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The Role of Misrule in the Practice of Performance

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The Role of Misrule in the Practice of Performance The Role of Misrule in the Practice of Performance Gregor Cameron 198272670 February 2012 Supervised by John Downie Theatre Programme Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Arts in Theatre School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies Victoria University of Wellington Abstract In the theatre we are familiar with how rehearsal and collaboration can lead to a number of unintended discoveries that can cause a production to change tack. At the heart of this thesis is discovery- of oneself as an artist, as part of community collaboration and as part of a story told on stage. Using carnival as a frame for the space we work in, accepting that the ʻtricksterʼ cultural figure can be a manifestation of the carnival, it should be possible for the role of trickster to be taken on by someone in the rehearsal process. This is often but not always the director. These ʻhappy accidentsʼ can in fact arise through the directorʼs deliberate disruption of the community. At times, problems that raise their heads are solved through this creative process. Misrule is my definition of this and I offer my experience of this within the process of bringing Saint Punch, a carnivalesque/ Grand Guignol show, to the stage. I compare this with some other practitionersʼ experience of this process of disruptive imagination as defense of my position. By recognizing it in both theory and practice through a critical analysis my aim is to seek a synthesis intended to enrich the theatrical experience of the audience. 2 MA Thesis: The Role of Misrule in the practice of Performance Acknowledgements First and foremost for being such a provocateur in my life for over twenty years, My Supervisor: John Downie, My Cast and Crew, without whom nothing would have reached playing on the floor, you know who you are and hopefully also know how grateful I am, My Mentors: Alex Funke and Horst Sarubin, Annie Forbes and Tim Denton, Damien Brell, and especially Tom McCrory, My co-conspirators for their generous advice: Kerry Glamsch, Chris Ryan, Ralph Johnson, Sean Redmond, Doug Van Belle, and Matthew Wagner Friends and Staff who stepped up to help: Dawa Devereaux, Paul Wolffram, Jim Davenport, William Franco, and Bernard Blackburn Family & Friends always: Shane Roberts, Roc Travers, Morna Lorden, Claire OʼLoughlin and the rest of the academic and general staff of SEFTMS, Martin Payne and the Payne Whanau, Joan and Robbie Cameron (Our little group of three). Gregor Cameron 198272670 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Figures 6 Introduction. 7 Part One: Inspiration 14 The Script 25 Part Two: The Path to Performance; an exegesis 85 Context 85 Workshops 87 Thoughts 90 Pre-Production 91 Casting 92 Rehearsals 94 Thoughts 107 Mentors 108 Design 116 Show and Tell 123 Thoughts 124 Part Three: Critical Analysis of Misrule and its part in the performance of Saint Punch 126 4 MA Thesis: The Role of Misrule in the practice of Performance Bakhtin and the Carnivalesque. 129 The Grotesque Body and the Simulacra. 140 The Dark Clown and the Trickster 156 Circling the Question of Misrule 177 Sacred/ Profane 184 Conclusion 189 Works Cited. 196 Appendix One 203 Appendix Two 204 Appendix Three 206 Appendix Four 207 Gregor Cameron 198272670 5 List of Figures Figure 1. Gilles de Rais- Des Morgan 7 Figure 2. Saint Punch Finale: Punch hangs the Hangman 85 Figure 3. Elliott and Adnan; discussion of The Whipping of the Quaker Women 86 Figure 4. Patrick, Patricia and Thomas, with Toy Soldiers and Barbies, playing out The Whipping of the Quaker Women. 88 Figure 5. Audrey begins to bring her puppet, Judith, to life 93 Figure 6. Judith, Audrey's Puppet, threatens to open the forbidden cabinet 98 Figure 7. In rehearsal the Inquisitor condemns Gilles to death 104 Figure 8. The television, showing the climax of the Bluebeard story, in a kitchen. 115 Figure 9. The Stage: TV Screen, Curtain, Punch Booth and Grille. 118 Figure 10. Looking down the Grille 122 Figure 11. The image in front of the rape 175 All photos by Gregor Cameron or Maria Becerro Casero, 2011, used with permission. 6 MA Thesis: The Role of Misrule in the practice of Performance Figure 1. Gilles de Rais- Des Morgan Introduction. How often have I experienced that creative moment when everything can change? Not as much as I would like, as this process is rare and needs careful nurture as it arises out of a collaborative community. Certainly when this has arisen it has managed to provide a solution to a problem, which has been very helpful. I have realised that the theatre space we work in is not unlike the Carnivalesque space described by Mikhail Bakhtin. It occurs that the trickster figure that engages so many differing cultures also belongs to this space. As well as appearing in our stories I wonder whether it can also become a role in the practice of theatre and performance. Certainly I can see how, as a director, I sometimes use a trickster-like presence to inspire the rest of our community, hopefully bringing them into a creative space that allows them to dream, Gregor Cameron 198272670 7 engage and adventure. These ʻhappy accidentsʼ have, in my experience, brought solutions where there were only problems and inspiration where there was a block. In bringing Saint Punch to performance I have tried to map out both the physical journey of the process with the theoretical frame of the carnival and its use of the trickster. I have chosen to call this misrule. In order to investigate this I have thought about the cultural theory frame, both in its “constative” and its “performative” forms1. Matt Hills (2005) describes how the constative refers to words that make statements and tend towards an observation and report position on cultural theory. The performative position acknowledges the constative but also demands that theory produce or has an affect upon the observed object or behaviour. In fact Hills suggests that even in its constative form cultural theory can have an affect upon those interacting with it. In a sense reporting about the workshop performance is a constative position while the work on the play itself can be observed to be performative, the cultural object as representative of the carnivalesque culture it belongs in. Thus, since my work is in itself misrulic, it demands a link between what can be seen/ experienced in the performance and then in the work that surrounded bringing it to the stage. I will introduce a series of elements that will trace this idea in a large historical frame through popular culture in order to try and define the concept of misrule and its purpose in the social spectacle of the theatre. 1 Matt Hills cites J.L. Austinʼs work, How to do things with words (1976) as source for the terms ʻconstativeʼ and ʻperformativeʼ. 8 MA Thesis: The Role of Misrule in the practice of Performance In order to do this I have split this thesis into three parts. In the first part I offer some insight into where the project came from, its inspiration. I describe its literary and historical origin and how the three stories may be linked. There are a number of texts that contributed to my thinking. Then there is a consideration of how oneʼs own experience contributes to the work. Misrule as a project sprang from some of these experiences and the knowledge gained. After this comes an examination of the cultural frame of the Carnival. This, in turn, leads to the dark clown and how this icon fits within the history and performance of Saint Punch. Finally I pose the question whether our consideration of this ritual space also belongs to the ʻtricksterʼ figure. Then I have included the final performance script of Saint Punch. Secondly an exegesis of the development of the system of rehearsal, design, mentorship and performance of Saint Punch is included. I discuss the summer workshops and the difficulties that were imposed upon the process by both my own lack of confidence and the external limitations that arose. Then I move on to the pre-production and casting process where this difficult stage of opportunity and challenge collide and how the casting decisions were made. Then the rehearsals begin and the show begins to take form. I describe the system I wanted to maintain and the offers to the cast for them to participate and contribute to the formation of the play. The three differing stage environments are discussed and described, as the three stories contained in the play are each given an environment; Punch his booth, Bluebeard upon the masked stage and Gilles de Rais and Joan DʼArc the television screen. To Gregor Cameron 198272670 9 further disrupt this, the characters exchange their native environments and play upon, within the particular constrains of their story, the other two environments as well. Thus, for instance, the audience meets not just the puppet Punch but also his mask and his ʻrealʼ self as mediated through visual media. An example of a moment of misrule is introduced as scene four is described and its development discussed. I then offer some thoughts on the way the rehearsal proceeded and my reflection upon them. The mentors that I interacted with are introduced with a particular focus on how a conversation with Tom McCrory influenced my thinking on Saint Punch and, in fact, my whole approach to my work within the performance area. As the production nears its performance dates I consider the implications rehearsals and the venue had upon the design that developed and how talking with my mentors offered opportunities that were introduced into the design.
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