2. Site-specific theatre
“Performing Site-Specific Theatre engages with theatre and
performance that is grounded in an in-depth exploration and
expression of spatial practice.”(Tompkins,2012)
Tompkins says there personal engagement started because they
became “emerged from the editors‟ fascination with how different
types of spatial arrangements affect our understanding of and
relationships with performance” (Tompkins,2012)
“The form continues to provoke questions about what both
performance and site convey” (Tompkins,2012)
“They rely, for their conception and their interpretation, upon the
complex coexistence, superimposition and interpenetration of a
number of narratives and architectures” (Tompkins,2012)
3. Space in performance
Space in performance is both physical and an imaginary
context
Imaginary spaces: “Communities are largely regarded as a
cultural resource for social space, […] as imaginary spaces,
communities have the potential to mediate between the
everyday […] narratives of the individuals and more formal and
established structures of power.” (Govan, et al., 2007, p.76)
Theatre that is devised in community situations may be
similarly concerned with the representation of memory,
and participants are invited to recognize […] narratives
have social, communication and historical significance as
well as personal relevance. (Govan, et al., 2007, p.82)
4. Space in performance
(cont.)
Physical performance space: found and authentic spaces;
environmental theatre
“Some experiments in environmental theatre invited the
audience to enter the performance space, and become cocreators of illusion; others transferred the performance from a
theatre to an appropriate „authentic‟ found space, generating
yet another level of pretense.” (Wiles in Govan, et al., 2007,
p.107)
“environmental theatre works through creating a sense of „living
in‟” (Govan, et al., 2007, p.114)
5. Working Men‟s Clubs
Working men‟s clubs originated in the 19th century
and were especially popular in places such as the
Midlands and the Welsh Valleys, areas that are
mainly populated with working class families.
Used for recreational use and at first to help educate
working men‟s families, they had a main room called
„The Vault‟ and a second larger room called „The
Entertainment Room‟.
6. Working Men‟s Clubs
Men would apply and purchase memberships for
them and their families and in recent time Working
Men‟s Clubs have seen a major decline in their
memberships and a lot have therefore closed.
“The working men‟s club […] was to be a salvation of
a class, a haven of sobriety, where working men
could be weaned from the temptations of a public
house” (Talor, J. P.1, 1972)
8. Cabaret: and Escapism
“In the 1870s and the early 1880s the politically
minded working man found his natural habitat in the
club […] their members can almost be seen to form
a community within a community because so many
aspects of working class life revolved round the
club.” (Shipley, 1972)
“Sally represents the people who keep their eyes
shut to changes in the world around them […]
Cabaret as a cautionary morality play has
tremendous resonance” (Miller,1996)
9. Cabaret: and Escapism
cont.
Leave your troubles outside! So – life is
disappointing? Forget it! We have no troubles here!
Here life is beautiful… (Ebb, 1966)
“a show in which the story is secondary to a central
message” (Miller, p.27, 1996)
“their members can almost be seen to form a
community within a community because so many
aspects of working class life revolved round the
club.” (Shipley, p.21, 1972)
10. Production concepts
The characters as white British males and females.
“There was a time when everyone always played the
emcee like Joel Grey. Now everyone always plays it like
Alan Cumming” (Silverber in Filichia, 2007)
Sound/acoustics in the performance space
Moving the audience
Light and dark symbolism + the use of lighting design
Choreography + limitations within the space
11. Bibliography
Govan, E., Nicholson. H., & Normington, K. (2007). Making a Performance: Devising Histories
and
Contemporary Practices. New York, USA: Routlege.
