Giving and Taking Voice in Learning Disabled Theatre PDF
Preview Giving and Taking Voice in Learning Disabled Theatre
Giving and Taking Voice in Learning Disabled Theatre Giving and Taking Voice in Learning Disabled Theatre offers unique insight into the question of ‘voice’ in learning disabled theatre and what is gained and lost in making performance. It is grounded in the author’s 18 years of making theatre with Different Light Theatre company in Christchurch, New Zealand, and includes contributions from the artists themselves. This book draws on an extensive archive of performer interviews, record- ings of rehearsal processes, and informal logs of travelling together and sharing experience. These accounts engage with the practical aesthetics of theatre-making as well as their much wider ethical and political implica- tions, relevant to any collaborative process seeking to represent the under- or un-represented. Giving and Taking Voice in Learning Disabled Theatre asks how care and support can be tempered with artistic challenge and rig- our and presents a case for how listening learning disabled artists to speech encourages attunement to indigenous knowledge and the cries of the planet in the current socio-ecological crisis. This is a vital and valuable book for anyone interested in learning disa- bled theatre, either as a performer, director, dramaturg, critic, or spectator. Tony McCaffrey is a Senior Lecturer at the National Academy of Sing- ing and Dramatic Art, Ara Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand. He has been Artistic Director of Different Light Theatre since 2004 and is the Co- convenor of the Performance and Disability Working Group of the Interna- tional Federation for Theatre Research. Giving and Taking Voice in Learning Disabled Theatre Tony McCaffrey Designed cover image: Paul McCaffrey for Different Light Theatre. Different Light performer Josie Noble. First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Tony McCaffrey The right of Tony McCaffrey to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: McCaffrey, Tony, author. Title: Giving and taking voice in learning disabled theatre / Tony McCaffrey. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022049562 (print) | LCCN 2022049563 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367539009 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367538972 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003083658 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Actors with disabilities. | People with mental disabilities in the theater. | People with disabilities and the performing arts. Classification: LCC PN1590.H36 M325 2019 (print) | LCC PN1590.H36 (ebook) | DDC 792.02/8087--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022049562 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022049563 ISBN: 9780367539009 (hbk) ISBN: 9780367538972 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003083658 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003083658 Typeset in Sabon LT Std by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. This book is dedicated to all the performers and supporters of Different Light Theatre. Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction: Giving and Taking Voice 1 1 Setting the Scene: The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes 42 2 Community Theatre and Myths of Community 51 3 Dramatic Theatre and the Temporality of Learning Disabled Theatre 84 4 Intertextuality and Intermediality: Performing Responses to the Disabling of the City 114 5 Learning Disabled Performance Research: Ecologies, Histories, Philosophies 152 6 From the Theatre to the After Party 179 Appendix: Chronology of Different Light Theatre Performances, Presentations, and Participants 193 Index 197 Acknowledgements I wish to thank Kelsie Acton, ADSA, Margaret Ames, Cloé Anngow, Andrés Aparicio, Simon Atkinson, Awakenings Festival, Meli Bach, Back to Back Theatre, Alan Barnes, Adam Benjamin, Sara Brodie, Damian Bumman, Glen Burrows, Dave Calvert, Marla Carlson, Marvin Carlson, Danielle Carter, Verity Carter, Merrin Cavell, Felipe Cervera, Beth Cherne, Kyle Chuen, Colette Conroy, Stuart Craig, Creative New Zealand, Christiane Czymoch, Andrew Dever, Angelia Douglas, Janette Dovey, Ben Ellenbroek, Peter Falkenberg, Rebecca Flint, Terry Fogarty, Free Theatre, Christchurch, Katrine Gabb, Kim TePairi Garrett, Janet Gibson, Bruce Gladwin, Vibeke Glørstad, Richard Gough, Sara Granath, Amiria Grenell, Inez Grim, Julia Guthrey, Sarah H., Bree Hadley, Steph Hines, Theodore Hoffman, Nick Hollamby, Hohepa Canterbury, Hemi Hoskins, International Federation for Theatre Research Working Group on Disability and Performance, Tatiana Josz, Amber Kennedy, Theresa King, Esa Kirkkopelto, Petra Kuppers, Roslen Langton, John Lambie, Demarnia Lloyd, Stuart Lloyd-Harris, Kate Maguire-Rosier, Alison Mahoney, Nanaia Mahuta, Neil Marcus, Claire Margerison, Sofie Martinsdotter, Yayoi Mashimo, Mojo Mathers, Marian McCurdy, Drew McLean, Ben Morris, Missy Morton, Rachel Mullins, NASDA, Ara Institute, Alice Nash, Josie Noble, David O’Donnell, Shawn O’Rourke, Andrew Oswin, George Parker, Louise Payne, Per. Arts, Performance Philosophy, Performance Studies international, Ben Piggott, Yoni Prior, Caroline Quick, Paul Rae, Peter Rees, Nicholas Ridout, Salamanda Tandem, Yvonne Schmidt, Theron Schmidt, Michael Shone, Elizabeth Sinclair, Tony Smith, Andrew Snell, Michael Stanley, Biddy Steffens, Matthew Swaffield, Isaac Tait, Theater HORA, Catriona Toop, Trisha Ventom, Mick Wallis, Natalie Walton, Jessica Watkin, Benjamin Wihstutz, Moira Williams, Emma Willis, Carrington Wilson. Special thanks to Marie, Mary, and Paul, and to Greta Bond, for her intelligence, consideration, and generosity. Introduction: Giving and Taking Voice The learning disabled artists are present In contemporary theatrical performance, learning disabled people are increasingly present as artists. They are no longer the voiceless to whom voice must be given, neither are they required merely to be the ‘authentic’ voice of learning disabled experience. This presence is, however, still sub- ject to negotiation between non-disabled and disabled participants and is dependent upon networks of support, care, and collaboration. It is also caught up in the complexities, ironies, and ambivalence that the role of the artist implies. Learning disabled artists are finding and raising their voices in theatre and performance, but questions remain that will be considered throughout this book. How are learning disabled artists invited into, or included, in theatre? How are they given voice, how do they give voice, and to what do they give voice? What might be gained in understanding theatre, ability, and disability by attending to the emergence of these voices? This book focuses on voice, a very loose term that is capable of var- ious interpretations. I have chosen it for its very imprecision and flu- idity. The ubiquity, inadequacy, and instability of the term align with the complexity of the shifting and slippery ideas of presence, identity, selfhood, autonomy, and power that are in play in an analysis of learn- ing disabled theatre. Voice and presence have meanings that are specific to theatre training and performance, but these are inextricably linked to representation in its political meaning. Any consideration of voice in learning disabled theatre involves far-reaching questions of agency, iden- tity, representation, presence, self-expression, personhood, and selfhood. My experience is that there is a complex interrelationship between disa- bled and non-disabled participants in the making and reception of such theatre. Considering this interrelationship can teach us much about the possibilities of co-creation, collaboration, and mutual care. There is cur- rently an urgent need to understand and develop practices of interdepend- ence in the face of ever-increasing social inequities and injustices and the related cries of the planet: what Moten and Harney in All Incomplete call ‘The Socioecological Disaster’ (45). DOI: 10.4324/9781003083658-1
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