Towards a Further Understanding of Networks

There have been several discussions recently surrounding what it is that makes good theatre. A lot of questions. What is necessary for good theatre that is relevant to an audience? What makes theatre immediate and engaging? A lot of hypotheses. It must be this or is has to say that. Many of these new manifestoes are searches for ultimate meaning. The core essence and foundation of theatre. I believe these quests are all well and good. But I begin to wonder if the search for a fundamental truth is truly what is needed.

If it is all just a relational network, then why the need for an absolute answer? There is a theory in Chaos Magic called paradigm shifting. The idea behind it is rather simple. Identity is fluid. By transforming ones identity/persona to harmonize with the currents and forces around you, you can better influence those forces in a beneficent way. While this might sound a bit 'widgy woo woo' to some, let me give you a practical example.

As a lighting designer, I work with a number of different directors and producers and texts and mediums. While there is a clear stylistic difference between dance and opera, there is a more subtle one between two different plays. When the same director approaches two different plays there is a change. When they approach the same play in two different contexts they are different experiences. Sometimes drastic sometimes minor. But there is a change. Now, as a designer, if my response is "well I just don't do that sort of thing," I will not work very much. Thus I need to find a 'way in' to the text. But more than that. I must find a way to see the piece through the eyes of the director. Because when I can inhabit that mode of seeing, then I can open up to the freedom and possibility within the text. I could choose to ignore that and turn it into a fight, but then the whole situation gets boring really fast.

So I learn the paradigm of the production. And change. Simple.

This is why I read many and various things. Because everything feeds into the work and every perspective is needed. You absorb everything around you. Because that is all we can do. We are creatures that take in and process information. Then we transform that information into art. If we are observant then we can shift to new paradigms and understand them. We can find new ways of being in the world. We can find new languages and expand upon our vocabularies.

Working in theatre is wonderful because every new show opens up new potentialities. Every play provides a different avenue for research and ideas and images. With every production the world expands a little further. The evolution of art, I would guess, operates on similar principals as the evolution of science. After all, There is some evidence to suggest this line of thought. It appears as though the fractal network we call the internet is truly beginning to influence these trends beyond serving as a prop. It is coming into its own as a locus for discussions. Allowing a cross pollination of ideas where geography means nothing. Time moves faster here. And the roller coaster is only just climbing the first peak.