Performing Witness Testimonial Theatre in the Age of Asylum, Australia 2000–2005

Performing Witness Testimonial Theatre in the Age of Asylum, Australia 2000–2005 Caroline Wake A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of English, Media and Performing Arts University of New South Wales August 2010 ii Originality Statement “I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.” Signed: . Date: . iii Copyright and Authenticity Statements Copyright Statement “I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.” Signed: . Date: . Authenticity Statement “I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.” Signed: . Date: . iv At issue here is the precariousness of empathy and the uncertain line between witness and spectator.—Saidiya Hartman v Abstract Witnessing, as it is currently conceived in theatre and performance studies, is a mode of “active” and/or “ethical” spectatorship. However, such definitions neglect the insights of trauma studies scholars, who suggest that witnessing is neither active nor especially ethical. Instead, trauma studies theorists argue that witnessing is temporally belated, which is to say an after effect of spectatorship as well as a mode. Drawing on the language of trauma studies, and through an analysis of testimonial theatres made by, with, and about asylum seekers in Australia from 2000 to 2005, this thesis develops a theory of “performing witness.” Such a theory considers both the figure of the performing witness, defined as someone who testifies and retestifies in public whether on behalf of themselves or an absent other, and the function of performing witness, which is to say the process of producing, reproducing, representing, and responding to testimony. In order to elucidate this theory, the thesis proceeds through a series of “scenes.” The first two chapters focus on theoretical “scenes,” one from theatre and performance studies (Bertolt Brecht’s “Street Scene”) and another from trauma studies (Shoshana Felman’s “Classroom Scene”), in order to ask: “How have these fields theorised witnessing and how might they illuminate one another?” The next four chapters pursue a single question across a series of sites: “What forms of witnessing do we find in performance?” These performance “scenes” include the interviews conducted by immigration officials (Chapter 3), a verbatim play based on interviews with refugees in which a refugee was cast as himself (Chapter 4), an autobiographical play devised and performed by that same refugee (Chapter 5), and a tribunal play based on the transcripts of a parliamentary inquiry into how a boat of asylum seekers came to grief off the coast of Australia (Chapter 6). Through these analyses, many theories of witnessing emerge: ambivalent; mimetic; antiphonic; and false witnessing. These new theories not only refine our understanding of theatrical witnessing, they also shift our understanding of witnessing more generally, inviting us to rethink the relationship between spectatorship, ethics, activity, and temporality. vi Acknowledgements I would not have started this thesis without the encouragement and support of Ed Scheer, who supervised my undergraduate thesis and spurred me onwards and upwards. Likewise, I could not have continued it without the supervision of Meg Mumford, who has calmly steered me through many crises in confidence and direction. Her patient ears, exacting eyes, and incredible work ethic are all much appreciated and admired. When both Meg and Ed were on leave, Jodi Brooks stepped into the breach and I liked her so much I asked her to stay. Throughout our time together Jodi has been a generous and rigorous reader and mentor. In thanking Jodi and Meg for the quality of their supervision, I also wish to thank them for the quantity of it—they have worked with me over many hours, weeks, months, and years. These three are part of a wider intellectual community at the University of New South Wales, which has sustained me throughout this thesis. Special mentions go to the other theatre and performance staff: John McCallum, for kindly reading a very rough draft of Chapter 3; and Clare Grant, for many enjoyable conversations in the corridor. I am also grateful to the School of English, Media and Performing Arts’ Postgraduate Coordinator Paul Dawson for his advice and support during a difficult time. To Paul Brown, from the School of History and Philosophy, thank you for giving me a project to look forward to. I have also enjoyed many conversations with my friends and fellow postgraduates Rebecca Caines, Megan Carrigy, Julie-Anne Long, Sam Spurr, Rayma Watkinson, and David Williams. Beyond the University of New South Wales, I have benefited from conversations with colleagues at the Australasian Drama, Theatre, Performance, and Drama Studies Association (ADSA), Performance Studies international (PSi), and the network for Performance and Asylum. The head of the network, Helen Gilbert, not only gave me an airfare to attend a conference, she also gave me—along with Sophie Nield—generous feedback on an earlier version of Chapter 4. I am also grateful to Helena Grehan for her feedback on an earlier version of Chapter 1 and her encouragement more generally, even from across the continent. Of course, without the artists themselves I would have nothing to say at such conferences so I am grateful to all of the artists of this period, particularly to those whose work is examined here: Shahin Shafaei; Ros Horin; and version 1.0. Special thanks go to Ros Horin for permission to cite an unpublished script and to Heidrun Löhr for permission to reproduce her photographs. vii There are two very dear friends who deserve special thanks, not only because my own scholarly work is indebted to theirs but also because they have helped me to hatch thoughts, dreams, and selves. Thanks to Melissa Yeomans for her excellent thesis and her endearing enthusiasm for life, art, and especially live art. Bryoni Trezise once introduced me in a theatre foyer as her “other, other half” and I feel the same way about her. For your grace, generosity, and intellectual acuity, I am in your debt Bryoni. To my Sydney family, Maria O’Neill, Sarah, Caroline, and Teri Haid, Campbell McKay and Andrew Messer, I say thank you for the many gluten-free meals, the birthdays, and letting me borrow your dog. To the Wake family, words are not enough for the moral and material support you have given me. I am especially grateful to Stephanie, who went above and beyond the call of sisterly duty and checked some citations for me. While she was doing so, she noticed that we write very similarly, surely a result of the many hours we spent as children listening to our mother Jocelyn read. I thank Jocelyn herself for the post cards, the phone calls, and the fierce love that I can feel even down the freeway. To my father Chris, thank you for your wise and gentle words of advice about patience, perseverance, and the 80-20 rule. Finally, thank you to my partner Patrick Haid, for his love, support, and apparently irrepressible sense of fun. viii Publications Sections of this work have been published in the following articles: Trezise, Bryoni, and Caroline Wake. “Introduction to After Effects: Performing the Ends of Memory.” Performance Paradigm 5.1 (2009): http://www.performanceparadigm.net/journal/issue-51/articles/introduction-after- effects-performing-the-ends-of-memory/ Wake, Caroline. “The Accident and the Account: Towards a Taxonomy of Spectatorial Witness in Theatre and Performance Studies.” Performance Paradigm 5.1 (2009): http://www.performanceparadigm.net/journal/issue-51/articles/the-accident-and-the- account-towards-a-taxonomy-of-spectatorial-witness-in-theatre-and-performance- studies/ Wake, Caroline. “After Effects: Performing the Ends of Memory, An Introduction to Volume I” Performance Paradigm 5.1 (2009): http://www.performanceparadigm.net/journal/issue-51/articles/after-effects-performing- the-ends-of-memory-an-introduction-to-volume-i/ Wake, Caroline. “Through the (In)visible Witness in Through the Wire.” Research in Drama Education 13.2 (2008): 187–92. Sections of this work have been accepted for publication: Wake, Caroline.

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