A CRITICAL WEDGE Annikki Wahlöö Degree Project, Master of Fine Arts in Theatre with specialization in acting Spring Semester 2016 Degree Project, 60 higher education credits Master of Fine Arts in Theatre with specialization in acting Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg Spring Semester 2016 Author: Annikki Wahlöö Unless otherwise specified, photo and illustration: Annikki Wahlöö Title: A Critical Wedge Supervisor: Per Nordin Second Supervisors: Anna Pettersson and Petra Revenue Examiner: Anders Wiklund ABSTRACT A critical wedge – is an exploration of the in-betweens within performing arts and how they can become gaps for questioning, a place for exploring alternatives. How juxtaposition can be a political tool when composing a performance. It all started with the interspace between reality and fiction, the authentic and fictional self. The aesthetic field cannot present any given answers but rather a liminal space for reflection and thoughts. An in-between where multiplicity can grow and flourish. This is an exploration of both practice and theories in relation to gaps, cracks and in- betweens where art can flourish. This has also led to an exploration of the relation between spectators and performers and on if one can create a common and equal meeting ground within the boundaries of a performance. Key words: liminality, participatory theatre, critical wedge, performance art, human specific theatre, immersive theatre, sensuous theatre, political theatre, performance art, performativity, multidisciplinary theatre, soundscape, spectator, site-specific theatre, performing art, text immersion, viewpoint training, social theatre, performative art. Contents Preface............................................................................................................. 3 One beginning................................................................................................. 6 Another beginning.......................................................................................... 11 Fluffy and white.............................................................................................. 13 Actors for disposal.......................................................................................... 16 Eye opener...................................................................................................... 17 Creating traps.................................................................................................. 18 Common ground............................................................................................. 19 The Agreement................................................................................................ 19 Interlace interspace........................................................................................ 22 Freedom in a bag ........................................................................................... 24 Walking in Athens – What is political?............................................................ 26 The free space in between – a space for reflection........................................ 28 Spectator – object or subject?........................................................................ 30 Action here and now....................................................................................... 31 Immersed by sound........................................................................................ 32 Who performs?............................................................................................... 33 Sniffing flowers............................................................................................... 35 Toolbox........................................................................................................... 36 Collaboration ................................................................................................. 36 Risk and Commitment.................................................................................... 38 Failure..............................................................................................................40 Your position................................................................................................... 42 Text immersion............................................................................................... 44 Play position and vertical................................................................................ 44 Place The same place – abused................................................................ 46 Two voices....................................................................................................... 51 Translating immersion of water into immersion of sound.............................. 51 Flavour and Fortune....................................................................................... 52 Make the invisible visible............................................................................... 56 Workshop with Cantabile 2 ............................................................................59 Visiting artist at Sisters Academy.................................................................... 61 Sisters Academy and the vision of a sensuous society.................................... 61 The Liminal...................................................................................................... 63 A poetic self – an expanded me...................................................................... 64 Entering........................................................................................................... 64 Invisible/visible within the frame of Sisters Academy.................................... 66 Collected memories........................................................................................ 67 Perpetuum immobile – One memory creating new memories...................... 68 Walking thinking remembering...................................................................... 70 One for the sea............................................................................................... 73 Human specific performing art....................................................................... 77 Human experience.......................................................................................... 77 The senses of the actor................................................................................... 79 The pre- and post-liminal............................................................................... 80 One, two, three layers.................................................................................... 83 Three layers away........................................................................................... 83 The first layer – remembering........................................................................ 83 The second layer – writing.............................................................................. 83 The third layer – performing........................................................................... 84 A Memory – the second layer......................................................................... 86 Manifesto – for multiplicity ........................................................................... 88 Post-text Pre-performance............................................................................ 91 Open work....................................................................................................... 91 Open process.................................................................................................. 92 Threads – research-script .............................................................................. 93 Literature and references..............................................................................120 Thank You........................................................................................................124 1 2 Preface This is a composition with more than two scores. They are all connected to the same subject matter which is concerned with the void in-between – a void with many names. I started off with interspace that has become gaps, wedges, in- betweens, liminal spaces. A void or a liminal something that can slip into the cracks in our imagination and make space for something different and maybe shake us a little. Threads I have followed are human specific theatre, participation, immersive theatre, spectator/performer/participant/actor/creator, memories, walking, swimming, sounds, pictures. Discontinuity. The relation you have towards reality in different positions, the writer, the performer, the spectator etcetera, etcetera. I describe my practise and some of the works I have been doing in connection to my master studies. I also try to put these practises in relation to other works and theories. The theory and practise tend to interlace and I don’t think it is possible to tear them apart and make them into two entities. This is a composition of letters, numbers, words, sentences, pictures, films, sketches, drawings, lines, curves, circles, squares, etcetera, etcetera. This composition is not in black and white it is in colour – an endless variety of nuances. 3 4 5 One beginning It all started with a gap, a gap in time, a gap in meaning, a gap between. In 2003 I wrote my bachelor thesis in Theatre Studies at Stockholm University. I felt a frustration during this period which to a large extent was related to my point of view as a practitioner. I was not interested only