TASK FOUR: Promenade / Immersive Theatre (INFLUENCES CASE STUDY)

TASK A

  Promenade Theatre is a form of theatre that makes a performance become mobile- an audience is not stationery throughout the performance, and moves along with the actors. Immersive Theatre is a form of theatre which causes the audience to get involved- it emphasises the importance of space and scenery and is closely linked with Promenade Theatre as both of these types of theatre have a very similar purpose. These are an effective form of theatre for our Globe horror piece as they force an audience out of their comfort zone and into the perspective of our characters, which in of itself is unnerving.

TASK B

  The Globe has an extensive history- from being taken over by the ABC Cinema, to being taken over by Mecca Bingo, the progression and renovation of this Grade II super-theatre has been very interesting to research. First built in 1913 and then rebuilt by a Newcastle-based architect Percy L. Browne in 1935 with an art deco style, the Globe was originally Teesside's first purpose-built cinema, made specifically to show silent films. Before being rebuilt, however, the cinema experienced a projection room fire, which killed a young runner after another young worker accidentally slammed the door after running from the fire himself; early motion pictures used nitrate film, which when span at the speeds needed to show films, it would sometimes catch fire- and with nitrate creating its own oxygen source as it burns, water wouldn't put it out and was near enough impossible to extinguish- I believe this will be useful for our performance as not only is it a core piece of history of the Globe which will be intriguing for the general public to learn about, but also because this tragic event can be easily translated into a performance and also plays into people's fears- around 20% of people have pyrophobia so this could be an interesting way to unsettle people.

  By 1938, ABC Cinema bought the Globe Theatre, and while films became their primary focus, stage shows still continued. One of these types of stage show was the sensation known as Vaudeville Theatre- which consists of a mixture of speciality acts, usually containing a lot of music, but could include up to 20 different types of acts in one show, with some of these acts lasting up to four hours. This, again, is a useful piece of information to have moving along the show as the idea of Vaudeville is very accustomed to the environment of a theatre, and could be used to lure an audience into a false sense of security, by including a more traditional type of theatre.

   Moving forward (up until the 1970's), the Globe became a state of the art premier entertainment venue, including many iconic acts, such as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I have researched a specific incidents during this era of the Globe- a girl rupturing her stomach by screaming at a Beatles concert. It is said a young girl screamed so loud at a Beatles concert on the 22nd of November 1963 (the day of President J. F. Kennedy's assassination) that medics say her stomach combust. Once again, I believe this is a vital piece of information moving forward with our piece as it is a lesser known piece of history associated with the Globe, which would not only make for an interesting scene with intense acting, but a trivial way of presenting a very obscure piece of trivia surrounding the building. 

TASK C

  Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director, and is given the title as one of the fathers of experimental theatre, because of his work on 'Poor Theatre'; a practice that eliminates costly and extraneous features of theatre: such as costumes, sets and props- which are not cheap and multi-purpose. This type of theatre is mainly used in non-proscenium venues, as those who use such venues to perform usually do not have a large budget (especially since shows produced using this technique are usually not aiming for the audience a piece of Commercial Theatre would use)- hence the name 'Poor Theatre'. Instead of elaborate and expensive objects to enhance the performance, Grotowski used this method to solely rely on the physical abilities of the actors within the piece- his aim was to tell a story using the actor's bodies, rather than objects which actors could use. Despite his work demanding actors to be much more physical, his workings were heavily based off of Konstantin Stanislavsky; a practitioner which stated actors must portray their character's behaviours by clear and 'performable' actions. The work of Grotowski is important to our current project, as his methods could greatly improve the immersive nature of our performance; with the demanding physicality of Grotowski's methods, this could further envelop an audience during high moments of tension. In addition, our tour must rely on this theory, as we do not have the resource for elaborate sets nor props to appeal to the general audience of 'Commercial Theatre'- furthermore, our premise does make use of a venue in a very non-traditional way, making the use of 'Poor Theatre' much more applicable for our current piece.