Characteristics of Chamber Theater
A method of interpreting narrative fiction for group interpretation is Chamber Theater. It is an auditory and visual strategy that dramatizes the point of view in a short story or a novel. In using prose as fiction as its main text, Chamber Theater keeps the original narrative, including the narrator, who plays his usual role of observing events, reporting action, describing, explaining and analyzing as if to a silent listener, and uses the past tense which is characteristics of the literary genre.
Since nothing is changed in the text, the indirect discourse predominantly present in prose fiction is spoken aloud as if it were direct discourse. The narrative parts retained, the narrator moves freely between the audience and the scenes as he says the indirect statements in conversation with the audience and locates his scenes onstage with the other actors (as opposed to Readers Theater which locates most of its scenes offstage). The dramatic action then, consists of the narration and the dialogues very smoothly intertwined together with the visual stimuli which are presented as part of the performance. These are stage sets similar to those of Readers Theater - a stool, chair, table, elevated steps, costumes, makeup, lighting, music, and scenery. As in Readers Theater, these visual stimuli are for the most part suggestive and symbolic used only to enhance or heighten a spoken line or a series of passages, and presented in a very restrained manner.
Actors, Dialogue, Eye Movements
Each character in the novel or short story is performed by a separate actor with appropriate but minimal stage sets and theatrical effects so as not for Chamber Theater to appear like a fully-staged play. The dialogues of the performers are for the most part composed of narration (indirect discourse) spoken aloud as direct statements in varying movements on stage. When the interpreter speaks the narrator's role and says the indirect discourse as direct statements, he looks at the audience as if conversing to them, but when he shifts to a character in a scene he looks freely at the character he is speaking to. In this smooth shift of roles or character, the players interact with the audience as they say the direct statements. As the performance progresses, so do the plot, action and climax follow, each flowing into one another in continuous sequence, letting the audience respond mentally, emotionally and psychologically, making this player - audience relationship alive, dramatic and immediate.
The Narrator: Point Of View
Chamber Theater's most outstanding quality is the very significant role it assigns to the narrator. Through him, the point of view of the story is maintained and controlled as he variously shifts from a third person of view to a first person character in a scene. The narrator's point of view provides the physical and psychological situation and the degree of involvement which he takes in relation to the action and the plot. The varying degrees of involvement the narrator assumes controls and guides the listener's responses as they follow the action through their thoughts, feelings, and expectations.
The narrator's involvement consists of his role as an objective reporter-observer and a character in a scene. He speaks in the third person, reporting to the audience his commentaries and observations, then shifts into a character in a scene and speaks in the first person. This the narrator does so often in the play with utmost skill and ease assisted by his voice quality, rate of speech, voice intensity, pitch levels, including pauses and clear and accurate pronunciation and enunciation. His bodily movements ably assist him in projecting to the audience the shift in roles or character. Thus, the narrator is the controlling force in the performance, maintaining the point of view in the story skillfully and easily as he fades in and out of the scene, leaving his role as narrator, slipping into a character in a scene and then fades out again to become a narrator.
This facility to involve himself in varying degrees of emotional and psychological experiences requires skill and care because the narrator has to maintain the person and the point of view together with the action. Doing this helps the audience respond in the same manner, emotionally and psychologically, as the auditory and visual stimuli play into their senses.
Theatrical Effects
Visual stimuli in the form of theatrical effects are use in Chamber Theater - costumes, makeup, scenery, and stage sets. Lighting must be used in varying degrees pf spot or area focus. The use of music and scenery is the same as in Readers Theater, the presence of which serves only to suggest what is being heard, and to heighten the emotional and psychological responses of the audience. Scenery must not overshadow the total effect of the ensemble performance and must not compete with the player's presence and action, else it might appear like fully-staged drama.
Scripts-In-Hand
Holding a book will depend on the script and the action the players would wish to project. The general practice is for Chamber Theater players not to carry books especially if the characters are in a scene because with books in their hands, they would seem to be rehearsing. The narrator particularly must know his lines by heart for he would not sound nor look convincing when he carries a book or script as he tells the story as a first person narrator. However, if the narrator is not a character in a scene but an objective observer speaking in the third person, he may hold the book as if reporting to the audience. Again, if the narrator constantly fades in and out of his roles as narrator and a character in a scene, the absence of a book will make his dialogue convincing and spontaneous, unhampered and unrestrained.
The Limit
Chamber Theater presents prose fiction as written by its author in its original form but considering the length of most prose novels, cutting may be necessary to let the performance fit into a prescribed time, one-and-a-half hours at the most, with intermission. Considerable cutting may be needed in the making the novel, short story, biography or
autobiography appropriate for a single oral presentation because the audience may find it difficult to follow a very lengthy performance. To abridge or cut the novel into an appropriate size for a single presentation, the director might focus on a main plot with one or two subplots or take out some of the characters in the novel without altering the text. The part retained must itself be complete, showing the introduction,
climax and conclusion, logically and emotionally related, with the point of view controlling all the scenes and events. In this manner, the presentation retains the flow of events, the immediacy and spontaneity of the action, the scenes as created in the minds of the audience as the players and the audience participate in this highly dramatic and intensely imaginative theater presentation.
