Site-specific theatre

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Site-specific theatre is any type of theatrical production designed to be performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre. This specific site either may be originally built without any intention of serving theatrical purposes (for example, in a hotel, courtyard, or converted building), or may simply be considered an unconventional theatre space (for example, in a forest).[1]

When the location is meant to imitate, or is itself, the setting of the theatrical story (as is common with site-specific theatre), the performance may also then be called environmental theatre. Site-specific theatre is commonly more interactive than conventional theatre and, with the expectation of audience members predominantly to walk or move about (rather than sit), may be called promenade theatre. Site-specific theatre frequently takes place in structures originally built for non-theatrical reasons that have since been renovated or converted for new, performance-based functions.

Examples

Examples of site-specific theatre include Ferry Play, a podplay for the Staten Island Ferry in New York City, Psycho-So-Matic and Downsize, staged by Chicago's Walkabout Theater in a landromat and a series of public restrooms, respectively;[2] Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$, staged by Women's Project in the lobbies, escalators, and bridges of New York's World Financial Center;[3] Supernatural Chicago, staged in an allegedly haunted nightclub,[4] and Small Metal Objects, staged by Australia's Back To Back Theater at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal.[5] Another example of this form is the Ramlila, dramatic enactment of Hindu epic, Ramayana, started in 1830 by Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh of Varanasi. It is held each year over the period of 31 days, during autumn festive season of Dussehra at Ramnagar, Varanasi in India, and is staged in permanent structures created as sets throughout the three square mile area, where the audience follow the actors. Ramlila has been declared by the UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.[6][7]

A recent example of site-specific theatre is This Is Not A Theatre Company's Pool Play (2014, New York City): a play about America's long and complicated history with pools, set in an actual pool. Audiences sat at the edge of the pool with their feet in the water to watch a play that included synchronized swimming, a snarky fish, stories about segregated pools, and a meditation on pollution. Sarah Lucie of Show Business Weekly said: “Pool Play, while undeniably light-hearted, manages to communicate some profound and political themes to those who choose to pay attention.”[8] Theatre is Easy noted that it provided: "a cohesive look at our fascination with the water, entertaining and engaging the audience along the way."[9] Pool Play was written by Charles L. Mee and Jessie Bear, and directed by Erin B. Mee.

Another example of site-specific theatre that is also participatory is This Is Not A Theatre Company's Versailles 2015. Set against a backdrop of global crisis. the characters of Versailles 2015 question the responsibilities and obligations of their privilege at a cocktail party in an actual New York City apartment. Guests rotate through five rooms: the livingroom (where they nosh on hors d'oeuvres), the kitchen (where they are served cake), the bedroom, the guest bathroom, and the master bathroom, where a dancer dances in the tub. Versailles 2015 was originally staged in an apartment in Peter Cooper Village, with lines that referenced the history of that building complex. It was picked up En Garde Arts, and given an additional run at the home of Anne Hamburger in Hastings-on-Hudson with an updated title Versailles 2016, and lines that referred to the history of Hastings. It then returned to New York City for another run in apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn with additional changes to the lines to reflect the specific sites of performance. New York Theatre Review said, "Versailles 2015 is over far too quickly. It is an hors d'oeuvre plate of scenes that collectively have a message about elitism and the vanity of apathy...Brief and poignant, Versailles 2015 will linger in your mind long after you see it.”[10] Culturebot said: “The underlying theme of the evening…is that we, here, at this party, are in fact living a better, richer, more luxurious life than Louis XVI did. And that, um, maybe that’s not necessarily a good thing? But even though we feel so guilty sometimes about having so much privilege, it still beats the alternative, right? The overall tone, to the credit of director Erin B. Mee, helps the show maintain a sort of ‘whistling past the guillotine’ balance between the obvious (yeah, we’re privileged, so what) and the unsettling (but we – us in this room – not just the bankers – are actually living the kind of life that can bring about a revolution from its underclass, which should perhaps cause us more concern than it does). For me, the second point was the more interesting one – I tend to carefully position myself, within the spectrum of overall privilege, as being one of the uprisers, not the class to be overthrown. Arguments I might make to help me defend that position include pointing out that I’m poor (but one can argue that I chose the poverty of an artist, which in a way is one of the most privileged acts one can undertake – a genuine pursuit of what you think makes you happy), and my being from the farflung Midwest as opposed to being part of the uber-connected East Coast pipeline of influence. But, even with my relatively meager artist’s income, I’m still – according to data presented to me over cake in the kitchen – in the top one percent of income worldwide. So, um, still Versailles.” [11] Theatre Is Easy called Versailles 2015 "delightful and provocative:" "One of the great things about any immersive theatre experience is that it immediately throws you into a situation where your senses are heightened and every experience is suddenly called into question—is that part of the show? Is that an actor? Is that supposed to be happening? This Is Not a Theatre Company’s (TINATC) new production, Versailles 2015, does exactly this in a delightful and provocative manner."[12] The dance in the bathtub, choreographed by Jonathan Matthews, was described as "a perfectly abstracted restatement of all the content that surrounds it. Wordlessly, tuxedo-bound, Mr. Matthews sprays himself with disturbing amounts of body spray while he dances a miniature tour around the edge of the tub, turning it effectively into an abyss of guilt, vapidity, and – in spite of all that privilege – inexplicable unfulfillment”[13]

Site-specific theatre can also include environmental theatre: a production that attempts to immerse the audience in the performance by bringing the action off the stage area.[citation needed] For example, some acting may happen in aisles. In the case of a black box theater, acting platforms may even be built between audience section. Sometimes a performer will talk to, or otherwise involve an audience member in a scene. This can be a real audience member, as in interactive theater, or an actor planted to appear as an audience member.[citation needed]

There are a couple variations on site-specific work worth noting, including:

  • Environmental theatre, in which a pre-existing production is placed in an environment similar to the one in which the play is set (e.g. performing Hamlet in a Danish Castle).
  • Promenade theatre, in which audience members generally stand and walk about rather than sit, watching the action happening among them and even following the performers around the performance space.[14] An example of promenade theater is the performances put on by Punchdrunk, a UK-based theatre company, such as Sleep No More.

Levels of Site Specificity

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  • Studio-/stage-based: not site-specific at all; the traditional stage or theatre
  • Studio as site: using the theatre space (or site) in an unusual way, for example, performing in the aisles; also not site-specific.
  • Site-specific: using a one-of-a-kind site as a contextual container (e.g. A Midsummer Night's Dream performed in a forest).
  • Site-generic: using a generic kind of site (one that is not perfectly unique), so that it can be replicated or modeled elsewhere (e.g. performance for football pitch or Stephan Koplowitz's "Grand Step Project" staircase performances)
  • Site-responsive: using the site as resource for the performance material (e.g. #3 HOLD by Scrap and Salvage of San Francisco, created and performed in the bottom deck of a cargo ship: the USS Golden Bear)

Companies performing site-specific work

United Kingdom

Canada

United States

Austria / Switzerland

References

Related reading

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Notes

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Ramlila - the Traditional Performance of the Ramayana UNESCO.
  7. ↑ A Maharajah´s Festival for Body and Soul New York Times, Monday, March 30, 2009.
  8. ↑ Lucie, Sarah. Show Business Weekly. January, 2014.
  9. ↑ Risinger, Zak. Pool Play. Theatre is Easy.
  10. ↑ http://newyorktheatrereview.blogspot.com/2015/10/time-to-party-rachel-kerry-on.html
  11. ↑ http://www.culturebot.org/2016/02/25476/a-response-to-versailles-2016-via-a-joke-about-a-polar-bear/
  12. ↑ http://www.theasy.com/Reviews/2015/V/versailles2015.php
  13. ↑ http://www.culturebot.org/2016/02/25476/a-response-to-versailles-2016-via-a-joke-about-a-polar-bear/
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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