Abstract
Background: Autoethnographic solo performance risks becoming an insular expression of the performer’s own experiences resulting in the audience as an outside observer rather than an active co-creator in the empathetic exchange required for live performance. In Theatre and Feeling, Erin Hurley writes about the importance of empathy in contemporary theatre and states that, “We attend the theatre to feel more, even if it doesn’t make us feel better; we go to have our emotional life acknowledged and patterned, managed into coherent storylines, and exposed in all its tumult (or its banality)” (Hurley 77). In order to generate an effective empathetic performance ecosystem, autoethnographic solo performance needs to embrace performance design’s potential contributions to support the audience’s sense of ephemerality.
Contribution: A vulnerable piece about human isolation and fear, Panicdotes themes had a profound effect on our pandemic affected audience returning to the theatre in Queensland. In this 20-minute performance, surrealistic moments were manifested through a stark lighting design choices throughout the protagonist’s metatheatrical journey.
During the month-long process, the research collaborators re-framed the relationships between audience, performer and space, through the synthesis of solo performance and elements of performance design (specifically lighting). Building from Hurley’s ideas, our collaboration across autoethnographic performance and performance design enhanced the active empathetic exchange allowing for a richer personalized connection between audience and performer.
Significance: This work was presented at USC’s 2021 Creative Industries Showcase a high-visibility event demonstrating the university’s ongoing creative research work. The resulting public-facing performance was a cultural activation of USC’s new K1 Performance Studio as part of Capacity Building in Regional Australia by way of Cultural Events and Entertainment (A201481).
Reference: Hurley, E 2010, Theatre & Feeling, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke & New York.
Documentation: Archival Photography; Abstract