ABSTRACT
What is incredibly fascinating about theatre, and has been its driving force from very early on, is its immediacy and transience, that characteristic of being there one moment and gone the next. And this is particularly poignant in street and improvised performance, because of the lack of the architectural frame which makes us aware of the ‘fiction’ of the theatre. This quintessential aspect of theatre is encapsulated in the moment when a street actor says a word, or strikes a pose and catches the attention of a passerby. And how do they do that? How do they make you stop? Because they are doing or saying something different, something out of the ordinary, something worth stopping for and watching. In that moment we have ‘theatre’, a moment of extraordinary exchange that creates the distinction between actor and spectator. The actors, as a creative force, use their body in space to build a unique connection with the spectator which is consumed in the moment of performance.
