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Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Carr, Marisa (2019) Dr Carnesky’s incredible bleeding woman. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/28152/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. 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See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy Dr Carnesky’s Incredible Bleeding Woman Reinventing Menstrual Rituals Through New Performance Practices A thesis submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Marisa Carr (artist name Marisa Carnesky) M00468756 School of Media and Performing Arts, Middlesex University September 2019 Abstract Dr Carnesky’s Incredible Bleeding Woman, Reinventing Menstrual Rituals Through New Performance Practices (DCIBW) is a revelatory, illusory, horror filled, taboo breaking bricolage; a multimodal research project that proposes to reinvent menstrual rituals through new performance practices. DCIBW is a spectacular touring live art carnivalesque performance work premiered in 2015 and documented in this written thesis. It draws on menstruation studies from the fields of anthropology, feminism, live art and performance, entertainment history, popular culture, activism and ecology. Informed by an autoethnographical framework, it uses my experiences as a woman and a performance maker developed through the creation of a Practice as Research (PaR) live performance project. It critically engages with theories of indigenous stories, menstrual synchronicity, horror and abjection in feminism, women in variety entertainment traditions and generative eco feminist frameworks. It explores the overarching themes of cyclicity and renewal that became apparent in researching the reinvention of menstrual rituals. The live performance features a cast of research participants who are a group of diverse intersectional queer live artists and circus skilled performers presenting physical acts in the context of an experimental performative lecture and of the theatricalised personal revelations of life experiences created through our PaR methodology. The creation of the work explored through the thesis and the show included monthly menstrual ritual performance devising workshop weekends, qualitative interviews, group discussion, work in progress showings and live performance touring experiences. The workshops utilised existing research methods on menstrual synchronicity and the devising methods for performance drew on my existing live art and cabaret practice and the performers’ skills. The PaR explored spectacle and taboo ii in popular entertainment traditions including the traditional variety arts of stage magic, cabaret and sideshow, highlighting new propositions for the term Showwoman as opposed to showman to be used in contemporary performance vernacular, defining the Showwoman as using her spectacular vision in acts that are transformative and collaborative and an antidote to the entertainment traditions of the exploitative tropes of the showman. The revelations of the touring performance and associated events of post- show talks saw the emergence of the activist group the Menstruants which went on to independently organise events and public performative interventions at the same time as the show was touring. This further informed the project to propose new methodologies for the creation of menstrual ritual and activism. The PaR, the writing of the thesis, the performance of the show and the staging of activist events resulted in the introduction of a new proposition for a theoretical term - the Menstrocene - that can contribute to a wider ecofeminist performance activist landscape. iii Acknowledgments Firstly I would like to extend special thanks to my supervisors Josephine Machon and Feona Atwood whose guidance, patience and support have been extraordinary throughout this process. Thank you to the artists who took part in the practice as research project and various incarnations of the performances of Dr Carnesky’s Incredible Bleeding Woman, the performers, the creative and the production teams: Veronica Thompson aka Fancy Chance, H Plewis, Sula Robbin Plewis, Rhyannon Styles, Missa Blue, Nao Nagai, Kira O’Reily, Florence Peake, Claire Ashley, Tom Cassani, Jonathan Allen, Tom Cottey, Natacha Poldecia, Amy Ridler and Sarah Morris. Many thanks to the outstanding producers without whom the performance work would not have happened or would not be continuing, Lara Clifton, Flora Herberich, David Sheppard in the UK and Rose Ricketson in Australia. Thanks for original support in kind from Stephanie Stevenson from Metal in Southend and Matthew Poxon at National Theatre Studios. Many thanks goes to Dicky Eaton and Simon Casson from Duckie for their early commission and continued support of Carnesky Productions as a whole. Further thanks go to the partners and producers in 2018 for their commitment to commission the next phase of the work, Laura McDermott at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and David Sheppard at the Marlborough. Many thanks also go to Chris Knight and Camilla Power at the Radical Anthropology Group for all their guidance and unwavering support in the areas of radical anthropology and activism. Thanks also to Professor Vanessa Toulmin for her guidance of Showwoman and Dr Allie Carr for her support. This project was made possible through the generous funding from Middlesex University, Arts Council England, Duckie and The Attenborough Centre For The Creative Arts. iv Table of Contents Introduction: The Autoethnographic Origins of Dr Carnesky’s Idea ........ 1 Jews and Forbidden Blood and Tattoos… ................................................ 8 An Emotional and Bloody Rollercoaster .................................................. 18 Bloody Practice as Research .................................................................. 24 Chapter 1: Anthropology and the Menstrocene ........................................................ 32 Menstrual Ritual and Taboo in Anthropology ........................................... 33 Serpentine Bodies .................................................................................... 35 Practice Menstrual Rituals Versus Proving Menstrual Synchrony ............ 42 The Perfect Potency for Ritual Practices ................................................. 46 Chapter 2: There’s No Women Like Bloody Showwomen ......................................... 52 Menstrual Magic ....................................................................................... 57 Sawing the Suffragette In Half ................................................................ 66 Horror Power............................................................................................ 71 Theatres of Blood ..................................................................................... 77 Acting Up on a Monthly Basis .................................................................. 88 Menstrual Activists and Spiritualist’s Unite ............................................... 94 Chapter 3: Conceiving Dr Carnesky’s Incredible Bleeding Woman ........................... 98 Bloody Devising Processes ................................................................... 103 Workshop Flows… ................................................................................. 105 Workshop One -The Red Round Table .................................................. 107 Workshop Two - Menstrual Ritual Performance Making ........................ 110 Workshop Three -Menstrual Documentation ......................................... 111 Chapter 4: Dr Carnesky, The Menstruants and Menstronauts ................................ 113 v The Menstruants ................................................................................... 118 Collecting The Research ....................................................................... 128 National Theatre Studios Week Long Workshop December 2015 ........ 131 Reclaiming the Sawing In Half Routine ................................................