( I M ) M A T E R ( I A L I T Y ) and the Black-Box Theatre as an ‘Empty Space’ of Re-production

Abstract

This paper examines a paradigmatic interior from the 20th century, the ‘black-box theatre’, associated with a fundamental rejection of the potential role played by the built-form within the art-form. Material space is denied in order to establish an apparent void-space. This perceived emptiness is reflected in a paucity of architectural and theatrical discourse surrounding the model. However an investigation of its physical and discursive absences suggests its apparent ‘lack’ veils a surplus of meaning. Such gaps and their associations with theatrical production reveal complicated links to the space of human reproduction and its attendant excesses which, in turn, leads to a distinctive link between the black-box and Plato’s notion of ‘chora’. This uncovering of material through the im-material, proposes a more embodied and performative approach to theatre space and to readings of the interior.