This study studies the spectatorship in the theatre after the 20th century based on the aesthetics of reception of German literary scholars Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser, and through this, understands the spectator in the contemporary theatre in...
This study studies the spectatorship in the theatre after the 20th century based on the aesthetics of reception of German literary scholars Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser, and through this, understands the spectator in the contemporary theatre in a new meaning. The spectator has always been one of the essential elements in the theatre. Moreover, its characteristic has changed with the times. This study considers such changes with illustrations of contemporary theatre performances in Korea and abroad.
From the ancient Greek to the pre-20th century, theatre audiences have mainly been recognized as ‘listening audience’, i.e. audience or ‘spectating audience’, i.e. spectator. Today, since the 20th century, the spectator is rapidly changing in many aspects, including its functions and roles. This is because the spectator, who was considered just as the enjoyer and recipient of a performance, now acts as one of the major factors or as a co-creator of a theatre performance. For this reason, interest in the spectator is gradually increasing and is considered as an authentic object to be studied.
While there were previous studies which dealt with this object, this study discusses that the Neo-avantgarde theatre movement, the post-dramatic theater, and the rapid development of the media have played a consequential role in changing the characteristics of the spectatorship.
This study, in particular, gives attention to the American theatre artist and theorist Richard Schechner(1934- ). As well-known, he has influenced the development of world theatre since the 1960s. He has also been considered as a person who has induced the change of the spectatorship: the change could be defined as ‘the liberation of the spectator’. The spectator can be liberated in three respects in a theatre performance: firstly, physical liberation from the performer and the stage; secondly, spiritual liberation with contemplating thoughts; thirdly, creative liberation with active participation. Therefore, this study whose final purpose lies in the research on the work of Schechner and his theories linked to the liberation of the spectator.
The reason why this study re-examines the achievements of Schechner among many other theatre artists who have led the contemporary performing arts and contemplates the spectatorship is that his experiments and attempts have become important in the contemporary theatre, in the creation of which spectators play an important role in a variety of styles with different names: new documentary theatre, post-dramatic theater, immersive theatre, etc..
Schechner’s past efforts have become more significant in the 21st century, because the forms of the theatre that was tried and experimented according to his theories and ideas are now positioned as ones of the directions of the contemporary theatre.
Schechner’s efforts, on the one hand, focused on the spectator pioneered in the diversity of the theatre, and above all, his ‘performative’ attempts that emphasized the communication between performers and spectators are often seen in the contemporary theatre. On the other hand, in the late 1960s, the development of the aesthetics of reception developed in Germany, centering on literary arts, at a time similar to the beginning of the Neo-avantgarde movement in the United States of America, led an active change in the characteristics of the theatre spectatorship. As we know, reception in literature refers to the reader’s act of reception of a creative work by a writer. According to the aesthetics of reception, the reader plays an important role of the producer, because a text by a writer becomes an art work only when a reader exists. In other words, a true work of art is not only created by the producer, but by the active reader who would fill in the opening provided by the art work. As such, the importance of the reader’s participation and reaction in literature can be adapted for the spectator participation in theatre performances. So this study attempts to contemplate the aesthetics of reception, reconsidering the spectator in theatre performances.
Schechenr’s aesthetics of performativity can be found in the relationship between the performers and the spectators in performances. The performances under his direction had their origin in the idea that the spectator should be more central constituent than any other elements. This study thinks that Schechner’s directing activities in ‘the Performance Group’ which was opened by him in the early Neo-avantgarde theatre movement periode had an effect on the first liberation of the spectator, centering on the performative aesthetics formed in the 1960s. ‘Performance Studies’ opened by Schechner in the New York University have been considered to exercise an important effect upon the development of post-dramatic theater and the second liberation of the spectator after the 1970s, and each of them have led the changed characteristic of the spectator.
To explain this phenomenon, this study focused on the spectator based on the aesthetics of reception of Hans Robert Jauss(1921-1997) and Wolfgang Iser(1926-2007). Among many of the aesthetics of reception, these two literary scholars’ viewpoints were paid attention because Jauss was the first scholar who made public the concept of the aesthetics of reception. The fact that he considered the historical, cultural, and social aspects of a written text was significant to pay attention to the Neo-avantgarde theatre movement in the 1960s, in particular to connect with the earlier Schechner’s claims on ‘the Environmental Theatre’. In addition, the spectatorship from the Iser’s point of view of the aesthetics of reception was checked in this study, because his aesthetics were also influenced by postmodernism and were thought to explain the spectator’s inclinations and characteristics shown in post-dramatic theater since the 1970s.
The eventual purpose of this study is to demonstrate the aspect of the newly born post-spectatorship that is to emerge as another possibility of the spectator in the midst of the trends and changes in the contemporary theatre. To do this, four performances are illustrated in this study.
The four productions performed in Korea and abroad showed the changes and trends of the theatre spectatorship. The analysis of these would be of help to the understanding of the liberated spectator. The understanding of it is of significance, because this study advocates the possibility of post-spectator realized in the future. Through a detailed discussion on spectator or spectatorship like this, the meaning of the coming performance spectators and their development in Korean theatre would be positively defined. As we see, Korean theatre already experiences how actively -of course unvoluntarily sometimes- the spectators participate in performances and exercise their influence over the characteristic of them.
This study would hopefully be of help to broaden the horizons of the Korean contemporary theatre and be a starting point for forming the concept of the post-spectator in Korean theatre in the future.