Returning the Gaze: Reclaiming the Voice – Post-Colonialism and its Implications for Drama and...

A Quantitative Research Method in Reception Theory in International Theatre: Case studies:’Transit', Brasil 'Motherland', Jamaica 'Sandhom', ’FIF' and 'Visit to Turkey', Denmark,'Vida delos perros' and 'El Meón', Bolivia,'5PSA –o filho', BrazilAuthor(s): Dan OlsenSource: Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 1/2, Returning the Gaze: Reclaiming the Voice –Post-Colonialism and its Implications for Drama and Education (March - June 2007), pp. 181-193Published by: University of the West Indies and Caribbean QuarterlyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40654983 .

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A Quantitative Research Method in Reception Theory in International Theatre.

Case studies: 'Tr ansit', Brazil, 'Motherland', Jamaica, 'Sandholm', TIP and 'Visit to Turkey', Denmarkj'Vida de los perros' and 'El

Meón', Bolivia,'5PSA - o filho', Brazil.

Dan Olsen

Introduction

The production of a theatre play involves a wide range of artists: dramaturge, author, director, costume designer, set designer, choreographer, lighting engineer, sound technician, musician, fencing and stunt master, and actors. Normally if you as a spectator or critical

reporter are analyzing a theatre play it is only possible to pick out a few ideas which draw your attention.

Often it is difficult to compare the views of different spectators because they focus on different aspects of the production. In an attempt to analyze what impressed the spectators in a

community play from Brazil, Beatrice Cabral and Dan Olsen use a quantitative research method (IDEA online journal, Applied Theatre Researcher, December 2005, article 3).

This paper discusses theatre plays from different countries using a similar research method.

In his book 'Analysing Performance' Patrice Pavis suggests applying the following questionnaire to analyze a play:

• General discussion of performance. a. what holds elements of performance together? b. coherence or incoherence between systems of staging; What is it based on?

c. place of the staging in the cultural and aesthetic context what do you find

disturbing about the production; strong moments or weak, boring moments? • Scenography a. spatial forms: urban, architectural, scenic, gestural, etc.

b. relationship between audience space and acting space c. links between space utilized and fiction of the staged dramatic space d. principles of organization of space: relationship between onstage and offstage



182 Dan Olsen

e. what is shown and what is implied

f. systems of colours and their connotations • Lighting systems a. type, function, relationship to the representation and to the actors bodies

b. effects on the reception of the play • Stage properties a. type, function, relationship to space and actors bodies

• Costumes, maquillages and masques

a. how they work, relationship to actors bodies • Actors' performance a. description physique of the actor (gesture, mime, maquillage)

b. kinaesthetic

c. construction of character: actor/ role

d. relation between actor and group

e. relation text and body

f. quality of voices

g. status of the comedian: his past, his function in the profession, etc. • Function of the music, sound effects and silence

a. type and characteristics: relation of the fable, relation of the diction

b. when do they intervene? consequences on the texts of the representation • Pace of the performance a. pace of certain signifying systems (exchange of dialogues, lighting, costumes,

gestures, etc.) connection between real and broken pauses

b. general pace of the performance: pace steady or broken, change of the regime, relation with the staging

• Interpretation of story-line in performance a. what story is being told?

b. what kind of dramaturgical choices have been made? coherence or incoherence

of the lecturer?

c. what are ambiguities in performance and what are points of explanation in the

text?

d. how is plot structured?



A quantitative research method in reception theory 183

e. how is story constructed by actors and staging?

f. what is genre of dramatic text after this staging?

g. are other options of staging possible? • Text in performance

a. choice of scenic version: which modifications?

b. main features of translation (script to stage): translation, adaptation, rewriting or original writing

c. what role is given to dramatic text in production?

d. relationship between (written) text and image • Audience

a. where does performance take place?

b. what expectations did you have of this performance (text, staging, actors)?

c. what presuppositions are necessary to appreciate this performance?

d. how did audience react?

e. role of spectators in production of meaning

f. which images, which scenes, which themes please most?

g. is the attention of the spectators manipulated by the staging? • How to notate (photograph and film) this production? • How to conserve the memory? • What cannot be put into signs? a. what did not make sense in your interpretation of the production

b. what are not reducible to signs and meaning (and why?) • Are there any special problems that need examining? • any comments, suggestions for further categories for the questionnaire and the

productions? The questions all have many answers. They are open-ended. It is difficult afterwards to

make conclusions about the results if many spectators are filling in the questionnaire.

A. THE TRANSITS IN BRAZIL

Beatrice Cabral analyzed the reception of the plays by the spectators with another kind of questionnaire. Here all the spectators are asked the question: What impressed you most about the play?



184 DanOlm

Each spectator was asked to evaluate in certain categories which item had the greatest impact on him/her. The answers were limited to five possibilities. In each group of five they were asked to number the iteins from 1 to 5.

The questionnaire applied in the Community Plays in Brazil had this form:

IMPACT.

a. Dramaturgy b. Context of the setting / location / place c. Significant characters d. Music linked to text e. Historical-social content

1. DRAMATURGY

The reference of the events The dialogues Unexpected situations

Analogy to real

Open to different interpretations 2. LOCATION / PLACE

Historical dimension of the place Natural beauty Scenic resources: torches, fire, telas, platafon, mas, etc. Transformation of the space Unexpected place

3. SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS

Unusual approach to a historical character A known character in the community Analogical dimension (to actions and attitudes frequent in the context of the

participant) Interpretation Witty character

4. MUSIC LINKED TO THE TEXT

Information introduced by the music

Atmosphere Within introduced in the scene Links between distinct situations

Support to amateur actors




5. SOCIAI^HISTORICAL CONTENT

The unofficial history Swing out / unknown historical moments Association history - stories

Analogy to present times Critical approach

The questionnaires were filled out by two groups, 46 persons, related to Transit:

Spectators (Theatre people / Community people) and Actors (Students/ Community people)

The Reception Of The Play

The spectators and actors are mostly impressed by 'Dramaturgy*. They rate 'Place* second and 'Socio-historicaP content third. Another way of showing the results is by finding the mean rating in each category. For instance through a Friedman test: The 46 participants ratings for 'Dramaturgy' were:

1 . Analog to the real context 2. Sequence of the events 3. Dialogue

Conclusion About the questionnaires.

When the researcher does not use open-ended questions it is, of course, very important to be sure that the spectator has a chance to find the answers he or she likes among the alternatives. This problem has been solved in the case of the Transit by asking the director and the researcher to suggest five items in each category.

B. ELYSE DODGSON: 'MOTHERLAND'

(Theatre Play about West Indian Women in Britain in the 1950s).

Content: Reasons for leaving, Preparing and Parting, First Impressions, Housing, Earning a Living, Childcare, Relationships with Men, Responses

to the *New Community', Bringing up Children, On Women

In this well known Musical the text is built on true stories told by women immigrants from Jamaica. The headings above are the titles for the interviews with the Jamaican women.

• If we look at text of the Musical it follows an identical sequence of events. • It is more important to keep this sequence of events than constructing dramaturgical

conflicts which could make the final play extraordinary exciting. • The musical style makes it easier for the author and director writing an interesting

play for the audience.



186 Dan Olsen

• The songs assure that the performance is entertaining even when each individual scene does not contain a strong dramatic nerve or have its own climax.

Conclusions.

In the language used in this paper it would mean that 'music linked to text* is rated higher than 'Dramaturgy'. In 'Dramaturgy' 'Sequence of events' is graded higher than 'Unexpected situations', 'Open for interpretations' and 'Dialogues'.

Summary.

With the experiences we have gained till now, we realize that to analyze a performance, we need a questionnaire without open ends. The tool applies questions from the list of jobs in theatre: dramaturge, author, director, costume designer, set designer, choreographer, stage manager, lighting engineer, sound technician, musician, fence and stunt master, action and actors.

Questions to the spectators: What impressed you mostly in the play? Which of the jobs in the theatre did the best work? The answers we suggest to order in categories with five in each.

The spectators are asked to order the items from 1 to 5. The content of the

questionnaires starts with the above mentioned job descriptions in the theatre. However, there are more than five job descriptions, so sometimes two of the jobs are collected in one category.

Later each job description is explained more extensively by five new items. This extension is proposed by the director or the actors or theatre critics. These suggestions often

depend on what kind of theatre we are dealing with.

This research method has been used on various performances: C. SANDHOLM. PLAY ABOUT AN ASYLUM CAMP BY THE DANISH

THEATRE GROUP MUNGO PARK.

The questionnaire for the play 'Sandholm* is constructed from the views of the critics in the Danish newspapers in May-June 2006:

IMPACT

1. Author 2. Dramaturge and Director 3. Set Designer, Stage Manager and Costume Designer 4. Lighting 5. Engineer and Sound Technician 6. Actor



A quantitative research method in reception theory U7

DRAMATURGE AND AUTHOR

The Play is not neutral. It only criticizes the Danish Authorities

The way they speak about Miracles (residence permit and other factual things) Conflict: Man with a Danish wife has to leave Denmark and go back to his

country applying for joining family A terrible story about leaving his country at the bottom of a container going to

Europe to get a better life

The Play is developed in a manner, so that the climax is reached at a well

planned place in time

DIRECTOR

Minimalist style (few actors play many persons) Women play men, men play women Members of group show boredom, scamper around, smash up heads into walls

Many droll episodes (for instance: Who participates in the Theatre tour) Excellent group movements (for instance: Many actors enter a full bus)

SET DESIGNER, STAGE MANAGERAND COSTUME DESIGNER

One double bunk bed on a revolving stage is the only set All kinds of T-shirts piled up everywhere T-shirts are changed around quickly Few objects characterizes a character as a Red Cross staff member (A coffee

cup in his hand or a red t-shirt) How the children are dressed

LIGHTING ENGINEER AND SOUND TECHNICIAN

Actors hide under bed because of noise from target practice Creaking Revolving stage Sound tracks: slamming doors TV is illustrated with light and sound on the pillow in the bed Actor tears cassette to pieces (sound track emphasizes action)

ACTOR

Few minutes creating a new character

Group with Gnarled Fingers when Job meets God Actors surprising performance with all the role shifting Actors create the rhythm of the performance Actors build profound characters in short time



188 Dan Oben

Discussion about the Questionnaire of Sandholm.

This play has some ardent critics and others who evaluate it as a brilliant performance. The spectators would probably show the same differences in filling out the

questionnaire. Do we then get any new knowledge by letting the audience answer these

questions and making our research on this collected material? I have not tried it. Personally I doubt about the success.

Days with many classic educated and right oriented spectators will come up with another answer than people with a modernistic view on theatre.

D.FIF-GROUP. A PLAY ABOUT REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS AMONG DANISH STUDENTS.

"FIF-group" is a theatre play with refugees and immigrants to Denmark mostly from the Middle East, Eastern Europe or Former Yugoslavia. The students in the group have moved to

Denmark, because of a lover, joining their families or because they are refugees from wars. The

director, Jakob Kirrboe, explains that the fact that the actors themselves write their own part of the play makes the author the most interesting part of this theatre. The dramaturge is the second most important job in the play because the participants in groups, together with the

director, make the scenes. It is important in this task to make each scene an episode with its own climax and its own points.

• The actors normally impress the spectators because they are persons who tell their own stories and play known situations. In this play it is not the purpose to construct common stories, but to let each person tell his or her own story.

• The director creates his own group settings to underline the individual stories of the actors.

• Finally the music often plays a central role in these plays. E. VISIT TO TURKEY. A PLAY BASED ON STORIES TOLD BY

DANISH AND FOREIGN STUDENTS.

'Visit to Turkey" is a similar kind of theatre play with refugees, immigrants and ordinary Danish students. One of these students was formerly married to a Turkish man. She has divorced her husband because of his jealousy. An important conflict in the play is her fear of

meeting his family on a visit together with the other students to Turkey.

What characterizes these last two plays is how they originate in stories told by the actors from episodes related directly to their own lives.

• The dramaturgy is for this reason based on conflicts. However, because the analogy to the real world is important, the play is no more dramatic than what is happening in the actual surroundings.

• The conflicts were revealed within the group in discussions about how critically we could behave in visiting Turkish homes for abandoned children.




• Some thought we should act as friendly guests others wanted the group to express its view on the difficult situation for the children in the Observation Home.

Personally as director of this play I found the set design interesting. We used ladders to decorate the scene and to give actors a better chance to be seen by the audience.

Also the relationship music- text was impressive. The group had adapted some Turkish songs and presented them with Danish translations.

A questionnaire was not used in this context, but it would have been possible to follow the suggestions outlined above.

F. THEATRE BY STREET CHILDREN.

Patrice Pavis in his book 'Analyqng Theatre 'writes 'this book has focused above all on a western mise-en-scène, an expression that in itself is a pleonasm. For mise-en-scène, as a

late-nineteenth-century invention, is localized in the West; and in addition it stems from a theatre aesthetic particular to Europe, where "the expected pleasure of representation and simulacra that it demands is inseparable from the production of meaning, from a

reappropriation of the world, and from self-knowledge".

It is interesting - as above - observing if aesthetic values of the investigator, the director and the actors follow the values of the spectators.

(i) Vida de perros

The story about theatre Trono is written in a book by Iván Nogales Bazán: 'ElmaZana es

hqy' El Alto - Ciudad Satélite, 1998.

In the first part of the book Angel, Claudio and Chila tell about their families and share their experiences with life in the street as street children. Some conflicts are more dramatic than

others and reveal better the difficulties of the boys: • Chila tells about his jealousy of a drunken man his mother takes to their home (p.39) • Angel writes about the first house-breaking he took part in (p. 44). • All tell about the mad evangelist, who always finishes his words: God has returned

and soon he shall be with us. If, from your hearth, you could spare a dime, so that I might visit other persons and share this great news with them (Iván Nogales, p. 53).

This last story is incorporated in the play 'Vida de perros* zs an independent scene.

All the individual and the common stories are in a similar way collected to the play 'Vida de perros* about street children (Dan Olsen: DVD 4, Tide 1 and Tide 2).

Drugs play an important role in the life of the street boys. A musical by a group of street children from Philippines had this theme as their principal subject. The drugs were illustrated

by a character dressed as a devil. In Vida de perros* there is a scene about an alcoholic.



190 Dan Olsen

(ii) £1 Meón.

In the play, (ElMeóny: Street children meet the authorities: Police, Community people, and Pedagogues in an Observation home called Trono.

'El MaZana es hoy' describes the work in Trono, COV Centro de Observación Varones

(Centre for Observation of Young Men) in La Paz, Bolivia. This place is really a prison. A three floored building in of paving-stones, 30-40 cm in diameter. Its entrance is through a big metal

gate surrounded by iron girders.

The next door is a heavy wooden door. 100 boys from 9 till 20 years old were locked up in the place. The youngest on the first floor and the oldest on the third. All ate food from tin

plates, some with knives and forks, others with their fingers.

Theatre Trono was started in these surroundings.

Later, when the theatre group was well established. Trono got a chance to play El Meón for the authorities in COV, at a meeting of DIRME and the social workers.

Without help from their normal director Iván, the boys extended the play to include all their personal experiences with the security and social workers in the Observation home, Trono. The actors were happy to show how the boys experienced the authorities face to face.

Especially the part of 'El Meón ' where the daily routines in the home were developed. The actors found this successful: Get up, take shower, make your duties, clean windows, time for fun: play football, time for eating, sweep the yard, wash the floor, watch TV, time for

sleeping,. . .(Dan Olsen:DVD 4,Title 3).

What impressed you most?

If I as a spectator was asked this question after seeing the two plays 'Vida de perros* 'and Tul Meón' one day when Trono was touring Bolivia in January 2006, my answer would be:

It is fantastic that two former street boys still work as actors and directors in Trono and that they still are able to participate in the same play they wrote twelve

years ago.

I find it encouraging that Trono has been earning money enough so that now they tour all the countryside of Bolivia in a truck with about 25 young people from die poor suburbs of La Paz playing theatre from a set built on the roof of the truck.

In a questionnaire I would select dramaturgy: 'Analogy to the real context* and 'Unusual set design' as being the most impressive.

G. 5PSA - O FILHO, A STUDENT THEATRE FROM SAO PAULO.

In April 2006 a theatre group from Sao Paulo, Brazil, performed their play '5psa-un filho* in Florianópolis, in Santa Catarina, in the southern part of Brazil. Before the performance the




investigator, Beatriz Cabral, professor at UDESCO, Florianópolis, asked the author, the director, Cainan Balderas, Sao Paulo, and the actors what they would like to know about their

play from the spectators. A questionnaire was devised and distributed to the spectators after the play.

In an open conference at the University of Florianópolis after the last performance the

quantitative results from 66 questionnaires from the spectators were presented by the

investigator and commented on by the director and the actors.

Synopses: In '5PSA-0 filho* the spectators visit a family whose beliefs are based on revelation of a certain divinity. Not having consensus about the interpretation of those revelations the brothers establish various individual conflicts which make dogmatic the words of divinity in the laws of the house. The audience selects one person they would like to follow, determining which point of view shall remain in the story. Each performance is unique and the

spectators could decide which story they want to follow. After the play the spectators could communicate with the actors via internet through a web- site as a way of proposing new texts and arguments.

• The mother is the owner of the house. She lives in it with her four sons. In the beginning of the play she welcomes all the spectators.

• Later each spectator chooses to follow one of the sons to his room. • One son is the one who organizes. The second is the one who washes. The third one

is the one who charms. The fourth one is the one who studies. • The sons compete among themselves to be the one the audience chooses to follow. • The mother has never visited the world outside the house. Each brother has

promised his mother that if he is followed he will let the mother visit the world. 5PSA - Questionnaire

Grade from 1 to 5, using 1 for the most impressive What impressed you mostly in your visit?

( ) the game among the characters and between the characters and the spectators ( ) The Truths of the Star

( ) The argument and the seduction used by the characters to persuade the world

( ) The physical environment and the routes around the house ( ) the role of the spectator along the development of the narrative

As to the game among the characters and between them and the public the biggest impact was:

( ) the initial game between the mother and the world (the spectators), which let the public at ease and established a partnership that make the spectators



192 Dan Olsen

perceive themselves as part of the narrative

( ) the "Truths' Game" - a word challenge between two brothers where each of

them tries to discredit the other

( ) the game arguing X seducing, by each brother in his room

( ) The coherence between the game and the narrative - this reveals aspects of

the relationship of the brothers with the world

( ) The game between the brother I had followed and his room

The 'Truth of the Star" are the fundaments of the 5PSA Family and the laws of the house. In your

opinion the most impressive was:

() the fact that there were distinct interpretations about "The Truths"

( ) the establishment of "The Truth" as a safe and unquestionable fact

( ) availability of a printed form of the "Truths" to the public

( ) The fact that the "X Truth" belongs to the public

( ) the passional defense of the established truth and its consequent strength

Regarding the arguments and seduction used by the characters to persuade the

world, the biggest impact was:

( ) the arguments of the brother that he is the son to be revealed

( ) the confront between the brother I had followed and the others

( ) the change of the elected brother as soon as he gets the power

( ) the religious rhetoric as a means of persuasion ( ) the non-linear access to information, running from argument to seduction

and vice- ver sa, without loosing the focus

Regarding the route within the house I thought the most interesting was:

( ) the settings, which enabled the game between argumentation and seduction

( ) the spectators didn't know where and how were the others

( ) the routes which crossed distinct spaces

( ) the material used by the brother to argue and seduce his followers

( ) to move from the brother's private room to a collective one and back

Regarding the role of the spectator in the development of the narrative:

( ) the seduction used at the beginning to engage the spectator

( ) the hypertext - room for the spectator without loosing the focus

( ) the spectator as a character that inhabits the world

( ) the natural engagement of the spectator in the decisions of the scene

( ) the interaction actor - spectator without coercion




Conclusion.

In a comparison of the plays mentioned in this paper it is interesting to discuss the dramaturgy. All the plays are based on stories of real events told by the participants or collected from persons well-known to the participants.

• Does the questionnaire developed by the investigator, the director and the actors reflect this diversity?

• Is there a cultural difference in the presentation of the stories? • Does Hollywood have another way of telling stories for films than people working

with street children in Bolivia? • Are their directors different from those who are working with immigrants from

Jamaica in England? • What about authors making a play based on refugees in an asylum camp in

Denmark?

References Beatriz Cabral and Dan Olsen: Framing aesthetic Response (IDEA online journal, Applied Theatre

Rtseanher, December 2005, article 3).

Iván Nogales Bazán: MaZana es Hoy, El Alto, 1998

Dan Olsen: DVD 4 - International Theatre and Circus with Young People, 2006.

Patrice Pavis: Anafy^ng Performance, Paris 2003.



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