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At the Margins of Theatre. On the Connection Between Theatre and Anthropology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Piergiorgio Giacchè
Piergiorgio Giacchè*
Affiliation:
University of Perugia
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Scanning the corpus and repertoire of anthropological science, insofar as we wish and are able to, we note that ethnological observations and studies on theatre are not lacking, but that they seem to have been isolated opportunities for investigation that have never grown into a research tradition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 47 , Issue 186 , June 1999 , pp. 83 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 1999

References

Notes

1. Even since the development of what has been defined as ‘the anthropology of complex societies', contem porary theatre and art have remained fields that have been virtually unexplored by an anthropological discipline that, without exception, prefers to carry on defining itself through confirmation of its traditional object rather that in terms of the issues raised by its methods.

2. Jean Duvignaud (1965), Sociologie du théâtre. Essai sur les ombres collectives (Paris, PUF).

3. In research and theories on theatre, and especially but not solely contemporary research and theories, it is not hard to find claims that theatre is extra-social or proof that it is outside the day-to-day; more particularly today, a trend is detectable towards the creation of a kind of 'non-sociological anthropology' as a factor uniting diverse and even contrasting anthropologico-dramatic theories. See P. Giacchè (1988), Antropologia e cultura teatrale. Nota per un aggiomamento dell'approccio socio-antropologico al teatro, Teatro e Storia, 4, no 1, April, pp. 23-50.

4. This alludes in particular to Richard Schechner's (1977) ‘theory of performance' (Essays on Performance Theory, New York, Drama Book Specialist) and hence to Victor Turner's many contributions, designed to extend and apply this theory; within the limits of this brief paper we cannot detail the basic research directions of these two representatives of the anthropology of theatre.

5. E. Barba (1993), La canoa di carta, Trattato di antropologia teatrale (Bologna, Il Mulino), p. 153; E. Barba (1993), Le canoë de papier. Traité d'anthropologie théâtrale, Bouffonneries, no 28-29.

6. From the studies that have emphasized how Artaud's dramatic theory started an ‘anthropological route', we mention among others the book by M. Borie (1989), Antonin Artaud. Le théâtre et le retour aux sources. Une approche anthropologique (Paris, Gallimard).

7. There is a strand of contemporary theatre culture that has drawn on the terms, material and methods of cultural anthropology; the use of the expression ‘anthropological theatre' is an attempt to bring together and hold in the same field the multiplicity and variety of experiments and research (carried out by great ‘masters' but also small groups) that have shown the value of, or the need for, an explicit relationship with anthropology. See P. Giacchè (1991), Lo spettatore partecipante; Contributi per un'antropologia del teatro (Milan, Guerini), pp. 20-22.

8. Lately several works have been published on Eugenio Barba's theatre anthropology and the term has frequently been explained in detail. In the present context it is sufficient to recall the primary and most general definition as ‘the study of human beings in the act of representation' (cf. E. Barba (1981), La corsa dei contrari. Antropologia teatrale (Milan, Feltrinelli). See also the most recent publications from this strand of original and basic research: E. Barba (1993), op. cit.; E. Barba, N. Savarese (1995), Un dictionnaire d'anthropologie théâtrale. L'énergie qui danse. L'art secret de l'acteur, Bouffonneries, no 32-33.

9. See Marc Augé (1992), Non-lieux. Introduction à une anthropologie de la surmodernité (Paris, Seuil), pp. 28-29.

10. Ibid., pp. 29-30.

11. Among Turner's many publications reviewing the paradigms of ‘social drama' and the ‘process of ritual', and the concepts liminal and liminoid that link theatre and ritual, we must mention the most recent (1986), republished in The Anthropology of Performance (New York, PAJ Publications). See also by the same author (1982): From Ritual to Theatre - The Human Seriousness of Play (New York, PAJ Publications).

12. According to Turner it is precisely this freedom of invention that is the characteristic the liminoid inherits from the liminal, or theatre inherits from ritual: it is now the last space of the ‘subjunctive mood' in culture, the space ‘in which suppositions, desires, hypotheses… are all legitimated'. See V. Turner (1969), The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (London, Routledge).

13. According to Grotowski, an awareness of the existence of the ‘creation of a vision' as a distinct but not isolated phase of the process of ‘staging' a play is essential in a theatre director. See J. Grotowski (1986), Il regista come spettatore di professione, Teatro festival, no 3, April, pp. 28-36.

14. Jerzy Grotowski, the first ‘theatre practitioner' to become a member of the College de France, where a chair of theatre anthropology was created for him, died on 14 January 1999; his research continues, in accordance with the directions, objectives and methods he developed, at the Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards Study Centre he founded in Pontedera (Italy) in 1986.

15. The most comprehensive book on Grotowski's research and theatre theory is in our view by Jennifer Kumiega (1985, The Theatre of Jerzy Grotowski, London, Methuen), even though it ends in 1984 and so does not illustrate or comment on the last stage of his work. There are few works that illustrate and document this stage and they are less well known; among others we can mention: J. Grotowski (1986), Tu sei figlio di qualcuno, Linea d'ombra, anno IV, no 17, December (French translation 1986: Tu es fils de quelqu'un, Europa, 726, October); J. Grotowski (1988), Il Performer, Teatro e storia 4, anno III, no 1, April, pp. 165-169; T. Richards (1995), Travailler avec Grotowski sur les actions physiques (preface and essay by J. Grotowski, Actes Sud/Académie Expérimentale des Théâtres).

16. The ‘poverty of theatre' and what can be defined most comprehensively as ‘Grotowski's paradox of theatre's authenticity' are justified and explained in J. Grotowski's most well known and widely read work (Towards a Poor Theatre; in French Vers un théâtre pauvre, Paris, La Cité 1971), which has been translated into many languages; on the other hand, the phrase ‘art as vehicle', relating to Grotowski's latest research on the Performer, was coined by Peter Brook who used it as the title of a short article. See P. Brook (1988), Grotowski, l'arte come veicolo, Teatro e storia 5, anno III, no 2, October, pp. 255-258.