Sean Finegan - Statement of Intent

Seán Finegan - Preliminary Statement of Intent

I am interested in performance space. I have always been involved in performance, with acting, music and more recently comedy. All those experiences have exposed me, in the capacity of performer and spectator, to a wide variety of performance spaces; from conventional theatres, to make shift stages in pubs, to tents, caves, lecture halls, living rooms and a huge amount in between.

Many things go into making a performance ‘work’, the audience, the material, the performance, the space itself. But of those, the space is the only constant.

As an architect, I think about what makes some of the better spaces I’ve been in work. My initial instincts being that it would be sightlines, seating, acoustics and lighting. But it’s not; I’ve seen this proven many times, often in spaces not originally designed for that purpose.

Instead the character of the space supersedes these short comings; it works together with the aspects of performance in generating, in the audience and performer, an atmosphere, an experience, it becomes part of the escapism.

Site specific theatre has the power to reinvigorate its architecture imbuing it with new emotions and new meaning, while at the same time exploiting it.

Architecture lends itself to the performance, and the performance lends itself to architecture.

Pic: The Performance Corporation’s

‘Slattery's Sago Saga’

Performed in Rathfarnham Castle this July.