Andrew Garton

Master of Arts Research
Centre for Animation and Interactive Media
Faculty of Art, Design and Communication
RMIT University

21 March 1997

This paper outlines the background to theatre as a suspended space, the exploration into alternate means of theatrical production and the use of the Internet and World Wide Web to realise this pursuit.

The section titled Theatre Commodified, provides a premise for the Theatre as Suspended Space from an historical perspective. In the section titled Make them Forget, make them Believe, and Silence them we look into the power of traditional structures within theatre and the promise of their deconstruction. Strategic Collapse and, finally, The Space of Change we look at various strategies towards Theatre as Suspended Space.

Theatre as Suspended Space was presented as a performance lecture at the Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, University of Wien, Austria, 21 March 1997. The lecture opened with a spoken word piece penned by Sydney writer, David Nerlich, entitled, With a Will. Three short films (Puppenhead, David Cox; Shift, John Power; Autarky, Kim Bounds) were shown during the course of the lecture.

The performance/lecture would not have been possible without the assistance of the Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, University of Wien; HochschülerInnenschaft, Wien; Public Netbase/t0, Wien; Alles Theatre, Wien; Australian Network for Art and Technology; Faculty of Visual Arts and the Centre for Animation and Interactive Media, RMIT University; and Toy Satellite.