The Scenographic Sublime an Aesthetic Analysis of Howard Barker’S Work 1998-2011
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The Scenographic Sublime An Aesthetic Analysis of Howard Barker’s Work 1998-2011 Lara Maleen Kipp Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Aberystwyth University Department of Theatre, Film and Television 30. September 2016 Word count of thesis: 89668 DECLARATION This work has not been previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature of any degree. Signed (candidate) Date STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where *correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked. Other sources are explicitly acknowledged following the Harvard referencing system. A bibliography is appended. Signed (candidate) Date [*this refers to the extent to which the text has been corrected by others] STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date To Keith LeFever, who has been and continues to be an inspiration, a guide, a critic and a counsellor without whom this would not be the path I am on. Acknowledgements Immense gratitude goes to my supervisors, Prof. David Ian Rabey and Dr. Karoline Gritzner, without whom I likely would not have devised this project in the first place. Their support, guidance, essential criticisms, encouragements, incredible generosity and feedback are evident to me throughout this thesis and they deserve explicit and many thanks. Naturally, my gratitude to Howard Barker cannot be overstated; our on-going correspondence over the course of this research provided encouragement and thoughtful provocation by turns; his openness in talking to me about his work, and his generosity with production materials and scripts really elevated the enquiry. Many thanks also have to go to Helen Morley, Ace McCarron, and Paul Bull for giving me their time and generously sharing their experiences with me. Further, I wish to express my thanks to my partner Samuel who has stuck with me through one of the most difficult and trying times of my life and has provided me with a supportive and understanding home that was both a sanctuary and retreat when I needed it. Many thanks are also due to my mother Erika and sister Lindis, who despite widely differing interests have continued to encourage me, and ensured that my feet remained steadfastly on the ground, even when the going got tough. I need to thank Aberystwyth University for awarding me the DCDS Scholarship without which I could not have undertaken this project. Furthermore, I need to thank my colleagues in the department: fellow PhD candidates Sophie Charlotte van de Goor (endless fountain of continental humour, Japanese delicacies, salted liquorice, Canadian sci-fi and generous provider of cat-sitting services), Madara Veipa (fellow plant-carer and instigator of much-needed breaks), Gregor Cameron (dedicated listener, diversifier of thought and provider of many cups of tea), Kerrie Reading (style icon with an innate ability to put things into perspective, dance queen), Tom Alcott (interrupter of masochistic repetition loops, life of the party, provider of hard-won beverages), Tan Promkhuntong (bringer of smiles, easing woes with a few well-placed words), Branwen Davies (offerer of chocolate, gift-giver of seeds, protective and encouraging, brilliant listener and advisor), Jamie Terrill (cheerful, hopeful and great at dispersing unproductive worrying); fellow researcher and Shakespeare enthusiast Patrick Kavanagh for unintended explorations of the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment and substantial life advise; departmental technicians Becky Mitchell, Chris Stewart, Przemek Sobkowicz, Owen Matthew Watts and Stephen Griffiths for endless and diverse help; Dr. Kate Egan for fantastic support and advice as Postgraduate Coordinator, Simon Banham and Richard Downing for their readership, but also for inspiring critical thinking and doing in scenography, Dr. Roger Owen for musical support, brilliant collaboration in practice and thought-provoking conversations, Margaret Ames for unyielding support, generous advice and unfailing care as Welfare Officer; secretaries Maddie Hinkin and Nick Strong for an endless supply of stationary paraphernalia and early-morning cheer. Outside the department, I need to thank Hannah Crute for chocolate, chats and taking my mind off things; the staff of the Aberystwyth Arts Centre for a welcoming environment for volunteering; Claire and Barrie Stott for their support and facilitation of a life- long dream; James Strong, Holly Cook, Thomas Coyle, William Barnes, Ferdinand Messow, Merle Mingo, Emily Dyble-Kitchin, Elena Jung, Robbie Redfearn, Gareth Weaver, and Mead Bowen for correspondences and conversations that were crucial to my sanity; The Elizabethan Madrigal Singers of Aberystwyth University, old and new, for reconnecting me with one of the defining passions of my life, and for beauty, hard work and joy; the Martin family and Ali Siegert for wonderful hospitality; Dr. Neil Gale for providing me with a sanctuary that demands different ways of thinking and doing and thereby enriched my life, my knowledge and my ever-growing collection of rare tropical plants. Other friends and colleagues of academia of course need mentioning: Dr. Jim Reynolds and Dr. Andy Smith for their generous open-mindedness and welcoming attitudes, the TaPRA Scenography Working Group (home away from home) that enabled me to develop my thoughts in a critical yet supportive environment, TaPRA itself for its generosity in providing me with a PG travel allowance and a PG Conference Scholarship, without which I could not have attended the Manchester and Worcester conferences, Elisabeth Angel- Perez and Marc Amfreville who welcomed me at the Sorbonne, DAMU at Prague who enabled a spectacular seminar with Prof. Arnold Aronson and Diana Damien Martin, SCUDD for the provision of the Glynne Wickham Scholarship that made my attendance at the Prague Quadrennial 2015 a reality, and Jon Primrose at Exeter University for his flexibility and helpfulness when navigating the Howard Barker Digital Archive. It is said that a doctorate is a lonely thing, but it does not have to be. All of the above and many more in many ways have goaded, guided, coaxed and led me by turns along the way and for that I am endlessly grateful. Abstract This thesis is set out to explore the scenography of contemporary British playwright Howard Barker through in-depth textual analysis of select dramatic texts and archival materials. It engages in detailed semiotic, poetic and phenomenological analytical approaches to Barker’s scenographic work in order to derive some of his fundamental working principles; the engagement with this specific example is undertaken with a view to continue the development of an appropriate, coherent discourse for the field of scenography more generally. Despite a recent proliferation of academic literature (at the time of writing) the subject area of scenography is still underrepresented in the larger field of drama, theatre and performance studies and remains subject to wide-ranging developments, particularly in terms of widely accepted forms of discourse and critical academic analysis. Though much of Barker’s work – dramatic and otherwise – has been studied in great detail, his scenography has yet to receive sustained attention; the study at hand addresses this lack. Furthermore, in developing an approach to detailed, rigorous scenographic analysis, it evaluates the efficacy of the philosophical discourse of the sublime regarding the particularities of Barker’s scenography. It proposes the concept of the scenographic sublime to address the necessary incompatibility between discourse’s efficacy in description and analysis, and scenography’s expressiveness of that which is in excess of description and complete analysis. This thesis offers the first in-depth study of the scenographic work of one of the most notable contemporary theatre makers, whose positioning as playwright-director- scenographer presents an exceptional example for analysis in terms of a unified theatrical imagination. As such, the thesis presents a possible example of the continued development of scenographic discourse and its attempt to become more generalizable without becoming reductive, whilst acknowledging its necessary limitations in terms of individual perception, researcher’s bias and cultural context. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: OUTLINE OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS AND CONTEXTUALISATION OF THESIS ........................................................................................................................... 8 Scenography: Mapping the Existing Discourse ......................................................11 From Wagner, Appia, and Craig to Wilson, Goebbels, and Barker ........................20 Approaching Scenographic Analysis: Aesthetics and Theories of the Sublime ......40 Barker’s Scenography: Methodology .....................................................................64 CHAPTER 2: STAGE SPACE, PLACE AND SET ................................................................71 CHAPTER 3: LIGHT AND DARKNESS .............................................................................. 107 CHAPTER 4: COSTUME, STYLING