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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Shared experience theatre: exploring the boundaries of performance

Crouch, Kristin Ann
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054738772

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Theatre.
This dissertation provides a history of Shared Experience Theatre, a fringe theatre company based in London, England. The members of Shared Experience have earned international acclaim for their commitment to physically innovative approaches to novel adaptations for the stage. Although they are one of the few living fringe companies remaining since the 1970s, this is the first official investigation of the company that revitalized storytelling techniques for the contemporary British stage. The focus of this study is on the creative processes and survival techniques of the artistic leadership over the past twenty-seven years, beginning with Mike Alfreds in 1975, and continuing with Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale since 1987. It was Shared Experience’s work in the 1970s that sparked the contemporary British interest in stage adaptations of literature, with their landmark productions of Arabian Nights and Dicken’s Bleak House. Under the artistic leadership of Mike Alfreds, the actors employed the narrative of the novel as a wellspring of theatrical possibility, physically transforming themselves through the slightest gesture. From the late 1980s, under Meckler and Teale, the approach to novel adaptation continues to be physical and innovative, yet takes a significantly different path. The style is distinctly and powerfully physical and ‘expressionistic’; their rehearsals are an exploration of what the story ‘feels like’ rather than what it looks like in reality. The use of ritualized gestures, visual images, split characters, and the physicalization of characters’ fantasies and dreams have all become hallmarks of the Shared Experience ‘approach’. With these tools, Meckler and Teale have cracked open the secrets ‘hidden inside’ the heart of the novel for the British stage. This dissertation also examines the economic and administrative context that supports the continued existence of Shared Experience Theatre. As such, this study brings contemporary British theatre scholarship closer to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between fringe and mainstream theatre practices. It also provides a platform for further investigation of novel adaptations, the language of gesture in performance, physical theatre, fringe theatre, and above all, further meditations on the company fascinated by the potential to ‘dream out loud’ on the British stage.
Lesley Ferris (Advisor)
377 p.
Theater
Shared Experience Theatre; Physical Theatre; Contemporary British Theatre; Novel Adaptations; Theatre; Mike Alfreds; Nancy Meckler; Polly Teale; Helen Edmundson

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Crouch, K. A. (2003). Shared experience theatre: exploring the boundaries of performance [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054738772

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Crouch, Kristin. Shared experience theatre: exploring the boundaries of performance. 2003. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054738772.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Crouch, Kristin. "Shared experience theatre: exploring the boundaries of performance." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054738772

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1054738772
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© 2003, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.