Revista de Artes e Ciências Sociais

Empty Chair Speaking

Abstract

Borge Kristoffersen

This article is about how the Empty Chair originated as an improvisational theater technique. It’s starting point is a political speech by Clint Eastwood from 2012 where he spoke to an empty chair. The text follows, through literary sources, tracing back how the Empty Chair originated as a theatrical technique, and what the original thoughts behind it were. The article emphasizes the theater mediums opportunity and potential for change and transformation by discussing the positions we take to others. The question to be explored in the text is the following: How was Empty chair conceived as a theatre improvisation technique and how is the technique linked to the concept of encounter and J.L. Moreno’s role theory?