STUDY MATERIAL on Generic Elective (ENGLISH) Paper TEXT AND PERFORMANCE
The Stylised Theatre
In the new drama, the external action, the revelation of character, is becoming incidental. We are striving to penetrate behind the mask, beyond the action into the character as perceived by the mind; we want to penetrate to the inner mask.
The new drama rejects the external in favour of the internal to intoxicate the spectator with catharsis. If the new theatre is once again dynamic, then let it be totally dynamic. It must cease to be theater in the sense of mere spectacle. We intend the audience not merely to observe, but to participate in a corporate creative act.
The stylised theatre liberates the actor from all scenery, creating a three-dimensional area in which he can employ natural plasticity. By freeing the actor from the haphazard of irrelevant stage properties and by reducing technical devices to the minimum, the stylised theatre restores prominence to the creative powers of the actor. Concentrating on the restoration of tragedy and comedy (as manifestations of fate and satire), the stylized theatre avoids the mood of Chekhovian theatre, which transforms acting into the passive experience of emotions and reduces the actor’s creative intensity.
Having removed the foot lights, the stylised theatre aims to place the stage on a level with the auditorium. By giving diction and movement a rhythmical basis, it hopes to bring about the revival of the dance.
The task of the director in the stylized theatre is to direct the actor rather than control him. He serves purely as a bridge, linking the soul of the author with the soul of the actor. Having assimilated the author’s creation, the actor is left alone, face to face with the spectator, and from the friction between these two unadulterated elements, the actor’s creativity and the spectator’s imagination, a clear flame is kindled.