Experimental theatre

The term has shifted over time as the mainstream theatre world has adopted many forms that were once considered radical.

It tries to introduce a different use of language and the body to change the mode of perception[2] and to create a new, more active relation with the audience.

For example, in a performance on bullying the character may approach an audience member, size them up and challenge them to a fight on the spot.

This may be in the form of didactic agit-prop theatre, or some (such as Welfare State International) see a performance environment as being one in which a micro-society can emerge and can lead a way of life alternative to that of the broader society in which they are placed.

[9] The mainstream theater was increasingly seen from as a purveyor of lies, hence, theatrical performances were often seen as a means to expose what is real and this entails a focus on hypocrisy, inequality, discrimination, and repression.

Experimental theatre encourages directors to make society, or our audience at least, change their attitudes, values, and beliefs on an issue and to do something about it.

[1] He was particularly interested in the symbolic gestures performed by the dancers and their intimate connection to the music; in his Notes on Oriental, Greek and Indian Cultures,[12] we find a curiosity as to what the French theatre scene could become if it pulled from traditions such as Noh and Balinese dance.

In fact, three of Brecht's plays are set in China (The Measures Taken, The Good Person of Szechwan, and Turandot)[14] Yeats, pioneer of the modernist and symbolist movement, discovered Noh drama in 1916, as detailed in his essay Certain Noble Plays of Japan,[1] which reveals a strong interest in the musicality and stillness of the Noh performance.

In 1956, Grotowski too found himself an interest for Eastern performance practices, and experimented with using some aspects of Kathakali in his actor training program.

[15] In many cases, these practitioners' pulling of theatrical conventions from the East came from their desire to explore unexpected or novel approaches to theatre-making.

Artaud and Yeats could experiment with the musicality and ritualistic nature of Eastern dance traditions as a means to reconnect the western theatre to the mystical and to the universe;[16] and both Grotowski and Craig could draw from the kathakali performers' training as a means to challenge the western theatre's sole focus on psychological truth and truthful behavior.

[1] However, their exposure to these theatre traditions was extremely limited: these theatre-makers's understandings of the Eastern traditions they were pulling from were often limited to a few readings,[13] translations of Chinese and Japanese works,[1] and, in the case of Brecht and Artaud, the witnessing of an out-of-context demonstration of Balinese Theatre Dance and Peking Opera conventions.

Remaining geographically distant,[15] for the most part, of the traditions they wrote about, the "oriental theatre"[12] could hence be argued to be more of a construct than a true practice for these theatre-makers.