Study On The Spatial Design Of Chinese Environmental Theatre

For decades,with the rapid development of China’s economy,art festivals have been widely demonstrated in China.As an important part of theatre festivals,"environmental theatre" requires a large amount of public space during performances.Since the dramatic space of the environmental theatre not only impacts theatres and playhouses but also impacts public spaces,its visual information no longer only serves the function of performance.On the premise of following the script,the director’s thoughts,and the performance requirement,the self-expression ability of spatial design becomes increasingly important for environmental theatre.With the form of artistic expression also changing constantly,the spatial design of environmental theatre has entered an era of public space art,and its development and change have a strong impact on both the dramatic space and the public space.This impact not only creates a dramatic atmosphere but also affects the participation behaviour of actors and audiences and simultaneously reshapes and beautifies the landscape environment in the public space.Starting from the definition and interpretation of the basic concept of "environmental theatre spatial design",this paper defines the scope of research in environmental theatre;summarizes the evolution and development of the environmental theatre spatial design in Europe,America,and China;analyses the methods of the environmental theatre spatial design;and demonstrates these methods with examples of environmental theatre spatial design in the provinces of Shanghai and Zhejiang in China.Despite the great differences in the origin and formats of theatre between Western countries and China,both areas boasted this type of performance long before the professional term "environmental theatre" appeared.In Western countries,there are six types of theatre performances that take place in public spaces,and the spatial design of these theatres is connected with the scenery in the public space.Chinese primitive theatre took place in the vast natural environment for a long time.For example,sacrificial activities,ritual performances,singing,dancing,etc.,were staged in different indoor and outdoor environments.Even ancient stages were set up in streets,villages,gardens,and other places.However,the real sense of environmental theatre in China developed in 1935 through the peasant experimental theatre movement.Nowadays,Chinese dramatists such as Sun Huizhu,Gu Yian,Mou Sen,and Meng Jinghui started to use and design theatre space comprehensively,and they combined the inside and outside environments of the theatre to create a theatrical atmosphere.In China,a large number of environmental theatre works take place in the natural environment and urban public space.The theatre time and space presented in the natural environment can make people walk out of their social roles more easily.The "special moments" created by the environmental theatre make a connection and overlap between the dramatic space and the natural environment.Whether it is a live-action performance or a performance in a public space,the essence comes from the concept of "environmental theatre".Environmental theatres have different development trends due to the influence of "design extent" and "experience-oriented" factors.These development trends are "right-oriented","left-oriented" and "middle-oriented".The three different development trends will bring completely different experiences and feelings to the audience.The environmental theatre spatial design should not only limit serving theatre performances,presenting visual information in the script,and reflecting the main content of the script but also study the political,historical,social and cultural significance behind the performance site and its surrounding environment.The environmental theatre spatial design is connected not only with the spatial environment at the geographical level but also with the accumulated time imprints,spatial imprints and event imprints behind it.Therefore,in the design process,we should fully consider and analyse the plot elements of the environmental theatre,the elements of the crew department,the elements of the landscape environment and the elements of audience behaviour,and we should plan and design the theatre space format(such as dependent,subversive,juxtaposition and fluidity,etc.);such designs should also be aimed at different theatrical space formats to create unique theatrical space experiences such as edification,exploratory,communicative and commemorative experiences.Shanghai and Zhejiang Provinces are regarded as two representative areas in China,as more than half of the environmental theatre works are presented in these areas.Hence,works from these areas often play a leading role.The environmental theatre spatial designs in Shanghai have the following unique advantages.1)Most of the works have a small space capacity.The designers prefer to use all kinds of scenery in the environment,and they pay more attention to creativity rather than the scale of the design.2)Most of the works are created around urban themes.The structure of the space of works is in line with the social and cultural characteristics of the city of Shanghai.3)Most designers take advantage of different multimedia technologies for interaction and collaboration.The environmental theatre works of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival account for most of the works in Zhejiang Province.Over the 7-year course of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival,there have been more than 100 works of environmental theatre.The three common spatial design methods for environmental theatre in the Wuzhen Theatre Festival are as follows: 1)decorating the costumes and limbs of actors can facilitate the layout of space;2)using mobile and portable installations can quickly change the space experience of the site environment;and 3)selecting and transforming the site environment according to the script can give the audience a sense of space-time dislocation.With the continuous development of multimedia technology,cross-media art will be increasingly involved in environmental theatre spatial design.Special effects images,special effects lighting,and dynamic machinery have increasingly become the primary choices of the main creators.Designers also currently pay more attention to exploring the characteristics of the performance site environment by focusing on the analysis of various elements in the space and showing the unique advantages of the geographical environment,which can help the audience personally feel the nonreplicability of both the work and the space.