Work in Progress: Audience Engagement and an ‘Aesthetic of Unfinish’ in Richard Schechner’s Imagining O

This article examines what Richard Schechner called 'dispersed performance' in his 2011-2012 production Imagining O. Performed under Schechner's direction at the University of Kent, Canterbury, in June 2011, and re-imagined for the 2012 International Festival of Theatre in Kerala, India, Imagining O was an immersive exploration of two texts - Pauline Reage's erotic fantasy The Story of O and Shakespeare's Hamlet, focusing specifically on the character of Ophelia. The Canterbury production was presented as a 'work in progress', a term used to suggest a yet to be completed performance made developmentally or prematurely available for public viewing. However, this article argues that this production also represented a form of performance that is inherently 'unfinished', embracing the 'work in progress' as an aesthetic and dramaturgic principle and not just a practical excuse. Drawing on discussions of an 'aesthetic of unfinish' (Lunenfeld) and participatory spectatorship, this article addresses the principles of unfinished bodies, unfinished space, and unfinished stories as manifest in Imagining O and as the basis of a relational dramaturgy.