Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis presents a systematic investigation of the backstage spaces of theatres in the city of Sydney, Australia, combining the documentation of eight specific theatre buildings with ethnographic accounts of performers’ activities within them. As the title of the thesis suggests, my focus throughout is to better understand the ‘place’ of performers, the ways in which performers inhabit certain physical, social, and imaginative realms. Through this thesis I assess the impact of backstage spaces on performers’ work processes, their performances, and their own understandings of what it is to be a performer. To undertake this assessment I conduct a tripartite survey of the backstage spaces afforded performers, taking into consideration ‘perceived’ space (space as it is empirically measured), ‘conceived’ space (space as it is represented), and ‘lived’ space (space as it is experienced). Approaching this survey via Edward Casey’s understanding of ‘place,’ my analysis is informed by a range of theories, notably, spatial syntax analysis, discourse analysis, and phenomenology. Through this thesis I develop two overarching and interconnected arguments. The first is that theatrical performance is profoundly affected by the features of backstage support spaces and by performers’ backstage practices. Building on this, the second is that a study of backstage spaces offers a particularly apposite approach to further understanding the ‘place’ of theatrical performers. I contend that the backstage spaces performers inhabit can be characterised by their very poverty and that these poor conditions testify to a widespread ignorance and ambivalence on the part of society at large towards performers’ needs. Furthermore, noting the way in which performers valorise their own abilities to compromise and adapt, I argue that backstage areas largely inform performers’ dominant discourses of professionalism and worth. Ultimately, I identify the ‘place’ of the performer as one of flux that necessitates the constant negotiation of significant tensions. [Please note: The photographic documentation and building plans referred to in the text of this thesis are not available online. Please contact the Department of Performance Studies at the University of Sydney or the Sydney eScholarship Repository.]

This thesis examines the pre-design documentation from the renovation of three historic theaters located in Detroit, Michigan. Two theaters hired architectural firms to produce a pre-design document. The third theater utilized a design-build approach to renovation. Interviews were conducted to review the approach and final outcomes. It became evident through the analysis of the documentation and interviews that it was beneficial in the renovation of a historic theater to have a comprehensive predesign process that identifies: the nature of the pre-design document, the nature of the client, the nature of the pre-design team, and the scope of work and time available. It also became apparent that the organizational approach that would apply to most any document for a heritage building should follow the Problem Seeking format of: Form, Function, Time and Economy. Utilizing this format for a pre-design record should yield a document that is concise, comprehensive and flexible.

Cette thèse concerne la labellisation de cinq opéras de région, en France, entre 1996 et 2006 : l’Opéra National de Lorraine, l’Opéra National de Montpellier, l’Opéra National de Lyon, l’Opéra National de Bordeaux, et l’Opéra National du Rhin. L’étude porte sur une forme qui englobe obligatoirement d’autres formes artistiques quasi autonomes et professionnalisées (orchestre, ballet, choeur) et sur les changements en cours dans l’économie de ces organisations traditionnellement sous tutelle municipale repositionnées au coeur d’une gouvernance multiscalaire et mises au défi de faire croître leur visibilité et celle de leur activité. Nous nous intéressons dans ce cadre à ce sur quoi reposent les stratégies de renouvellement développées par ces organisations culturelles, sédimentées et conventionnelles, prises entre le politique et le marché, dans un cadre particulier à la France où l'État se reconnaît comme garant de la qualité. Pour conduire l’étude, nous utilisons la labellisation comme marqueur de ces changements et comme dispositif participant à l’instrumentation de ces opéras dans un marché restreint. Ce qui se voit, c'est une ouverture organisée, selon un mode de fonctionnement par projets et selon un mode de diversification réfléchie de leur activité à un niveau de complexité jamais égalé, sous la pression de l'envahissement de la sphère culturelle par les logiques marchandes et médiatiques. Cette instrumentation est réalisée par le déploiement de dispositifs de jugement dans une économie des singularités dans laquelle le théâtre d’opéra est amené à chercher lui-même à asseoir sa continuité. Sont discutées les stratégies développées quant à l’incertitude inhérente à la création artistique et à la dépendance financière et les effets du dispositif opéra national qui donne lieu à un « remplissement » stratégique perpétuel (Michel Foucault), du fait de la remobilisation du dispositif dans la gestion des effets secondaires qu’il a lui-même induit, et dans la dynamique duquel le pouvoir, la visibilité et la légitimité occupent une place centrale. Notre démarche inductive et pluridisciplinaire et la posture critique adoptée conduisent à l’élaboration d’une étude donnant une grande place à l’indétermination des rapports et des humains, dans une ontologie constructiviste modérée. Le sujet singulier qu’est l’organisation d’un théâtre d’opéra en France, les raisons de ces choix et la méthodologie appliquée sont présentés pour éclairer le lecteur dans sa rencontre avec un milieu d’ordinaire fermé. Enfin, la conclusion retrace certains liens et pointe des aspects à creuser dans une recherche ultérieure afin de comprendre ce que donne à voir, sur le présent et l'avenir des Opéras de région en France, l'attribution par le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication d'un label de « qualité ». / Our thesis discusses the process and consequences of the attribution, by the State, of a national label to five regional opera houses in France between 1996 and 2006. Through this event, we look closely at the current changes in the opera house as an organization which has traditionally been under municipal governance and is with this label repositioned under a governing body which includes the Region and the central State and its demands for greater visibility. Our objective is to understand the strategic renewal of opera houses outside Paris in a centralized political system where the State is said to guaranty cultural access and artistic quality. We do so by using the attribution of the national label as a marker and as a device that participates in the instrumentation of opera houses in a restricted market and a changing normative frame within which opera houses are brought to secure their own continuity. With a brief overlook at how opera houses have been transformed into a venue meant to entertain citizens and magnify cities, we give the reader an understanding of opera houses as conventional and regimented organizations forever bond to politics and the market. The particular organization of an opera house in France, the reasons behind the choices made and the applied methodology are then presented. Our inductive and multidisciplinary approach, supported by the critical posture adopted, leads us to the elaboration of a study where undetermined connections and human beings evolve within moderate constructivist ontology. We then suggest that the label, which gives rise to a perpetual strategic “remplissement” (Foucault), is inevitably remobilized to manage the side effects brought by its very existence. Power and legitimacy occupy in this dynamic a central place that we exemplify and discuss thoroughly. Our research presents an original way to understand the recent transformation of the French regional operas houses as expressed, and apprehended, by the attribution by the ministry of Culture and Communication of a “quality” label that enables them to gradually enter the growing mediated spheres already endorsed by cultural industries.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)