Theatres of Learning Disability: Good, Bad, or Plain Ugly?

302 Pages·2015·1.521 MB·English

by  Matt Hargrave (auth.)

Theatres of Learning Disability
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Theatres of Learning
Disability
Good, Bad, or Plain Ugly?
Matt Hargrave
Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts, University of Northumbria, UK
© Matt Hargrave 2015
Foreword © Tim Wheeler 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-50438-8
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable
to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered
in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has
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Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United
Kingdom, Europe, and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-70023-3 ISBN 978-1-137-50439-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-50439-5
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to
conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hargrave, Matt, 1971–
Theatres of learning disability : good, bad, or plain ugly? / Matt Hargrave.
pages cm
Summary: “This is the first scholarly book to focus exclusively on theatre and learning
disability as theatre – rather than advocacy or therapy. Matt Hargrave provocatively
realigns many of the (hitherto unvoiced) assumptions that underpin such practices, and
opens up a new set of critical questions. Stemming from a close engagement with the
work of several very different theatre companies – including Mind the Gap (UK); Back
to Back (Australia) – and unique solo artists such as Jez Colborne, this book shifts the
emphasis from questions of social benefit towards a genuine engagement with aesthetic
judgement. Hargrave examines the rich variety of contemporary theatrical practices
in this field and spans a wide range of forms such as site specific, naturalistic and
autobiographical performance. The book examines ways in which the learning disabled
performer might be read on stage, and the ways in which s/he might disturb assumptions,
not least about what acting or artistic authorship is. This is an important and timely
study for all upper-level theatre and performance students and scholars alike, as well as a
provocative contribution to debates within disability studies”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. People with disabilities and the performing arts. I. Title.
PN1590.H36H37 2015
791.087—dc23 2015002377
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
For Carolynn, Alex, and Dylan
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Contents
Foreword by Tim Wheeler x
Acknowledgements xiv
Prologue: Of Moths and Methods 1
The Moth Ball (2008) 1
Overview of the book 6
Cognitive dissonances: a note on the appendix 14
Part I The Surrogate
1 The End of Disability Arts: Theatre, Disability,
and the Social Model 21
What is learning disability? 21
What is disability arts? 27
The social model of disability 28
Applied theatre: all the marginalised of the world 34
Is disability arts worth paying for? 38
The end of disability arts and the sharing of a hidden secret 41
Conclusion 44
2 Pure Products Go Crazy: The Aesthetic Value of
Learning Disability 47
Defamiliar dramaturgies 47
One: Small Metal Objects (2005) 51
Between work and audience 53
Between work and artist 56
Between art and reality 61
Two: Hypothermia (2010) 63
Eugenics as subject 65
Form as eugenics 67
Anomalies 73
Conclusion 75
3 On Quality: Disability and Aesthetic Judgements 79
The parallax gap 79
Quality: why be interested? 81
Pinocchio (2007), the tale of a puppet 90
vii
viii Contents
Artistic visions 91
Creative tensions 94
Heteronomy/autonomy 95
The aesthetics of support 99
Outsourcing authenticity 103
Conclusion 107
4 Genealogies: The Cultural Faces of Learning Disability 112
Introduction 112
Untamed minds: the face of the outsider 115
Radical dignity: the face of the feral 119
Intolerable ambiguity: the face of the freak 123
Punctum indifferens: the face of the fool 127
Conclusion: the trickster 132
Part II A Proper Actor
5 Nobody’s Perfect: Disability Identity as Masquerade 137
Masquerade 137
On the Verge (2005) 140
Creating Colborne 147
Camp Syndrome 154
Tear marks 158
Nobody’s perfect 165
6 The Uncanny Return of Boo Radley: Disability,
Dramaturgy, and Reception 169
Introduction: the uncanny 169
Ide’s affect 174
Autistic presence 176
‘It’: the strange presence of Jonathan Ide 179
Authorial presence 186
Theatrical and un-theatrical presences 190
Side affects 196
Reading the signs 198
Looking at the evidence 203
Heading them off at the pass 206
In the dark 209
Conclusion 211
Conclusion: A Proper Actor 217
Amateur professionals 217
Towards a craft-based poetics 225
Contents ix
Envoi: The Bartleby Parallax 231
Appendix: Easy Read Summary 235
Notes 250
Sources and Bibliography 257
Index 273