Performance Art II PRISON II White Hole Studio & WE-ART

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WE-Theater Characteristics

WE-Theater is characterised by two contradictory states: immobility, simplicity, and smoothly, or exaggeration of expressions, harshness, and fragmentation, with no middle ground between them. This theater relies on repeating movements and stripping away everything from movements, or sounds, whether they are human voices of performers, musical instruments, or any other audio source, or also decoration.

This method gives the viewer the freedom to think and understand based on his or her knowledge, cultural, and environmental stock, without requiring similarity in understanding.

Idea and Expression

The idea of WE-Theater stems from the search of the way a person expresses her/his feelings and hides them within, where something appears, and the inner expressions are hidden. This theatrical style tells what is inside a person in an abstract way. The theatrical text transforms from words to express the performer’s feelings using the body as the main instrument of performance. Scenography also plays a secondary role in supporting the importance of the body’s presence in theatre.

Text Writing and Performance

The text is written in a deep literary and philosophical manner with variable dimensions, and leaves the performer the freedom to express using the body, what the performer feels through her/his understanding of the situation, but before that, the performer is asked to express a specific expressive situation before reading the text, and also to express in which point of view the performer wants to tell the story “Who’s the hero of the story?”, with a start, middle, end, and repetition. 

For example: A person ate an apple. The performer can tell the story from the POV of:

• the subject: the person, from feeling hungry, then eating, then being full, to feeling hungry again
• the object: the apple, from planting to fruiting to picking to eating to planting again, 
• or the verb: eating, how the stomach is empty, then it is full after eating, then digestion, to become empty again.

The text can be written by one writer or a group of writers, and the performers are asked to add their ideas to enhance the concepts, and then the text is combined accordingly. All the texts and additions are combined into one text that is written in a deep philosophical manner, so that it reads according for the reader’s cognitive, cultural, and environmental stock...etc. The diversity of ethnicities among the performers especially and their intellectual trends adds a rich nature of information. To convey the strongest concepts and feelings possible.

Conclusion

WE-Theater, created by Syrian director Ali Taifour, revolutionises Physical Theater by blending various theatrical styles and emphasising the actor's body as the main instrument of expression. This style, characterised by sharp contrasts and minimalism, allows audiences to interpret performances through their own cultural lenses. By transforming literary texts into bodily expressions, WE-Theater fosters a deep philosophical engagement, offering a rich, diverse, and thought-provoking theatrical experiences.