The integrative performance theory: An anti-hermeneutic approach for opera
thesis
posted on 2020-07-15, 02:52 authored by Experience Robinson BryonOpera is currently without an integrated theory of practice, pedagogy and analysis that realises meaning within the act of performance. As a result, the various performance aspects of acting, movement and music have been separate and the operatic performer has been marginalised and actively suppressed. This thesis explores the historical reasons for this disintegration and suppression, examines modern philosophies to open the way for a new approach, critically examines Konstantin Stanislavsky's methodology in this context, and proposes a new theory and practice.
This thesis proposes that since it is the event that happens on the stage through the act of performance, to choose or be aware of the fields of operations that contribute to a happening is essential if the desired effect is to have all these operations working together in a network to allow for that event. Historically, the idea of a communal art form and a "unity" of the arts has been a re-occuring theme within the development of opera. Due to a lack of recognition of the operations of performance and an assumption that the meaning is in the texts, such interrelationships have been denied.
