what is the objective
for both performance photography
and critical discourse?
to inform the reader’s/viewer’s understanding of a performance?
each produces a “text”
offered as a substitute for the performance
an individual “reading”
an adjunct
a document
that can be shelved
with a copy of the original text of the play
critical essays and photographs
remain separate
but related artifacts to the performance
the production
at the moment of performance
is co-extensive with the originating text
while critical essays and photographs
are supplementary to the original text
potentially recalled
consulted
the next time the reader/audience member
encounters the original text
or subsequent performance
performance appropriates the original text
a spectator receives text and performance simultaneously
a fancier
hopefully clearer statement might be
a spectator receives the text
through the instrumentality of the performance
critical essays and photographs
have a freedom to stand apart from the original text
apart from the performance
the production
use that text/performance/production
as objective presence
as the stimulus to its own subjective response
directors do
at least the ones I gravitate towards
seek strategies to distance both themselves
and their audiences from a text
isolating its strangeness
archaic qualities
yet
one component of the raw material of performance
an ever present element
remains the original text
in my roles as a director
I’ve found it
extremely difficult with performance
to separate text and interpretation
a critic may develop an argument inductively
conventions of critical discourse allow a critic
to put forward an interpretation
in a straightforward way
a director
speaks primarily
through accoustic and visual systems
which he or she appropriates from
the original text
performance manifests
an overt collaboration between many individuals
the photographic document
more often than not
represents the singular vision of a photographer
critical discourse
as well
tends to represent the single voice of the critic
the previous statements
regarding photographers and critics
ignore the fact
that the work
criticism/photography
is frequently the result of
extended conversation with
collaborators
editors
colleagues
teachers and students
lovers
as well
it is difficult to imagine a kind of discourse
less derivative than
photography and criticism
the form of a critical essay
as with photographic documentation of live art
most often functions as a serial artifact
a unit in a sequence of writing or documents
within the critic’s/photographer’s own work
within a sub-genre of discourse shared by others
the photographer
the writer of a critical essay
have more direct control over the product
than a director whose work is vulnerable
to modification during rehearsals and performance
because they operate
through and with
the aesthetic sensibilities
the abilities of others
while a director
may make visual reference to other texts
by the original author
or others
performance
(in most cases)
remains a discrete representation of a single text
critical discourse often asks its readers
to perceive an aesthetic text
as one in a series rather than as
an independent aesthetic phenomenon
the principal objective of a critical essay
may be, for example
to position a text within a canon
that cuts across time
aligns the individual work with a group of works
identifying a play as a tragicomedy
a dark comedy
a drama of the grotesque
aim to make the individual text
comprehensible as a unit in a series
this type of critical act explicates
vivifies the text
only by establishing the coordinates
of the context that contains it
theater companies
may place a production in a serial position
one unit in a series
in a festival situation
but the individual performance
usually remains an experience
discrete
accessible
to those who attend only a single production
in performance
the text is tied
to the presence of the living actor
with an individual physical form
a unique personality
the critical discourse
is not tied to the specificity of the actual actor
nor to a specific occasion
a reader’s experience of the essay may be fragmented
divided among a series of moments
with extended periods of time in between
in which the mind processes
re-works the ideas encountered away from the text in question
the critical discourse
the photographer is held
within the specific place and time of the performance
they document
experiencing the theatrical interpretation as a whole
the photographer may return to document another performance
but the interpretation of the performance
is accessible primarily through
the data of performance that the photographer can remember
or in my practice
built up over the period of rehearsals
the critical discourse positions itself
in most cases
in the context of critical interpretations of the play
genre
historical period
contributing
self-consciously
to a body of criticism
as the field develops
hopefully
this will soon be true for
performance documentation
as there is no defined
body of documentation