Discovering theatre's 'Black Box'

by Dilshan Boange

The Colombo International Theatre Festival is set to take place for the second time in Sri Lanka's economic capital with the participation from countries in the region as well as performances from counties such as Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. The man behind the conceptualisation of the festival and the unrelenting force to see the event become a reality for a second time is M. Safeer, a drama and theatre professional whose career spans over 20 years.

M. Safeer

Among theatre practitioners and theatregoers in Sri Lanka Safeer would be known best, one may presume, for introducing the form of theatre known as Black Box Theatre (BBT), a form of theatre which is nonmainstream here among us and seen as an 'alternative' means to present theatrical performance. Outside the norms of theatre as known to most of us, outside the realm of orthodoxy as we perceive it, outside the 'proscenium' which is generally the standard form of theatre, BBT according to Safeer, is thriving in continental Europe with over 350 BBT 'spaces' operating in the city of Munich, Germany alone, and each of them operational throughout the year, which one may say is the point to marvel at.

What is BBT?

Going by the sound of it, to the layman, the term 'Black Box Theatre' may sound rather mysterious or suspicious even, one may say. Safeer began the 'demystification' about BBT by starting with the very basics and fundamentals that create theatre, which is of course the 'architecture' involved in creating the performance space.

"There are five forms of architecture related to theatre in the world," he began. "The Arena, the Amphitheatre, the Thrust theatre, the Proscenium theatre, and of course Black Box Theatre". The politics involved in each of these forms of theatre were explained with elaboration with reference to the Greek forms of theatre which finds its origins in collective forms of God worship.

Political factor

"Proximity to the stage has always been a political factor when it comes to theatre. It was politicised from the times of the Greek Arena to the Roman Amphitheatre to the Thrust and Proscenium.

The right to be right at the front and view the show, the performance, was always the prerogative of the privileged, the aristocracy." He said.

The development of the Amphitheatre structure had allowed the poor 'a better view' where the earliest forms of 'theatre' if one could call it, were spectacles such as gladiator fights and other 'circus' shows.

The development of the 'Thrust theatre' where the performance space was positioned as a more 'focal ground' with the dimensions of the stage resembling something to a lesser extent of a modelling ramp, heralded a newer phase in theatre in the West.

Politics of the proscenium

The fourth form, the 'Proscenium' which places the space of performance as 'framed' within a rectangular appearance to the audience was the phase which according to Safeer, became the height of elitist domination of theatre where the setup itself, not only architecturally but in terms of its social and cultural 'placement', limited accessibility for the underprivileged. The aristocracy in Europe had concentrated their wealth heavily into the proscenium theatre that reinforced through the 'politics of proximity' to the performance space the elitist status quo of rigid social hierarchism.

The elaborate system of a departmentalised theatre 'production' culture where costumes to makeup to set design to stage prompting is handled with a rather manpower intense specialisation had been the result of the aristocratic ownership over the proscenium theatre form which projected the symbol of affluence and wealth. The result had been that the underprivileged in western society became the culturally marginalised as a notably high culture developed centred around the proscenium theatre. The result as Safeer pointed out was that a segment of people looking for an alternative developed.

The Californian spark of 'alterity'

By the second half of the 20th century theatre in the USA had been climbing to an unprecedented height with the development of Broadway theatre. It epitomised the American love for Epicureanism as well as commercialisation of art through massive scale investments which had been unmatched anywhere else in the world in respect of theatre.

But from the vast numbers of people in the USA only a handful could afford to experience Broadway. And from amongst the youth who wanted to become part of the artists who could access Broadway theatre only a very few made it there. Broadway dominated the theatre scene as the quintessential 'mainstream' from which many were left out.

As an 'alternative space' to showcase their talents during the period of 1956-58 a collective of youth in the USA sparked off a turning point in theatre centralising their new endeavours in California. Using abandoned buildings such as defunct factories and unused warehouses as their theatres to show their performances the youth who searched for an alternative created a new wave in theatre that had quickly gained wide popularity.

The marginalised artistes soon found their supporting counterpart -the marginalised audiences. And soon Broadway had seen a threat rising in this new form of theatre. The remedial measure Broadway had devised to stem the tide of the alternative form of theatre was to give the young artists a 'spot' on Broadway shows as an 'experimental theatre' production. The result had been that the experimental productions had soon caught on as the hype and stole the spotlight from the mainstream shows. The consequent volley effect had been the setting up of mini theatres in Broadway premises that specialised in the 'experimental' theatre craft, which became higher in demand due to the limited number of seats those theatres had as compared to Broadway. The dynamics of supply and demand economics quite ironically it seems helped the elevation of the dreams of the ones who had been marginalised.

The growing threat to Broadway from the young 'experimenters in theatre' had been finally removed from continuing as an obstruction to the mainstream theatre industry by being housed within the realms of academia to be studied as they were innovations that had to be better researched and academically grasped. The place of performance for 'experimental theatre' had thereafter been the spaces of higher learning and not the more publicly accessible sphere of theatre shows.

The European acquisition

In the 1980s continental Europe picked up the faint scent of the diminishing spark of rebellion in theatre that had sparked off from the Californian alternative. They saw its value as an answer to the problem of theatre in its grandiose form becoming a heavy burden to the state to be maintained as cultural symbols. And as mainstream theatre got affected at that time, the birth of another alternative form of theatre called Black Box Theatre began emerging where space was not massive and seating capacity was sometimes as small as for an audience of just ten viewers.

The theatres for BBT weren't the elaborate setups as in the proscenium. Small spaces in buildings that housed commercial establishments were committed as BBT spaces. It was an unobtrusive space for performance that was part of the usual topography of housing and commercial establishments one could say. Developing even as 'mobile theatres' the form of BBT as per its relation to the 'architectures' of theatres can be best defined as a 'performance space' said Safeer.

BBT had thrived in Germany in a big way. And today it is so widespread that BBT has now become subdivided as 'Adult theatre' 'Children's theatre' and so on with genre classifications as well as communally based BBT setups being existent which forms clubs of sort. According to Safeer BBT which started off as an alternative form of theatre is now part of mainstream theatre in Germany.

What differentiates BBT from the proscenium of any of the other forms of traditional theatre? The smallness in space and 'crowds' is certainly one of the more obvious and visible factors, but what can one discern as being different in the dynamics of performance one may ask. Safeer answered this point with a comparison to the proscenium, which theatregoers in Sri Lanka are familiar with.

Between the stage where the performance unfolds and the audience seated in the dark there is a visible space or gap which is not violated by the performance. It maintains a certain symmetry one could say as to the understanding between the performers and their viewers. The respective sphere each occupies is clearly marked by this space which Safeer calls the 'ideological space'. There is some space for disengagement from the performance allowed to the viewer due to this 'ideological space' explained Safeer who said the viewer at his discretion may very well tune out from the show and even take a small nap if he so wishes. The actor too has certain safety nets in place to ensure the smooth flowing of the performance by relying on promoters placed begin the curtain and out of sight from the audience.

BBT violates these conventions by removing the 'ideological space' stated Safeer who explained that to be a hair's breadth away from the performance means that the viewer too is locked into a situation as intensely as the players. "Neither can opt for any respite. The actor deprived of all safety nets. There are no prompters to help him if he forgets his lines. He cannot afford to forget his lines in the case of BBT. It is that way a much more 'honest performance' regarding the actor's state of delivering a performance."

He added that the two parties, the actors and the viewers, are in such close proximity that the instant reactions and responses can affect the other in notable ways. It is in certain ways about discovering the place of performance within the psyche of the viewer one may argue. "BBT isn't for everyone either, here in Sri Lanka especially. The nature of the craft is such that it requires a certain intellectual commitment to be part of the audience. There is some 'intellectual selectivity' one could say. Due to the demands of BBT by its very nature, there are some inherent limitations in the art form. It isn't for the average theatregoer in our country."

As the Colombo International Theatre Festival, scheduled to be held from March 28 to April 4, draws closer, no doubt Safeer and his fellow theatre professionals and drama buffs alike will have in their minds teeming, questions of how much an impact the festival will make on the audiences in our country. And one may also wonder how exposures to overseas productions will spur innovations in our own drama and theatre scene which is gradually growing in its diversification with more and more theatre enthusiasts coming into the scene, to explore 'space for performance'.