' each other is ambivalently collaborative and hostile. In fact, Rappaport i (1968) discussesy5uias part of a total ecological system. My onm *:-* views ar'e close to Rappaport's: in the contextofa ritualcycle,operates as a regulatritual,particularly ing mechanismin a system,or set of interlockingsystems,in which as the areaofavailableland,necessary lengthsoffallow suchvariables periods,size and composition of both human and pig populations, of pigs and people,energyexpendedin various trophic requirements and the frequencyof misfortunesare included.. . . Underactivities, lying these hypothesesis the belief that much is to be gained by regardingculture, in some of its aspects, as part of the means by which ali1grls. of ihri human species maintain themselves in t h e i re n v i r o n m e n t s .

human and ape ceremonial centers none is more decisive than the that only humans permanently transform the space by "writing" on or attaching a lore to it. The art in the cavesof south-west Europe the stories of the Aborigines about the landmarks in their range'

waysof into cultural places: meansof transforming natural spaces

ing theaters. But every architectural construction or modification is t making of a culturai place - what is special about a theater? i lrtheater is a place whose only or main use is-jg-stage-_"o.r

It is mffiflflTfftlis per{sffiiiances.

a theater kind of spacb,

not aiFiVd late in human cultures (say with the Greeks of the

- part of a system of hunting, following food sources according toi seasonal schedule, meeting other human bands, celebrating, and ing the celebration by some kind of rn'riting on a space: an inte of geography, calendar, social interaction, and the proclivity of to transform nature into culture. The first theaters were not "natural spaces" - as ls the Bundongo Forest where the chim "cultural stage their carnivals - but were also, and fundamentally, piaces." The transformation of space into place means to consffuct'q theater; this transformation is accomplished by "writing on the space, as the cave art of the Paleolithic period demonstrates so well.t

writing need not be visual, it can be oral as with the Aborigines.The a but possessing Aborigines are a peoplewith few material possessions With culture rich in kinship systems,rites, myths, songs,and dances.
them the transformation of space into place cannot be seen so much as' it can be heard. Or, similarly but in an environment as different as can be imagined from the desert home of the Aborigines, the central" African Mbuti move confidently through their sacred tropical forest singing and dancing their Molimo (see Turnbull 1962, 1985, 1988)' What characterizes Mbuti Molimo ritual is the sound of the Molimo wooden trumpet and the pattern of the dances associated with it' The Molimo. hidden "verticallv in a tree near the sacred center of the forest moves toward the camp, relocating the sacred center as it breathes ain :l

( Rappapor t 968: t 4- 5)
Rappaport is lwiting about a contemporary New Guinea people; I am trying to reconstruct performances of Paleolithic fiu-ilIEii:i think both bear on patterns within modern and postmod6i-fficieties. Exrapolating from Rappaport, from the pictorial and other evidence within the caves, and from patterns within contemporary theater I say that the performances at the ceremonial centers occurring where hunting bands met functioned in at least the following ways:

drinks water, is rubbed with earth, and frnally manifestsitself over fire-, At this point the sanctity of the forest center envelops the camp'i the Aboriginesand the Mbud we (Turnbull 1985: 16). Remembering

1 i
tr)
I

1.
-'

To maintain friendly relations. To exchange goods,mates, trophies,techniques.

I 76 ro wnn o A p oETt c s oF PERFoRM ANc E 3. To show and exchange dances, songs, stories'

Tow A R D A poE Trc s oF pE R FoR MA nc e

I 77

perform."."" Jild I think these Furrhermore, usrn:

Gathering. Playingout an action or actions. Dispersing.

rhythmsfamiliarto

Spectators come and go

'" 'l

Surrounding crowd

ln other words, people came to a special place, did something.that can: be calied theater (and/or dance and music because all ttiib genres arer,l together in such situations), and went on their way: ' .imy, pfiffir*ed simple and obvious as this constellation of rhythmically organized events may seem to be, they are not inevitable when two or more

LOOt

groups approacheach other. The groups could avoid each other, meet" .,h:l--bl as travelers on5gad' i" .o*U"i, p3Lss,each {o ""d :.o ::' g, iieliiorminf;and drspeffig is a specifically The patte{+-of gatherinl theatridipattern. fffi'-f"itern occurs "naturally" in urban settings.An accidenthapto happen (asin guerrilla theater);a crowd gathersto p.rrr, oii, caused se" *hat's going on. The crowd makesa circle around the eventor, as around the aftermath of the event.Talk in the in the caseof accidents, crowd is about what happened, to whom, why; this talk is largely Iike dramasand courtroom trials,which are formal verinterrogative: into the_oggf itself is absorbed tlre ev6ir-t accjdent, siorr.oithe srreer in th:1919-aveiUatty, is dg19 trials'this In ploce. whottook rconstructing

look Passersby over the rim, then moveon

Figure 5.2 An eruPtion

Note c omi ng and A n "erupti on"featuresa heatedc enterand a c ool ri m, w i th s pec tators goi ng. The erupti on occurs ei ther afi er an ac c i dent or duri ng an ev ent w hos e or demol i ti on i s predi ctabl e s uc h as an argument,or the c ons truc ti on devel opment of a bui l di ng.

accident itselfthat gathers and keeps an audience. They are held by the rdeonstructioh or reenactment of the event. In the case of an 1lg$ment

A;r$#t

(iii"allv, f,ctionalf,frffiicioi'i ig"i" *hJ t"pp".red

or, ii ;hlch

slowelffi,

iHillonstructionof a building#ffied

by

iii], r.iigio"tfy)lT6e questions askedin the crowd are those which The shapeof this Brecht wanted theater audiencesto ask of theater.3 fading spectators involved with center kind of street event- a heated
thatinto a cool rim where people come, peer in, and move on - is like perr',] basic the to conform Accidgnts of some medieval street theater.a "cleaned up" some writing, formance pattern; even after the event is the i marks the site: for example, bloodstains, knots of witnesses and 1l disperse' the crowd and evaporate curious. Only slowly does the event

event:"eruptions" (seefigure 5.2)' call.such tin .r,rprioilfii"l?eatrical-performance

becauseit is not the

sidewalksuperintendents, it is the uffi[ing of an eventwhich can be measuredagainsta predlctablescripi"S6J6fi.iG.F) that gathersand holds people. Totally unirianigeable occurrences -1 f.mng wall, sud]"." den gunfire - scatters people;only after the wall has fallen or when the shooting stopsdoesthe crowd C-+Sgr tb mlke t!-g theater. \ Eruptioils ar66ne kind of "natural"s theater, processions areanother. Unders6od as a coherent system they form a bi!-51E'r lnodel of the performances aroseat rook place in the ceremonial ce*EJfiiiich that points where Paleolithichunting bands,moving acrossthe terrain on their seasonal (seefigure 5.3) - which is a treks,met. In a procession

. l78

rowe no A po Er t c s oF PERFoRM ANc E

Pla n n e de ve n t a t th e e n d o f th e p r o ce ssio n

row A R D

A poE rrc s

oF pE R FoR MA N c e

I79

Path ofthe Procesi so n

a roughly similar thing happened countless times on the hunting circuits of Paleolithic humans. Out of these hunting circuits developed ritual clrcuits, meeting places, ceremonial centers, and theaters. Everywhere theater occurs at special times in special places. Theater one of a complex of performance activities which also iileludes but is (dueli, ritual combats, courtroom iiiJr), a"".e, ritual$3p6it'aridTriilr performances in everyday life (see chapter t). ptay@?rious rnu*, are maps places of the cultures where they exist. That is, theater Theater not only in the literary sense - the stories dramas tell, the analogical is convention of explicating action by staging it - but also in tk*af.elurecronic sense. Thus, for example, the Athenian theater of the fifth cenffiy BCE had as i!: ggnter the altar of Dionysus. When the chorus danced around the altar if was located between the audience and the men who played the dramatic roles. The Greek theater's semicircular tiers of seats - not individuated as in modern the"t"rr-6'rit curving communal benches as in modern sports stadiums - Iiterally..enfolded thq_d.Iama, containing its agons within the Athenian solidarity (see figure 5.4). Conceptually this pattern of solidarity-containing-agon was repeated in the contest among the poets and actors for the best play and best performance. The proscenium theater of theglghreenth to \ twentieth centuries in the weit a definrte, Dur very drnerenr, "ff6Tffi*, socio"ifr6Ficdesign (figure 5.5). The Greek amphitheater was open. Beyond and around it the city could be seen during performances which took place in daylight. It was the city, the polis, that was tightly boundaried geographically and ideologically. On the other hand, the proscenium theater is a tightly boundaried, closed individual building with ic&ss from the street stricSi"controlled. Within the part of the structure where the performance takes place and is viewed much effort is spent in directing attention only to the stage; everything not in the show is hidden or sunk in darkness.The building, like rhe events within it, is compartmentalized; the time for the audience to look at each other is regulated and is limited to before the show and to intermissions. The proscenium theater is divided into five precincts (see figure 5.5). Theater w-o1\ers enter through a backstage door unseen by the ticket-buying pii.onr. This is a version of the industrial practice of separl$ng the fii6iy where goods produclJ from the store where "r"

l n f o r m al audience

Crowd watches procession pass by; some j oi n and go on to the goal

Figure 5.j A procession

Note poi nts al ongthe w ay,the. h a s a fixe dr o u tea n d a kn o wn g o a l.At several A procession watch the procession' played. As sPectators procession stops and performancesare p a s s b y ,s o m e m a y io in a n d g o o n to th e g o a l.

kind

of pilgrimage

- the event moves along

a.,prescribed

path, spec-

tatorsgatheralong the route,ind'ai appointedplibeSthe pfficessionh-als played. r"t149t, funeral corteges, ItoliiffiI .rra p1lfor*..r.&-r." PuppetTheaterareproE&3ions'u *"r.h.r, and the Prye-4.1nd *U3uatly to the grave,the a proceision moves to'e g.oall-the-fdheral sta;A]he circus paradeto the big-top' political *.r.h to the speakers' the pilgrimage to the shrine' The event performed at the goai of the pro."rJon ii the oqp-ositeof an eruption: it is well planned for' ritualized. rehearsed. espe' can occur simultaneously, However,eruptions and processions cially when largenumberstf people are involved and the leadershipof in the Bun' a group is flexible. The meeting of bands of chimpanzees dJrgo Forestis both eluptive and processional:-ita known place in a krro*r, circuit, the abundince of food coupledwith the encounterwith strangebandstriggers an eruption of the "carnival'" It is my belief

goES*" to city

Thetheater I

Adioins other theaters

marquee r) Sidewalk under

theater Figure 5.4 TheAthenian

Note oPen eye of the $]Jg-of Nested at the center of the Athenian theater was the D i o n v s u s . A ro u n d itd a n ce d th e Ch o r u s,g ivin g a coreofsol i dari tyfortheagoni sti cr' qgtors But the agon ot of tn. actors.The audience nested both Chorus and, ffii?i the w hol e theatri cal t h e c o n t e s t. mo n g p o "tsiid a cto r sfo r th e p r ize ssurrounded nest for the entireultimate the eveht.yet the soliJarityof Atheni, the polis, pT-*ia"a held in a nest ot literally was agon Each sequenceof performancesand contests' r c l i d a r i t y . T he o u te r n e st- th e p o lis- wd ( io tm Eta p h ori cal :-tffi dw ;E -fffni te each person knew what it geilra,phical, ideological,and social limits to Athens; and social systemwhich ofthe was to be a citizen.The shape ofthe theater was a version but closed interrogation' and debate to alternated agon and solidarity; it was open a citize n ' a m e m b e r , a b o u t w h o w a s o r wa s n o t offices, 5) Backstage,

Figure theater 5.5 The proscenium

Note The moderntheaterbui l di ngi s not i n i ts el fa c entrals truc tureat the heartofa c l earl y boundari ed pol i s.That structure- i fi t ex i s tsat al l - i s the s tadi um or S uperdome. Theatersare bui l t i n "thea ter di s tri c ts ,"one nei ghborhoodi n a rather i l l -defi ned "urban area." The prosce-1ium theatel i$"eJfis divided into five areas: r) sidewalk under marquee,z) l obby,3) hous e,4) s tage,and 5) bac k s tage. Fi x eds eati ngpoi nts the audience toward the stage. The stage floor is open and often slightly raked, ti l ti ngthe acti ontow ard the hous e.S tagemac hi nery i s hi ddeni n the w i ngs and fl i es , maki ng qui ck scene chang es pos s i bl e.The l obby ,w hi c h ex tends i nto the s treet r\ under the theater marquee, i s a gatheri ng pl ac e for the audi enc e before the i performance and duri ng i ntermi s s i ons .

I 82 ro wnn o A po ETt c s oF PERFoRM ANc E factory and they are sold' In a way the proscenium theater combines occuspaces The areas store in one bui-Iding but with clear)y defined gaudily are I house area, lobby, and pied by thd pubtic -"rqrr." de co rate dre flec t inganam bit iont oappeal. . ar is t o c r a t i c ', o r . . h i g h rclass." The spacesLccupied by the workers - stage and backstage decorated' raw' resemble ind,ustrial workspaces, functional' sparsely 'and full of necessarYequiPment' some better i' The house is divided into different classes of seats' (In older units' than others, but even the cheap seats are individual only the benches' proscenium theaters the cheap seats were literaily so that placed are ii.h *.r. entitled to individual places.) The box sears t Before the play sitting there can be see4-by other spectators P-*iSnc seats. However, Segins a curtaln conceals most of the stage iliing the are no even when this temporary barrier is lifted' patrons -longer nor do tney allowed on stage as they were during the Restoration' usuallySeetheactualwallsofthetheaterbuilding.Thesearemaskedby scenes' flats or sets: faise architectural elements depicting various by the prohouse The stage is architecturally separated from the dominating and scenium arch, the proscenium theater's most unique portion center its feature. The arch is actually a framed wall with into looking and removed so that literally the audience is in one room a no the r.Th ew alls epar at ingt het wor oom s is on l y p o r t i o l l y r e m o v e d . the proscenium The arch itself emphasizes this incomplete removal' As theaterdevelopedfromtheseventeenththroughthetwentiethcenturit all but vanished, ies the forestage iutting into the house receded until and house' The eliminating any sharing of space between the stage again made once has of ttre twentieth century open-theater in attempted been -ouarnant part of the viewing space' This has the playing space the In theater' many variations - thrust stage, arena, environmental audience is a proscenium theater the part of the stage visible to the surprisinglysmallportionoftheareabehindtheproscenium.Inthe space was visible' as well as the city and Greek theater .lmost .t "ry theater J5il"irvria. behind and around the theater. In the prostelri*m condll b'irsare the wings, flies, dressing-r6oms, offiCes, and storage cealed.Th.,t,g"andbackstageportionsofthebuildingusuallyoccuPy the stage fr6*r'e than half the area of the theater, but from the house were wings looks much less spacious than the house' Flies and

.|8 3 r o w AR D A Po Er l cs o F PER Fo R M AT'r ce developed to facilitate quick changes of scenery - visual surprises. Additional storage space was necessary as productions involving bulky scenery were kept for future productions; dressing-rooms became more ornate as costumes and makeup increased in complexity. The stage space of the proscenium theater is an efficient engine for quick scene changes and mounting sumptuous effects; this theater produces "numbers" and coups de thidttelike a many-course meal at an expensive restaurant. Usually every attempt is made to hide how effects are achieved. Dramas written for the proscenium usually include one or two intermissions because it's necessary for patrons to see each other, evaluate the product they've purchased, drink, smoke, and re-experience the thrill and surprise ofthe rising curtain. Theaters are located in a theater district; performances are offered at the edge of workdays, "after work" or on weekends and general holiduyr, thduie, is a place to go **h"n work is finished, it is not meant to it is a model of the mercantile process,and a be a rival of work. Because product itself of the working middle-class, the modern theater can't impede that process. Nor is it proper for the theater to entice panons from their jobs (except on Wednesday afternoons, matin6es traditionally reserved for blue-haired non-working ladies). Movlg1and baseball are different: they are offered as alternatives to work, though night bali is the iiirjmmodation of thd big leagues to the workday. The theater district * often also a sex and restaurant district - stimulates consumer appetites by offering a series of shows just as each show offers a sequence of scenes. Competition is fierce among theaters - !t_r-is competition is for custo.mers not prizes; when prizes are given they are used to attract more customefs. Regardless of their artistic quality, most shows fail (which means they don't attract buyers), but hits run as long I as people will pay to see them. Thus, in all these ways, the prosc_eniur.rr" :1,,., theater is a model of capitaiism. Today, as capitalism evolyes-into corporatis-m, new klfd$-O.f-theater arise. Cultural Sgnters and re6lgaal dctors'- are examples of corpor_4$sm. Environmental theaters - built in cheap hit-and-rrrn ,p"."r, iiffi in out-of-the-way neighborhoods exemplify a resistance and alternative to the conglomerates. But environmental theaters exist only in the creases of contemporary society, living offthe leavings, Iike cockroaches.

gpg"tt - art fortresses run by impresarigs o.ffiu.r, by boards*Ildir-

i ' I

&

.|84 rownno

A p o Er tcs

o F PERF o RM ANcE

Tow A R D A P oE rl c s

.|85 oF P E R FoR MA T.TC T

tu'

Creasesare not marginal, on the edge, but iiminal, in between' They run through the actual and conceptual centers of society, like faults in they the Earth's crust. Creasesare places to hide, but more importantly changes radical potentially and d.isturbance, instability, signal areas of "changes in direcin-the social topography. TheSd-Changesare always In the urban technique' than mor-e of something tion," that is, challg*es individuals reclaimed, yet nbt or abandoned, in pilies environmenr, operasmooth apparently large, in Even work. still can and small groups them' for Iook exist; creases universities, and tions like corporations do not phenomena "out Crease places'" way the of quite literally, in herald bulldozers when is instantly, neighborhoods tr"rrrfo.- existing murthe erection of a new cultural center whose monuments rest on renovaand infiltration through step by srep bur dered neighborhoods, tion. At the time when a balance/tension exists between several classes, and income levels, interests, and uses - as was the case in the 1960s experimental phenomena crease district SoHo 1970s in New York's where art, bars, caf6s, and clubs, Iively street performances' parties "stabiland visibility of threshold a when But peak. arrisrs congregate an ity" is,c-1ossed,the neighborhood,"fre-ezes in a new form' becomes ,,aftracrion" from life its of draws'frost ich wt dlstrlci rhearer the (like outside its ovm precinct) and the crease is smoothed out. Then artists a create' or along' follow envii6iment a crease need and others who new fauit. Theaters everywhere are scenographic models of sociometric process. pointing out that "most of the traditional theater performances organized on the level ground' a platiof India] are open-air events, spectacle," Suresh Awasthi goes processional a mobile forn', ,,.g", or as on to sav: They are presentedin fields after the harvest,streets,oPen spaces' fairs' for performances)' designated outsidetown (often permanently legend Krishna the and Ramayana for the especially and markets and courtyards' marketsquares, riverbanks, shows- temple gardens, from'-tlg comsep-qrated not events social are performances The ... He is his community' of membei active is an Thracior mua1t13g11yity. vegetable a vendor, fruit a a carPenter, mechanic, a farmer, alsol haWGi . . . An important factor that determinesthe nature of the

in this theater is the nonrealisticand metaphysical 'ir... scenograPhY .\: treatmentof time and Place.

t974:35-8) (Awasthi
- and Traditional Indian theater is vg1' like western medieva-I,theater has a modern avant-garde or experimental theater. The performer often second or third occupation, but this does not mean that his skills as a oerformer are amateurish; far from it, a connection to a community may d""p"n all aspects of his art. The flexible treatment of time and space - the abiiity of one space to be transformed into many places through the skills of the performer more than through the illusionistic devices of the scenographer - goes hand in hand with a transformational view of character (role doubling, role switching) and a close contact with the audience (the performer both as character and as story-teller, the use ofsuch devices as the aside and direct address to the audlEite). This connectedness - a mobiiity among spheres of reality rather than social mobility in the modern sense - is an important quality of traditional performances, and even the avant-garde' This kind of total theater is nowhere better expressed than among the Aborigines: is rewarding but routine'Thereis a kind The dailylife of the Aborigines round of living. ln their ritual lives, of low-keypace to the everyday the Aboriginesattain a heightenedsense of drama. Sharp however, images appear and colors deepen.The Aborigines are masters of visual and musicaleffectswith the stagecraft and achieveremarkable the centraltruth I experienced at hand. . . . Gradually limited materials i tse l f b u t a n i n se p a r a b l e : a t i t i s n o t a th i n g b y o f A b o r i g i n a lr e l i g i on th part of a whole that encompassesevery aspect of daily life, every and future. lt is nothing less individualand evertime - Past,Present and as such constitutesone ofthe most than the theme ofexistence, l m skn o w n a n d p h i l o so p h i casyste sophisticated a n d un i q u e r e l i g i o u s to man. ( Go u l dr 9 5 9 : r o 3 - 4 ) 8 We are accustomed to a theater that locates "the real" in relationships among individual people; but most of world theater takes a broader,

.l86

rown no A Po Er lc s oF PERFoRM ANc E

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western theater is mimetic' and deeper,view of what's real' Mo4ern av$larde in this c-tegory' ir"ditiorr"l the3!er,and agail I include th*e qeatinS:o;-incarnatingin a tilEiter place what cannot t iro*totfiotio-'ni' are ediule-fibods Justill-flarm is a field *heie ;;"=i;'6Av*t'.r" "hJ. is a placewhere transformations ld ;H;;*afi", -t--ll*t:ql"*l Aborigine scenaccomplished' (humarran*non-hufrefr"fare i.rporrt natural and built ele;gr;phy .r"",", theater out of a combiniiioffif is embeddedin a inatrix of ments.Eachrock, waterhole,tree,and streim place is where a cerelegend and dramatic action' Thus a particular in the past' place, where a mythic event has happened *'ony t"t and ", dances' songs and *fr.r" U.rng, manifest themselvesthrough watera and specialactions converge- for example' *h.r" euery-day ceremonies drink andrvhere, hole is both p1.." wlelepeople come to drinking " the of space transform it*pr. *oalnttti""s ;;;;.;;. the clearing into a theater: place (or some other multiple-use space) or for example; a oi small rocks, doing sand or rock paintings, the "r." theatt by being "Iearned" - a novice is taught ;;.. *"y becomea geoplace: with a particular dances associated iJg."ar, ,orrgr, "nd seenothing but an outqopuninitiated the orl"onuitsef ls sotialized; while the initialed experiencea dense fi"rt;';i t*--oi".- *ut"'r'ole; place by poetic setting.This technique of creatingii theaier *i1rt."f and the makersof guerrilla th94er alike' meansis used by Shake8rcare

new piaEs-'lutbe-sagial- -order; this move is agceded.to or blocked; in either case a crisis occurs because any change in status invoives a readiustment of the entire scheme; this-re4-{jF-qtg"Iefi'i$ effected perQ_rmatively * that is, by means of theater and ritual. Turner writes: a r i si n g o r d i sh a r m o n i c.p r o ce ss, S o c i a ld r a m a sa r e u n i ts o f a h a r m o n i c they have four main phasesof public in cqnfljilsituations. Typically, norm-governed socialrelaaction.. . . These are t. BJlach.ofregular, fo r th e b r e a ch to t i o n s .. . . 2 . ; $ g 4 " d u r i n gw h i ch . . . th e r ei s a te n d e n cy crisis has what I now call liminal characterwiden. . . . Eath pu-b_lic istics,sinceit is a thresholdbetweenmore or lessstablephasesof the but it is not a sacredlimen, hedgedaround by taboos socialprocess, and thrust away from the centersof public life. On the contrary,it in the forum itselfand, as it were,dares takes up its menaci+g..stance action of order to grapplewith it. . . .3. Redress'rue the representatives ' from personaladviceand informal meditationcirTditration [ranging] and, to resolvecertainkinds of to formal judicialand legalmachinery of to the performance crisis or legitimateother modes or resolution, to o , h a s i ts l i m i n a l fe a tu r e s,i ts b e i n g . p u b l i c r i t u a l . . . . R e d r e ss, "betwixtand between," and, as such,furnishesa distancedreplication , a n d c r i t i q u eo f t h e e v e n tsl e a d i n gu p to a n d co m p o si n gth e "cr i si s." . This feBlicationmay be in the rationa.l.idionr of a judicial process,or in : the metjrph_o-lcal and symbolic idiom of a ritual process.. . . 4. The , final phase. . . . consists either of the reintgglali.on of rhe disturbed ' social group or of the social recognition and legitimization of i rreparable ng parties. schism betweencontesti (Turnen 974:37-4l)

TR ANSF ORMA NCE S

dramas" using theatrical 'terVictor Turne t \197 +) analyzes are-.dealt "spgial or crisis situations minology to describe how disharmonic - are passage combats' rites of with. These situattons - arguments' show' they not only do things' inherentlv dramatlc because participants a on actions take done; or hove leflglve whot theyorerloing thrrnr4u* ondothers

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Goffman (1e5e) is as d6fuan believesall direct as Turner rn using *re theatrical-pgradigm' - ptop1ffi"p"re their socialroGs..(vari are sociaiinteractions 'iugta of roleo]ttTtJ^'iS5 techniques ta;r."".';, ;tSrt, Iiff"""t order to play out l<ey in ""t "m-ti}-stage" areas stage"'and then enter the and Goffman the basiC socialinteractionsand routineiFor both Turner group begins to move to bl human plot is the same:someoneor some

Thls way of growing by means of conflict and schisrrqlatqson calls "schismogsngsis" (1958: 17 1-97).It is a major agenE glluman cultural growth. Tirrner's dramatic approachis interesting on many ievels.The replication of the redressive action phaseis, of course,a theatricalperflormance,a formal_restaging_of The four-phaseproceiisasa whole is events. a dramain the Euro-Americantradition - this schemecan be discerned tn Greek tragedies,Shakespearean plays, or the dramas of Ibsen or O'Neill.li is l-.r. Ionesco,or Beckett- Uit it it to fina]ri Chelihor,, ""ry

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' 1 8 8T OWA RD

A P OE TICS OF PERFORM ANCE

TO W A R D

A P O E TI C S O F P E R FO R MA N C

there; the way it is distorted gives an insight into dramatic stlucture. For example, in woiting for Godotthere is breach (the separation from Godot) and crises (waiting, the arrival of the Boy at the end of each act to teli Gogo and Didi that Godot will not come). There is a negative but "nothing" extended redressive action: the doing of various bits of that routines vaudeville talk that has no effect on the dramatic action, the that all emphasize fi.ll up time but achieve nothing: these routines nor is reintegration, no characters can (not) do. But in Godotthere's it suggested is future if iny there a schism. The piay rimply stbps and ends play the Significantly the present indefinitely' simplyt6iitinues with stage direction "They do-not !ggY-e." Most other dramas, the plays -to of Shakespeareand lbsen, for example, end either with a iourney to the go to corpses, of get crowned, to go to the grave to dispose reintegrative some with or iuthorities ro relate what's happened to Gabler, gesture such as Tesman's determination, at the close of Heddc "Cgglgn moveThis reconstruct Lovborg's manuscript. Life literally ment which ends so many dramas is akin to the lto, mi550est which concludes the Mass: it is a dismissal of the audience, a signal within the ii ctrming to a close, that the drama itself that the theatriiii'event spectators must prepare to move on. The audience disperses, spreading ,h" ,r.*, (good or bad) of the show. Even a play as non-conventional and non,religious as Mother courcgeand Her childlen follows this nearly of universal p"rt.rrr. The play climaxes in scene 11 with the murder Courage' shows scene final Kattrin, Courage's last child. The next and her by means of the lullaby and funeral arrangements, taking leave ,of Shakeof couplets final the daughter. The play's tag - comparable to drama - is Courage's shout as she hitches herself to her ,p"*."r, wagon, "I've got to get back into business' Hey, take me with you!" the last action of the piay is Courage marching off, on the move again' at a The song is the same as that which started the play, but played stupidity? tragic or t"mpo: is this stubborn determination ,lo*.r Whatever the meaning of the last sigtiind sound' - and meanfi$'will - the action is clear: courage is vary according to different mises-en-scine on the road, walking and working. Turner further asserts that the 1@!+al-Fhases of the rites of tribal' agrarian, hunting, and tradiliolal sbcieties are an-aiogoui t-o the iltworks and leisure aclivilies of indls.trial and post-industrial societies.

"lmrngid," meaning they are like TheseTirrner (1982, 1985) calls iiminai rite-sar6i6Jigto them. Basically but not-i-depti,9{ fr'nt"a**t are ,,oluntary' However, entertainmenis ar6-;a liminoid while atory crisis, th" qrr"stion remains: is Tirrner's four-phasepatterffif breach, theatrical acgafly a (or schism) reintegration and action, redressive Turnei*Sho*s universal- or.llir-an imposition of a western co.-4cept? to this Uganda conforms Ndein6ir of of the process social lh" frow New Papua Aborigf1e, how show paradigm. dramatistic l -ggpld also,conform. But what is the cost of this Guinea,and Indiao--theaier "the drama analogy . . . can conformity? As Clifford Geertz notes, .some of the profoundes-tfeatures of social-process' but at expose the expense of making vividly disparate m4tte$ look drably (1980a:I 73). homogeneous" I want to go beyond what may be, after all, just an elaboratetautology. The basic performance structure of gathering/performing/ underlies and literally contains,the dramatlc structure: dispersing

Breach{risis-Redressive

action-Reinte gration

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The bottom iine is solidarity, not conflict. C"qgt_.j. it supportable (in the the theater, and perhaps in society too) only insld! 1n;g!11[i.rom agreement ta.g4l:her at a specific time and place, to perform - to do is over. something igreed on - and to disperse once the friltiimance The extreme forms of violence that characterize drama can be played out only inside this nest. When people "go to the theater"e they are acknowledgin[friit th""te. takes place at special times in special places. Surrounding a show are special observances, practices, and rituals that lead into the performance and away from it. Not only getting to the theater district, but enteqing the buitding itself involves ceremony: tickertaking, passing through gates, performing rituals, finding a place irom which to watch: ail this - and the procedures vary from culture to culture, event to event - frames and defines the performance. Ending the show and going away alid involves ceremony: applause or some tormal way to conclude the performance and wipe away the reality of

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190 r oweno A poEr t cs o F P E R F o R M A N c E the show re-establishing in its place the reality of everyday iife. The performers even more than the audience prepare and then, when the show is over, undertake "cooling-off' procedures ln many cultures tiiii looting off involves rituals to retire props or coslumes or to assist performers out of trance or other non-ordinary states of being' Too little study has been made of how people - both spectators and performers - approach and leave performances. How do specific audiences get to, and into, the performance space; how do they go from that space? In what ways are gathering/dispersing related to preparation/ cooling ofi? The "theatrical frame" allows spectators to enioy deep feelings without feeiing compelled elther to lntervene or to avoid witnessi.ng the"iiiions that arorije those feelings. A spectator better not prevent the murders occurring in Hcmiet.Yet these stage mu-rders are not '1195-1eal" life Theater, to be but "differently real" than what happens in evs1y-day incomplete or double its effecti re, *nti *"itttaln Presence, as a here"here and between gap The events. qnd-now perlormonce of tliere-and-then the cont-e:nplate to "there audierice an allows then" and now'; and only of enacting art is the Theater alternatives. action, and to entc.I]lain one of a range of virtual alternatives. It is a luxury unaffordable in would be much different if there were a plague ordinary life. Oedipus affiicting the town where the drama was being played and the audience believed the plague would end if the murderer of their former mayor a murderer they knew to be concealed in their midst - was found and brought to iudgement here and now. some people want performance to achieve this level of actuality. As rhearer approaches this llmit it changes fundamentally: small real actions are substituted for big fictional semblances. A female has her body scarred or a male is circumcised. These "real actions" are them= selves emblems or symbols. But when the theatrical frame is imposed, strongiy it permits the enactment of "aesthetic dramas," shows-frh-dSe actions, Iike Oedipus poking out his o#n eyail are extreme but recognized by everyone, including the performers, as a "playing with'l rather than a "real doing of," itti, "playing with" is not weaii ;i:"fdhe' ' it .unt"t changes to both performers and spectators' ani' "everything killing including rea1," People who want to make *als, lhe "art" of self-mutilation, or "snuff films" where P,eolle ue

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actually murdered,'o are deceiving themselves if they think they are xpproaching a deeper or more essential reality. A1l of these actions ft" tft" Roman gladlatorial games or Aztec human sacrifices - are as symbolic and make-believe as anything'iise on stage. What happens is that living beings are reified into symbolic agents. Such reification is monsrrous, I condemn lt without exception. It is no justification to point out that modern warfare does the same, kiliing "things" at a dirtrr,..". Nor will these blood performances act as a cathartic: violence replicated, oi actualized, stimulate-s mor.'e-.violence. It also deadens people's abilities to intervene outside the theater when they see violence being done. Turner locates the essential drama in conflict and conflict resolution. - in how people use theater as a way to it in tronsformction locate .l tsp"rim"nt with, act out, and ratlfy change. Transformations in theater occur in three different places,-and at three different levels: 1) in the drama, that is, in the story;112) in the performers whose special task it of their body/mind, what I call a is to undergo a temporary reanangement "transportation" (Schechner1985: 117-51):3) in the audiencewhere changes may either be temporary (entertainment) or permanent (ritual). A11over the world performances are accompanied by eating and drinking. In New Guinea, Australia, and Africa feasting is at the very center of theater; in modern western theater a show without something to eat or drink at intermission or iust before or after the theater i.s unusual. This action recalls not only the chimpanzee carnivals but the hunting circuit; it suggeststhat theater stimulates appetites,that it is an oral/visceral art (see Kaplan 19 68). And, as L6vi-Strausqtras shown, the basic transformation from raw to cooked is a paradfdr.If culturemaking: the making of the narural into the human. u *.iit'i deepesrleuel this is what thearer is "about," the ability t" flfiL and conrrol, ro transform the raw into the cooked, to deal with the most Dioblematic (violent, dangeFots, sexual,' il6oo) human inreracrions. At all levels theater includes mechanisms for transformation. At the level of the staging there are costumes and masks, exercisesand incantations,incense and music, all designed to "make believe" in the literal sense- to help the performer make her,/himself into another person or being, existing at another time in another place, and to manifest this presencehere and now, in this theater, so that time and place are at least

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r o w AR D A p o Er r cs o F p ER Fo R M AN ce I 9 3 In aesthetic drama some are more decisively involved than others. is i1 theater a participal1 the the in ?e,*rmoncewhile only everyone in the dramonested in the drama are participants piaying.roles tiiose (see The p"tfot.tt*i" as distinct chapter 3). p"ifoi*.o.e th. *ufrt" it is level performance that social, and at the of drama.is from the drama is drama converge. The function of aesthetic sociai and aesthetic of the oudience whot socioldromodoes for its participcnts: rc do for the consciousness for, means transformation. Rituals carry partiplace and of a oroviding into different persons. For limens, transforming them across .ip".t,r "bachelor" man is a and through the ceremony of young a example "husband." His status during that ceremony, a he becomes marriage "groom." Groom is the liminai role he plays but only then, is that of from bachelor into husband. Aesthetic drama transforming while of the spectators' view of the world by rubtransformation a compels against enactments of extreme events, much more senses their bing would usually witness. The nesting pattern makes it than they exrreme spectator to reflect on these events rather than flee from for the possible in them. That reflection is the liminal time during intervene or them which the transformation of consciousnesstakesplace. The situation for the actor in aesthetic drama is complicated because the drama is repeated many times and each time the actor is supposed to start from nearly the same place. In other words, in western theater at least, although spectators come and go, and they are encouraged to change, techniques have been developed to prepare actors for, and bring them down from, the experience of playing relatively unchanged - no more changed than any ordinary career changes a person. Metaphorically speaking, the actor is a circular printing press who, in rolling over makes an impression on her audience; but she is not ready to roll over again untll she is back in her original position. For each performance there is a new audience on whom an impression is to be made. The actor makes a journey that ends where it began, while the audience is "moved" to a new place. In aesthetic drama techniques have been develooed to transform the actor into the role and other techniques are used to bring her back to her ordinary self. In some ritual theater the officiators are very like actors in aesthetic drama: the shaman working a cure must effect change in the patient, and often aoes this by transforming into anorher being; but at the end of the

doubled. If the transformation works, individual spectators will experithese changes are usua\ ence changes in mood and/or consciousness; In some kinds of permanent' be can they temporary but sometimes change in permanent a for example passage, performance - rites of are changes these But all is accomplished. the sratus of the participants in the service of social homeostasis. Chang_T affecting individuals or groups help maintain the balance of the whole- system' For exampie, it's necessaryto change girls into women (in an initiation rite) because somewhere else within the system women are being changed into dead people (ln funeral rites); a vacancy exists that must be filled' These vacanciesdon't occur on a simple one-to-one basis, but according ro sysrem-wide probabilities. It is less easy to see how this works in an aesthetic drama, say a performance of Eugene O'Neill's long Doyt into Night. Journey The ke.y -difference between social and aesthetic dramas is the performancq of the transformarions effected. Some kinds of so*ial drama it permanelll*qhange ln other kinds such as feuds, tgals, "tr ""ii;t-t of social and aesthetic quallties of performance which share -b-gth drama - rites of passage,political-ceremonies - changes in status are pe.rs*.+ent (or at least canno,t li-rindone except through more ritual) '

- the wearing of some in thlbgdy iii while changes "ith"t-1-potary circumcision' The septum, or an ear piercing costume- or not severe:
ordeals which are features of initiation rites, though extreme relative to ordinary experience are temporaiy. But the idea of these body mark-' ings, aiterations, and ordeals is to signal and/or mark and enforce a permanent change in the participants. In aesthetic drama no p-erman' ent body .h"tgJ is effected. A gap is intentionally opened--liei*een what happen;-iJ tft. !-gU4.t in the story and what hdppens to the perfolilL-9ls, playing that story. To play a person in love, or someone who murders or is murdered (common enough in western theater) ' or to be transformed into a god, or to go into a trance (common enough in non-western theater) involves fundamental, if tem-porary'

transformations of bein g, no1 melq appearance' Aesthetic ditrna woffi itJ transformations on the audience. In aesthetic drama the audience is separated Uottr iitualty and conceptually

of the audiencen the hallmark' flrom the performers.This separateness

of aesthetic drama. In social-drama all present are participantS, ihoug\

I t

I 9 4 ro wnn o A poEr t c s oF PERFoRM ANc E performance the sham4l must return-to-her/his ordinary existence. It .,get ,,g"rlilo,' back from" that makes rhe shaman and is the ability ,o

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.l 95 Tow A R D A P oE Tl c s oF P E R FOR MA T.TC e

n."ftt'friiirtt, not a ferson'to be usedonceonly' Thus a continually where a.eiihelic' of performance:-1) threecategories at least thereaqe

while the performer "rolls over"; consciousness changes rhe audience 2-)ritual, *her" t# subieci of ,h" ..,.*ony is transformedwhile the #ciating performer "rolls over"; 3) sociai drama, where all i.nvolved 1985: 1 17-50)' (see Schebhner change The ambiguity of theater since 1950 regarding whether or not event is "r"illy h^pp"ning" is an outcome of the blurring of the
boundaries between the categories of performance' Eieie{ion has made it possible to theafiicalize qp.erience by editing even the mol intimate or horrendous events into "news" so that people feei nothin srange about a complementary actualization of art (see Schec "life" are bl 1985: 295-324). The boundaries between "art" and

- the existence of theater acdon process. The actualization of art combining the sociai with the aesthetic - is tradltional in many parts of the world. Thus avant-garde and political theater find already preParedpaths' I have tried in my work with The Performance Group and since, and in the immediate in my teaching, tEJilaeethe actuality of perfciiilItGs theatrical event I am staging. I emphasize the gathering and dispersing aspects of performance. Upon entering the theater spectators are ereeted, either by me or by the actors. Spectators see the performance - actors getting musicians tuning up, 6.i"g-irt.p"t"d Tjgcostume, Intermissions, checked, etc. and less formal equipment technical breaks in the narration such as scene shifts, are underlined. In Mother a full meal was served during intermission * during this break Couruge in the narration the performance was carried on by other means, by mingling performers and audience, by encouraging spectators to use parts of the space otherwise and at other times reserved for the performers (see chapter a). I try to establish non-story-telling time as an integrai part of the whole performance scheme, while cleariy separating this time from the drama. When the drama is over I speak to spectators as they are leaving. I direct many of them to where the experience ends not with a dramatic performers are so that-tfii moment, or even the curtain call, but with discussions, greetings, and
l ^ - ..^ .^ l - :l c4 vc- td [l l IX) . ^^

when people watch extremeeventsknowing thesear$ and permeable. and 2) edited to make the eventsboth morg happening actually 1)
"showtime" dramatic and more palatable, fitting them into a fo

they are stripped of ali'pot but aisoknowing 3) thaLasobservers into an audiencein the are turned is, they that oflr-rtervention
sense - the reaction of anger quickly dissolves into paralysis and pair, or indifference. Maybe apPetites are aroused, but these can't t insi satlsfied except by going on the shopping sprees the commercials

Emotional feedbackis not possible .." ,r.."rr"ry for happiness.

as watching TV f{.1s not a two-way communications system and/or--enioying making by react Some"-people is. theater that;i more "real," introducing into aesthetics the interventions feedback eliminated from ordinary life. Thus it is-4o longer strange in theater or performance art the audience directly in the story, to stage actual encounters

peopicl-ind to use theatrical eventsai the first step in a process

rellgious refieats and meetings (as.-Grotrcwskidid) ' These are att - which today to r=egain some balance between--inToTmation and more dificult more seems which people action, and whelms

The histJry of intermissions in the western theater is an interesting example of the importance of the underlying social event as a nest for the theatrical event. When performances were staged outdoors (Greek, medieval, Ellzabethan) the spectators could see each other in daylight. The court performances of masques and dramas in the Renaissancewere so lit that spectators could see each other as well as the actors. This kind of general illumination, and a mixing of focus including spectators as well as actors, Continued throughouttheieventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But as scene changes began to netessitate complicated maghinery which producers wanted to mask from the audience, the IroIIt curtain was introduced and step by step the forestage was eliminated. Also changes in lighting, especially the introduction first of gas and then eiectricity in the nineteenth cenrury, widened the gap Detween stage and house until the stife was brightly lit andlhe house

effect. Terrorism, as opposed to ordinary street violence' is a way getting the auention of society,of mqklag3-shg1y;it is a symptorr the Uisic dysfunction of the communication-feedback

.|9 6

rown no A poEr r c s oF pERFoRM ANc E dark. In this situation naturalism arose, with its slice-oflife and peeping-Tom staging. Along with these conventions came the intermission: a formal period when the house was illuminated and the spectators, either remaining in the house or trouping to lounges and restaurants, had the opportunity to see and mingle with each other. The intermission served a purpose, not necessary either in outdoor or fully lit' theaters: that of giving the spectators a chance to see themselves" Inter4rlission confirms the existence of the "gatheri4g," a group, assembled specifically to attend this particular theatricai event. Why don't movies have intermissions? Because movies lack a group of live' entertainers on stage, they are barely social at all. Sporting events arg' social, and feature intermissions (halftime, seventh-inning stretch, ,a card of bouts or races). Performances which keep the audience in the dark with no intermission generate anxiety and contradict the social impulses of theater. I do not condemn such performances, but note that they run against the grain of the western tradition; in the deepest sense they are unconventional. My directing is intended to show the audience that "a story is bein$ played for you, all around you, needing your active support." These techniques emphasize the "performance nest" inside which the happens. Performers in The Performance Group were trained to their double identities: as themseives and.as-the. characters they

r o w AR D A p o ETr cs o F p ER Fo R M AN ce I 9 7 handle: audience participation, envitonmental staging, muiti-focus, etc. These were combined with the traditional theatrical means of our culture: narration and characterization.

DO E C S T A S Y / T R AW NC P E RF O RMER S: T H E HE EEL WHA T

Looking at performing worldwide, two processes are identifiable. A "subtracted," achieving transparency,.elipinating performer is either i'from the creative'p?6Eii$ the resistance and obstacies caused by one's own organism" (Grotowski 1968a: 178); or s/he is "added to," becoming more or other than s/he is when not performing. S,/he is "doublgd," to use Artaud's word. The first technlque, that of the shaman, is gc:tasy; tft"ieco"a, that of theEftnese dancer, is trance. In terms for these two kinds J acting: th6-icior in the'riest *Jil"u" Ryszard is Ciesl$-"in The Cons-tgn_t_*Prince, G.roto.Wski's "holy ecstasy possessed actor in the trance by another, is Konstantin actor"; "character Vershinin, as the actor." Stanislavsky To be in tranCd"is not to be out of control or unconscious. The Balinese say that if a trance dancer hurts himself the trance was not genuine. In some kinds of trance the possessedand the possessorare both visible. Jane Belo describes a Balinese horse dance where the playerwould start out riding the hobbyhorse, being,so to speak, the horseman.But in his tranceactivityhe would soon becomeidentifiedwith the horse- he would prance,gallopabout,stamp and kickas a horse - or perhapsit would be fairer to say that he would be the horseand riderin o-ne. Forthough he would sit on the hobbyhorse, his legshad to servefrom the beginningas the legsofthe beast. ( Be l or 9 6 o : zr 3 ) This is the centaur; and it is an example of the performer's double identity. When, in western theater, we speak of an actor "portraying a role," using a metaphor from painting where the artist studies a subject and produces an image of that subject, we slide away from the main tactof theatrical performance: that the "portrayal" is a transformation ot the performer's body,/mind - the "canvas" or "material" is the pertormer. Interviewing Balinese performers of songhyongs, village trance

seeperformers playing By keeping theseboth out front spectators

to oct. Even "being in character" ls seen as only ;rCting but choosing Thus the spectator, too, ls encouraged inevitibiliiy. not an choice each action. There is no fixed seating, receive how to choose - spectators can shift focus from go on simultaneously actions By no means are ali these to another. the performance aspect of can focus on a perfbrmer a spectator the drama: with concerned character), the technical another (that is, becoming ging costume for a unanimity of reaction, of worklng Instead etc. other spectators, in orthodox theater, I strive for a diversity of opportunities. encourage spectators to react intellectually and ideoiogically as well emotionally. What is "realiy happening" is a gathering of spectators different ages, sexes, classes,and ideologies watching a group of formers teil a story by theatrical means. Within this context formance Group expiored the most radical theatricai means we

. l98

r owlno A p o Errc so F p ER F o R MA N c E performances, Goesti Made Soemeng(GM), a Balinese member Belo'sresearch team,probed the way trancepossession happens: GM: Whatis yourfeeling whenyouarefirstsmoked)'3 Dorja:Somehow or othersuddenly I loseconsciousness. The
sing ingI hear .lf peoplec all out , c allingm e " T j i t t a h ! "[ a p i g c a l l ] that, I hear it too. lf peopletalk of other things, I don't hear it. GM: When you are a sanghyangpig, and people insult you, do

.|9 9 To w AR D A POETIC S OF PER FOR M AT'r C E pig escaped from the courtyard. He was not caught until the olaying a "He had by that time ravaged the gardens, trampled and irexr morning. which was not good for the village' He had also, being plants, eatenrhe quantities of excreta he had found in the roadways, large I pig, eaten for him" (Belo 1960: 202). good not *-hi.h *m "surprisingly satisfactory," and I do too. these accounts Belo finds trance performing is a kind of character acting: being that They show = becoming another. Eliade says that shamans, another by oossessed often possessedby animals. ioo, "t" During seancesamong the Yakut, the Yukagir,the Chukchee,the G o l d i , t h e E s k i m o a n d o th e r s, w i l d a n i m a l cr i e s a n d b i r d ca l l s a r e describes the Kirgiz-Tartar baqcarunning around the heard.Castagne tent, springing, roaring,leaping;he "barks like a dog, sniffs at the lows like an ox, bellows,cries,bleatslike a lamb, grunts like audience, accuracy the criesof a pig, whinnies,coos, imitatingwith remarkable t h e s o n g so f b i r d s, th e so u n d o fth e i r fl i g h t a n d so o n , a l l o f animals, which greatlyimpresseshis audience."The "descentof the spirits" oftentakesplacein this fashion. (Eliade r97o: 97)'a And, as I noted in chapter 4, this kind of performing associatedwith trickster figures and hunters arose very early in human history (see La Barre 797 2: 19 5-6) . Balinese trance, shamanic possession, and the trickster are not examples of acting from the Stanislavsky tradition. But nor are they essentially different. Stanislavsky developed exercises - sense memory, emodonal recall, playing the throughJine of action, etc. - so that actors could "get inside ofl' and act "as if' they were other people. StanisIavsky's approach is humanist and psychological, but still a version of the ancient technique of performing by becoming or being possessed by another. Beio (1960: 223) saysthat the pleasure ofthe "trance experience is connected with the surrendering of the self-impulse. . . . Being a pig, a toad, a snake, or a creepy spirit are ali enactments of the feeling of lowness in a very literal, chiidish and direct manner." She thinks that urge to be low" is one of the foundations of trance.t' To be low is to

I
I

i \, ii' l,

s il
iil I il i il

iii fi I i.l
I f F
I
I

hearitl Darjo:I hearit. lf anyone insults me I am furious. 6M: Whenyoufinishplaying, howdo youfeel, tiredor notl Darja:Whenit's just over,I don't feeltiredyet. But the nextdayor dayafter that,my bodyis sick. . . youbecome CM: When a sanghyang snake, whatis thefeeling like, where do youfeelyourbody to be) Darma:WhenI'm a sanghyang snake, suddenly my thoughts are c iou s T . h u s ,m y fe e l i n g b s eing suddenl I y see d e l i c i ous likeforest, woods, with manymany trees. Whenmy bodyis like as a snake, my feelingis of goingthroughthe woods,and I olea s e... d puppy, CM: And if you'rea sanghyang whatdoesyourbodyfeel Where do youfeelyourself to bel ground. Darja:ljustfeellikea puppy. I feelhappytorunalongthe I just likea puppyrunning verypleased, on the ground. As longas , mhappy. c anru no n th eg ro u n dI'
potato,wheredo you feelyourself 6M: And if you'rea sanghyang to an d lik ewhat l Darma'. I feel I am in the garden,like a potato plantedin the garden. CM: And if you're a sanghyangbroom, what's it like, and where you feell Darma: Likesweeping filth in the middle of the ground. Like

i t

t
B

[' l
I I

filth in the street, in the village. I feel I am beingcarried off by ledon to sweep. broom, (Belo r 95o:z
Belo notes that "a considerable crowd had to be present to insure the trancer did not get out of hand. " She tells of the time when a

l l

2 00 ro wan o A PoEr t c s oF PERFoRM ANc E

TowARD A poETr cs oF pERFoRM Ar uce 20. l - smoothness,efficiency - but of making sure that all the our sense stepsare takenin proper order.Propriety is more important orescribed in the Euro-Americansense. If the material is new every artistry than it is learned that exactly and passed on intact. taken is care During his poor theaterphase (1959-68) Grotowski followed a orocedure close to that of the Aborigines. But instead of seeking material in the Dreamtime (archeology, history), Grotowski's performerssought it in their own experiences. the conditions essential to the art,of actingarethe In our opinion, "ob;eit of a methodical following,and should be made:i6e investigation: a process of self-revelation, goingbackas far as the (a)To stimulate yet in order to obtainthe subconscious, canalizing"IfiG*ffiiilus reaction. required this process, discipline it, and convert (b) To be ableto artlculate it In concrete terms, thii-means intosigns. to construct a score whose of contact, reactions niitesare tiny elements to ti-i'st;muli of the world: whatwe call"give-and outside take." (c) To eliminate from the creative process the 1-e5!Jg-nces and obstacles caused byone's ownorganism, bothphlsical andpsychical (the
two forming a whole).

of a child' To be filthy - playing with e takethe physicalperspective to infantile behavior'It opensa ch; regression ment and mud - is a

tragedy'ru Finally' to farce - and farce is probably more ancient than a way to be free' is low being mores rigid be iow is to escape from of performil dialectic the of half ottly But these phenomena ^ie emptying an body' the from away soaring a The other half is ecstasy: the body. Eliade: a new' magical The shamaniccostumetends to givethe shaman bird' the rei the of that are types chief three The in animal form. are the bird' " ' Feathers (stag) and the bear - but especially of shamanic descriptions in the everywhere less or tioned more

seeks of the costumes theverystructure tumes.Moresignificantly, Sib bird' a of ' shape the " possible as imitateas faithfully fly'All overtheworldthe shamans and NorthAmerican Eskimo
medicine men' ' ' ' magical power is credited to sorcerersand flight would leadus magical of symbolism the of analysis ade-quate mythical motifs h far. We will simply observe that two imPortant the mythicalimage of contributedto give it its Presentstructure:

psych.oPom'ps' soulin theformof a birdandthe ideaof birdsas t56, r97o: (E l i ade

examples of this lr Aborigine "Dreamtime" songs and dances are s:me,times but sleep in often performing. A person, T*:i*

(Crotowski r968a: rz8)

Using this method Grotowski composed "gesticularory ideograms" comparable ro the signs of medieval European ttt".i"i pit i"C-offii", ballet, and other highly codified forms. But Grotowski's ideograms were "immediate and spontaneous . . . a living from possessing its ornm Iogic" ( 19 6 8a: 142). This was becausehis actors were transparent: they were able to let impulses pass through them so that their gestures were at one and the same time intimate and impersonai. Grotowski. his scenographers, and the performers of Dr Fcustus, ,A.kropolis, The Constcnt Prince, and Apocclypsis cum Figuris (first yersion) achieved a rotai iconography of body, voice, gro.rp .o-poiiiion, and scenic architecture. tle totality was so complete that western audiences felt uncomfortable: Oriental performances as tightly structured as noh or -even &athakali allow open spaces for audience inattention. The productions

w p.ast ,r^.rrpor,.d to the original "timeless rnythical ,during pert< desert the across place to piace from ,or"*i. beings traveled
beings are ni ing creative acts" (Gould 19 69 : 10 5) ' Some of these b,ttlC:,1*: are-spettl some emu, and spici", such as kangaroo

(the Water Snake)' "Alt1 Jutlars (the Two Men) and Wanampi tlit ttr"y liu.a in the past,the dreamtimebeingsarestill'1")*

people" (Gould 1'l alive and exerting influence over present-day *nt1'. generations' the down on passed 106). Performances are participates "dreaming": man a by materiat is added it is learned he teaches his com the mythical beings in their ceremonies, then are staged with ext: performances *h"t h. has learned. Aborigine and the decorations' body regarding ,cenogt"phy, especially care, | --r --^-t oI a matter is not care This cudon of song and dance routines'

20 2 ro wen o A poETr c s oF pERFoRM ANc E

TO W A R D

A P O E TI C S O F P E R FO R MA T' TC T

203

.=
4

In expanding our knowledge beyond drama to performing specrarors. to the whole performance process much will ,ia U.yotta performing not only about arrmaking (for theatel, as Alexander AIIand i-. t..r.r.a to me, is the only art where the creative process is by iointed out but also about social life because theater is both intenl...rrity visibie) non-consciously a paradigm of culture and cultureiionriiy and this concluding section I will look briefly at a decisive In rnaking. large problem: what rehearsal is. I think I will be able to aspecrof the ritual octionof theoter tokes plcce duringreheorsols. essential the that show Ray At the 1957 Macy Foundation Conference on Group Processes Birdwhistell explained the following modei: We have been running trajectories on dancing and other acts as gracefulbehavior. described

Figure 5.6
Note T h e e c s t a tic flig h t o fth e sh a m a n le a ve s th e b o dy empty and transparent: absol u vulnerable.Cieslaktravels by means of subtraction toward ecstasywhen he plays Prince in The ConstantPrince.fhe trance dancers qf Blli are possessedor over" by whomever or whatever possesses them. Olivier travels by m-ean5 of r toward.pos-session;he systematicallyconverts the "as ii; 'of his Hamlet into " b e c o m in go f' Ha m le t.T h o sete ch n iq u e so f p erformertrai ni ng w hi ch begi n movement toward ecstasy psychophysical exdidGFi yqga, etc. help p e r f o r m er"fo llo w im p u lse s,"th a t is, yie iT in d becometrdnspi rent. In thi s sti p e r f o r m erm a y su d d e n ly the vul nerabi l i ty ofecstasy "d r o p in to " h is r o le b e cause b e s u d d en ly tr a n sfo r m e din to th e to ta lityo ftr a nce possessi on.

of the Polish Laboratory Theater were totally without ciarity ofsignal evoked anxiety as well as pleasure.

"noise."

No performing is "pure" ecstasy or trance.Alwaysthere is a dialectical tensionbetweenthe two (figure 5.6).

Note B and A are trajectories of an arm or leg or body.A is a smooth curve;B isthezigzag line.The sizesof thesezigzagsare unimportant. It is the shaoeof the movementwith which I am concerned. A and B expressthe same traiectory. However, ultimately trajectory A shows minimal variationor adiustmentwithin the scopeof the trajectory. In A thereis a minimum of messages to in process. This is being reacted "grace."In B multiple messages are being introducedinto the system and there is the zigazg.The things we call gracefulare alwaysmultimessage acts in which the secondary messages are minimized, and therethe role of the whole is maximized. ( Bi r d w h i ste l i ln , L o r e n zr 9 5 9 :r o r - z) Lorenz pointed out that: with the elimination of the noise in the movement, when the movement becomesgraceful,it becomes more unambiguousas a

R EHE A RS P A ROCE L DURE S

Every aspect of gathering,/performing/dispersing needs careful ination both from the ooint of view of the oerformers and that of

20 4 ro wlno

A poETr c s oF pERFoRM ANc E

205 To w AR D A Po Er l cS OF PER Fo R M Ar .r ce Notre Dame in Paris has only one "finished" ;ifferently. For example, "wrong" it would be to finish the "incomplete" struc,".*.r, U", how the building lacks a tower; as Notre Dame it ,"r.. nr an ideal cathedral only as it now stands. In all casesthe process of solidifica'"-.o,npt.,. and historical ratification is a process of rehearsal: ,,,rn, .o-pl.tion, "acceptability" i.* u *ork is reworked until it crosses a threshold of

and s im p l et h e m o v e m e n ti s , t h e sig nal.. . . The m or e Pr egnant

by the recePtor. it is for it to be takenup unambiguously of maki in thedirection working selection thereis a strong Pressure
all signal movements,these releasingmovements [lnnate and that more and more graceful, or learnedgestalts], Mechanisms of a dance. alsowhat remindsus [in animal behavior]

r 959: (Lorenz
Grace = simplification = increasing the signal efficiency of a move = a dance. But some artworks, even performances, are notoriously ambivalent, and "inefficient." Great masterpieces are not

"shown" .?i., *t i.tt it canbe

the plays of the Bible, the Odyssey, minimalist. The Romoyono, of Robert Wilson, the paintings of Brueghel, the spectacles speare, sculptingsat Konarak,etc. - are these less "graceful" (that is,
artistic) than the piays of Beckett, the paintings of Mondrian, or poetry? Clearly a slngle, normative standard for "evaluating art" ishes various cultural, historical, or evolutionary perspectives. The ficulty is soived by relocating the question of simplification (grace from a comparison of finished works in their exhibition phase works in the process of being made: the selection-of-what' against-all-other-possibilities phase. It is not a matter of comparing work to other works, or to the world. Important and revealing as comparisons are they yield nothing concerning the issue Birdwhi raises. One must fold each work back in on itself comparing its pleted state to the process of inventing it, to its own internal cedures during that time when it was not yet ready for s Although all arts have this phase, only performance requires it to public, that is, acted out among the performers as rehearsal. Com ing a work to its own process of creation applies not oniy to sin

The theater is unique in that all its works, even the most traditional, means of the rehearsal process. That is, all theatrical are produced by *orks change over time as they are adjusted to immediate circumSometimes these changes are tectonically siow when a dogma stances. say, the Roman Catholic Mass is. But even the Mass has been as, fixed is suddenly readfusted, most recently by Vatican Council II' And, on the local level, the Mass is always accommodating the given circumstances of its various celebrations. In the aesthetic genres such as modern EuroAmerican theater delight is taken in reinterpreting the classics; but there are also unspoken limits - if a theater group goes beyond these it is not praised for being inventive but attacked for "violating" the material. Such was the reaction of some critics and spectators to in 59 (Euripides' The The Performance Group's productions of Dionysus and Mckbeth (Shakespeare's Mccbeth). But even when doing Bccchoe) a brand new play tensions arise between the author's intentions and what finally happens on the stage. This happened in TPG's production of Sam Shepard's The Toothof Crime (see chapter 3). Sometimes, as in the famous disputes between Anton Chekhov and Stanislavsky,Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan, these tensions reach a breaking point. But what exactly is the "rehearsai process"? At the Macy Conference W Gray Walter commented on Birdwhistell's model: movement.In Cracemay be the result of efficiency in a goal-directed the case of an artificialanimal or guided weapon, the early guided weaponsand some modern ones, when they are searchingand are not goal-directed, have a trajectorywith a messy curve like B [zo3]. Theyperform a hunting movement,which looks quite random and is certainly often a incoherent, not verygraceful. lt is jerkyand disjointed, series perceived, of cycloidloops.But the moment the goal or targetis

authored works but to multi-authored works such as the H

epics, the Bible, medieval cathedrals, and all other proiects that ex beyond a single person's attention or life-span. In these cases process of making the work has an extra step, that of arriving at "finished form" that cannot be known with certainty beforehand. solidification may take many generations and be ratified historically structures which, under different circumstances, may have turned

2 06 rown no A poETr c s oF pERFoRM ANc E the trajectory becomes a graceful parabola or hyperbola.So, and exploratory ofa goal will transforma graceless, appearance of behavior (which may have a high information potential in it, the sense that it is looking in many directions)into one which only one bit of information,if the target is there, but looks and pretty. in Lorenzt959: (Walter,

r o w AR D A p o Er r cs o F p ER Fo R M AN ce2 0 7 used to rehearsalsfor weddings, funerals, and other religious We are the rehearsal is a way of selecting .-a .iuic ceremonies. In every case possible actions those to be performed, of simplifying these, fr", ,n. as clear as possible in regard both to the matrix from rhem ,rUtng been taken and the audience with which they are have *t r.tr-rrr.y communicate. Along with this primary task the secondary ,o ,n.rn, have each performer perform her/his part with *ork of rehearsal is to Farce is interesting in this regard because it turns clarity. maximum on its head. Charlie Chaplin staggering drunkenly one kind of clarity "messy" but with consummate skill - just as a is acting street the across The signal sent reads clown performs a graceless pratfall gracefully' ,'qraceless"but this signal is sent clearly - i.e. gracefully. Audiences aimire the ease with which great farceurs play at being clumsy. The samemay be said about dissimulation of al1kinds so popular in theater: lies,disguises,double plots, ironies. In every casethe performer's problem is to be clear about the lie, to be convincing in both aspects of the situation so that an audience can see around the action and perceive it and its opposite, text and metatext, simultaneously. Comparable to rehearsal, but not exactly identical to ii, is preparation. The Aborigines spend many hours preparing for a ten-minute dance.They carefully lay out all the implements of the dance, they paint their bodies, they prepare the dancing area. Before each performance members of The Performance Group took two hours or more warming up their voices, doing psychophysical exerci.ses, dance steps and yoga, reviewing difficult bits from the show, etc. The Moscow Art Theater was famous for the preparation period each actor practiced immediately before going onto the stage. Every performer I know goes through a routlne before performing. These preparations literally "compose" the person and the group: they are a kinesic recapitulation of the rehearsal process allowing for a settling into the special tasks at hand, a concentration that shrinks the world to the dimensions of the theater. These preparations are the ritual frame surrounding, setting off, and protectlng the time/space of the theater. Both rehearsal and preparation employ the same means: repetition, stmplifrcation, exaggeration, rhythmic action, the transformation of natural sequences" of behavior into "composed sequences." These means comprise the ritual process as understood by ethologists. Thus

or workshops,are ierky and disjointed, often Earlyrehearsals,

ent. The work is indeed a hunt, full of actions with "high i potential," but very low goal-orientation. Even in working on material this kind of "looking around" marks early rehearsals: try a variety of interpretations, designers bring in many sketches models most of which are reiected, the director doesn't really what s/he wants. And especially if the proiect is to develop its own and actions the basic question of the early work is an anxiety"What are we doing?" If by a certain time, a target is not visible ( only a production date but a vision of what is to be produced), project falters, then fails. A director may maintain confidence by i.ng order in the guise of set exercises; s/he may do this too soon cut dolvn the chances ofdiscoverlng new actions. A balance is Comparable processes occur in traditional societies. John Emigh about a rehearsal of a ceremony in a village on the Sepik River, New Guinea: proceeded an old man would stop the singing As the rehearsal on styleor phrasingor,.iustas time to time to makesuggestions he would just as much a part ofthe event being rehearsed,

of the story. of the songwords,on the details on the meaning

informal and absolutely was at once remarkably rehearsal to searingvoiceseemed woman with an extraordinary middle-aged in controlof the singing.Shewould start and stop at whim, phr as es ,c hec k ing point s wit h t h e o l d m a n , p a u s i n g t o h e a r proceeded, men and women . . . As the rehearsal exolanation.

and drum beaters singers drift by.The assembled occasionally to accomPany of the dance practiced the movements witnesses lament.'7 mother's

20 8 rowe no A poEr r c s oF pERFoRM ANc E it is ln rehearsals/preparations that I detect the fundamental ri of theater. I find noth-llg--disturbing about relating the 6nest achievements human art - indeed, the very process of making art: the ritual of rehearsal and preparation - to animal behavior because I no break between animal and human behavior' And especially in I flnd homologies,. continuities, realm of artistic-riffal-behavior analogies. Activities thicken - get more complicated, dense, contradictory, and multivocal - along a continuum of expanding sciousness. The human achievement - shared by a few primates aquatic mammals but not elaborated by them - is the ability to decisions based on virtual as well as actual alternatives. These alternatives take on a life of their own. Theater is the art of them, and rehearsal is the means of developing their individual and rhythms. By turning possibilities into action, into per whole worlds otherwise not lived are born. Theater doesn't arri suddenly and stay fixed either in its cultural or individual festations. It is insinuated along a web of associations spun from games, hunting, slaughter and distribution of meat, centers, trials, rites of passage, and story-telling. Rehearsals recollections - preplay and afterplay - converge in the theatrical

row A R D A P OE TIC S OF P E R FOR MA T.TC e 209 stood in the street or looked from rooftops and windows of street.Spectators P l ay i ngbegan at daw n and c onsurroundi ngth e narrow roadw ay s . bui l di ngs ti nued throughout the day . There mus t hav e been muc h c omi ng and goi ng Th i s mi x i ngof the s oc i al , the rel i gi ous and , the aes theti c amongthespectators. performanc es as the raml i l as of north Indi a (s ee marks such contemP or ary r 985:t5t-zt3) . S chechner I use the w ord "natural "to mean the k i nd of1!ea1erthat happensi n ev ery day or (re)createit. When an accident happens or a life.There is no need.l,o...-!!age di spute i s pl ayedout i n publ i c , peopl e.w i l lw atc h. The medi a, i f al erted,w i l l repl aysuch "new sw orthy "ev ents . W hen s omethi ng s umptuous pas s es by , peopl eturn to w atch, w h ether i t be an oc ean l i ner s teami ngdow n ri v er or a headofstate motorcadingup an av enue. di scussi ons of a number of proc es s i onal performanc es i n di fferForextended z9 (l) (rg8S),a special issue edited by ent cultures,see TDR, The Drama Review and B rook sMc N amara. K i rshenbl atfGimbl ett B arbara from earl i erprac ti c es w here V l P s s at ons tage. W hen thi s B oxseatsdevel oped as a di s rupti on the theater c oul d no l onger tol erate, box es w as recogni zed how i n env i ronmental theaterthe pres enc e came i nto fashi on.l t i s i nteres ti ng or anyone, o n s tage- or i n the s ame areaw herethe pl ay ers pl ayofeveryone, ofthe pres enc e on s tageofthe V l P s . i s a democrati zati on 8 S eeal so E .T. K i rby('t972 :5-z ' t). 9 B y "goi ng to the theate r" l mean s omethi ng more than the E uro-A meri c an practi ce. I mean w hatev erarrangements are made s o that a performanc e c an occur:for exampl e,adheri ngto a ri tual c al endar; prepari nga s pec i alpl ac eor maki ngan ordi narypl aces uc h as a mark et s quares pec i al ; rehears i ng; mak i ng surethat the necessary s pec tators are l n attendanc e. 10 The ul ti matetheaterof v i ol enc e(al ongw i th doc umentarymov i es of w ar, torture,and mayhem)are p ornographi c "s n-ufffi l ms ."In thes e,s omeonei s hi red to make a porn movi e b ut at the moment of c l i maxthe pers on i s k i l l ed.The camera records the sho c k and agony of the v i c ti m and the ac ti oni -of the murderer(s). The fi l m i s then dx hi bi ted for hi gh admi s s i onsat pri v ateparti es . S ometi mes, i t's sai d,the v i c ti m agreesfor a hands omepri c e to be k i l l ed.The compari sonof snuffporn to R oman gl adi atori al games i s obv i ous , as i s the decadence ofboth ki nds ofentei t-ai nment. A s for the c atharti ceffec tofv i ew i ng vi ol entacti ons,studi esreportedby E i bl -E i bes fel dt (i g7o:329,33r-z ) i ndi c ate that the catharti c effects , i fany , are s hort-l i v _ed: "l n the l ong run, the pos s i bi l i ty ofdi schargi ngaggressi v e i mpul s esc oni i i i utes a k i nd ofl rai ni ng for aggres ston.The ani mal become smore aggres s i v e." ll D ramai s aboutthe chan ges that happento the c harac tersTak . eany drama and w ho, w here, an d w hat eac h c harac ter i s at the begi nni ngto w hat s /he :ompare i s Ii keat the end: the resu l tant map of the c hangesi s a s ummaryof the drama' s acti on. l2 L6vi -S trauss's (r959b) semi naland c ompl i c ated w ork el aborates the ,,tw oc onIrasts- nature/cul ture, raw /c ook ed"(p. 338).In terms oftheater,the ,,c ook ed

NOTES
'I

S ee M a r sh a ck( r 9 7 2 ) ,Cie d io n ( t9 6 2 - 4 ) , and La B arre (t972). ( t9 6 7 zz9 ) su m m a ri zethought on the subj et:"The U cko a n d Ro se n fe ld F of vegetati on, o f a n im a ls,th e a b se n ceof representati ons t i v e fr e q u e n cie s w ere i ntended a l so th e e vid e n ce .. . wh ich sh o wsth a t many representati ons b e vie we d , su g g e st th a t ' th e a te r ' m a y w el l be behi nd some of the Alth o u g hth e r e a r e m a ny di sputesi n the fi el d ofcave art; r e p r e se n ta tio n s." authorities believe that performances of some kind (rites, theater' one can al most saythe prl n T h e a n tiqui ty, m u sic) to o k p la cein th e ca ve s. o f p e r fo r m a n ceis cle a r . F o r a n e xte n dedi nvesti gati onof these i deas' Pfeiffer(t982).

3 S e e Er e ch t' s"T h e Str e e tSce n e "in Br e cht(r964: tzt-9) p la yswe r e stagedon w agonsw hi ch moved l , e m e d ie va cycle 4 I n En g la n d th

and dressi ng-rc s i te to site .T h e wa g o n swe r e u se d a s stages,backdrops, The audience gathered around as the play moved from the wagons to s tr e e t,e m p lo yin gb o th th e r a ise dsp a ceofthe w agonsand the fl at space

2 .l0 ro wnn o A PoETt c s oF PERFoRM ANc E lt is nqwb-'elt-avi9t3l behavior' of problematic action"is not an imitation *i':t qH:iq: p.Iggltor' its "raw" to related aflyor r'netaphorically

*,{a,

on" individuals u asilf,il;i "wotk socialization i.h!"arifl'J, "".a (t 985:35-r "i Schechner See another' to status one from need to be transported
z6t- 94) . t,tt-,:l by-i.nhaling are "smoked" trancedancers Often 6alinese
lt dq not psychoactive' incense.As far as I can determine, the smoke itself is process' i n the moment deci si ve is a it in h a lin g n o t "ca u se " th e tr a n ce ,b u t - tor exa tr a n ce .Wh e n o n ly p a r t o fth e b o dy i s to.go,i ntotrance a c h ie vin g

r3

t h e ha n d wh ich isto b e co m e th e b r o o m _ o n|ythatparti ssmoked. too' s m okin g is n o t co n fin e dto Ba li' I sa w it in S ri Lanka "l t i s the shamanw ho i urnshi 1 4 E l i ad eJa yso f th e sh a m a n ' str a n sfo r m a tion: by P utti ng on an i n t o a n a n im a l ju st a s h e a ch ie ve sa simi l ar resul t

mas k "( t 97o: 93) .

15 B e lo ( t9 5 o : zz3 ) : del i ghtful 'fi ts i n T h e fe e lin go f lo wn e ss,wh ich Da r m a descri bedas th e wh o | e co n ste | | a tio n o fid e a sa b outbei ngmounted,bei ngsaton' is q ual i tyofthe trance exP eri ence so fo r th , wh e r e inth e p le a su r a b le of aspect i s one Thi s sel f-i mpul ses' th e o f n e cte dwith th e su r r e n d e r in g in the trance voca trance state which seems to have reverberations and the aspectw hi in wh a te ve rco u n tr yth e se p h e n o m enaapP earto grasp' perhaps th e h a r d e stfo r n o n - tr a n ce rs

'

r6

Other: is a gi vi ng over to a speci fi c o f th e se lf- im p u lse s" T his "su r r e n d e r in g nonenel to up gi vi ng pure i s a i t e cstasy, In a nim a l,sp ir it, p e r so n ,g o d , e tc. o ne n e sso fb e in g , a s in Z e n m e d ita tio n ' the brevi tycha A l th o u g h I d o n ' i h a ve sp a ceto e xp o u n don.i t here' reversals'offer inte f".., .', well as its swift, violent action and surprising also indicates universality Farce's farce' of evidence for the antiquity

in few havetragedy whileonly relatively culturehai farce, ,",ior',V Every

s e n seo fth e Cr e e kso r th e .la p a n e se ' of hi s col l eagues' F r o m a le tte r Jo h n Em ig h d istr ib u te d to several di scussi onof thi s further a F o r t9 7 4 ' in o b se r ve dth e r e h e a r sa ls ( t9 8 5 :5 z- 4 ) ' se e Sch e ch n e r r eh e a r sa l,

17