Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1991 - 30

arion of rhe acrion is carried our in
rhearre rerms-the word and the space are
equaL.

CONCLUSION
Having separared our whar I perceive ro
be rhe five currenr issues in Acrion
Design for analysis, rhere srill remains
one rhing ro do, one rhing ro clarify. For
rhe roor quesrion remains: Whar
animares all of rhis? Whar generares rhe
need for rhis kind of rhearrical
experimenrarion? The rich and vibranr
rradirion of rhe Czech rhearre and irs
direcr connecrion ro rhe culrure of rhe
Czech people conrribures in no small
way ro be sure. Bur char is only rhe mosr
facile and surface of explanarions.
A deeper explanarion, I believe, lies in
rhe explorarion of rhe idea of space as
rexr by che designers, direcrors and acrors
as a means of connecring openly and
direccly wirh rheir audience. This idea, I
believe, is complerely inclusive. Ir
con rains all rhe issues of funcrion,
cosrume, acring and producrion sryle. All
rhearrical quesrions, rhe only imporranr
rhearrical quesrions, are quesrions of
space and of space as rexr.
The perceprion of rhese arrisrs is rhar
life as we live ir is nor a single, linear

srrand, bur is a rich, complex welrer of
impressions and sensarions rhar we selecr
from in order ro assemble a "realiry" for
ourselves.
I remarked ro Jaroslav Malina, ar one
poim, rhar ir was rhis selecrion process,
rhis awareness of rhe enigmaric, dual
narure of life rhar I found so fascinaring
in rhe rhearre of Acrion Design. He
counrered immediarely, in his playful
and ironic way: "Of course. Ir is our life.
We live in rhe counrry of Franz Kafka
and Soldier Schweik."
And, rruly, life does exisr on borh
visible and invisible levels. Our experience of ir is borh conscious and
unconscious, borh "ourer" and "inner."
And ir is, as Roben Edmond Jones
reminds us,
... nor our ourer life, alone, rhar has
meaning for us roday nor our inner
life, alone; bur rhe living relarionship berween our ourer life and
our inner life. And ir is precisely this
living relationship rhar is rhe subjecr
of rhe New Drama. j

Ie is rhis relarionship rhar is unlocked
when space is seen as rexr in rhe aesrheric
of Acrion Design, and rhe currem issues
rhar animare irs crearive processes are

S. LEOI ARD AUERBACH & ASSOCIATES
THE.~TRE

RES EAR C II &

A l D I

a - \.

LICIITI:-:C

D E \. E Lor

~l

m

Delbert Unruh is a member of the design
faClilty at the University of Kansas and a
Contributing Editor to TD&T. Research
fOr this series ofarticles was supported by a
grant from the University of Kansas
General Research Fund.

ENDNOTES
1. Richard Schechner, "Race Free, Gender Free, Body·
Type Free, Age Free Casring," TDR, Volume 33, 'umber
1 (TI21), Spring 1989: 9.
2. The sonnets and their positions in the text are as
follows:

End of Act I - Sonner 1'0. 65
End of Act II - Sonne< No. 129
End of Act III - Sonner TO. 62
End of Act IV, scene I - Sonner No. 73
Intermission
Before Act IV, scene 2 - Sonner No. 110
End of Act V, scene I - Sonner 1'0 147
After news of King's death, Act V, scene 2 No. 12

Sonnet

3. Robert Edmond Jones, "Towards A New Theatre",
Vocarium Records, 1955.

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ways of exploring rhis relarionship. The
rhearre of Acrion Design is a powerful
lens rhrough which we may examine life.
The rechniques of Acrion Design are also
an equally powerful glass rhrough which
we may examine and change our own
rhearre-if we wam roo

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