At Teatro Isabela Corona in Mexico City, sneering young theater performers bathed in blue light hold the various parts of their Pinocchio character together during his scenes but then head in separate directions between them. This actor holds the wooden stick that becomes Pinocchio's nose, that one holds the cork-like oval that becomes his head, a third and fourth carry the bike frame tubes that become his legs, and so on. The "puppet" only exists when the actors cooperate him into existence.
The group is FiguraT, clearly named to suggest the term figura teatro, or "theater of the figure." Terms are important for my work, because I will be classifying what people are doing. So I've been trying to pin down what made this performance figura teatro.
The group is FiguraT, clearly named to suggest the term figura teatro, or "theater of the figure." Terms are important for my work, because I will be classifying what people are doing. So I've been trying to pin down what made this performance figura teatro.
FiguraT's Pinoxcho reminded me of a performance in which the physical comedian Wolfe Bowart of Spoontree Productions combined objects including a plastic cooked turkey to make distinct momentary characters. I would not call Bowart's performance "theater of the figure," however, because the turkey-headed being Bowart created in that moment was not an important dramatic character. |
I would call Bowart's style in that performance "object theater" because the turkey is not really elevated from its status as object; in fact, its objecthood adds to the humor of the show.
Still, figura teatro can mean the opposite of what it first seems to suggest. That is, the figure does not always exist in "theater of the figure." The creation of the figure is part of the performance, as is the figure's dismantling. Focusing on its birth and demise makes the figure at least as focal a point in the performance as the plot the figure is engaged in. To me the most memorable element in Figurat's show was an enormous cloth. Actors used their hands to gather the cloth at the neck and limb joints to create Geppetto, and it remained Geppetto when they came apart and stretched it out...but an expansive Geppetto, radiating his fatherly love and concern across the stage.
Still, figura teatro can mean the opposite of what it first seems to suggest. That is, the figure does not always exist in "theater of the figure." The creation of the figure is part of the performance, as is the figure's dismantling. Focusing on its birth and demise makes the figure at least as focal a point in the performance as the plot the figure is engaged in. To me the most memorable element in Figurat's show was an enormous cloth. Actors used their hands to gather the cloth at the neck and limb joints to create Geppetto, and it remained Geppetto when they came apart and stretched it out...but an expansive Geppetto, radiating his fatherly love and concern across the stage.