Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1985 - 23

-artistic professions. I am more concerned today with a fundamental aspect which should also be fundamental to you.
I often ask myself what causes a colleague to work in the
theatre. Many would have better opportunities in other fields
-better pay, better career possibilities. I think that the answer to this question brings us to that point which connects
everyone working in the theatre, both artists and technicians,
and which, despite arguments and tension, unites everyone
and enables good results. I think that in the theatre we are all
looking for something-something that emphasizes the individual, the individual's work, and the creative enjoyment of
new problems and solutions. (I ask you, please, not to confuse this with false romanticism.) Regardless of what sector
they work in, theatre people are not schematic human beings
intent on following a predetermined course. They want to try
things out and they want to be able to see the results of their
work. I think theatre technicians, in fact, differ from other
technicians. It makes a difference whether or not I construct
a machine which is an artificial system. It functions if all the
parts are calculated correctly and put together properly. A
machine differs from a natural system. And I look upon the
theatre as a whole as something closer to a plant than to a
machine, for in addition to all the properly constructed and
assembled parts you have in the theatre an endless number of
imponderable requirements for functioning-requirements
based on intuition, improvisation, and sometimes mental
pressure. Adam Smith, the founder of modern national economics, refers at one point to an "industrial and to an agricultural approach." I like this phrase very much. I believe
that industrial forms of organization are not beneficial to the

theatre. The gardener's "agricultural approach" is more appropriate for the theatre.
Today we are witnesses to a technological expansion, the
likes of which has never existed before. I see a danger here of
thinking too industrially: Improvisation, spontaneity, experimentation, and the opportunity to start anew in the face of
unsatisfactory results-all the essential creative elements of
the theatre-are increasingly relegated to the background.
This should not be understood as license for counterfeit
genius, laziness, or neglect of proper preparation. This is not
what I am speaking of. What I am saying is that we must, in
the theatre, work more organically than is possible in industry
if only for the simple reason that each of our "products,"
each of our performances, is completely different from any
other. We must, whether we wish to or not, start anew each
time. This means, however, adopting and preserving that
capability of organisms to constantly adapt to new circumstances and not accept any rigid norms.
On the other hand, long preparation periods with organizational forms often determined by non theatrical criteria
compel us, to a certain degree, to think along lines similar to
those in industry. We should, however, always remain aware
that this industrial norm-oriented thinking, with its serialproduction and rational systematization, is at best a stop-gap
measure and that for the theatre it must be implemented in a
different manner. I think, in the final analysis, what theatre
people have in common is a certain opposition to the norm,
to smooth functioning, to assembly-line production. They
have a feeling of wanting to create something more individual,
more one's own-the final product being something at which
... continued on page 42

WHEN IT1S TIME FOR THE NEXT STAGE.
°From Preliminary Study to Performance
°For Rehabilitation, New Construction,
or Equipment System Design

HILBERT

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CONSULTANTS INC.

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