Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Trouble With Theatre

To what extent do the conventions of theatre constrain or facilitate inventiveness?

This provocation is the starting point of this discussion on art, theatre and live performance, which will address the push and pull of novelty and convention across contemporary performance genres. Within visual art the words ‘entertainment’ and ‘theatricality’ have become more acceptable in recent years; theatre, meanwhile, has been moving out from under the proscenium arch into more contingent spaces perhaps more readily associated with art.

The lines between performance, live art and experimental theatre, then, are not always easy to draw, as theatre makers experiment with form and artists turn to such theatrical tropes as scripts, trained actors, staging and lighting design. Discussing these distinctions and convergences are award winning theatre director and writer Neil Bartlett, theatre critic and co-editor of TheatreVoice Aleks Sierz, writer Sally O’Reilly and artists Roman Vasseur and Grace Schwindt.

Please note: Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner can no longer take part in this event.

This event has now finished