Abstract
Like a dangerous, potent play, the landscape in Aotearoa/ New Zealand is wild and dynamic. For theatre directors, this environment is a fitting exhortation to transcend the domestic and inhabit the epic through form. The relationship between inner and outer landscapes is especially apt, since theatre is a time-based art form that has the capacity to connect its audience with imaginative, humanistic landscapes: a larger, experiential sky. This paper draws on material from my unpublished PhD thesis and addresses key features relating to the unique situational factors facing the majority of theatre directors in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, and the subsequent opportunities that arise in this context. The enormous independence in Aotearoa/ New Zealand theatre directing - brought about by conditions, environment, and circumstance - is driven by the attitude, aptitude, and capabilities of a unique theatre directing domain. In a flourishing, post-colonial performing arts economy there is enormous potential to engage even further with these freedoms; to explore bigger connections and make the performing arts an essential part of how we live. While the tropes of theatre directing in New Zealand are varied and nuanced, there are common threads that weave together a characterized map of belonging. This follows questions of identity, craft, and belonging in pursuit of the ultimate act for directors; making dynamic theatre that is not flawlessly formed and confined by predictable definitions of ‘art’, but like a high country landscape, liberated, untamed, and, through it, essential and available to many.
Presenters
Vanessa ByrnesAssociate Professor and Head of School, Creative Industries, Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2021 Special Focus - Voices from the Edge: Negotiating the Local in the Global
KEYWORDS
Directing, Acting, Theatre, Performance Praxis, Aotearoa, New Zealand
