Who’s watching whom?
For a week in Greenwich Village this fall, four performers and hundreds of theatregoers will attempt to answer this very question. Beginning October 30th, NYU Skirball Center hosts the US premiere of internationally-acclaimed Belgian theater company Ontroerend Goed’s Audience.
Ontroerend Goed is known for its inventive, funny and sometimes intrusive theatre. Its work exists at the boundaries of traditional theatrical experiences, challenging the ways people usually experience art. Audience is an experimental work with the same goals, examining with humor and bravery the codes of behavior between performers and viewers. In the piece, Ontroerend Goed involves, toys with, and manipulates audience members through direct participation as well as more traditional theatrical techniques. The multifaceted work draws from cinema, oratory, advertising, news media, politics and historical events. An all-seeing onstage camera is trained on the audience, acting as a mirror in order to complicate the usual dynamic of a passive audience observing onstage actors. Ontroerend Goed’s is a truly participatory kind of theatre; performers and audiences forge the show together, mutually responsible for what occurs during the performance.
Audience leads viewers to consider weighty questions of theatre, manipulation and human behavior. It leads us to wonder what qualifies as theatre, and what precisely we expect and consent to when we enter an auditorium. The show’s early November run at NYU Skirball Center coincides with the culmination of this year’s long election season, a context that viewers will likely not forget as Audience examines from all angles issues of manipulation, choice and complicity.
A favorite at international festivals, Ontroerend Goed’s recent work includes A History of Everything, Internal, The Smile Off Your Face and Teenage Riot. Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune called A History of Everything an “entertaining” and “strikingly moving” piece which “will act as balm for anyone who thinks too much of live entertainment is too trivial.” Audience premiered in Ghent in 2011 followed by a run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it became a favorite talking point for audiences and reviewers. By some metrics, Audience was the most successful show of the hundreds at that year’s Fringe: it remains the most tweeted about show in the festival’s history. The show’s 2011-12 run in London provoked debate in newspapers and online, though reviewers do agree that reading about the show cannot compare to being there. Audience is something you must experience for yourself.
Audience premieres at the NYU Skirball Center on October 30th and runs through November 3rd. Tickets for the 8:00 pm performances are available from $35, with student, senior, NYU community and Neighbor discounts available. Purchases may be made online at nyuskirball.org, by telephone at 212-352-3101, or in person at the Shagan Box Office. The box office is located at 566 Laguardia Place at Washington Square South, and is open from 12-6 pm Tuesday through Saturday.
