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In search of the element of the Sacred in the theatrical experience.

by Maria Peretzi.

Seeking to re-establish the connection with my Deeper Self, the act of the theatrical activity could be nothing more than a means. The Aim is much higher: how can I broaden my perceptive ability, how can I open up to the possibility of experiencing the totality of my nature ?

Practices like yoga, attention and concentration exercises, some types of sacred dances and movements are some of the tools through which the members of RODA prepare for our performances. In the search of the Sacred, the aim is to relate with the Primordial, with the Formless, with what is always the Personal Unknown of the seeker.

Work in RODA does not begin or end with the theatre. But at the same time one ought to recognize and accept the force that can be found in the theatrical experience, and use it without getting carried away by its superficial side. The possibilities within theatre lie in the ecstatic relationship with Myth, in the power of the theatrical performance to detach, to open up for man a path through which he can surpass the ordinary way he perceives the world around him.

For the actor, the theatrical experience can be shocking. To prepare himself for a performance, the actor must overcome his own limitations, to broaden the spectrum of his understanding about life, about his collaborators. By necessity the actor's preparation becomes a search for the limits of his internal freedom. On the highest level, liberation must be perceived as disengagement from the ordinary. This is the meaning of the Guidance of the Soul, of "psychagogue", of the word that we have come to translate as "entertainment".