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

ISBN-13: 9781137504388 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 290 str.

Matt Hargrave

Opis

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.

Recenzje

"Theatres of Learning Disability is well-organized, clearly written, and carefully supported by disability theory, performance theory, and detailed evidence from chosen productions, including Hargrave's own reactions to the work. ... Theatres of Learning Disability is an important advancement in the underdeveloped field of disability and performance, effectively arguing how we can and must critically engage with disability art at the level of craft and aesthetics." (Scott Wallin, The Drama Review, Vol. 61 (1), 2017)

"Hargrave's book examines the field of theatrical practices involving actors with learning disabilities ... . Hargrave's aim is to establish a theoretical approach that goes beyond therapeutic or social frameworks and instead conceives of this type of work as a professional art practice. ... Hargrave's exclusive focus on the aesthetics of theatres of learning disability is still exceptional in the emerging specialist field of disability and performance ... ." (Sarah Marinucci, Theatre Research International, Vol. 41 (2), July, 2016)

Spis treści

Foreword by Tim Wheeler Acknowledgements Prologue: Of moths and methods PART I: THE SURROGATE 1. The end of disability arts: theatre, disability and the social model 2. Pure products go crazy: the aesthetic value of learning disability 3. On quality: disability and aesthetic judgements 4. Genealogies: the cultural faces of learning disability PART II: A PROPER ACTOR 5. Nobody's Perfect: disability identity as masquerade 6. The uncanny return of Boo Radley: disability, dramaturgy and reception Conclusion Envoi: The Bartleby Parallax Sources and bibliography Appendix Notes Index

O autorze

Matt Hargrave is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Applied Theatre at the University of Northumbria, UK. As a writer and theatre practitioner he has worked with many leading theatres and cultural providers including Northern Stage, New Writing North, Mind the Gap, National Association of Youth Theatres, The Forge Arts and Education Agency, Helix Arts, Sheffield Crucible, Dead Earnest Theatre, and Arts Council England. His previous publications include articles in journals such as Theatre, Dance and Performance Training and Research in Drama Education.