The Politics of Performance

The Politics of Performance Bonnie Marranca The impact of Richard Schechner's provocative article, arriving at a time when audiences are becoming noticeably reflective about theatrical experience , seems all the more significant because it articulates the position of an avant-garde theatre that is becoming increasingly conscious of itself and its image. I don't agree with Schechner's assessment of the avantgarde from the perspective of "decline" and "fall" because there is more to this crisis than the life cycle he describes. The "path of interculturalism" that he proposes for its rebirth misses the point, I think, because it seeks generalized solutions outside American culture, in the archetype, when what the avant-garde theatre community (its artists and audiences) needs to do now is to analyze its particular position vis-A-vis its own culture and institutions. How is it perceived? How does it perceive itself? That is the starting point for my response. Consider the relationship of avant-garde theatre and the press. If one believes, as I do, that it is in a period of self absorption, it does not come as a surprise that all of the artists who responded to Schechner addressed the subject of critics and the press (Lee Breuer had intended to write a long article on theatre criticism but he could not complete it in time for publication). Ruth Maleczech writes of "hating the critics who keep you poor," Elizabeth LeCompte laments the lack of "critical support," Spalding Gray complains that it took "six phone calls to get a Voice critic to come see A Personal History of the American Theatre," and Matthew Maguire, the youngest of the three and therefore the most representative of the way the coming generation regards the situation sees Schechner's views as potentially "discouraging of fundraising." If they had discussed theatre criticism in a less self-centered context it might have been beneficial to all of us as a genuine public exploration of 54 how "avant-garde theatre" is perceived in the media and in the public eye. Instead, taken together, the replies give the impression that their authors view critics and criticism/reviewing (they are not differentiated) as a scapegoat responsible for avant-garde theatre's lack of serious attention in the culture, its financial insecurity, and all that that implies in terms of "career." These assumptions about the role and function of critics frame the discussion unhealthily in the realm of economics, as if any commentary that does not support a work or movement jeopardizes its value in the marketplace. It is no longer possible to conceive of reviews of performances as merely news because of the function they have, and the way they are perceived in the "performance industry" that avant-garde theatre has become. The widespread competitiveness of performers and theatre groups for media coverage, and the relationship of coverage to the event and to money, should be a signal for everyone to stop and think about what "avant-garde" theatre is, and where it is heading. If those who make theatre view writing about theatre-of course, I am only speaking of intelligent writing, not the uninformed review-exclusively in terms of public relations (that is, in a way that will enhance their image and thus their monetary value) then they have lost sight of the real value of serious, public dialogue on the art. The avant-garde theatre, those who write about it and its audience, is starved for any authentic, intelligent exchange of ideas. Not only the theatre piece or text, but any serious theatre writing about it that appears, confronts a great big void because virtually nothing has any impact on anyone. The value of Schechner's article is that it broke through this terrible, deadening silence. Theatre artists, I think, are ignoring the real and deeper causes of their alienation, first blaming the press, then later turning to it as if it were a deus ex machination that could save their image and their career. They overvalue its relation to their survival when the problems lie elsewhere. It seems that now is the time for everyone to move away from naive opinion to a genuine understanding of...