Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1977 - 12

sive coverage here and, in a sense, that is true. However,
this reporter does feel he came directly to the crux of
several of the Congress' themes, the interaction between
space, performance, and society.
Our last Congress session was the one held on Friday
morning. Several rescheduled papers were worked into
the proceedings. One of these - which we missed because
of an appointment at Munich's National Theatre - was
Klaus Wever's paper on Peter Stein's conception of a
homogenous performance space. Stein's work in West
Berlin has been acclaimed and we hope to publish Wever's
paper sometime in 1978.

mances in our normally structured scheme of th ings, they
are theatrical with their rhetoric, bombast and spectacle.
Paul spoke, in his remarks, of a particular space; "the
room in which they act must give Iife to what they act."
(Italics mine, Ed.) In literal terms, the political arena does
provide that life. Similar comparisons hold for other
human activities that include elements of popular theatre.
It is, as Paul noted, "a concept of a historical [and
societal] emphasis; one that speaks of - and to society."
Lastly, Werner Ruhnau, one of West Germany's preeminent theatre architects, contributed a paper entitled,
"It's the Theatre on the Street that is the Theatre." Again,
we were not present. We regret missing his remarks for
he is an architect and theatre man of great brilliance.
However, Ruhnau created a street theatre plan for the
1972 Olympic Games in Munich. His concept entitled
Spie/strassen or play streets covers a wide range of variable
activity for alternative performance forms. In the forward
to a booklet devoted to the 1972 plan, Ruhnau suggests
these possiblities: music, dance, pantomime, painting,
puppet plays, clowns, seeing, hearing, feeling, eating,
multi-media, and others. In the text he states, "Spielstrassen programmes develop both in terms of time and
space from the immediate situation, and from the entertainment, recreational and cultural possibilities already
available. They can have specific emphases, e.g. school-,
child-, senior-, residential-, or business-areas, prisons,
barracks, universities and sports-complexes, in order to
fill socially disintegrated sections with new life."
An accurate overview of the Congress is hard to pinpoint. I was struck by the breadth and diversity of topics
covered. In five days, the speakers and others in attendance broadly covered 2500 years of theatre design and
performance practice in full measure. At times the measure was too full and there was no catching the overflow;
it soaked into the ground before we could drink. That is a
pity but so much else did quench one's thirst. There are a
number of artistic oases in the world. Munich, and the 8th
World Congress of IFTR, in that September week of
1977, were extremely high on the list of good watering
holes.
Tom Watson
*

Tima Tiusanen

USITT ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The other speakers at this session concerned themselves with the alternative theatre. Ulf Birbaumer of
Vienna discussed, "Theatre of the Alternative - A Cultural Alternative?" The essential theme in this paper
centered on the need for people in any society to work
for cultural alternatives. Birbaumer noted, for example,
that theatre in parts of Black Africa is a vital part of
everyday life. He urged us to agitate for a similar involvement.
Arno Paul followed with a paper based on the notion
of alternative theatre in the twin arenas of politics and
non-theatrical methods. If this summary of his title is
confusing, think of the theatrical effects of a national
political convention. While such events are not perfor12

WINTER. 1977

PHOENIX, ARIZONA

MARCH 29th through APRI L 2nd

PLAN NOW TO ATTEND!!!!!

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

USITT

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