Download Homework: Is contemporary theatre and performance an exclusive

Cracow Theatrical Reminiscences, April 23-27, 2008
Homework: Is contemporary theatre and performance an exclusive art?
Is contemporary theatre and performance an exclusive art?
My question is not: “Is contemporary theater and performance an exclusive art?”, because
on this question I answer without long reflection: “Yes”. The more important questions for
me are: “Why it is so exclusive?” and: “Is it good?”
I think that there are two groups of reasons, why contemporary theater and performance is
an exclusive art.
The first one is very understandable: contemporary theater isn’t easy in perception. There is
no obligatory convention in theater, how it was in the past. On the contrary, the most
important rule is freedom of creativity. Many artists want to play with habit and expectation
of spectators. They look for a new forms, to surprise the audience and in this way make
them to revision theirs imagination, or to wonder about this, what they just saw. The best
evidence is that many of at present recognize as a eminent directors, was at first took for a
eccentric and not very talented. It means, that even people, who are interested in theatre,
or are an “expert” in this subject have a problem with new forms. They have to have a time
to get to accustomed, understand and appreciate experimental performing art and have a
pleasure from watching them. It’s normal in every art but in theater it is more important,
because of this that theater is the most temporary and evasive from all of arts and it is
based on momentary feelings, observation and perception of spectator. Very important is to
be open mind and patient person, who accept, that not everything is easy to understand,
and that not always all senses are given just like that. Often in contemporary performing art,
very much depend from spectator: his imagination, experiences, sensitivity etc. So this isn’t
art for everybody and this is good because it means, that contemporary theater demand
something from spectator, for example attention, thinking and specific sensitivity.
The second category of reason, why contemporary performing art is so exclusive, is as
simple, as the first but, to tell the true, drive me creasy. I mean false imaginations and
mythos about theater, which are built for example in school. I really don’t know, how it is in
other countries, but in Poland theater education is very bed. In school people learn only
theater history in very limited and not always truly form. Many teachers don’t know a lot
about contemporary theater, so when they take their class to the theater, they choose
staging of school reading list – not always good, and so contemporary. So in fact, many
people after school don’t know contemporary theater, or even don’t know that exist
something else, then they have seen already. In this way arise a imagination that theater is
boring and not interesting. Young people thing that theater isn’t a space for them. However,
they have predisposition to be very good spectators, they are open for new, experimental
form, for example, in movies, but they see theatre like something old fashion, fossilized, or
too complicated for them. It is not easy to change this imagination, because theater isn’t so
universal and available and demand decision and making an effort that you want to go, get a
tickets etc. It demands the preparation, too, to find out, what is worth to watch. So this is
another reason: there is no universal culture of going to the theatre. Many people think that
the tickets are very expensive, but in fact – they don’t check that.
How we can change that? I think that very important is to speak with people about theater
and write about it not only to specialist magazines. Helpful can be also theater education in
schools etc. for teachers and students. Action like this is possible. I know this because I do
this in my work in a project called dilettante in Małopolski Instytut Kultury in Krakow.
In my opinion contemporary theater and performance always will be a little exclusive. It
won’t be so popular and common like for example in “Elizabethan Era” in England because
there are many more popular and easy of access arts and entertainments. Also new
performing and theater art are, how I think, more difficult and complicated as in the past.
But this exclusives should be a result from form of this art, not people’s bed imagination and
laziness.
Monika Kwaśniewska
Mobile Lab for Theatre and Communication
With the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union