Space & Subjectivity 

Organisers, Andrew Houston& Laura Levin

In recent years, a rich body of performances has emerged to question conventional approaches to theatrical space.  These works reorient the environmental fields that shape performance and the spatial relationships between spectator, performer, and setting.  Attempts to rethink space in performance have led to the creation of exciting new genres, including environmental theatre, landscape theatre, and site-specific theatre.  Though disparate in form, these kinds of theatrical experiments push against the boundaries of embodied subjectivity.  Not only do they reorient the disembodied position that is normally accorded to the spectator-subject, but they also unsettle the subject’s self-conscious and fixed position in space. 

This panel will explore alternative conceptions of space and subjectivity in Canadian theatre.  Proposals will approach how performance space and spaces of performance can serve as productive locations for testing out the limits of self in the contemporary world.   It is intended that this panel may serve as a point of reference for an upcoming issue in Theatre Research in Canada on Space and Subjectivity in Performance.