Phenomenology (pt.2)

Trying to understand phenomenology is hard! This is why I wanted to this blog post in two halves. This analytical approach isn't something you should try to do on it's own, it is better to use this approach to push your analysis into another analytical approach, such as semiotics. 

To understand this approach, you must learn how to use it. If you are analysing an object onstage, you must look at how you react to it, without using many adjectives...

...yeah, I know!

Generally, if you eat a lemon, you would say it is 'sour' or 'bitter', but this wouldn't be a entirely phenomenological approach. You could say, however, how you reacted to the tasting of the lemon, even if you just make a noise. The next challenge is to transform this reaction into language, as close as you possibly can to the real reaction. Avoid using adjectives as these are only signifiers to your emotions or reactions, rather than the correct way to describe this. 

If you are to write about an object and your phenomenological approach to it, you would describe how you felt around it, what it feels like in weight, texture, the smell of it, the taste of it, everything to do with your senses that you instinctively react with. 

There is no right or wrong answer to your own phenomenological approach and this makes it difficult to be of use to other people around you that read your phenomenological analysis of a performance, however, it is very useful in conjunction with other analytical approaches. Finding how you react to something, then getting into the nitty gritty of what this means and the semiotic approach to it is a far more effective way of analysing a performance. Nevertheless, you shouldn't dismiss phenomenology, but don't get too bogged down into the meaning of it.

I could go on and on about how to write about the phenomenological approach to something, but I find that all research on phenomenology is very repetitive. In a sentence, phenomenology is the build up to a very effective analysis of a performance, and can be used in conjunction with other analytical approaches.

I know this is a very hard subject, and it can relate to many other industries and subjects of interest, but it is very hard to discuss this without over-complicating. If you have any questions at all, please leave a comment, email me at sophiimaria@gmail.com or tweet me (@SophiiMaria), and I will try to answer your question as much as I can; after all I am here to help you understand! If you have any examples of this, please leave a comment or if you just want to say hi! again, please leave a comment. 

:D

Framing

I have recently discovered how the framing of a performance can be translated into real life. I was talking to my boyfriend on how I don't really like going out anymore when I am at university because the atmosphere around the night life of a university has a different frame to the night life of, say, my home town. 

The atmosphere around university campuses are very "out-to-pull" sort of environments. Girls are constantly being hit on by drunk guys and the girls that are up for it are writhing around with two or more men. This is the atmosphere I don't really like. I used to enjoy a cheeky dance with a guy on a night out, but now I have someone very special in my life so these sorts of environments don't appeal to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go out with my friends and have a laugh but when you're in that sort of environment, you get sick of the atmosphere. 

However, if I went out with the same group of people back home, it would be a very different experience. Because in the past I have only been out in town back home with my friends for birthdays and celebrations, I find that there is less pressure on everyone, men and women, to go out on the pull. Back home, the atmosphere is more about enjoying your night out with your friends, not finding someone to 'get off' with. 

Now how does this relate to theatre? Well the framing of a performance depends on the atmosphere of the space that the performance is being. If a performance is held in a theatre, then there is a certain type of framing to it. You are expected to sit in the auditorium in a quiet and respectable manner, and not leave until the end. If a performance was held in a public space, however, such as a town square or a plaza, you wouldn't necessarily have to watch the whole piece. Now, I know these are only simple examples, but because there is a different attitude to both of these situations, the framing is different for each. In a public space, you are probably there for a purpose, so you may want to fulfill that purpose and not watch the performance, but in a theatre, you are there to watch a production, therefore, you watch and enjoy it (as much as you can). This is similar to a night out: in my experience, you go out in university for a purpose - to pull; at home you go out to celebrate something, and maybe if you pull, thats a bonus, just like a public performance.

Obviously, this is just my opinion and only an example but have a go at finding something similar to the framing of a performance in your life. Maybe there are situations at work that you could compare this to? Or even at school? Have a go and leave a comment below.

:D

It's nearly December!!!

A little something to brighten up the end of your day :D 

And if you get chance, watch more of ImprovEverywhere's videos! They're a really good example of a company that produces work in public spaces (linking with the post I did earlier :D). I love watching their videos. Even if you're not into all this drama malarky, they're really fun to watch without analysis :D

Space: where everyone can hear you scream...

What do we define as a space for a performance? What types of spaces are there and what is considered appropriate? How easy is it to transform one type of space into another?

If a performance is any action we do in life (I will write a blog all about performance at a later date...WARNING: that will be a long one! ;D), that means that the spaces all around us are part of a performing space, whether it's in a bathroom or a theatre, space must be any location where action takes place. 

In a performance called Entitled by the company Quaratine, we saw onstage the creation and disassembly of a performance. This took place in a theatre; the performance space. When the director was asked about the meaning behind this creation and destruction, he explained that the performance was about the space in which a performance happens, whether its the audience space, performers space or a collaboration of both. He also stated that one of the chairs in the production was the original chair from the first rehearsal session they had! The chair originally inhabited the rehearsal space, but then crossed over to the performance space where the object suddenly became part of the peformance and not a tatty old chair that was outdated.

We know it is possible to create a performance in any sort of space due to the creation and increasing popularity of Flash Mobs, but how do we know we are watching a performance when any space can become a place for performance? 

Performances produced in a theatre are framed by the space so we know we are watching a performance. However, creating a performance in a space where day to day life happens without much throught leads us to ask questions when we see a possible production. Is what we are watching real? Do I intervene in what is happening? etc. 


How do we define a space for performance? If you have any ideas let me know. Sorry this is pretty vague but this is still a subject that is still being questioned and I am confused as to how to describe it! Leave comments below of your ideas!