“We are Performance Philosophy Problems”
This article originates from a KeyGroup presentation at the June 2022 Performance Philosophy Problems conference in Helsinki in which the performers of Different Light Theatre Company, a learning-disabled theatre company based in Christchurch, New Zealand, interrogated the conference process, propo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Performance Philosophy
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Performance Philosophy |
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| Online Access: | https://performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/443 |
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| _version_ | 1823858073304825856 |
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| author | Janet Gibson Kate Maguire-Rosier Tony McCaffrey |
| author_facet | Janet Gibson Kate Maguire-Rosier Tony McCaffrey |
| author_sort | Janet Gibson |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This article originates from a KeyGroup presentation at the June 2022 Performance Philosophy Problems conference in Helsinki in which the performers of Different Light Theatre Company, a learning-disabled theatre company based in Christchurch, New Zealand, interrogated the conference process, proposing their own research questions for the conference participants as well as questions about theatre, Zoom, and thinking. At the conclusion of the presentation, Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, asked how ‘we’ (academics and the learning-disabled) can be together in conferences in meaningful and inclusive ways. Two separate pieces form a response to Maoilearca’s question: one from McCaffrey and the other from Maguire-Rosier and Gibson, all participants of the KeyGroup.
McCaffrey starts and ends with videos of performance (and transcription). Firstly the video message sent by Different Light to the Helsinki conference and secondly The Journeyings of Different Light at the ADSA (Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies) conference at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in December 2022. The performance questions the company's self or ‘voice’ as determined by the negotiation between the learning-disabled artists, the facilitation of a non-disabled director, and the reception of the performance by a (primarily) non-disabled audience. The middle section is an account by McCaffrey as an ‘unreliable director’ of the processes and politics of making learning-disabled theatre. It performatively demonstrates how the voices of the performers are ‘problems’ for theatrical performance, for an academic conference, and for performance philosophy. Maguire-Rosier and Gibson’s easy-read “story” introduces a dance theatre project in Australia (Days Like These) and a socially engaged theatre project in the USA (To Whom I May Concern) to open up scholarship to people usually excluded from academia due to the density of academic language. Although we keep the offerings separate, both advance the idea that learning-disabled theatre and theatres where people show and share disability and diagnoses of dementia disturb some of the key assumptions of theatre and performance studies, notably ‘withness’ and ‘aboutness’. In terms of ‘withusness’, learning disabled theatre provokes a reconsideration of long-held assumptions concerning liveness and co-presence.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b1be65f8a36443d1981a3e5edbd06b4d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2057-7176 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Performance Philosophy |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Performance Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj-art-b1be65f8a36443d1981a3e5edbd06b4d2025-02-11T16:00:36ZengPerformance PhilosophyPerformance Philosophy2057-71762024-12-019110.21476/PP.2024.91443“We are Performance Philosophy Problems”Janet Gibson0Kate Maguire-Rosier1Tony McCaffrey2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5585-4543Macquarie UniversityUniversity of ManchesterNational Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art, Ara Institute, Christchurch/Different Light Theatre This article originates from a KeyGroup presentation at the June 2022 Performance Philosophy Problems conference in Helsinki in which the performers of Different Light Theatre Company, a learning-disabled theatre company based in Christchurch, New Zealand, interrogated the conference process, proposing their own research questions for the conference participants as well as questions about theatre, Zoom, and thinking. At the conclusion of the presentation, Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, asked how ‘we’ (academics and the learning-disabled) can be together in conferences in meaningful and inclusive ways. Two separate pieces form a response to Maoilearca’s question: one from McCaffrey and the other from Maguire-Rosier and Gibson, all participants of the KeyGroup. McCaffrey starts and ends with videos of performance (and transcription). Firstly the video message sent by Different Light to the Helsinki conference and secondly The Journeyings of Different Light at the ADSA (Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies) conference at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in December 2022. The performance questions the company's self or ‘voice’ as determined by the negotiation between the learning-disabled artists, the facilitation of a non-disabled director, and the reception of the performance by a (primarily) non-disabled audience. The middle section is an account by McCaffrey as an ‘unreliable director’ of the processes and politics of making learning-disabled theatre. It performatively demonstrates how the voices of the performers are ‘problems’ for theatrical performance, for an academic conference, and for performance philosophy. Maguire-Rosier and Gibson’s easy-read “story” introduces a dance theatre project in Australia (Days Like These) and a socially engaged theatre project in the USA (To Whom I May Concern) to open up scholarship to people usually excluded from academia due to the density of academic language. Although we keep the offerings separate, both advance the idea that learning-disabled theatre and theatres where people show and share disability and diagnoses of dementia disturb some of the key assumptions of theatre and performance studies, notably ‘withness’ and ‘aboutness’. In terms of ‘withusness’, learning disabled theatre provokes a reconsideration of long-held assumptions concerning liveness and co-presence. https://performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/443cognitve/affective learninglearning disabled theatreethics of careaesthetics of differenceperformance research methodologiespresence and voice in performance |
| spellingShingle | Janet Gibson Kate Maguire-Rosier Tony McCaffrey “We are Performance Philosophy Problems” Performance Philosophy cognitve/affective learning learning disabled theatre ethics of care aesthetics of difference performance research methodologies presence and voice in performance |
| title | “We are Performance Philosophy Problems” |
| title_full | “We are Performance Philosophy Problems” |
| title_fullStr | “We are Performance Philosophy Problems” |
| title_full_unstemmed | “We are Performance Philosophy Problems” |
| title_short | “We are Performance Philosophy Problems” |
| title_sort | we are performance philosophy problems |
| topic | cognitve/affective learning learning disabled theatre ethics of care aesthetics of difference performance research methodologies presence and voice in performance |
| url | https://performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/443 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT janetgibson weareperformancephilosophyproblems AT katemaguirerosier weareperformancephilosophyproblems AT tonymccaffrey weareperformancephilosophyproblems |