A recent article in the Guardian highlighted The Dialogue Festival, a 4 day event in London that incorporated 3 different venues and addressed 5 specific themes, under the umbrella topic of a celebration of the spoken word. The five themes of dialogue included debate, technobabble, lyrical, chatterbox, and banter. Each themed unit was curated by a separate director, who organized a series of arts events, including theatrical endeavors, performance art, moderated conversations, and visual art exhibits as well as film screenings. The venues included St. Peter’s, a converted 1845 Anglican church, Under the Westway, an intimate event space accompanied by a courtyard, a bar, and a restaurant, all within the confines of the Westbourne Studios, and The Earl of Portobello, a Victorian pub.
The Guardian article focuses specifically on the theme of banter, and its place in contemporary British society – and contemporary society in general. Much of this component of the festival centered around the idiom of live comedy and the act of audience participation and how that live energy and constant feedback from the spectators crafts a performance. Also discussed are the specifics of the unspoken contract between audience and performer and how both have to enter into the event as if entering into combat. “[It’s] a bit like a boxing match because both individuals have agreed to participate in what might be quite a bruising experience. It’s a constructive fight. It’s a battle of wits. A colourful exchange that relies on the quick-wittedness and ingenuity of both parties. But obviously it should all end in a shake of the hand,” comedian Mark Dolan.
The article ends with a discussion of the meaning of banter, when it becomes too brutal, and what classifying it in such terms does to it. Does using the word rob the action of the easy, off the cuff manner in which it was originally intended, does it formalize, corporatize, or introduce a level of contrivedness?
All of these questions and investigations open up illuminating aspects of the usage of banter in the theatre. How it should be executed – with word-perfect precision or room for improvisation and what it means to use such a specific type of conversational dialogue in scripted drama. Banter has been used successfully in drama for a long time – Oscar Wilde was omnipresent in my mind while reading the article, and fittingly earned a footnoote at the close.
This at times pedantic, but nevertheless intriguing article really hit home for me, having been working on the one-man-show, House, for the past few weeks, and seeing the evolution of the performance as more and different audience members enter the space to join in dialogue or banter (sometimes literally) with the main character.
For your reading pleasure, you can find the article here, and The Dialogue Festival website here.
