Acting/Non-Acting

ACTING / NON-ACTING SCOTT BURTON Do you think of your "Behavior Tableaux" Until recently, most New York perform- performances as a theatre-performance anee was thoroughly anti-th-atr , 'Ur hybrid? motives ranging from ideology to igno- Ten years ago it was fantastic that, as a work raneo. But almost overnight, performance of art, art could be a live event. But within a activity has shifted from coafessional and couple of years, that in itself was no longer formal geetmess to theatrical entertain- enough. I think one began to be bored when ments. Such a quick and quixotic change - the time element was not manipulated. Back ots some basic Issues up for grabs (narra- then, it was just fascinating that an event tive, autobiography, materiais, staging) could be plastic art, not theatre. Not to be ani axed several performerdlrectorsto Greenbergian ... but after a while people comment on one of the most significant had to face up to the inherent nature of the and elusive topics - aetintglnn-actiug. medium which is keeping people's attention occupied through "X" number of minutes. So I found myself very conscious of how I would have to direct time. DhILZV-mOh I DhIZLV 7 Does that mean you adopted a dramatic structure? Not dramatic in my case, because it's just one thing then the next thing. I wouldn't want it to be dramatic. You know that Merce Cunningham said "Climax is for those people who like New Year's Eve." So you think performance can be theatrical without being dramatic? The nature of the performance medium is inherently theatrical, even if it's not the theatre of writers, directors, and designers, which is such a schizophrenic product, usually a pseudo-collaborative effort. In my earliest performances, I used myself conceptually, but when I started using other people, I became aware of being a pseudo-director of a pseudo-theatre. My early performances were very intellectual gestures ... I've been sort of stage-struck all my life. I was very close to going into the real theatre at one point but the people in real theatre have mediocre minds. My mother took my to the Alabama State Fair where I saw Gypsy Rose Lee, and I remember these strip tableaux as making deep impressions which have profoundly influenced my performance format. Why did you begin to use other people in your pieces? I think because I loved the theatre and wanted to imitate it. I wanted to deal with elements of costume, lighting and sets, as well as directing, but in a very Walter Mitty way. That's the only way you can when you're one person. Artists' performance is an integrated form, not a schizophrenic one. One person is responsible for everything. How does that work when you include other performers? It was a breakthrough for me. I used the people like models. Like my furniture, the behavior tableaux are pseudo-sculpture. When I work with the models, I just touch their bodies and push them around. Concrete gesture and meaning are the same thing. Are a lot of their poses conceptualized beforehand? I get an image in my head, then I try it on them. Then I re-arrange, alter, edit, and try to clarify. But it's not schematic. I try to make the setting and costumes look like they don't exist. I try to be on the edge. It's very carefully planned but it should look like it's just that way. The tableaux are secretly completely theatrical, but I try to make it look sort of real. The costumes, for example, are carefully edited street clothes. Do you get images from the people you select as performers, as well as from your own image bank? I always use tall, slender men. For one thing, their limbs carry well at the great distance that I use. That linear clarity is the main thing. Also, the uniformity of look is very important. I try to make them look similar but not identical. Not so different that you get involved with personalities, but not so similar that they're like robots. It's not about a we're-all...