Couple and Art

Is it really ‘art’?

            Gerry first spoke in his presentation about the ideas of cultural identity and what happens when two cultures collide.  I don’t know if that’s what really happened in ‘Couple in the Cage.’  I think the underlying action of the performance, or question that emulates, is ‘what happens when two cultures collide, especially when one of them is in a cage?’  Did the cultures really collide?  Or did someone come up with a clever way of pointing out American ignorance and arrogance?

            I think the inherent problem in ‘displaying’ something like ‘the couple’ is that the performance isn’t doing anything – it’s not going through a cultural collision, like No Saca Nada de la escuela, Othello, or Death and the King’s Horseman.  The creators of ‘Couple’ have cleverly identified the Anglo-European habit of boxing things and selling them.

            The word ‘art’ suggests artificial, and ‘Couple in the Cage’ is exactly that, but for some reason, I just don’t consider it art.  I suppose the last three years of my training suggest that art requires a very specific technical knowledge and it seems to me that this performance did not/would not require a very specific type of technical knowledge.  I do think that this performance required a very large knowledge of cultural understanding on the part of the performers.  In that sense I think I suppose that this performance is more of an anthropological experiment.  The goal of the performance was not to tell a story – like that of most contemporary theatre.  ‘Couple in the Cage’ simply showed the results of a very controlled cross-cultural interaction.

    So, is it art?  Not in my book.  We discussed the point briefly in class on Tuesday about the difference between an actor and a performer…which many in the class were very passionate in discussing.  I’m not sure who voiced the opinion, but I agree that an actor is a performer, but a performer is not necessarily an actor.  I suppose my own devotion to the study of acting for the theatre has taught me that what I do is much  different from a comedian, juggler, guitar player, etc…While “Couple” is a very clever performance – it is in my opinion, not theatre.