Mapping Across Academia pp 375-388 | Cite as
The Contested Maps, Multiple Worlds, and Negotiable Borders of Theatre
Abstract
In the art of theatre, many effects are created by way of a thorough understanding of the performance space, and also through the manipulation of the borders that divide the architecture of the theatre building from the temporary scenery of a production, the actors from the audience. These realms—the building, the scenery/stage, the auditorium—have been conceived of as “worlds”, “continents”, or “seas” that constitute the global geography of the theatrical experience. This essay demonstrates some of the ways in which maps, cartography, and geography have impacted the academic discipline of theatre studies, and it also considers how theatre artists’ conceptualizations of the theatrical event as a universe that includes worlds informs the way they create their art.
Keywords
Scene design Stage management Theatrical mapping Performance space Semiotics Audience performer relationship Visual literacyReferences
- Artaud, A. (1988). Selected writings. In Sontag, S. (Ed.) Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
- Brockett, O. G., & Hildy, F. J. (2008). History of the theatre (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.Google Scholar
- Cartright, W. (2009). Applying the theatre metaphor to integrated media depicting geography. Cartographic Journal, 46(1), 24–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Condee, W. F. (1995). Theatrical space: A guide for directors and designers. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
- Malina, J., & Beck, J. (1971). Paradise now: A collective creation of the living theatre written down by Judith Malina and Julian Beck (p. 1971). New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
- Schechner, R. (1985). Between theatre and anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
- Schechner, R. (1973). Environmental theatre. New York: Hawthorn Books.Google Scholar
- Tillis, S. (2011). Conceptualizing space: The geographic dimension of world theatre. Theatre Survey, 52(2), 301–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Wiles, D. (2003). A short history of western performance space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
- Zarzosa, A. (2010). Melodrama and the modes of the world. Discourse, 32(2), 236–255.Google Scholar