ROTOZAZA "etiquette" -autoteatro
The Autoteatro series, which began in 2007 with Rotozaza's 'Etiquette', explores a new kind of performance, whereby audience members perform the piece themselves, for each other. Participants are given instructions, often (but not exclusively) via headphones for what to do, and sometimes for what to say. By simply following these instructions, something starts to happen: some kind of an event begins to unfold. Not to be confused with gaming (or ‘game show’-like improvisation), Autoteatro does not ask audience members to be clever or inventive. It simply frames and celebrates our slightly differing, often clumsy and always unique responses to simple instructions, and uses them to build narrative and event.
In Autoteatro,
• there is no actual 'audience' beyond the participants themselves
• the structure is automatic: there are no actors or human input during the work other than their own. An Autoteatro work is a 'trigger' for a subsequently self-generating performance.
