Reading week 5

Reading – Week 5

Heddon, D. (2006). ‘Beyond the Self: Autobiography as Dialogue,’ in Wallace, C. Monologues: Theatre, Performance, Subjectivity. Prague: Litteria Pragensia.

Dee Heddon

Feedback

·         Explicit use of personal experience within performance is traced to the first wave of the feminist movement where ‘personal’ as also seen as ‘political’.

·         From the outset autobiographical performance has aimed at political aspiration and change through personal and own life experiences. The vast majority of autobiographical performances draw on personal stories to bring the political into sharper focus.

·         Autobiographical performance has been criticized for being too self reflective, to be shown to an audience of one, the self, it is accused of being an ego trip of the ‘I-did-it-my-way’ with amateur staging and mini personalities, and as being self indulgent and encouraging egos for actors to ‘jumps start their me-machines’.

·         However, this is just a stereotype that will remain until there is a shift in understanding.

·         Gammel notes that when personal experiences are expressed via the female voice it is perceived as informal and without authority. Live performance is considered a ‘less socially elevated form’, and autobiography presented in this less socially elevated form has traditionally been seen as a female genre.

·         Autobiographical performances are rarely about the (singular) self.

·         In solo autobiographical performance the performing subject and the subject of performance are one and the same, the self is in dialogue with itself.

·         In autobiographical solo performance there are 3 types of self; 1- the self who is performing, 2- the self who performed, and 3- the self who lives beyond the performance. These selves might then be split into more selves, E.g. husband, father, son, teacher, lover, driver etc.

·         It is near impossible to tell an autobiographical story without describing other people’s roles. Eakin – ‘our own lives never stand free of the lives of others’. Solo autobiography should be called auto/biography as there is the self and others.

·         Ethical questions surrounding the act of appropriation; how to understand the experiences of another and how to practice empathy. In Kron’s Well most of the words come from her mother, who read and advised on drafts so that the representation of her was not negative.

·         The experience performed is only an interpretation of what happened, not necessarily true. The performer can interpret many cultural locations and readings, it is therefore biased.

·         Holquist summarises that dialogue is split into 3, 1- an utterance, 2- a reply, 3- the relation between the two. It is in this relation that change happens.

·         There is a utopian aspect of solo autobiography that Uyehara recognises, ‘performance is transformative...it challenges us to imagine a new world in which to live.’

·         Kron – ‘the goal of autobiographical performance should be not to tell stories about yourself, but instead, to use the details of your own life to illuminate or explore something more universal.’ This is a good mantra to work by, and one which I intend to follow.

·         Most performers create a mode of address that acknowledges the presence of the audience.

·         A mode of autobiographical is to offer no closure, in that it is up to the audience to make the ending because it has not yet happened or not written. For example, a change in law.

·         Autobiographical solo performance can confront cultural and historical taboos, such as McCauley’s Sally’s Rape that addresses slave labour, rape and racism in history. ‘Choosing to confront the racial tensions in wider culture, and most particularly the existence of racism, McCauley conducts that exploration within the making and performing the piece itself.’ The audience is welcome to contribute to the performance at key moments. The piece resists closure.

·         A different type of autobiographical performance is made with the audience’s participation as crucial so that they are physically and verbally active in the process of shaping the piece. Pearson’s Bubbling Tom was made in this style so that the audience would wander around the streets listening to the stories, but to Pearson’s surprise, other stories were exchanged, the audience changed the performance. It unwittingly became a model for participatory theatre. The ending was also different every time because nobody could agree on where the brook that the title of the performance is named, was located.

·         Howells performance of Salon Adrienne was set in a salon and he gave every member of his ‘audience’ a haircut, but whilst he prompted, they discussed similar autobiographical stories. The piece is entirely improvised and is as much to do with your own self reflection as his.

·         There is a fine line between me and we in performance, and it has the potential to tell the past as well as the future. Autobiographical performance acts as a bridge between performance and the world.