#2 Debate- 2nd Speaker for Negative team

Rebuttal:

- Points made about how there is always a presence of Media within live concerts. Yet, the inherent difference is you still get a performance that's 'in the now', compared to a CD recording.

- Live sports are not reliant on the media, the media aids the game for the audience (as they hear the results and see them on an electrical board. However, it is the rules themselves and the live players that the sport relies on to be played.

My new points and arguments:

As our first speaker explored, there is a definate correlation between mediated and live performances. In his article, Auslander states that mediated recordings help provide a kind of intimate access to live events, that being in close proximity might not. Atalli, a source within Auslanders article, explores early sound recordings to acknowledge the influence that media has on live performances. Therefore media within performance is crucial for its preservation, as well as broadening its access. Although they can work together, in terms of access and preservation, i shall explore their differences by examining the altered experiences of the audience and the changes to the performance itself through being both live and mediated means.

As Peggy Phelan says, once we watch the live performance again, through its recordings, we are merely watching an altered copy of it. Where the performance is no longer considered to be ‘in the now’. She argues that once a live performance is recorded or documented, it becomes something other than a performance. The initial live performance is no longer in a temporal situation and we are not getting the feel of the created space and intended atmosphere. Unlike Peggy, we believe forms of media can still capture elements of a live performance. Yet, live performances are indeed altered when recorded, thus there is an inherent difference between the two.

To focus on media as a recording of the live, i shall explore what Auslander says about live performance. The qualities more relevant to live performances are spontinaity, community, presence and feedback between performance and audience. As well as these characteristics, I believe that the main differences between mediatised performances and those live, are created by the sensorial changes and approaches one has to a performance. Our senses can be altered and provoked by an immediate presence, compared to a distanced viewing.

A prime example of the senses provoked through live performance, compared with recordings of them, is Rani Moorthy’s ‘Curry Tales’. This one woman theatre performance, finds Rani Moorthy discussing with the audience stories, from larger than life characters. She laughs, cries, argues and chats about various life tales, while cooking a number of curry dishes live onstage. Once she has made each dish, she then plates it up for the physical audience to taste. Wether Rani has overly prepared her dialogue and blocking does not take away the fact that there is still a huge element of spontaneity caused by the presence of cooking on stage.

The emotions and stories she portrays as the characters can be captured and preserved by types of recording media, focusing on expression, dialogue and sometimes movement. However, only the temporal audience can have further senses provoked, such as taste and smell. The cooking helps create a homely atmosphere that enhances the characters stories of home life and heritage. The smell of each curry floods the theatre and the warmth and love put into each dish is tasted by individual audience members, creating a very unique live experience.

Therefore we can see that a recording of this live show, and many other live performances, changes the intentions and experiences for viewers. Stronger senses can be provoked through a physical presence, such as taste and smell. And the live presence of an audience can have great effects on the show itself, such as the laughter of the audience can create a longer pause.In return, the performance can have not just an emotional effect on the live audience, but a physical one... such as eating the food. I have explored this specific example of a live theatre performance, as i believe it reinforces our teams focus. That live is the co-presence of spectator and performance, and that greatly contrasts to the experiences created by merely viewing a mediated copy of that live show later on.