‘When we say of a great performer that he or she has presence, that we are moved by the performance, that we have been touched, we are not speaking nonsense or entirely metaphorically. Many times I’ve seen an audience collectively catch its breath, shift position, become very still, change their points of contact and orientation to each other, or to the performers, quite unconsciously, without thought or intention. These changes in body positions, in expressive poses - the way a person fronts himself (or sidles, or turns his shoulder, or his back) on another - on an action is a delightful part of every performance in an environmental theater. The theater ought architecturally to offer a rich field for this kind of communication - not only to occur but to be observed by whoever has eyes for it.’ (Schechner, 1973: 37, original emphasis)

GAY McAULEY

‘Actors are energized by the presence of the spectators, and the live presence of the actors means that the spectators’ relationship to them is very different from the relation ship between spectator and dramatic fiction in the cinema. In the theatre, due to the live presence of both spectators and performers, the energy circulates from performer to spectator and back again, from spectator to performer and back again. The actor, while appearing to speak only with the character’s words, is always also communicating directly with the audience, but (and this is where theatre differs from the other dramatic media) there are feedback loops in operation between actors and spectators in the theatre. Performance analysts have hardly begun to explore the factual basis for such anecdotal evidence, and much work is needed to understand how the complex and subtle interchanges occur, but what is evident from the scattered references in published sources such as actors’ memoirs is that spectators in the theatre are far from passive, that the live presence of both performers and spectators creates complex flows of energy between both groups, and that it is even questionable whether what is going on can be discussed in terms of stimulus and response.’ (McAuley, 2003: 246f)

References

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