Happening, a Controversial Hybrid Way of Cultural Expression

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reveal an experimental acting exercise that took place in 2015 during a survival workshop, guided by the Romanian-Canadian stage director Alexander Hausvater.  The name of the workshop was “The total actor – The survival” and took place in Colibița, a mountain resort in Bistrița-Năsăud county involving 25 young actors.

Happening as a performance art, a controversial way of expressing ourselves, is the acting exercise that will be discussedin the following pages. The need of culture in human life is undoubtedly vital. There was a group of 25 actors that embodied different human typologies for almost 12 hours in the town of Bistrița. The exercise was conducted in different areas of thetown and each actor was supposed to remain in the “skin” of the character no matter the circumstances. Even though they interacted with civilians from the urban environment, they had to continue to exhibit the traits and features assigned to thecharacter as if they were on stage. Many of the citizens were taken in by the deceitful appeareances and believed that the actors they interacted with were real people with real issues. The closeness between reality and pretence was so tight that some of the spectators insisted on helping the needy,underprivileged typologies some of them were interpreting. Consequently, the difficulty in going on with the acting part became even harder for the participants in the workshopsbecause of this interference.