Modes of [Re]presentation

on Stage
Essay with exercises for high school, college, or university students
by Kathleen Irwin
When we watch a presentation on stage, how do we understand what we are
watching? This is an important question it is the question that is at the centre
of the action of representation: someone or something being depicted on stage.
In answering this question, here are terms that will be used in the discussion.

Presentation:

the proffering or giving of something to someone, esp. in a formal

ceremony.

the manner or style in which something is given, offered or displayed.

a formal introduction of someone.

a demonstration or display of a product or an idea.

an exhibition or theatrical performance.

Representation:

the action of speaking or acting of behalf of someone or the state of being

represented.

the depiction or portrayal of someone or something in a picture, on stage

or in a work of art.

the thing esp. a picture or a model that depicts a likeness of someone or

something.

Emblem:

a thing serving as a symbolic representation of a particular quality or

concept.

Zeitgeist:

The prevailing spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by

the ideas and beliefs of the time.

Frame:

the border or boundary of the stage opening delineated by the proscenium

arch
a basic structure that underlies or supports a system, concept or text.

Scenography:

Scenography is the art of creating performance environments. (see What

is Scenography? by Pamela Howard, London and New York, Routledge, 2002.)

How the Scenographer makes Meaning on Stage

Theatre Stages of the 20th Century are said to be emblematic. This means that
objects, including human bodies that are placed within the frame of the stage,
are understood to represent both the object itself and something(s) else at the
same time. For example, a wooden chair may be merely a chair or it may stand
in for or represent something much grander for, example, a throne (and the
power behind the throne). Depending on the action that surrounds it, it might
represent:

a pilots seat in an airplane (and the 9/11 terrorist plot),

or an electric chair (and the overcrowding of the penal system).

By the same token, within the frame of the stage, a person of a certain sex, age,
or shape may represent, at any given time:

him or herself, and at another,

a young woman burying her brother against the terms of battle (Antigone),

a young man unable to revenge the death of his father (Hamlet) or

an old man deciding how to divide up his wealth between his three
daughters (King Lear).

Of course, over the period of a performance, a single person or object may

represent or signify any number of things. Furthermore, depending on the
circumstances surrounding the performance or the experience of the person
watching from the auditorium, what the object on stage represents may vary
from minute to minute and situation to situation. In other words, the spectator
plays a determining role in what things mean on stage. Who you are determines
what things mean.
One answer to the question How do we understand what we are watching? can
be found in looking at the work of a stage designer or scenographer. We
understand what we are watching on stage because a scenographer has
indicated, through his or her creative or aesthetic choices, what we should be
thinking as we look at the stage. In a sense, we are looking at the world of the
play from the perspective of the scenographer. Of course, this is rather simplistic
remember that this simple act of looking at the stage is complicated by what
each one of us brings to that activity. Individually, we give meaning to what we
see.

Observing the various dictionary meanings of the

words presentation andrepresentation given above, we can see that within
these explanations is conveyed the work of the stage artist the scenographer.
A scenographer presents something on stage, i.e. a spectacle, and that
spectacle represents, or is emblematic of a number of other meanings, ideas
or concepts. These meanings are also impacted by the unique circumstances of
each performance and the unique qualities of every spectator. These include
such things as age, gender, education, political leaning, religious belief, cultural
background in other words, our identity.
Over the last hundred years, styles of stage representation have varied
significantly and for a myriad of reasons. Some of these reasons have to do with
the prevailing zeitgeist of the period. For example, the 1950s were defined by
such iconic figures as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and rock and roll. The 1990s
were defined by Marilyn Manson and industrial metal rock. Such artistic styles
have a profound effect on how things are represented on stage (and off). We are
affected by trends but we also determine our own unique styles as music, film,
literature, fashion and cuisine mix and mingle around the world. We represent
who we are to the world, through the aesthetic choices we make.

How Scenography Relates to other Genres of Art

In the theatre, some of the styles of presentation that we are most familiar with
reflect the styles and modes of expression that were evident in other arts forms:

realism

naturalism

expressionism

impressionism

surrealism

cubism

abstract realism

abstraction

minimalism

collaged or fragmented realism

post modernism, and so forth.

There are some stage styles that are determined by physical movement this
may be defined as physical theatre. There are many variations of this kind of

theatre over the twentieth century but all forms are of it emphasize not only the
way the stage looks but how the stage performs.
There are some designers who are so unique that they become trendsetters
they dramatically change scenographic representation for an entire generation of
stage artists.Josef Szoboda, whose work is seen in the NAC collection, is one such
theatre artist. Look at his designs for The Queen of Spades, Adriadne auf
Naxos and Idomeneo.
Maquettes in the NAC Archive are good examples of many of the trends
mentioned above:

Realism Jitters, Journeys End, Les Belles Soeurs, Les Bonnes, Private
Lives, Skylight, Terminal Blues, Whos Afraid of Virgina Woolf, 7 Stories

Physical Staging John and the Missus, Les Contes de Ionesco, Les
Fantastiques, Sainte Marie Among the Hurons, The Oresteia

Abstract Realism La Mouette, Les Femmes Savantes, Man and

Superman, Riel

Minimalism Le Moine Noir, Andromaque, Agnes of God

Impressionism Marys Wedding

Expressionism Soudain lete dernier, The Beauty Queen of Leenane,

The Caretaker
Surrealism The Glass Menagerie

The Impact of Technology on Scenography

New modes of technology also have a huge impact on the way we use our
stages. Although, in the centuries prior to our own era, stages have always been
modified and elaborated by simple technology used to marvelous effect (painted
backdrops, flying scenery and candle light), at the end of the nineteenth century
exciting new ways of illuminating the stage were introduced. Designers and
technicians experimented with limelight, gaslight and eventually arc (or electric)
light. With the advent of electricity, stage innovations became extremely
sophisticated and stage devices were invented to facilitate instantaneous and
miraculous set changes in a blink of an eye. Literally, any environment a race
track with horses, an ice flow on a raging river, the peak of K2 (the worlds
second highest mountain) could be portrayed in minute detail and lit to stunning
effect. Indeed, it is said, that the various artistic movements evident on the
stages in the twentieth century have been as a result of the acceptance or
rejection of elaborate stage technology.

More on this topic:

Scenic Design: A History of Change and Innovation (by Janet Irwin)

Theatre, Performance and Technology: the Development of Scenography
in the Twentieth Century by Christopher Baugh, Palgrave, MacMillan, 2005.

How will we represent ourselves on stage in the future? Will the stages of the
future be real or virtual? Some of the answers to these questions are already
playing out through the digital devices that we carry in our pocket the cell
phones, Blackberries, iPhones, etc.; through the digital games that we use to
entertain ourselves in our spare time; and through You Tube, My Space, Twitter,
etc. These are the stages of the future and YOU will determine how they will be
used to represent you and your place in the world.

Exercises:
1.

Bring in some small object that is of significance to you. It may be of little

or no value to someone else. Tell us what it represents to you.

2.

Use your cell phone to make and upload a short video of you in your
favourite location. Tell us what that location represents to you.

3.

Place a small object on the surface of a table and put a chalk frame around
it or place a masking tape frame around something that you tack onto a cork
board or pin to the wall. Does framing the object make it special? Let others
make up a story about the object you have framed.

4.

Consider a colourful advertisement in a magazine. What does it present to

you? What does it represent?

5.

What happens when, for example, Johnny Depp acts the role of Hamlet on
stage or in a movie? How does the representation of the role change?