The game of “the other stage”

Les Récréâtrales and the expansion of theater stages

Abstract

Considerable attention is paid to the visual presentation of theatrical events. Theater artists no longer simply aim to draw audiences into the performance space. Instead, they first immerse them in a pre-theatrical world that promises euphoria and sensory pleasure even before the show begins. The scenography of the spaces surrounding festival performance venues creates a psychoactive atmosphere that serves a specific purpose for the theater and its audience. The experience of Les Récréâtrales, a theater festival held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, every two years, illustrates this situation well. This study establishes connections between the visual arts and the theatrical arts. Drawing on P. Pavis’s theory of the Spectator in Spectaculo, this article analyzes the impact of the “other stage” on the model spectator evolving on the fringes of theater performance spaces.