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Rsiteit Gent Academiejaar 2010-2011 Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2010-2011 M | E | D | I | A | M | O | R | F | O | S | E EEN ONDERZOEK NAAR DE VERTALING VAN VERVREEMDINGSEFFECTEN VAN HET LIVE THEATER NAAR ZIJN REGISTRATIE Masterproef voorgelegd aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte Vakgroep Kunst-, Muziek- en Theaterwetenschappen Optie Podium- en Mediale Kunsten Lize Veraghtert 00604304 Promotor: Prof. Dr. Christel Stalpaert - 2 - VOORWOORD // Graag wil ik mijn promotor Christel Stalpaert bedanken die me in deze oneindigheid, waarin zo makkelijk te verdwalen, de hand reikte wanneer nodig en me weer op de verharde weg hielp. Ik bedank ook Kobe Wens en Gert van Berckelaer die me een boeiende blik achter de schermen van de theaterregistratie van ‘Het Hertenhuis’ (Needcompany) boden. Tenslotte rest me nog een bijzonder dankwoord aan mijn dierbare vrienden en lieve familie die me immer steunden en me vooral geduldig op mijn eigen tempo lieten begaan. - 3 - INHOUDSTAFEL I n l e i d i n g 6 Probleemstelling 6 Opbouw 7 1. T h e a t e r i n e e n d i g i t a l e c u l t u u r 9 1.1 Over / leven in een gemediatiseerde wereld 11 1.2 Wat heeft het theater nog te bieden? 15 1.3 De registratie van hedendaags theater 20 1.3.1 Het archief 21 1.3.2 Amnesiafobie 22 1.3.3 De dynamica van de dansregistratie 25 1.4 Introductie Bertolt Brechts Verfremdung 29 1.4.1 Het V-effekt als onderdeel van Brechts episch theater 29 1.4.2 Moderne invullingen van het vervreemdingseffect 34 2. H e t c o n c e p t u e e l b e l a n g v a n ‘ L i v e n e s s ’ 37 2.1 De representatieproblematiek 39 2.1.1 Een representatie van een representatie 39 2.1.2 De ondergang van authenticiteit 42 2.2 Diverse manifestaties van een medium 45 2.2.1 De gedaante van het medium 45 2.2.2 Het medium theater versus het medium film 47 2.3 Theater als herinnering 48 2.3.1 ‘Eftermaele’ 48 2.3.2 De schoonheid van de leegte 50 2.4 Dematerialisering 52 2.5 De kracht der presentie 56 2.5.1 Presentie als verdedigingsstrategie 56 2.5.2 “Tarzan is only possible on screen” 60 2.5.3 Co-presence of de presentie als interactief gegeven 62 2.6 Einde van de oppositie ‘live’ en ‘gemediatiseerd’ 65 - 4 - 3. D e r e m e d i a t i e v a n v e r v r e e m d i n g : H e t H e r t e n h u i s 71 3.1 Introductie ‘Het hertenhuis’ 73 3.2 Tijd en ruimte in de zwarte doos 75 3.3 Personage en/of acteur 76 3.3.1 Tussen bedrog en echtheid 76 3.3.2 Het verhaal en zijn verteller 78 3.4 Meer dan meertalig theater 80 3.4.1 Is er een tolk in de zaal? 80 3.4.2 Het woord op een scherm 82 3.5 ‘Irruption of the real’ 84 3.6 Tactiliteit en intimiteit 86 3.7 Interdisciplinariteit 87 C o n c l u s i e 90 B i b l i o g r a f i e 91 - 5 - INLEIDING // Probleemstelling De vertaling van vervreemdende effecten via de mediamorfose van postdramatisch theater op film. Dit thesisonderwerp groeide uit de interesse en vooral nieuwsgierigheid naar de nieuwe tendens uit het theaterpraktijk: de registratie van de fysieke hedendaagse voorstelling op dvd. Het registreren van theater bestaat al langer dan vandaag, van archieven vol negentiende-eeuwse theaterpostkaartjes met poserende acteurs in kostuum tot het product van de cameracrew die tegenwoordig het podium mee opsluipt. Het is de aard van zowel de nostalgische mens die hunkert naar een souvenir als van de vooruitstrevende wetenschapper die leert uit het verleden, om dingen te willen onthouden, te verzamelen en op te slaan. De multimediale middelen die we vandaag hebben, bevorderen de mogelijkheden en voldoen meer dan ooit dit verlangen naar een extern geheugen. Het is vandaag dus niet uitzonderlijk dat een theatervoorstelling ook op film wordt vastgelegd om achteraf in een archief te verdwijnen. Maar het is echter pas in de laatste jaren dat er belangstelling groeit naar de vergelijking van beide belevingen: die van het originele en zijn kopie, en vooral hoe deze gelijkheid best in de hand wordt gewerkt, door zowel primum de theatermaker als secunda de videokunstenaar. In het actuele theatercircuit wordt de voorstelling, naast de conserverende functie, meestal gefilmd omwille van promotionele doeleinden. Theatergezelschappen bevelen eigen producties aan door een trailer op de site, programmatoren worden bij het binnengaan naast het programmablaadje ook een dvd’tje toegeschoven. Vaak kan men hier spreken van het ‘eenvoudigere’ werk: de camera wordt een aantal keer van perspectief gewisseld en deze beelden worden versmolten tot een mooi en vooral aangenaam geheel. Een zo realistisch mogelijke representatie van het gepresenteerde. Er komt hier meestal geen externe instantie bij kijken. Maar uitzonderlijk is het een resultaat van een zeer creatief opname- en montageproces die de kijker soms meer biedt dan een zicht op de planken alleen. Hoewel het resultaat hierdoor verder van de fysieke voorstelling ligt, kan de ervaring ervan net via deze manier dichter bij een beleving van de theatertoeschouwer staan. Een kanjervoorbeeld is de samenwerking tussen Castellucci en videokunstenaars Christiano Carloni en Stefano Franceschetti voor Tragedia Endogonidia , dewelke zeer boeiend wordt toegelicht door Jörg - 6 - von Bricken 1. Met deze interessante analyse in het achterhoofd, tracht ik in de tweede helft van dit relaas licht te werpen op de voorstelling ‘Het Hertenhuis’ van Needcompany, het laatste deel van de trilogie Sad Face | Happy Face . De apolitieke benadering van Bertolt Brechts 20 e-eeuwse concept van de Verfremdung fungeert als filter in dit intermediale onderzoek. Hoe worden de theatrale vervreemdingseffecten al dan niet overgezet in zijn nieuwe cinematografische medium? Opbouw Voor ikzelf de labo-handschoenen aantrok, wierp deze onderzoeksstelling onmiddellijk veel vragen op waarvan ik, vooraleer ik me kon toespitsen op deze oppositie van beleving, een beeld probeerde te krijgen aan de hand van hedendaagse media- en cultuurtheorieën. Daar start dan ook deze masterproef. De mens wordt iedere dag met talloze beelden overstelpt, zowel bewust als onbewust. Hoe ervaren we die veelheid en vooral, waar bevinden we ons ergens tussen die beelden? In tweede instantie wordt het theater in de multimediale maatschappij gesitueerd. Welke rol als medium heeft het theater nog in deze wereld vol projecties? Hierna wordt kort het hoe en waarom van de theaterregistratie besproken. Na een algemene blik op onze nieuwe ‘toeschouwerrol’ in de moderne Westerse wereld, kan ik verdergaan met het essentiële concept in dit onderzoek: het Verfremdungseffekt van Bertolt Brecht en de toepassing van dit idee als beeldstrategie. Vooraleer een concrete analyse van deze beeldstrategieën in een postdramatische toepassing wordt toegelicht, werpt deel twee een licht over de filosofische en ontologische dimensie van deze mediumtransitie. Eerst en vooral sta ik stil bij de vraag van presentatie en representatie. Deze klassieke oppositie, Plato achterna, wordt met de continu vernieuwende multimedia met de grond gelijk gemaakt. Bestaat er wel zoiets als de ‘echte realiteit’ naast zijn kopie in de media? Zijn deze grenzen niet al lang gesmolten en over elkaar heen gedropen als stroop in de zon? Vervolgens komt het fenomeen ‘medium’ in al zijn facetten aan bod, met een contextualisering van de theaterregistratie. De drie laatste hoofdstukken handelen over het 1 VON BRINCKEN, J., “DVDeformazione: Zur a sthetischen̈ Transformation der Tragedia Endogonidia im digitalen Videoformat“, in: TIGGES, S., K. PEWNY en E. DEUTSCH-SCHREINER (ed.), Zwischenspiele: Neue Texte, Wahrnehmungs- und Fiktionsräume in Theater, Tanz und Performance , Bielefeld, Transcript, 2010, http://www.theaterwissenschaft.uni-muenchen.de/personen_neu/wissenschftl_mitarb/brincken/brincken_ publ.pdf, laatst geraadpleegd op 22 december 2010. - 7 - live-karakter van het vervliegende theater, met opeenvolgend de focus op het geheugen, de dematerialisering, de kracht der presentie en de oppositie ‘live’ en ‘gemediatiseerd’. In het derde en laatste deel komen de specifieke vervreemdende beeldstrategieën aan bod. Doorheen deze uiteenzetting, ontleed ik de voorstelling die ikzelf heb ervaren als theatertoeschouwer en filmtoeschouwer, ‘Het Hertenhuis’ van Jan Lauwers & Needcompany, en vestig mijn aandacht op hoe de dvd als tweede jasje de vertaling van theatrale vervreemding voor zijn rol neemt. - 8 - DEEL ÉÉN. THEATER IN EEN DIGITALE CULTURE // - 9 - Jullie kunstenaars, die toneel maakt en uitstalt in grote theaters, onder kunstmatige zonnen voor de zwijgende menigte, bezoek af en toe het toneel, dat zich afspeelt op straat. (…) Hoe nuttig is zulk toneel toch, hoe ernstig en vrolijk, hoe waardig! Niet als papegaai en aap bootst men hier na, omwille van het nabootsen zelf, om ’t even wat er nagebootst wordt, alleen om te tonen, dat men goed nabootsen kan, nee, al die mensen hebben een doel voor ogen. Mogen jullie grote kunstenaars, meesterlijke nabootsers, daarin bij hen niet ten achter blijven! Dwaal niet hoe volmaakt jullie kunst ook mag worden, te ver van dat alledaags toneel af, het toneel dat zich afspeelt op straat. (…) Dit dient met eerbied bekeken! En met verbazing dient men het volgende op te merken: hoe deze nabootser zich nooit verliest in zijn nabootsing. Hij verandert nooit helemaal in degeen die hij nabootst. Steeds blijft hij degeen die laat zien, degeen die er zelf 2 niet is bij betrokken. 2 BRECHT, B., “Over toneel van alledag” in: CARTER-HARRISON P. (ed.), Voetnoten bij modern toneel: Essays bijeengebracht door Paul Carter-Harrison , Amsterdam, Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij, 1965, p. 25-27. - 10 - 1.1 O v e r / l e v e n i n e e n g e m e d i a t i s e e r d e w e r e l d | „All the world’s a stage“ 3 William Shakespeare Soms vraag ik me af hoe men in de verre toekomst ons huidige tijdperk zal bestempelen.
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