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Kazzazi, Seyedeh Anahit.Pdf A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX Performing Science: New Physics and Contemporary British and American Science Plays Thesis Submitted for DPhil in English Seyedeh Anahit Kazzazi Supervised by: Prof. Peter Boxall September 2016 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be submitted in whole or in print to another University for the award of any other degree. Seyedeh Anahit Kazzazi UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX SEYEDEH ANAHIT KAZZAZI DPHIL IN ENGLISH PERFORMING SCIENCE: NEW PHYSICS AND CONTEMPORARY BRITISH AND AMERICAN SCIENCE PLAYS SUMMARY The present study uses the science of new physics (relativity theory and quantum mechanics) to construct a rigorous framework for analyzing the phenomenon of ‘science plays’, and as a means of exploring the implications that the new physics has for understanding theatrical representations. Basic facets of relativity theory and quantum mechanics are explained and used to develop an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the contemporary wave of science playwriting in Britain and America, the two cultures that have predominated in the tradition of science plays during the last three decades. Using a new approach to contemporary theatre, this study bridges the divide that still persists between science and the humanities by suggesting a new area where they intersect. Seeking to provide an analysis of different understandings of science plays, this study also critically examines classifications used by science, theatre, and performance scholars, and offers alternative categories that allow this genre to be viewed in a different light. This is the first study of its kind that furnishes a framework for the analysis of contemporary British and American science plays based on the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. As such, the current study provides a coherent methodology that can be applied to a wide range of post-war science plays. Furthermore, it provides an in- depth analysis of a number of science plays, including Oxygen, After Darwin, W;t, An Experiment with an Air Pump, Mnemonic and A Disappearing Number within the context of new physics. For my parents Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. v Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 New Physics and Science Plays ............................................................................... 2 Structural Links ........................................................................................................ 8 Critical Overview ..................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1 Science, Theatre, and New Physics ..................................................................... 13 1.1 The Categorization of Science Plays................................................................ 13 1.2 From Laboratory to Stage ................................................................................ 26 1.3 Why Physics? .................................................................................................. 35 1.3.1 Classical Physics ........................................................................................... 40 1.3.2 The Theory of Relativity ............................................................................... 42 1.3.3 Quantum Mechanics...................................................................................... 45 1.3.3.1 The Double Slit Experiment ...................................................................... 47 1.3.3.2 Quantum Entanglement .............................................................................. 49 1.4 Implications of the New Physics ...................................................................... 50 1.5 Physics and Theatre Reimagined ..................................................................... 54 Chapter 2 New Physics and Contemporary Science Plays ................................................. 57 2.1 Time-less Time and Space-less Space ............................................................. 57 2.2 When an Armadillo Tells Stories: The Nonlinearity of Narrative ................... 71 2.3 Yin-Yang: A Doubled Difference Within ........................................................ 77 2.4 No Truth is Truth ............................................................................................. 86 2.5 Spooky Connections ........................................................................................ 90 Chapter 3 Science as Supporting Character ........................................................................ 95 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 95 3.2 Redemption and the Search for Completion: Margaret Edson’s W;t ............... 96 3.2.1 Discontinuous Setting, Discontinuous Narrative .......................................... 98 3.2.2 When Opposed Spaces Collide ................................................................... 100 3.2.2.1 Head + Heart = Wit .................................................................................. 101 3.2.2.2 Failure + Success = Redemption .............................................................. 107 3.2.2.3 To Teach vs. to be Taught ........................................................................ 109 3.2.3 Does Distance Matter? ............................................................................... 110 3.3 Shelagh Stephenson’s An Experiment with an Air Pump: The Dialectical Ethics of Scientific Research ............................................................................................... 115 3.3.1 Time-Unbound Ethics ................................................................................. 120 3.3.2 No Linear Time, No Linear Narrative......................................................... 121 3.3.3 Oppositional/Connected Pairs: Local and Nonlocal ................................... 123 3.3.3.1 Local Oppositional Pairs .......................................................................... 124 3.3.3.2 Nonlocal Counter-Ego Pairs .................................................................... 129 3.3.3.3 Nonlocal Connected Pairs ........................................................................ 130 3.3.4 The Ethical Uncertainty of Scientific Progress ........................................... 133 Chapter 4 Science as Leading Character ........................................................................... 138 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 138 4.2 The World After Darwin: Identity and Ethics in Timberlake Wertenbaker’s After Darwin ................................................................................................................. 138 4.2.1 No Chronology, No Linearity ..................................................................... 143 4.2.2 Darwin, Connection and Oppositions ......................................................... 145 4.2.3 Which One is to Survive? Ethics or Darwin? ............................................ 156 4.3 The Search for Discovery in Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann’s Oxygen.. 160 4.3.1 Nonlinear Time and Story ........................................................................... 167 4.3.2 Nonlocal Chemists, Nonlocal Motivations ................................................. 169 4.3.3 Compatible Incompatibilities ...................................................................... 171 4.3.4 Who Is the Discoverer? .............................................................................. 177 Chapter 5 Science as Director ............................................................................................. 180 5.2 The Expression of Origin: Staging the Imaginative Act of Remembrance in Complicite’s Mnemonic ....................................................................................... 182 5.2.1 When? Where? How? I Can’t Remember! ................................................ 187 5.2.2 Ascendant/Descendent Entanglement ......................................................... 192 5.2.3 To Watch or to Be Watched? That’s the Question! ................................... 198 5.2.4 The Uncertainty of Memory-Generated Truth ............................................ 200 5.3 Theatre, Mathematics, and the Aesthetics of Infinity: Complicite’s A Disappearing Number ................................................................................................................. 203 5.3.1 Infinite Time and Space .............................................................................. 208 5.3.2 Mathematicians Calculate the Narrative ..................................................... 211 5.3.3 Boundless Connectivity
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