Taylor Lach

THTR 366
Mark Lococo
9/6/2016
Witnessing Woyzeck Analysis

Freddie Rokem dissects the theatrical function of onstage witnesses in

performance; specifically its uses in three different productions of Buchners
Woyzeck. Primarily, Rokem establishes a definition of theatricality as the features
of a performance that allow us to analyze it. One of these features, which he
focuses the rest of the article on, is how witnesses introduce moral and ideological
perspective into the passive audience member. Rokem describes three different
productions of Woyzecks shaving scene and how including witnesses add a
dimension of theatricality on the basis of which the spectator begins to interpret the
performance. First, he establishes how witnessing triggers a relationship between
the performance and the audience by quoting Roman Jakobsons scholarly article
Linguists and Poetics. Witnesses induce the audience to react to their own role as
spectator. Rokem lists three forms through which the characters onstage become
witnesses: A play within a play, eavesdropping, or a supernatural character.
Herzogs film includes a soldier polishing his boots in the shaving scene as well as
obvious self-reflective symbolism with mirrors. Gotscheffs mental ward play-withina-play presents a situation of witnessing that is different from the audience to
create irony and pity as a basis for interpretation. Yerushalmis version is set in the
medical theatre with doctors and students constantly analyzing Woyzeck to
dehumanize his character. Rokem concludes that vision as a source of knowledge in
our society is privileged, and since theatre is a place for looking, witnessing
demands a moral and ideological commitment on the part of that looker. I agree
with Rokems assertion that placing witnesses onstage forces a more active
response out of the audience because it spurs the audience to pay closer attention
as to see what that witness is finding on the stage.