MS
Matt Smith
Sharing the Future with Objects: Applied Theatre, New Materialism and Horizontal Ontologies lecture-performance with objects
Exploring Object Oriented Ontology (OOO), New Materialism and performance this presentation explores the experience of the object in applied theatre. How can we consider performing objects as part of practice and part of, what I would like to propose is, the ‘non-human ensemble’ when imagining the futures of applied theatre? Another question considered will be; should we re-consider practice in applied puppetry in relation to the vibrancy (Bennett, 2009) of objects? These questions respond to Hughes and Nicholson’s framing of applied theatres ecology of practices involving the material and the human (2016: 9). I discuss this framing in relation to a new consideration of networks of objects and actors in our practice with groups.
The object is an actor within the spaces of practice with more significance than just an instrumental tool or prop. This viewpoint of objects representing and embodying significance in practice relates to examples drawn from my work in specific communities. I discuss, through these examples, how performing objects enable groups through dialogical practice. The discussion will focus on playing and exploring this viewpoint actively, through experiencing objects, during the session.
This lecture-performance connects with themes of, applied theatre futures, materiality and applied performance within the context of changing ontologies in the Anthropocene. The lecture-performance will create a provocative and ludic space within which we (re)consider our relation to the often ignored objects within our spaces of practice.
Bennett, Jane. (2009) Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press.
Hughes, J. and Nicholson, H. (Eds.) (2016) Critical Perspectives on Applied Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dr Matt Smith, Senior Lecturer in Applied Theatre, University of Portsmouth, UK. Matt has twenty five years experience, working in diverse settings such as schools, prisons, with environmental agencies, arts for health, youth arts, disability arts groups and with the homeless. Matt’s practice is interdisciplinary mixing drama, puppetry, masks, and junk music.
