Performing Site-Specific Theatre: Politics, Place, Practice

260 Pages·2012·2.117 MB·English

by  Anna Birch, Joanne Tompkins (eds.)

PerformanceInterventions
SeriesEditors:ElaineAston,UniversityofLancaster,andBryanReynolds,
UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine
Performance Interventions is a series of monographs and essay collections on
theatre, performance, and visual culture that share an underlying commit-
ment to the radical and political potential of the arts in our contemporary
moment,orgiveconsiderationtoperformanceandtovisualculturefromthepast
deemedcrucialtoasocialandpoliticalpresent.PerformanceInterventionsmoves
transversallyacrossartisticandideologicalboundariestopublishworkthatpro-
motesdialoguebetweenpractitionersandacademics,andinteractionsbetween
performancecommunities,educationalinstitutions,andacademicdisciplines.
Titlesinclude:
AlanAckermanandMartinPuchner(editors)
AGAINSTTHEATRE
CreativeDestructionsontheModernistStage
ElaineAstonandGeraldineHarris(editors)
FEMINISTFUTURES?
Theatre,Performance,Theory
ElaineAstonandGeraldineHarris
AGOODNIGHTOUTFORTHEGIRLS
PopularFeminismsinContemporaryTheatreandPerformance
AnnaBirchandJoanneTompkins(editors)
PERFORMINGSITE-SPECIFICTHEATRE
Politics,Place,Practice
MaaikeBleeker
VISUALITYINTHETHEATRE
TheLocusofLooking
SaraBrady
PERFORMANCE,POLITICSANDTHEWARONTERROR
‘WhateveritTakes’
ClareFinburghandCarlLavery(editors)
CONTEMPORARYFRENCHTHEATREANDPERFORMANCE
JamesFrieze
NAMINGTHEATRE
DemonstrativeDiagnosisinPerformance
LynetteGoddard
STAGINGBLACKFEMINISMS
Identity,Politics,Performance
AlisonForsythandChrisMegson(editors)
GETREAL:DOCUMENTARYTHEATREPASTANDPRESENT
LeslieHillandHelenParis(editors)
PERFORMANCEANDPLACE
D.J.Hopkins,ShelleyOrrandKimSolga(editors)
PERFORMANCEANDTHECITY
AmeliaHoweKritzer
POLITICALTHEATREINPOST-THATCHERBRITAIN
NewWriting:1995–2005
AlisonJeffers
REFUGEES,THEATREANDCRISIS
PerformingGlobalIdentities
StephenGreer
CONTEMPORARYBRITISHQUEERPERFORMANCE
MarcelaKostihová
SHAKESPEAREINTRANSITION
PoliticalAppropriationsinthePost-CommunistCzechRepublic
JonMcKenzie,HeikeRomsandC.JW.-L.Wee(editors)
CONTESTINGPERFORMANCE
EmergingSitesofResearch
JenniferParker-Starbuck
CYBORGTHEATRE
Corporeal/TechnologicalIntersectionsinMultimediaPerformance
RamónH.Rivera-ServeraandHarveyYoung
PERFORMANCEINTHEBORDERLANDS
MikeSell(editor)
AVANT-GARDEPERFORMANCEANDMATERIALEXCHANGE
VectorsoftheRadical
MelissaSihra(editor)
WOMENINIRISHDRAMA
ACenturyofAuthorshipandRepresentation
BrianSingleton
MASCULINITIESANDTHECONTEMPORARYIRISHTHEATRE
PerformanceInterventions
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Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England
Performing Site-Specific
Theatre
Politics, Place, Practice
Editedby
Anna Birch
LecturerinResearch,RoyalConservatoireofScotland,UK
and
Joanne Tompkins
ProfessorofDrama,SchoolofEnglish,MediaStudiesandArtHistory,
UniversityofQueensland,Australia
Selectionandeditorialmatter©AnnaBirchandJoanneTompkins2012
Allchapters©contributors2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-36405-9
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
Contents
ListofIllustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
NotesonContributors x
1 The‘Place’andPracticeofSite-SpecificTheatre
andPerformance 1
JoanneTompkins
Part I Site-SpecificityandEconomics
2 RethinkingSite-Specificity:Monopoly,UrbanSpace,and
theCulturalEconomicsofSite-SpecificPerformance 21
MichaelMcKinnie
Part II Site-SpecificityandtheNarrativesofHistory
3 RehearsingacrossSpaceandPlace:RethinkingAMasque
PresentedatLudlowCastle 37
SusanBennettandJulieSanders
4 EmbodiedPresenceandDislocatedSpaces:Playingthe
AudienceinTenThousandSeveralDoorsinaPromenade,
Site-SpecificPerformanceofJohnWebster’sTheDuchess
ofMalfi 54
JaneCollins
5 HauntedHouse:StagingThePersianswiththeBritishArmy 69
MikePearson
6 Toiling,Tolling,andTelling:PerformingDissensus 84
KathleenIrwin
Part III Site-SpecificityandtheSlippageofPlace
7 BeyondSite-Specificity:EnvironmentalHeterocosms
ontheStreet 103
SusanHaedicke
v
vi Contents
8 RepetitionandPerformativity:Site-SpecificPerformance
andFilmasLivingMonument 118
AnnaBirch
9 ContemporaryEkkeklemasinSite-SpecificPerformance 135
LesleyFerris
10 ‘Places,LikePropertyPrices,GoUpandDown’:
Site-Specificity,Regeneration,andTheMargateExodus 150
LouiseOwen
Part IV Site-SpecificityandTheatricalIntimacy
11 AmbulatoryAudiencesandAnimateSites:Stagingthe
SpectatorinSite-SpecificPerformance 167
KerenZaiontz
12 ImmersiveNegotiations:BinauralPerspectiveson
Site-SpecificSound 182
BruceBartonandRichardWindeyer
13 MySitesSetonYou:Site-SpecificityandSubjectivity
in‘IntimateTheatre’ 201
HelenIball
Part V Site-SpecificityandPolitics
14 SitingthePeople:Power,Protest,andPublicSpace 219
SophieNield
Bibliography 233
Index 248
Illustrations
Coverimage:WollstonecraftLive!WrittenbyKaetheFine,producedand
directedbyAnnaBirch,Fragments&Monumentsfilmandperformance
companyonNewingtonGreen,LondonN16,UK
Maps
3.1 LudlowCastleinitsregionalsetting 39
3.2 MapofLudlowCastle 42
Images
4.1 PlanofthefirstflooroftheGrandCentralincluding
NightingaleTheatreandadjoiningrooms 56
4.2 TheDuchessofMalfi,MirandaHenderson,withher
childrenandservantCariola,IgnacioJarquin,viewed
fromthewindowsoftheGrandCentralontheirway
towardsBrightonstation 61
5.1 TheMessengerreports.NationalTheatreofWales,The
Persians,directedbyMikePearson 78
5.2 Dariusappears.NationalTheatreofWales,ThePersians,
directedbyMikePearson 80
6.1 Windblown/Rafales(2008).StanzaOne–‘Iamapartof
allthatIhavemet.’Actors(backtofront):Derek
Lindman,EugenieDucatel,RegenaMarler 91
6.2 Windblown/Rafales(2008).StanzaThree–‘Tostrive,to
seek,tofind,andnottoyield.’Actor:RegenaMarler 92
7.1 OpéraPagaï,EntreprisedeDétournement:Chantier#5:L’Ile
deCarhaix-Bretagne(Carhaix,France,November
2007) 111
8.1 MaryWollstonecraft(RosPhillips)ascinematographer
inWollstonecraftLive!projectedontothePortavillion
Bubble 121
8.2 TheWollstonecraftLiveExperience!(2007)stillimage
capturedatTheWollstonecraftLiveExperience!outdoor
screening 122
vii
viii ListofIllustrations
10.1 CrowdreleasenoticeforExodusfilming,Saturday,
30September2006 159
11.1 MammalianDivingReflex,HomeTours.Toronto
participantstourthroughtheAnnexneighbourhoodin
2005 172
12.1 DeathByWater,Brooklyn,2008 197
Figure
13.1 Thegestaltcycleofexperienceappliedtowaitingin
Adrian’sshed 211
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the contributors of the chapters in this volume with whom
it has been a pleasure to work. We are only sorry that word lim-
its precluded many others from also contributing. Thanks to the two
anonymousreaderswhoseadvicewasextremelyhelpfulintheshaping
of this book. Paula Kennedy and Ben Doyle from Palgrave Macmillan
havebeenverysupportivethroughouttheprocess.
We could not have completed this book without the assistance of
SarahThomasson,whohasbeeninvaluableincollating,standardizing,
andassemblingthemanuscript;wethankhernotonlyforhertimeand
formatting skills, but also for her valuable insight. Thanks too to Alan
Lawrenceforproofreadingandpreparingtheindex.
ix