Intra-Actions in Contemporary Theatre: The Creation of Performances and The Audience Address

Abstract

This thesis explores the ways in which intra-activity within contemporary theatre performances contributes to the creation (or coming into existence) of these performances and their audience address. The first two chapters of this thesis serve as a theoretical framework, which is created on the basis of the theory from an influential agential realist thinker Karen Barad and her account on intra-actions (and the notions of active matter, agency, intra-active causality, relata, spacetimemattering and others). Barad’s ideas are complemented by the theory of theatre, which is suggested by such scholars as Hans-Thies Lehmann (and his accounts on dramatic and postdramatic theatre, parataxis and de-hierarchization of theatrical means); Maaike Bleeker (and her conclusions on active matter and landscape stage); Susan Leigh Foster, Peter Eckersall, Helena Grehan and Edward Scheer (and their account on sensory audience address); and others. In addition to that, the theoretical part of the thesis is supplemented by examples of the performances, which correspond to the ideas suggested by the referred theorists.

The third part of this paper presents a comparative analysis of two case studies, namely the performances Headroom by Suzan Boogaerdt and Bianca van der Schoot (2018) and Lokis by Łukasz Twarkowski (2017). These performances are analyzed with regards to their correspondence with the theory of intra-activity and intra-activity in contemporary theatre, which is provided in the chapters one and two, as well as with regards to their differences and similarities to one another. Particular attention in the analysis of the case studies is drawn to their structure, the importance of active matter and the distribution of agency within them, as well as their sensory audience address. In this way it is explained how the performances Headroom and Lokis come into being through intra-activity and what audience address they create. The latter knowledge can be seen as one of the few attempts of seeing contemporary theatre performances through the lens of the theory of intra-activity as well as a reference point for further research.