The Guardian: Alexander Devriendt was at a standup show with his girlfriend a couple of years ago, when the comedian on stage unexpectedly turned on her, calling her a bitch and telling her to sweep up the stage, since that was all she was good for. She professed not to mind, but Devriendt was infuriated, not least because he couldn't retaliate. "Because it would seem like I wasn't getting the joke. I hated that feeling," he says, still bristling. "I felt so unmanly."
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Ontroerend Goed: Are you sitting uncomfortably?
The Guardian: Alexander Devriendt was at a standup show with his girlfriend a couple of years ago, when the comedian on stage unexpectedly turned on her, calling her a bitch and telling her to sweep up the stage, since that was all she was good for. She professed not to mind, but Devriendt was infuriated, not least because he couldn't retaliate. "Because it would seem like I wasn't getting the joke. I hated that feeling," he says, still bristling. "I felt so unmanly."
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9 comments:
I think that this is an interesting idea. I think it is important for certain theatre to push boundaries, and challenge its audiences. For me on an everyday basis I have a high tolerance for the vain that this group is going (with the whole 'open your legs thing') because it doesnt really bother me if someone says these things to me so long as they keep their hands to themselves. That may not be the right attitude but that is how I feel about it. Now in an audience I think this would even be more so. Because I am attending a performance, them to try to shock me or if its a comedy show, to insult me or my beliefs. I can always get up and leave, but I like this troupes concept and I hope it is a success.
Art should make you uncomfortable. If you do not ever see art that makes you uncomfortable, you will never grow from it. The point of art is for people to be able to experience things from an objective perspective and to be able to make realizations that they may not have made otherwise. Also, people should know what is coming to them when they attend this performance. I hope they did not unknowingly buy tickets for something without any knowledge of what it was. Like they say, "If you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen." And in that vein, there is always the option to gt out of the kitchen. If it becomes too intense, if something too strange occurs, there is always the option to leave. This troupe does have good ideas, and I think if people can see past the traditionally disconcerting elements of their production, then they can be a success.
Reading this article has made me so uncomfortable. Just the idea of this article has made me uneasy because when human nature is appointed to direct the outcome of anything, nothing is less certain than that outcome.
I did think that it was interesting how the director chose to expand on something that made him feel uncomfortable as an audience member. Being in a situation where the right thing to do is often overpowered by the masses is difficult. It is something everyone can relate to in some way, shape, or form and he is expressing that discomfort. What is more, the discomfort is now being played up in his own show. Are they going too far as artists? Probably not. Are they out of bounds on a plain human level? Perhaps.
After reading this, I couldn't help but to think about the people involved in a case study where a group of people tested what it was like to be in a certain position in society. These groups were separated and some where the officers and some were the prisoners. The case ended pretty quickly, as some people lost their free will to think and bought into their parts almost automatically. As the audience chooses to not react to the humiliation of one individual, they are choosing to loose their individual identity and play into the game. It is interesting and disturbing, maybe even going a little too far.
This type of performance sounds absolutely intriguing, yet slightly repulsive at the same time. I probably feel this because in the United States we are so used to having absolutely everything disclosed to us/signing agreements/filling out waivers, etc. that these sort of things being forced upon an audience seems crazy. Ontoerend Goed sounds like a completely unique take on audience interaction and one that I would enjoy witnessing at least once. Maybe.
This is the greatest thing! This is seriously everything that I'm interested in, with any kind of art. Pushing people to their limits, getting them to consider why they think that their normal is normal, and what happens when all of their normal is taken away from them. I would love to work with this company. The concept of their most recent performance reminds me a lot of Information for Foreigners, where the audience really acts as a character in the play, making choices and altering the play based on whether they decide to complacently watch or intervene. This company is doing it right. The best kind of art should be making you feel uncomfortable. Because people are mostly interested in themselves, so when suddenly they themselves become the object of conflict, and they're not just watching conflict happen on stage, removed, the message becomes much, much more powerful.
Although many of the performances are offensive and make many uncomfortable, the points that they try to make are innovative and important to our society. As long as the audience are warned prior to the performance that they may be put in uncomfortable situations, I think that it is fine and useful to use these tactics. I think oftentimes people believe that theatre is supposed to be a good time out that makes people think, and although this is true, making people uncomfortable could be the best way to make their points. Hopefully the shock and repulsion the audience will feel will not cause them to ignore the meaning of the piece.
I would agree with Kassondra that the point of art is to make you feel uncomfortable in order to expand your thoughts about everyday things. Actions that make an audience feel uncomfortable are an interesting idea, but warnings about such thinks as making a girl spread her legs apart should be included in the playbill or advertisement for the show. The audience should know what they are in for without giving everything away. You don’t want people getting up to leave during a show because they are offended.
Somehow I can't see a theater that intentionally makes its audience uncomfortable being commercially successful in the long run. While it may have significant artistic merit, that's not often enough on its own to make something attractive to the general public. When the masses can't tell good from bad, they seem to reduce their choices to the simple ones - is it a happy, cheerful musical? Perhaps a high-tech effects spectacular? Those get an audience, but shows that are artistically good have to roll the dice. When you take out the mass appeal and make it unpleasant it seems like a recipe for disaster.
I'm appalled. Art at the expense of the other people in the audience is not art at all. Of course, I have never seen the humor in something like this...saying swear words and calling it funny or making jokes by truly hurting someone. Shocking someone is the lowest common denominator in art and these people should be too ashamed to call themselves artists. Art can make you uncomfortable, but that is not its entire definition. Instead, the question should be: What, as an artist, do you expect the audience to do with that discomfort? Change the world? Change themselves? If that is your aim, then that elicits growth. Ask, what emotion do you want to emphasize? That makes art. Opening or closing your legs is just a cheap trick. Not art. Art can certainly make you uncomfortable. It can also make you warm and pleased. Art can make you think about what is wrong with the world and hopefully you will want to make it better. Art can make you shudder with fear or with pleasure. We pay for both of those feelings. We are often manipulated by the media, and that is a sad fact, but art should be a shared journey with artist and audience, not a kidnapping, a beautiful shared experience, not rape. Rape is cheap. Making the audience fall in love with you is difficult. Anyone can push the common discomfort buttons. That is manipulation, not art. The only reason for something to make an audience uncomfortable is to elicit a response of world changing proportions.
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