Bridging the performer and the spectator

Abstract

The starting point of this dissertation was to locate what are the main components that formulate theatre, namely, the performer and the spectator. Taking either one out would not only jeopardize the formula, but also render theatre as nonexistent. The context wherein they interact creates a unique feedback loop, one that continuously transforms in every single performance. The researcher then sought to recognize performance’s capability in shifting the traditional roles of those who constitute theatre by configuring the ways in which the performer interacts with the spectator, and concurrently, how the latter acknowledges this approach and acts upon it. When the two connect and become codependent on each other, bridging takes place. By analyzing the empirical work and theories of scholars and theatre pedagogues, the researcher located three variables that permeated in their works (freedom, relational device, unpredictability); and which hypothetically, lead to the bridging between the performer and the spectator. These elements were evaluated individually and each one was applied to a specifically designed performance that sought to depict whether or not such variables succeed in creating the bridge. When bridging took place in some form or another, the study showed how the roles of those who created the performances became fluid and ambiguous as to who was the spectator, and who was actually the performer.