ZUPANC LOTKER, Sodja. The Escapologist Case: Transformations of Practice Towards Spatial Dramaturgy in Contemporary Theatre, PhD dissertation, Theatre Faculty of the Prague Academy of the Performing Arts, Prague 2017, 226 pages.
This thesis aims to define a contemporary theatre practice, a new practice in dramaturgy influenced by some radical changes in theater since the 1980’s, I call this new practice ‘spatial dramaturgy,’ it includes: 1) a decentralization and fragmentation of narrative; 2) performing in found spaces; 3) using authentic material for creation of performance (space, community or events); and 4) physical and mental activation of audiences.
My primary case study for spatial dramaturgy is Apology of the Escapologist performance by Hungarian Krétakör company from 2009, a performance that also marked a change in theatre making practice for this company. Apology of the Escapologist took audiences through eight separate spaces, with a variety of functions (a garage, hospital, offices, public square etc.), originally none of them built for theatre, in a series of events that took place in Budapest District 9 over the course of eight weeks from March 8th to May 1st, 2009. The Apology of the Escapologist performance had five parts consisting of eight scenes. The performance took place over the course of nine weeks in eight locations; each scene took place in a different location on a different day. The audience had to make sense of the fragmented story, had to choose how to follow the story physically - where and when to go, and had to dedicate a lot of time to do this. The audience also physically entered into the playing spaces.
This thesis follows the project and proposes that contemporary theatre is a ‘shared space’ entered by audiences, that contemporary dramaturgy is becoming de-hierarchized and decentralized and is proposing forms of relating in-between the dramaturgical elements of the performance, and that by using authentic material (people, spaces, events), through this ‘spatial dramaturgy’ theatre is proposing new ways to perceive relationships between reality and fiction.
This thesis also describes the political motivation behind the change in Krétakör’s work and focus. It provides background information about the situation in politics in Hungary at the time of the making of the Apology of the Escapologist that caused Árpád Schilling change the way he makes theatre. But it also looks at these new strategies of ‘spatial dramaturgy,’ that include: points of view, positioning and relating - as strategies that politicize the act and experience of theatre.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:390119 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Zupanc Lotker, Sodja |
| Contributors | HAVELKA, Jiří, JIŘIČKA, Lukáš |
| Publisher | Akademie múzických umění v Praze.Divadelní fakulta. Knihovna |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | Czech |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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