EXPERIENCING

A THEATRE IS A VERY SPECIAL PLACE. 
YOU CAN STEP OUTSIDE THE 'REAL WORLD' AND DIVE INTO A DIFFERENT, IMAGINARY UNIVERSE, ALTHOUGH IT MIGHT SEEM REAL. 
TO ENTER THIS SPECIAL MICRO-UNIVERSE, YOU HAVE TO ABIDE BY A FEW RULES. 

A THEATRE OR OPERA VISIT

Some people go to the theatre very often, for some this is their very first theatre experience. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to prepare yourself for this first visit. What can you do in a theatre? What should you do? What is absolutely forbidden? 

EXERCISE

• Who visits the theatre often?
• For who is this the first time?
• Name something you really shouldn't do during a performance?

BE MY SUPERSTAR IS AN 'IMMERSIVE' OPERA. IMMERSIVE, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

In theatre, there is a thing we call the ‘fourth wall’. This socalled ‘fourth wall’ stands as a kind of wall between the stage and the audience. In a ‘normal’ theatre stpace, the stage  has three sides (the back, the left scene and the right scene). This fourth wall is thus imaginary, but it creates a division between audience and actors. In this performance, there is no fourth wall. The audience sits around all four sides of the action, and the singers even seek contact with the audience. 

That’s why BE MY SUPERSTAR is not a regular opera, but an ‘immersive’ one. ‘Immersive’ is from the verb ‘to immerse’ which means to ‘to cover something completely’. The audience is not passively looking at theatre, but is involved in the action and in what is happening on stage. 

HOW DOES A PERFORMANCE BECOME 'IMMERSIVE'?

Director Alexandra Lacroix establishes this through the unusual scenography* of the play. By putting the audience on benches around the glass box, you get the sensation of being in the middle of the action. 

When stepping inside BE MY SUPERSTAR, it’s as if you come into a night club, where you can dance and sing. The singers and musicians are also dancing and playing around, among the audience. This way, the audience doesn’t know where the music is coming from and you get surprised by how close the action suddenly comes to you. This wat, the audience gets the sensation that they have become a part of the story. 

*The scenography is the creation of the set, but also thinking about the movements of the actors, where they are going in which moment.

EXERCISE

Which words / concepts did you learn?
Scenography, theatre codes, fourth wall, immersive