Read Kattenbelt’s article. After careful reading answer the following questions. Bring your answers
to class in print and submit them in PeerGrade prior to class.
Question 1: With reference to the article explain the first part of its title. Why and in what way can
theatre, according to Kattenbelt, be seen as ‘the art of the performer’? [max 250 words]
Other arts, such as literature, visual arts and music can exist independently. Once they are created,
spectators are able to see and experience them without the creator or performer. However, they all
depend on the primacy of elements, such as words, sensuous intuitions expressed in frozen images,
and sensations expressed in sounds. Theatre, on the other hand, is capable of incorporating all these
other elements without necessarily being dependent on one of these to be considered theatre. The
only thing theatre requires, is the performer, who is physically present.
“However, theatrical works of art remain connected to the artist without whom theatre
cannot exist – namely the physically present performer.”1
Theatre always takes place in the absolute presence, therefore the spectator and the performer are
necessary for each other in order to realize the performance.
Question 2: With reference to the article explain the last part of its title. Why and in what way can
theatre, according to Kattenbelt, be understood as ‘the stage for intermediality’? [max 250 words]
According to Kattenbelt, theatre, in its simplest form, can exist without any technology.
However, theatre can incorporate all other media into its performance, without remediating
them with the particular elements of a specific medium. As Kattenbelt states, “Theatre
provides film, television and digital video a stage, that is to say a “performative situation”,
where they become “signs of objects,” and not just recordings on their own. When theatre
incorporates different media such as film, television or video recordings, they are not only
screened, but also at the same time staged and incorporated. Therefore, as theatre is the
art of staging, this kind of incorporation becomes a stage of intermediality.
1
Chiel Kattenbelt, Theatre as the Art of the Performer and the Stage of Intermediality,” 32.
to class in print and submit them in PeerGrade prior to class.
Question 1: With reference to the article explain the first part of its title. Why and in what way can
theatre, according to Kattenbelt, be seen as ‘the art of the performer’? [max 250 words]
Other arts, such as literature, visual arts and music can exist independently. Once they are created,
spectators are able to see and experience them without the creator or performer. However, they all
depend on the primacy of elements, such as words, sensuous intuitions expressed in frozen images,
and sensations expressed in sounds. Theatre, on the other hand, is capable of incorporating all these
other elements without necessarily being dependent on one of these to be considered theatre. The
only thing theatre requires, is the performer, who is physically present.
“However, theatrical works of art remain connected to the artist without whom theatre
cannot exist – namely the physically present performer.”1
Theatre always takes place in the absolute presence, therefore the spectator and the performer are
necessary for each other in order to realize the performance.
Question 2: With reference to the article explain the last part of its title. Why and in what way can
theatre, according to Kattenbelt, be understood as ‘the stage for intermediality’? [max 250 words]
According to Kattenbelt, theatre, in its simplest form, can exist without any technology.
However, theatre can incorporate all other media into its performance, without remediating
them with the particular elements of a specific medium. As Kattenbelt states, “Theatre
provides film, television and digital video a stage, that is to say a “performative situation”,
where they become “signs of objects,” and not just recordings on their own. When theatre
incorporates different media such as film, television or video recordings, they are not only
screened, but also at the same time staged and incorporated. Therefore, as theatre is the
art of staging, this kind of incorporation becomes a stage of intermediality.
1
Chiel Kattenbelt, Theatre as the Art of the Performer and the Stage of Intermediality,” 32.
