Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Friday, April 22, 2022
Punchdrunk: The Burnt City review – spectacle eclipses story in siege of Troy epic
Theatre | The Guardian: It is immediately clear that Punchdrunk’s new immersive show is a massive endeavour. It resembles a gallery of antiquities on arrival: there are snaking queues, phased entrances for crowd control and a row of ancient vases, libation bowls and headdresses in glass displays.
This is the type of show that is a good reminder to be conscious of the work I am doing, spectacle and content can be done separately or together and I need to be conscious of that. Going all out of spectacle is potentially fine, nothing morally wrong with it, but there is a time and place to do that and shows and events to do that for, like everything in theatre and art, understanding why you are making your design decisions to support something is critical. For me, enough spectacle and consistency in design is sometimes enough to just make me think about what I see, and occasionally with other people and in the right headspace it can create some compelling conversations but very often is simply more confusing, less appealing and often less accessible in the end.
1 comment:
This is the type of show that is a good reminder to be conscious of the work I am doing, spectacle and content can be done separately or together and I need to be conscious of that. Going all out of spectacle is potentially fine, nothing morally wrong with it, but there is a time and place to do that and shows and events to do that for, like everything in theatre and art, understanding why you are making your design decisions to support something is critical. For me, enough spectacle and consistency in design is sometimes enough to just make me think about what I see, and occasionally with other people and in the right headspace it can create some compelling conversations but very often is simply more confusing, less appealing and often less accessible in the end.
Post a Comment