Addressing The Gaze within the Theatre Ensemble
Theatre, at its very root, is a collaborative art form. The collective spirit of directors, producers, playwrights, performers, designers and technicians working together to create a performance, a costume plot or lighting design, a play script, a mask or sound design, requires freedom of expression, creative input, and acceptance from all involved. Collaborative theatre is the way people relate to one another in craft and in final product because theatre, by its very nature, is a mirror of life. All facets of theatre require working with others toward a common cause in order to attain artistic heights together.
Ironically, desire, a keystone element of great dramatic characters, is also the root cause of conflict within the collaborative process itself. Individual desire for acceptance by others often causes anxiety and frustration, common side effects of a group of people vying for the attention, recognition, and validation of one another (and an audience). Yet creative output within theatre demands un-muted expression from all involved.
I chose to become a theatre educator because I respect and admire the theatre family: the group of people who work closely together for many weeks and often months to create a play. Like all families, the theatre family requires collaboration. Throughout my teaching and directing career I have tried to teach my students how to collaborate creatively. Sometimes I do that well and other times I do not. The moments when I struggle most are usually the moments when I forget that students carry expectations of themselves, of each other, and of me as a teacher. Some of those expectations are conscious while others remain unspoken and unconscious.
These expectations are products of what French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan referred to as The Gaze. The Gaze is always present within human relationships, particularly in educational and collaborative environments where identity, validation, and recognition are constantly negotiated. In theatre education, where vulnerability and creative risk taking are essential, the effects of The Gaze can quickly become barriers to collaboration and creativity.
This paper explores how Lacan’s concept of The Gaze manifests itself within theatre education through traditional teacher student hierarchies and how ensemble based theatre practices, particularly Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre, can help reduce those barriers in order to foster collaborative creativity and meaningful artistic expression.
The Gaze and the Teacher Student Relationship
French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s concept of The Gaze is not simply the act of looking at something or someone. Rather, The Gaze refers to the unsettling awareness that while we are looking outward at the world, we ourselves are also objects being looked upon, judged, interpreted, and desired by others. In this sense, The Gaze is not located solely within the eye of the observer but exists externally within the social world itself. We do not merely see. We imagine ourselves being seen.
Lacan argued that human beings construct identity through this imagined relationship with others. In other words, “I think or see because I imagine what others think or see of me”. One’s perceptions of others, including people and objects such as teachers, peers, craft, skill sets, and creative output, are motivated by desire through an imagined response. The Gaze is, Lacan declared, “The dependence of the visible on that which places us under the eye of the seer” (Lacan 72).[1] The Gaze therefore creates a split within the subject. While the ego imagines itself autonomous and in control, the individual simultaneously experiences anxiety through the awareness that he or she exists as an object within the perceptions of others. We are never entirely free from the possibility of judgment, validation, rejection, admiration, or criticism. Lacan’s point is not simply that I see others, but that I experience myself as being seen from everywhere. This imagined response forms what Lacan calls The Gaze, a structure of perception rooted in desire and recognition.
Human beings seek affirmation through others because identity itself is socially constructed through recognition. We want to be acknowledged, validated, accepted, desired, respected, or loved. The Gaze therefore becomes a constant presence within human interaction, particularly in environments where identity and performance are publicly negotiated. In educational settings, and especially within collaborative theatre environments, The Gaze can become psychologically intense. Students are not merely learning or creating. They are learning and creating while simultaneously imagining how they are being perceived by teachers and peers. They become acutely aware that their intelligence, creativity, talent, confidence, vulnerability, and even social value are constantly exposed to the perceptions of others. This tension sits at the center of the teacher student relationship.”
This round trip of perception is loaded with doubt. When a teacher, often placed in a position of master or the one who knows, works with students, often placed in a position of slave or the one who seeks because they are lacking, perceptions and expectations are built through desire. Students desire to exist as students because they are labeled as such both by themselves and by others.
“My teacher calls me a student and my peers refer to me as a fellow student, so I must play the role of one who seeks the answer through others.”
In order for students to succeed they must be seen. And of course being anything is being seen. Lacan points out that The Gaze is not so much of the scopic field but more in terms of recognition, which is a reflection of the ego, the Self, the conscious speaking subject. To be seen is to be known and therefore the subject is validated as human and the Self reinforced.
From the newborn who looks into its mother’s eyes, to the two year old who notices for the first time that he is different than the image reflected back to him in the mirror, to the teenager who looks to peers for acceptance as a sexual object of desire, or the adult who looks to God or family to affirm identity as follower or leader, The Gaze is set from the moment we interact with others.
The Gaze validates the Self, which sits at the center of one’s identity. Without the Other looking upon us, interacting with us, affirming or denying, setting limits or opening possibilities, we simply could not be anything. Students seek to be students and therefore look to the teacher, the one who knows, for guidance. Likewise, instructors seek to validate their chosen profession and refined skill sets through the success of their students.
“I have the knowledge, my students do not. I am labeled a teacher, my students look to me as one who can ‘teach’ therefore my role as a teacher is to teach my students.”
Being a teacher is being seen as one. And of course teachers want to be seen as effective, knowledgeable, and successful. The Gaze follows us from all directions at all times, not necessarily in the literal visual field, but rather in how we perceive others’ perceptions of us. Our need to be seen is instigated by desire for the Other: family, friends, co-workers, students, peers, and even God.
“See me. Love me. Validate me. And then I am whole.”
This desire for recognition sits at the center of human relationships and identity formation.
Different teachers carry different understandings of themselves. Some attempt to set aside the label of master and instead assume a role more akin to facilitator, organizer, and guide. These teachers encourage students to explore a body of knowledge and create something from it. Others hand knowledge off more directly, much like a waiter pours water from a pitcher into a glass. Of course there exists a wide range between these positions depending upon subject matter, social expectations, and individual teaching philosophies.
Regardless of methodology, perceptions build relationships and relationships define existence through Being. Lacan stated: “I see only from one point, but in my existence I am looked at from all sides” (Lacan 72).[2] This concept extends Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage where an individual’s identity is formed through the perceived views of others.
The Gaze as an Obstacle to Creative Collaboration
In collaborative theatre environments, where students must take emotional and creative risks publicly, the effects of The Gaze become especially pronounced. Our students look to a teacher, to a project, or to each other for answers and from that perspective exist or “Be” by being seen more completely than they can see themselves. In this, the student seeks satisfaction through desire.
“Praise me, my answer was good, yes? My performance skilled, my input valued.”
Or
“Criticize me, I could do better. I didn’t know how to do it well and need guidance or even consequences.”
However, in seeing from one perspective our students are also seen from all sides, from different angles and viewpoints. Their peers see weaknesses and strengths, preparedness or lack of preparedness, hesitancy, lack of confidence in voice and body, and countless other qualities. Failure is always near, even for confident students.
At the root of confidence often sits fear of failure. To succeed is to move toward mastery or at the very least perceived progress. One can quickly see how barriers are erected because The Gaze is always present.
The teacher student relationship, (master/slave), is a common and often accepted structure within the traditional classroom setting where learning is frequently individualized and isolated, such as mathematics or piano lessons. However, in group situations that require creative collaboration and collective authorship, particularly within theatre, The Gaze quickly becomes an impediment to learning.
Theatre demands vulnerability. Students must reveal themselves emotionally, physically, vocally, and imaginatively in front of others. They must fail publicly. They must risk embarrassment, rejection, and criticism. In such an environment, self consciousness can silence creative expression.
The more students seek validation from the teacher or peers, the more creativity becomes muted. Participants begin performing correctness rather than pursuing discovery. They attempt to provide the “right answer” rather than a truthful one. It is no surprise, then, that this affect impedes learning.
Ensemble Practice and the Reduction of Hierarchy
Collaboration and leadership are two essential qualities in human interaction. In theatre, collaboration occurs in two ways: through hierarchy and through ensemble.
Hierarchy is familiar within theatrical production. Titles matter because each student carries specific responsibilities necessary for the whole. The properties coordinator gathers or creates props used by performers. The stage manager supervises rehearsals, schedules, design meetings, and performances. The technical director coordinates production elements with designers and crews. The director conceptualizes and stages the script. Each individual contributes specialized knowledge toward a shared final goal: the Play.
The ensemble, however, is something more.
The word ensemble, from the French travaillant ensemble, literally translates as togetherness, but within theatre it carries a much deeper meaning. The ensemble connotes a powerful relationship or family in which all members interact not only professionally within hierarchy but emotionally and socially as well. In this respect the “ensemble is a long term relationship; a day in, day out collaboration in shared living, thinking and creating” (Cohen 17).[3]
Dedication to the ensemble environment can provide lifelong satisfaction to those who accept it. The ensemble model has repeatedly proven capable of producing some of the highest levels of theatrical art and creativity (Cohen 17).[4] Within ensemble work, theatre educators can create theatre productions that not only achieve artistic quality but also contain the voices of everyone involved.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to create plays with students in an ensemble environment through the Asia Pacific Activities Conference Theatre Festival. The APAC Theatre Festival is a gathering of international schools throughout Asia from Kobe through China and down to Manila. Each year a member school hosts the festival and each participating school devises, stages, and performs an original short play based on a festival theme.
Each year I audition and select ten students to participate in this ensemble. The goal is to create a play together starting with nothing more than a short thematic phrase and then collectively writing, staging, and performing the piece for peers from around the world.
Upon casting the ensemble, my first goal is to break down barriers within the group, barriers that are products of The Gaze and the anxiety of being seen from all sides. I attempt to reduce these barriers through exercises that encourage students to know one another intimately.
At the beginning of the process one might say I am master and my students are slaves: director and actor, leader and follower. This unspoken but widely accepted relationship follows us throughout education. The teacher teaches and the students learn. However, in collaborative play creation, even with young artists, the goal is to dismantle that unconscious structure as quickly as possible.
The exercises I use are designed to minimize anxiety and hesitancy while increasing awareness of each participant’s strengths and weaknesses. We begin with partner warm ups, trust exercises, and relaxation techniques in voice, body, and mind. Eventually we move into relationship exercises and group tableaux work. We use voice control, diction, pitch, and tone to express emotion and develop partner improvisations where students create moments of tension and conflict.
Participants establish character relationships by physicalizing social status, eventually exploring conflict through master slave dynamics: protagonist and antagonist, oppressor and oppressed, introvert and extrovert, the powerful and powerless. Conceiving conflict through power struggle encourages students to discuss how people feel when forced into oppressive situations.
As students explore real life conflict within the ensemble they begin to understand the importance of conflict within drama itself. Participants gradually learn to trust one another and reveal experiences and emotions previously left unspoken. The ensemble experience becomes sacred, a safe place to attempt unsafe things.
The Gaze is acknowledged and the seer no longer looks from one side but from multiple perspectives. More meaningful relationships form and performers become increasingly willing to risk creative vulnerability.
The field of The Gaze remains present, yet as students acknowledge each other’s strengths and weaknesses, both in performance and in daily existence, the effects of The Gaze begin to weaken. Hesitancy, fear, self consciousness, and caution slowly dissipate. Hindrances to creativity lessen and more meaningful artistic work begins to emerge.
Augusto Boal and Image Theatre
As I move forward with the ensemble to create a play, I guide students to explore the effects of power and oppression in social situations. One of the world’s most influential theatre practitioners to examine power structures through performance was Brazilian theatre artist Augusto Boal.
Boal designed numerous theatrical exercises intended to help oppressed individuals identify, express, and challenge oppressive conditions for the purpose of social and political change. One of the most effective techniques he developed was Image Theatre, which I use with students to embolden collaborative spirit and devise original ensemble work.
First, the group agrees upon a scenario of oppression that they wish to explore. For example, hazing, addiction, abuse, academic pressure, gender inequality, or any number of social conflicts might be used. These options, are of course, not it any way exhaustive and with a bit of exploration, students can often come up with their own scenario(s).
Once a topic is selected, participants rapidly sculpt each other’s bodies to express attitudes and emotions connected to the scenario. Participants locate a powerful moment within the image, freeze it, and move to the next image. As the images build they begin telling a story.
Eventually several images are stitched together and dynamized or brought to life.
For example, a group may begin with a parent aggressively confronting a child over poor academic performance. An image is sculpted that conveys the oppressive state. Conflict is expressed physically and vocally. Once a powerful moment is reached someone calls out “Hold!” Participants stop completely, creating a frozen tableau.
The image is analyzed by the ensemble, adjusted collectively, and recorded both visually (students literally adjust a performer’s facial expressions and/or physical stance with their hands) as well as verbally (i.e.- squint, curl your index finger, lean forward). The process continues until a sequence of images has been created that traces the conflict from beginning through climax and ultimately toward resolution, beginning with an oppressive state and ending with a non-oppressive state or a state of equilibrium.
The ensemble then resets and replays the scenario from beginning to end as a stop and go stage picture. This replay is recorded and viewed by all students, including performers. The group then returns to the stage and improvises the moments between each frozen image. Finally, dialogue and action are added organically. The seeds of a play begin taking root.
The process of creating a short play utilizing Boal’s Image Theatre, often requires the ensemble to repeatedly reset, refocus, and begin again before discovering a story-line that genuinely resonates with the group. An example, one year my students were tasked with creating an original play for our school’s divisional theatre festival based on the theme “Culture, Contrast, and Convergence.” Students explored a variety of scenarios through image theatre exercises. Initial explorations included one scenario of a conflicted American Thanksgiving gathering. While the ensemble learned the mechanics of image theatre and collective storytelling, the scenario failed to spark deeper engagement. The ensemble abandoned it and began again. Through continued experimentation with topics such as academic pressure, institutional and familial expectations, as well as the realities of student life within an international school, the ensemble gradually gravitated toward the third-culture kid experience. This organic process eventually led the ensemble to create a compelling short play about a biracial Korean-American student navigating conflicting parental expectations between academic achievement and artistic passion. The experience demonstrated that image theatre depends upon continual revision, replay, and re-imagining of scenarios until a shared point of emotional and creative investment emerges from the ensemble itself.
This method is especially effective in helping students explore internal and external oppression as well as unconscious thoughts and emotions. The process of sculpting, moving, and creating collectively dynamizes the students and subsequently weakens the effects of The Gaze. At times The Gaze temporarily disappears altogether as the ensemble becomes absorbed in creating something powerful together.
The essential ingredient is that participants choose material they genuinely care about and are willing to explore collectively. It is equally important that the teacher participate not only as observer but also as player. Doing so models that within collaborative creation there is no singular authority figure but rather a group of artists creating together. The “yes and…” rule always applies, though a group facilitator (I assign students to take turns in this role) must prompt the group to discard moments otherwise the ensemble tends to get bogged down. The key to success is that participants agree and practice positive reinforcement at all times, even when something does not work. Record keeping from moment to moment is paramount to maximize efficiency and ensure important discoveries are not lost.
The Return of The Gaze
As the ensemble eventually moves toward writing the play script, The Gaze inevitably begins to reappear. Conflict emerges. Differences of opinion arise. Creative output can once again become muted.
As Lacan noted, The Gaze is always present and its effects intensify under many circumstances. One of the simplest yet most powerful ways these effects return is simply because it is “a new day.”
Drama is experiential and exists in the moment. It takes time for a group to set aside barriers created by stress, responsibility, shifting relationships, fatigue, insecurity, and outside pressures. Once rehearsal ends and participants leave the room, the ensemble must rebuild itself again tomorrow. The simple act of saying goodbye can heighten the effects of The Gaze.
“Do you love me?” “I do not want to leave.” “You know more about me now. Can I trust you to treat that knowledge with respect?” “Did I do well?” “I am not sure how I feel about what he or she said today.”
For this reason it is vital that students warm up together at the beginning of every rehearsal session in order to release the stresses of the day and reconnect themselves to the ensemble and of course, the work. Through voice and movement warm ups students share emotion physically and vocally, releasing tension, exhaustion, anger, or anxiety that might otherwise inhibit their ability to collaborate creatively. Effective direction is focuses warm-ups around and eventually into the work at hand. Likewise, decompressing and reflection is key before departing rehearsal. “What did we do? How did we get there? What do we keep or discard and where do we pick up tomorrow?” And of course, “how are we feeling?” Again, group consensus is key to ending a rehearsal and moving forward with fewer impediments the following day.
Writing and Collaborative Ownership
Structuring a play through plot, theme, dialogue, pacing, and characterization is a difficult task even for an individual playwright and even more so within an ensemble. It would certainly be easier and more time efficient for the director to collect the ensemble’s ideas and simply write the play independently. However, doing so would limit and ultimately negate the collaborative process itself. The final product must belong to everyone.
As the ensemble brainstorms, reviews ideas, and writes, theatre artists inevitably bring differing opinions concerning what works, what does not, what is valuable, what is achievable, and what best serves the story. These differences must be acknowledged so participants can understand where their peers’ ideas originate and why they matter.
Unfortunately time is rarely on our side. Deadlines loom and progress is necessary for morale. Sometimes it becomes prudent to divide the ensemble into smaller groups to work on specific aspects of the script. Some may address plot while others focus on theme, pacing, or rhythm.
However, I strongly believe that each member of the ensemble should create his or her own character and then share that creation physically and vocally with the group. Participants should understand from the outset that all members are encouraged to suggest changes, additions, or insights regarding one another’s characters.
The ensemble must function collectively in creating the whole of the play while also allowing participants ownership over their individual character creation. Even then, boundaries exist within the larger structure and message established collectively by the group.
Conclusion
Creating a play collaboratively with students from beginning to end is an incredibly rewarding experience, though one that requires diligence and awareness regarding the power of The Gaze throughout the process. At the center of this work is teaching students how to collaborate creatively. That process is difficult because human beings desire recognition and validation from others while simultaneously fearing judgment and failure. We must remember that individuals unconsciously see from one perspective moment to moment while simultaneously feeling observed from all sides. The Gaze is ever present. This search for identity and validation through others often becomes a hindrance to collaboration.
Yet in my experience, helping students explore their strengths and weaknesses through conflict and collective creation is key to teaching meaningful collaboration. Ensemble based theatre practices, particularly Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre, provide powerful methods for reducing the inhibiting effects of The Gaze by decentralizing authority, encouraging vulnerability, and fostering shared authorship.
Collaboration through conflict can create powerful theatre, but perhaps more importantly it can create a meaningful family, one remembered and valued long after the final performance ends.
[1] Jacques Lacan. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis, (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978) 72.
[2] Jacques Lacan. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis, (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978) 72.
[3] Robert Cohen. Working Together in Theatre, (England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) 16 & 17.
[4] Robert Cohen. Working Together in Theatre, (England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) 17.
