Paper short abstract:

Using a Dah Theatre (Serbia) production, I explore the modern theatre as a democratic forum, where space is a catalyst existing between audience and performers. The ritualized and multi-layered space of theatre creates a micro-society that facilitates cultural exchange.

Paper long abstract:

Using a Dah Theatre (Serbia) production, I explore the modern theatre as a democratic forum, where space is a catalyst existing between audience and performers. The ritualized and multi-layered space of theatre creates a micro-society that facilitates cultural exchange. Three layers of space are engaged in this theory; the architecture of the "theater", the "world" of the performance, and the communal relationship between performers and audience. The unique relationship created by the multiple elements becomes a transitory object carried forth in the bodies of the participants (micro-society) as a sensory experience. If a performance creates a fluid space between audience and performers, how can the style and form of that performance be crafted to allow for more effective transformation? Looking at Doreen Massey's studies of postmodernism and political place, Janinka Greenwood's writing on "emergent space between cultures", and David Crouch's "Flirting with Space", I evaluate the elements of the Dah production of "Crossing the Line", to discover scope of the spatial relationships. I conclude that realistic theatre results in a narrower or limited space, and abstract or layered forms(postmodern) create an expansive and undefined third space, and are therefore more appropriate as a democratic forum. With regards to theatrical performance, understanding this transitional space is essential to effecting social change.