THE PSYCHOPLASTIC SPACE OF JOSEF SVOBODA

Abstract

Theatre and cinema are two forms of artistic expression that, in different ways, promote interaction between the audience and the play, involving visual, spatial and temporal aspects. The "fourth wall" is one of the recurring concepts when referring to the interaction between the audience and a play, which can also be extrapolated to the field of cinema. Based on this concept, the aim is to analyse how, regardless of the space that hosts a performance, a certain scenic conceptualisation makes it possible to qualify the existing separation and is capable of favouring the interaction between the audience and a theatrical play. In this article we propose to deal with a specific experience that aims to combine theatre and moving images: the work of the stage designer Josef Svoboda. First of all, the mechanisms devised by Sovoboda to incorporate moving images into the theatrical discourse will be described. Next, some of his stage designs will be analysed and redrawn, with particular emphasis on their spatial conditions. The aim is to show how, through the use of solid material work supported by movement, light and projected images, the psycho-plastic space proposed by Svoboda manages to merge space and time, thus attempting to blur the "fourth wall".