Tableau Vivant

Question 1

Historical usage of tableau Vivant?

Answer 1

1. Denoted figures posed silent & immobile for 20 or 30 seconds in imitation of well known works from literature & history.
2. Historically playful costume stagings used to dramatize, educate and inform.
3. Medieval liturgical dramas: mass ended in a short, dramatic series of tableaux

Question 2

Mimesis & The Tableau Vivant

Answer 2

1. Mimesis derived from the Greek “mimesis” meaning to imitate.
2. The Tableau Vivant acts as an imitation; the act of copying a copy.

Question 3

Contemporary use of Tableau Vivant?

Answer 3

1. Tableau Vivant could function as an act of duplication, could also function as appropriation.

Question 4

3 key points to summarize Tableau Vivant.

Answer 4

1. Tableau Vivant is about the technical & material aspects eg: costume, composition, lighting etc. of the original work.
2. About history & the artist.
3. The purpose of constructing a tableau vivant is not only about the intention to duplicate, also about the intention to create another idea.

Question 5

Definition of Tableau Vivant?

Answer 5

A representative of a personage character, scene incident etc., or of a well known painting or statue, by one person or a group of persons in suitable costumes & attitudes, silent & motionless - Paz