Interaction Between Audience And Performance In Enviromental Theater

The concept of environmental theater was proposed by American director and theater theorist Richard Schechner in the 1970 s and has become the theoretical origin of the immersive theater(also known as "immersive drama" or "immersive theater")that is popular all over the world today.Research in China on the viewing relationship of environmental theater mostly starts from the director’s perspective,and the related results of studying the interaction between the audience and actors from the actor’s perspective are relatively rare.This paper aims to provide inspiration or reference for creators,actors,or researchers involved in environmental theater in China.Taking the author’s graduation work as a research case,this paper analyzes the basic elements of the viewing relationship in environmental theater(space,actors,audience),and explores the interaction in the viewing relationship in environmental theater from the actor’s perspective.It records the work of actors in the creation and rehearsal stages of environmental theater,and ultimately draws the conclusion that "space" is the foundation of environmental theater.An appropriate "space" can better highlight the essence of the play.Therefore,actors and creative teams in environmental theater should adhere to the creative concept of "everything is born from space" during the creation and rehearsal stages.The interactive viewing in environmental theater can be divided into "psychological interaction" and "behavioral interaction".Among them,"behavioral interaction" breaks the constraints of traditional theater viewing relationships(audiences can decide whether to participate in the theater performance process).This kind of interaction not only brings direct emotional experience to the actors’ performance,making their performance more authentic,but also increases the audience’s sense of participation in the theater,allowing them to have a deeper theater experience.This allows the theater to influence the audience(subtly changing their lives)and ultimately achieve the goal of changing society through theater.In the actual performance process of environmental theater,the probability of unexpected situations increases due to the greater "power" and "freedom" of the audience,which brings new challenges to the actors.Faced with this new challenge,actors need to improve their responsiveness and adaptability through continuous rehearsal and practice,based on a deep understanding of the script content and the main theme of the play,so that the direct interaction between the audience and the actors can be transformed into the driving force and source of the plot development.In order to avoid the situation where the performance effect is poor due to the audience’s resistance to participating in theater performance interactions,actors need to consciously observe the audience’s reactions during the performance and screen out those who clearly have negative or negative feedback for interaction.If the interactive audience has an excessive desire to perform,the actor needs to pay attention to the control of the performance rhythm during the interaction.