Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”

Cognition occurs not only within the boundaries of the human brain but it also involves active participation of the physical body. Likewise, in theatre, the spectator does not cognise a play purely mentally but also bodily as the performance awakens certain bodily feelings and memories of the spe...

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Main Author: Tuba Ağkaş Özcan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cyprus International University 2023-02-01
Series:Folklor/Edebiyat
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.folkloredebiyat.org/Makaleler/1066103136_17-%20uncomfortable%20seats-tuba%20a%c4%9fka%c5%9f%20%c3%b6zcan-17.pdf
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author_facet Tuba Ağkaş Özcan
author_sort Tuba Ağkaş Özcan
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description Cognition occurs not only within the boundaries of the human brain but it also involves active participation of the physical body. Likewise, in theatre, the spectator does not cognise a play purely mentally but also bodily as the performance awakens certain bodily feelings and memories of the spectator and invites them to view the stage actively from a certain standpoint. Theatrical plays are staged to be viewed and to be enacted by their spectators, which constitutes the gist of “enactive spectatorship.” I examined Sarah Kane’s polemical play Blasted (1995) through the lens of “enactive spectatorship” and disclosed how the play affects the audience and how the audience develops an enactive and embodied understanding of its performance. In Blasted, the audiences’ bodies in Britain or in any other land, are taken to the battlefield of the Bosnian War, where they experience the violence in war and no longer feel secure. The representation of violence on the stage evokes the audience’s embodied experiences associated with violence, which is one of the basic reasons for the play causing a lot of controversy and uneasiness. The shocking scenes to the point of absurdity as well as the highly sensational effects affect the audience while the ambivalent positions the audience is expected to occupy prevent them from watching the play comfortably in their seats from a safe distance. Blasted, with its violent and shocking scenes, is a play that fairly shakes the audience; however, it is not the violence on stage that matters as much as what it does to the spectator in enactive, embodied, and affective terms.
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spelling doaj.art-3f559c256c014a559fe6ebf0c54a55802023-02-26T22:27:46ZengCyprus International UniversityFolklor/Edebiyat1300-74912791-60572023-02-012911329931110.22559/folklor.2263Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”Tuba Ağkaş Özcan0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-0338Dr., Araştırmacı (Researcher)Cognition occurs not only within the boundaries of the human brain but it also involves active participation of the physical body. Likewise, in theatre, the spectator does not cognise a play purely mentally but also bodily as the performance awakens certain bodily feelings and memories of the spectator and invites them to view the stage actively from a certain standpoint. Theatrical plays are staged to be viewed and to be enacted by their spectators, which constitutes the gist of “enactive spectatorship.” I examined Sarah Kane’s polemical play Blasted (1995) through the lens of “enactive spectatorship” and disclosed how the play affects the audience and how the audience develops an enactive and embodied understanding of its performance. In Blasted, the audiences’ bodies in Britain or in any other land, are taken to the battlefield of the Bosnian War, where they experience the violence in war and no longer feel secure. The representation of violence on the stage evokes the audience’s embodied experiences associated with violence, which is one of the basic reasons for the play causing a lot of controversy and uneasiness. The shocking scenes to the point of absurdity as well as the highly sensational effects affect the audience while the ambivalent positions the audience is expected to occupy prevent them from watching the play comfortably in their seats from a safe distance. Blasted, with its violent and shocking scenes, is a play that fairly shakes the audience; however, it is not the violence on stage that matters as much as what it does to the spectator in enactive, embodied, and affective terms. https://www.folkloredebiyat.org/Makaleler/1066103136_17-%20uncomfortable%20seats-tuba%20a%c4%9fka%c5%9f%20%c3%b6zcan-17.pdfenactive spectatorshipembodiedaffectivesarah kaneblasted
spellingShingle Tuba Ağkaş Özcan
Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”
Folklor/Edebiyat
enactive spectatorship
embodied
affective
sarah kane
blasted
title Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”
title_full Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”
title_fullStr Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”
title_full_unstemmed Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”
title_short Uncomfortable Seats: “Enactive Spectatorship” Explored through Sarah Kane’s Blasted / Rahatsız Koltuklar: Sarah Kane’in Havaya Uçuruldu (Blasted) Oyununda “Bedeni Etkin İzleyicilik”
title_sort uncomfortable seats enactive spectatorship explored through sarah kane s blasted rahatsiz koltuklar sarah kane in havaya ucuruldu blasted oyununda bedeni etkin izleyicilik
topic enactive spectatorship
embodied
affective
sarah kane
blasted
url https://www.folkloredebiyat.org/Makaleler/1066103136_17-%20uncomfortable%20seats-tuba%20a%c4%9fka%c5%9f%20%c3%b6zcan-17.pdf
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