1st Book

Reading my first book of 2010 Theatre & Audience by Helen Freshwater.
At first this may seem possibly the dullest book to read but bare in mind i am a drama student, have an essay to do and there is some interesting references to experimental theatre.

One of which i am slightly obsessed over is Marina Abramovic's Rhythum O (Naples, 1974) performance:
As she stood passively beside the table, viewers turned her around, moved her limbs, stuck a thorny rose stem in her hand. By the third hour they had cut all her clothes from her body with razor blades and nicked bits of flesh from her neck. Later, someone put a loaded gun in her hand and pushed it nozzle against her head.
In this performance she stood emotiveless as the audience where presented a table of various objects which could give her pleasure or pain. They were given no instructions, only seventy two objects, Marina herself and six hours to do what they wanted. You may be pleased to hear that after the loaded gun was pointed towards her head another audience member pushed it away and put in on the table again.
Many people may call this woman mad but i believe the chaos and experimentation of theatre needs to be explored and she was just doing her 'job'. The audacity to let the audience/public do what they want with oneself is such a powerful act it is both liberating and oppressive, exciting and fearful. One act which could have led to her death is broken up by anothers interaction and possibly human compassion. I myself am quite confused with the idea of baring all on stage to this effect but if the audience can't interact or create ones own experience surely theatre is just someone ranting at you.

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