”The vulnerable director” by Linn Hilda Lamberg

The project considers a stage performance as an interpersonal encounter, at which the audience carries out a significant amount of (presumed) emotional work. My artistic practice is formulated as an attempt to provide a constructive criticism towards traditions that upholds theatre as a massmedia and audience as a mass. Not be confused with a neoliberal individualistic agenda, but as a call to an intersectional awareness. In my research I aim to explore the critical and artistic potentials of relating not only to the audience as a multitude of specific individuals but applying the same perspective on the director. How can an active awareness of the subjectivity of the director in relation to the material encourage certain discussions on ethics, critical reflections on technique and suggest possible artistic strategies?

Aim and research questions

Regarding stage art as an interpersonal encounter, what questions and areas of concern would that evoke considering the relationship between the director and the piece, the ensemble and the audience? In what way could experiences from immersive and participatory practices be useful in order to identify and explicitly formulate these questions? Could theory from other interpersonal practices, such as gender studies and sex studies, provide a terminology for expressing desire and negotiating authority in relation to directing?

Research implementation and anticipated impact

By experiences from immersive practices and by help from terminology found in gender studies and sex studies I seek to approach the subjective, empathic and bodily aspects of directing in order to formulate a constructive discourse through which some of the conventions concerning the role of the director could possibly be formulated and possibly revised. 

Schedule

Start and end year for the research 2019-2027.