With my director's hat on, I would absolutely love to see a
production inside of a moving van. The closest I have ever seen something like
this is Mutemath's music video, Spotlight. For this music video, all the space
is used for the performance. The back of the ban is gutted out to make room for
instruments and the band themselves. They played, sang, clapped, danced inside.
The front was never shown but understand to be where the camera was positioned.
I see this as a transformed space. If I were to use this same space and create
a production to perform inside of this moving van, we would need to find a way
for an audience even to be present. A possible idea is to have a live streaming
of it while the audience was in another moving next to, behind or even in front
of the man where the performers will be.
This environmental theatre would serve as
a diminishing factor along the lines of the interaction between the audience
and the performers. Even possible arguments could include how this is different
than someone watching a YouTube video on their own. I would assert some time
before and after for an interaction to happen between the audience and the
performers. Something that would be interesting to work out would be the
possibility of having both vans stop and one or two audience members join in
the performing van.
When I first read Kantor's quote, I found
myself agreeing with his view because countless times people go to see a theatre
piece that the story has been established and everyone knows how it begins and
ends. Then after thinking about it for a bit more, I disagree with this view
because even in those times where we know where the story is bringing us, there
can be elements of surprise. Especially, with performance art, no one really
knows how everything is going to turn out so there is space for "drama to
be materialized."
Here's the link for the music video to get a sense of performance in a moving vehicle which would be pretty awesome to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry6GAwDCI2I
First, I love that the guitarist had to keep catching the drummer's snare at the beginning, hilarious. As soon as I read your idea about mobile theatre, I couldn't help but think about THE RIDE in New York City. (Check it out here http://www.experiencetheride.com.) It's basically a bus that has flipped the direction of seats to the side, and it's part NYC tour, part show. The action takes place on the streets, sometimes planned, sometimes improvised, both by cast members and random people on the street. While this isn't your typical scripted show, I think it's along the lines of your idea. We might have talked about this in class, but I could also imagine a performance in a car with only one or two audience members. The cast could be the driver and someone in the passenger seat, and you sitting in the back as the audience. Talk about an intimate performance! I'd love to explore this idea more, and I think it's really cool how you tied it back to a form of environmental theatre. I also enjoyed your realization about Kantor. Everyone knows Romeo & Juliet, but whether it's set in it's original time and place or updated for new audiences will change with every production. There's always room for new material, even in an old show.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the link, Michael! This is definitely along the lines of what I was thinking. Yes, someone did mention of having a performance in a car with only one or two people watching, this is what made me think of this music video.
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