Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Violence
Staging the Role of Theatre
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Beschreibung
"This is a rich, deeply considered, and useful investigation that not only examines theatrical representations of violence but theatre’s own implication in the objectifying nature of violence. Its insights will be of use to scholars, students, and practitioners".
Dr Suzanne Little, University of Otago, New Zealand
This book examines a series of contemporary plays where writers put theatre itself on stage. The texts examined variously dramatize how theatre falls short in response to the demands of violence, expose its implication in structures of violence—including racism and gender-based violence—and illustrate how it might effectively resist violence through reconfiguring representation. Case studies, which include Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present and Fairview, Ella Hickson’s The Writer and Tim Crouch’s The Author, provide a range of practice-based perspectives on the question of whether theatre is capable of accounting for and expressing the complexities of structural and interpersonal violence as both lived in the body and borne out in society. The book will appeal to scholars and artists working in the areas of violence, theatre and ethics, witnessing, memory and trauma, spectatorship and contemporary dramaturgy, as well as to those interested in both the doubts and dreams we have about the role of theatre in the twenty-first century.
Emma Willis is a senior lecturer in Drama at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research lies at the intersection of contemporary performance and dramaturgy, spectatorship and ethics and investigates the roles that theatre and theatricality play in our negotiations of subjectivity, community and responsibility in contemporary life. Recent publications include Theatricality, Dark Tourism and Ethical Spectatorship: Absent Others (2014), and journal articles and chapters variously exploring metatheatricality, acting pedagogy, kindness and shopping malls.
This book examines a series of contemporary plays where writers put theatre itself on stage. The texts examined variously dramatize how theatre falls short in response to the demands of violence, expose its implication in structures of violence—including racism and gender-based violence—and illustrate how it might effectively resist violence through reconfiguring representation. Case studies, which include Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present and Fairview, Ella Hickson’s The Writer and Tim Crouch’s The Author, provide a range of practice-based perspectives on the question of whether theatre is capable of accounting for and expressing the complexities of structural and interpersonal violence as both lived in the body and borne out in society. The book will appeal to scholars and artists working in the areas of violence, theatre and ethics, witnessing, memory and trauma, spectatorship and contemporary dramaturgy, as well as to those interested inboth the doubts and dreams we have about the role of theatre in the twenty-first century.
Examines a series of contemporary plays where writers put theatre itself on stage Appeals to scholars working in the areas of violence, theatre, ethics and contemporary dramaturgy Examines and variously dramatizes how theatre falls short in response to the demands of violence
Autor*in
Emma Willis
Themen in »Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Violence«
dramaturgy metatheatricality violence playwriting acting spectatorship
Stimmen zu »Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Violence«
Close to the end of her book, Emma Willis shares with readers the hope that she has been able, not only to fulfil the book’s aim of analysing the relationship between violence and theatre, but also to ‘broaden insights into the contemporary challenges facing theatrical practice’. With Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Violence: Staging the Role of Theatre, she certainly achieves this. Willis has written a profound volume that tackles the key issues often hinted at but not always fully investigated in theatre scholarship. Empathy and its limits, the role of metatheatricality, questions of solidarity, trauma and suffering are all given detailed consideration. Each topic and idea are explored through detailed engagement with playwrights, their works and the voices of critics and scholars. This is a breathtaking book that will make an excellent contribution to disciplinary conversations.
- Professor Helena Grehan, Murdoch University, Australia
- Dr Suzanne Little, University of Otago, New Zealand
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