Theatre of the past has nothing to say to an audience of the present.

I agree partly , that Theatre of the past has nothing to say to an audience of the present but on the other hand, the influences of modern theatre come from the past.Scene Productions “Woyzeck” was set in the aftermath of world war one and explored the effects of Shell Shock (PTSD). As it is the centenary of world war one this year, they wanted to raise awareness for this topic, as well as educating audiences about the effects of modern warfare. This made it relevant to todays audience. As the first performance was in 1913 (A year before world war one), it would have also been relevant to them. Political ideas were hidden behind a simple story about an ordinary man. Audiences were unhappy with life in the land ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm (who was to be abdicated shortly after the war).On the other hand, sound was used in a atmospherical way in scene productions “Woyzeck. For example, in the Fairground scene, they used recorded Fairground music to set the atmosphere for this scene. This ,combined with black lighting and a carousel (Made from a sheet and a bicycle wheel with LED lights), gave a sense of foreboding and gave a very sinister atmosphere which reflected Woyzeck’s mood. Recorded music had not been invented in the original performance conditions and so , they would have done the sequence with a live orchestra .Similarly to the original performance conditions, Scene productions did their adaptation in a proscenium arch theatre with a darkened auditorium and seats out like a school hall. This is much like when the play was first performed (In the Residenztheater, Munich) as Richard Wagner had just developed realism in Theatre. This gave a “picture perfect” feel to the adaptation which was a complete contrast to the subject matter. He was also the first person to make seats equally good. This would have been shocking at the time, as people from all classes (The “bourgeoisie” and the working man) would have been brought together to watch theatre and this “mingling” of the class was not normal. Nowadays, in scene productions adaptation, the audience was a mix of different people from different backgrounds. On the other hand, colours were very symbolic in this modern production .The set and cos-tumes reflected the colours from world war one. For example, green, brown and black . The only piece of colour was red, in the drum major jacket . This reflected the red moon (which was projected on to the set) and also foreshadowed impending doom as the drum major is paramount to Woyzeck’s paranoia and overall madness. The effect of this was the audience was drawn to the drum major and we knew the something was going to happen with him . Also, the colours in the lighting were symbolic (which was first developed by Henry Irving who made art of stage lighting). For example, in the russian doctor scene, there was a white wash. This combined with the white doctor coats the actos were wearing reflects Woyzeck’s vulnerability. The use of symbols in colour is Berkoffian but further back than this, the use of symbols in productions comes from the Expressionist movement to create hidden meaning.To create a modern , Scene productions used a “ 1900‘s Music Hall” style of acting, which would be normal in the 1900’s. For example, in the Hypnotist scene, the hypnotist was talking to the audience (thus breaking the fourth wall) ,proclaiming her words (like they would in 1900’s as microphones were not invented and they had to project) and using over the top gestures. This combined with the Artaudian physicality of Woyzeck and the drum major in the scene( where Woyzeck gets changed into a Monkey and the Drum Major gets changed into a horse ) creates a big contrast between the new acting style (Artaud) and the old acting style (Music hall). By showing Woyzeck and Drum Major being turned into a monkey and horse, it shows the class divide and the oppression of the lower class. On the other hand, they used multiple use props (which is a Berkoffian technique) . In par-ticular they used a white sheet in the Russian Doctors scene to show multiple things. For

example, the used it to show the passing of time, where Woyzeck was doing excersises and every time they lifted up the sheet, time would pass. This , combined with Woyzeck’s physicality, created a very naturalistic effect, even though it was modern. The actor who played Woyzeck , used Laban technique to show his tiredness. His actions would get heavier every time the sheet was brought down. This use of props was being explored in the time of the original performance conditions by Meyerhold who wanted to use minimal-istic props to great effect.The production has elements that relate back to the time when it was performed but there are still elements of that time in modern techniques. This goes to show that no matter how much we think that the past has no relevance, we must look back for influences.