Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Violence : Staging the Role of Theatre

"This is a rich, deeply considered, and useful investigation that not only examines theatrical representations of violence but theatre's own implication in the objectifying nature of violence. Its insights will be of use to scholars, students, and practitioners". Dr Suzanne Little, University of Otago, New Zealand This book examines a series of contemporary plays where writers put theatre itself on stage. The texts examined variously dramatize how theatre falls short in response to the demands of violence, expose its implication in structures of violence--including racism and gender-based violence--and illustrate how it might effectively resist violence through reconfiguring representation. Case studies, which include Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud to Present and Fairview, Ella Hickson's The Writer and Tim Crouch's The Author, provide a range of practice-based perspectives on the question of whether theatre is capable of accounting for and expressing the complexities of structural and interpersonal violence as both lived in the body and borne out in society. The book will appeal to scholars and artists working in the areas of violence, theatre and ethics, witnessing, memory and trauma, spectatorship and contemporary dramaturgy, as well as to those interested in both the doubts and dreams we have about the role of theatre in the twenty-first century. Emma Willis is a senior lecturer in Drama at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research lies at the intersection of contemporary performance and dramaturgy, spectatorship and ethics and investigates the roles that theatre and theatricality play in our negotiations of subjectivity, community and responsibility in contemporary life. Recent publications include Theatricality, Dark Tourism and Ethical Spectatorship: Absent Others (2014), and journal articles and chapters variously exploring metatheatricality, acting pedagogy, kindness and shopping malls Acknowledgements About the Cover Image Contents 1 Introduction: Staging the Role of Theatre Preface Plays Aren’t Real Scope of Study Contemporary Metadrama Problems of Staging Violence Re/animation Simplification Appropriation and Mis/identification Violence, Theatricality, Representation Metatheatricality and Violence Metatheatricality Foregrounds the Creative Decision-Making Process Metatheatricality Emphasizes the Structural Causes of Violence Metatheatricality Deauthorizes Representational Privilege Metatheatricality Reminds Us That Spectatorship Is Never Neutral Book Structure Lastly... References 2 Performative Violence and Self-Reflexive Dramaturgy: A Study of Guillermo Calderón’s Kiss and Other Works Introduction “Shut-In, but Hearing the Gunshots” “Bombs Are Falling from the Sky. What Else Do You Need to Know?” Staging Performative Violence Conclusion References 3 “Touching Something Real”: The Critique of Historical and Theatrical Methodology in Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present... Introduction “Doing Anything Other Than What’s Real”: Illuminating Historical Injustice “Where Are All the Africans?”: Exposing Theatrical Bias Something... Conclusion References 4 The Ethics of Imagining Others: The Limits of “Performative Witness” in Michael Redhill’s Goodness and Erik Ehn’s Thistle Introduction Theatrical Witness and Authorship The Unhappy Performativity of Goodness in Rwanda Staring Down Genocide: “A Wonderful Feeling” Thistle: “All This I Saw” Conclusion References 5 Staging Rage: A Feminist Perspective on Theatrical Self-Reflexivity in Ella Hickson’s The Writer and Tim Crouch’s The Author Introduction The Author: Enraging the Spectator Dramaturging “Insufferable” Female Rage: Hickson’s Metatheatrical Counterfeit The Writer: An Outline A “Pure Shout of Rage” Conclusion: Changing the Subject Position References 6 Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Reception: Mirroring the Audience in Ontroerend Goed’s Audience and Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview Introduction Audience Staging the Power of the Spectator Fairview Conclusion References 7 Conclusion Beyond the Death of Theatre Bringing It Home... Racists Anonymous Last Words References References Index