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THE DEAD ROOM: REFLEXIVITY, RECURSION AND MEMORY IN THE ACT OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SCRIPTWRITING Richard Monks, BA(Hons), MA (RCA) Submitted in fuLfiLment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhiLosophy September 2017 This thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in substantialLy the same form for the awards of a higher degree eLsewhere. THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks Acknowledgements I owe a huge debt of thanks to my supervisor, Professor Paul FarLey, for his guidance, encouragement and support throughout the writing of this thesis. Through our many fascinating conversations I was encouraged to expLore aspects of screenwriting, and poetry, which I might never have otherwise considered. In so doing I discovered much that was new to me and rediscovered much that I’d forgotten. I would also like to thank James Cook, Radio 4’s Editor for Poetry, Arts & Natural History, for his gracious permission to reproduce a part of our emaiL exchange. FinalLy, I wouLd Like to thank Alan Bennett, whose work I have Long admired, for generously agreeing to be interviewed for this project. 2 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks This work is dedicated to Annie with love. 3 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks Abstract During the course of this practice-based PhD I intend to eXpLore the themes of famiLy, memory and time by researching and writing a feature-Length screenpLay that wiLL draw on research into autobiographical scriptwriting, estabLishing a direct and substantive dialogue between my own practice and the work of other recent writers for screen and radio who have eXpLored simiLar themes. According to BLake Morrison, in his book Too True, ‘Truth becomes the first casualty of a good story.’ Through ongoing refLection upon my emergent work, I intend to eXpLore this statement and eXamine the boundaries between fact and fiction within autobiographical writing focusing on the work of such writers as ALan Bennett, Looking in particuLar at his recent pLays The Lady in the Van and Cocktail Sticks, and the autobiographical work of the fiLm-maker Terence Davies. I wiLL also attempt to identify and eXpLore structural principLes shared by scriptwriters and poets such as Tony Harrison, to test how fLuid the boundaries are between what are routineLy treated as separate subjects; in this sense, the project, with my deveLoping writing at its core, has an interdiscipLinary dimension. The creative project wiLL constitute 80% of my PhD studies. The premise for the screenpLay is as foLLows: Having written an autobiographical radio pLay, a writer invites his parents and his sister to the studio to watch the recording. The screenpLay shifts between different time frames as the writer’s version of events are disputed by members of his own famiLy. WhiLst the screenpLay wiLL eXpLore the proposed research questions within a practical framework, a refLective study, written in paralLeL, and constituting 20% of the PhD, wiLL formalLy engage with aspects of critical theory and creative practice. FoLLowing principLes of ‘practice as research’ and ‘discovery through doing’ recently estabLished in the arts1, the entire project attempts to estabLish a usefuL dynamic between creative act and critical refLection. 1 Robin NeLson, Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances (London: PaLgrave MacmiLLan, 2013), p. 48. 4 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks Both the creative writing project and the thesis wiLL be integrated, with theoretical analysis feeding directly into the scriptwriting process and vice-versa. As weLL as refLecting on my own emergent writing by analysing the on-going creative process within the refLective thesis, an interview with the writer and dramatist ALan Bennett wiLL also inform the eXegesis. 5 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks Preface ‘When a writer is Born into a family, the family is finished.’ CzesLaw MiLosz It is onLy now, as I near the end of this project, that I am abLe to write its introduction. ALthough the premise for the creative project (a feature Length screenpLay about the making of an autobiographical radio pLay) has remained unchanged since its inception, much eLse has altered in its evoLution. WhiLst investigating the subject of autobiographical ‘truth’ within scriptwriting, my own past as a documentary fiLm editor, has come to pLay a significant part in shaping this endeavor. I Last set foot inside a cutting room over 15 years ago. However, much of what I Learned has cLearLy infLuenced my subsequent approach to writing. Consequently, this has been an uneXpected eXpLoration of knowLedge and experience LargeLy forgotten or overLooked, resuLting in a project that I now realize had been gestating Long before I considered the idea of undertaking a PhD. I had envisaged writing a conventional script, foLLowed by an accompanying refLective thesis, where reLevant infLuences wouLd be cited and arguments drawn together to form some kind of concLusion. During the writing process, however, the autobiographical content began to dictate its own form, and in so doing threw up new research questions - new avenues to eXpLore. One of these concerned the writing process itseLf; the mechanics of constructing both a screenpLay and a PhD that is partialLy autobiographical in nature. IronicalLy, having Long forgotten about my time as an editor, the cutting room became a metaphor for memory itseLf and gradualLy asserted itseLf as the conceptual framework for The Dead Room. As the project progressed it also became apparent that reguLar eXchanges with tutors were integral to its deveLopment and, as such, shouLd be incorporated into the main body of the screenpLay, rather than reLegated to a separate accompanying essay - Like pundits offering a post-match analysis. This, in turn, added another Layer 6 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks to an already highLy recursive narrative. The same appLied to an interview with ALan Bennett, whose autobiographical fiLm The Lady in the Van stands as a case study. The resuLt, therefore, is one unified project in which contributors and tutors feature as characters in their own right, with their dialogue, set out in script form, intercut with the drama, something that seems entireLy appropriate for a thesis that investigates, amongst other things, the boundaries between fact and fiction. The research questions themseLves are written as captions, which, if ever this were to be realized as a produced work, wouLd appear as teXt on the screen. In his introduction to the pubLished script of Distant Voices, Still Lives, the British film director and writer Terence Davies makes a pLea to the reader: Memory is its own validity. Thus any ‘story’ invoLving memory is not a narrative in the conventional sense but of necessity more diffuse, more eLLiptical. Therefore conventional narrative eXpectation wiLL not be satisfied in any conventional way, and I wouLd ask you to bear this in mind when you are reading this piece.2 The same couLd be asked of this endeavor. Instead of a conventional approach – achieved creative work, supported by underpinning critical commentary, analysis or theory – I have attempted to estabLish a cLear dynamic between the various eLements of this project – generative writing, drafting, the teXtual conventions of screenwriting, refLection, critical commentary, interviews – that admits a whoLLy refLeXive approach in order to eXamine the creative process in action, and to expLore the porousness of the boundaries between these eLements in detaiL. 2Terence Davies, A Modest Pageant (London: Faber and Faber, 1992), p. 74. 7 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks NOTE: From this point on, the thesis switches from a standard font to a Courier, ‘typewritten’ font, as used in scriptwriting, with the intention that the entire project be read as a screenpLay. 8 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks A caption fades up over black. CAPTION: Upgrade. 18th June 2015. INT. UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ROOM DAY Voices are heard from a poor quality recording. TUTOR 1 So listen, this is all good - you’ve submitted a screenplay as is the requirement - all in good style. We think it should all move forward now - we’re not going to be difficult about it. And the idea is that Greg is going to kick off with the creative stuff and then I’ll look at the academic framework. TUTOR 2 Yeah. It’s really interesting there are all sorts of ideas and all sorts of stuff to chew on, which is great. It obviously started out as quite a conventional piece, by which I mean it had a beginning, a middle and an end, whereas now it seems to have become much more an interrogation of itself. It’s very self-referential - wouldn’t you say? TUTOR 1 Absolutely. TUTOR 2 One hears of the novel of ideas - is this the play of ideas, do you think? WRITER I guess so. Yes. TUTOR 1 What strikes me particularly is that we’re talking about something that is ultimately going to be orchestrated through vision and (MORE) 9 THE DEAD ROOM by Richard Monks TUTOR 1 (CONT.) through sound and yet what we have here is a script, written down on paper - but it’s not a form of literature - it’s a set of instructions - it’s something you’ve got to unfold through another process in order for it to become three dimensional. The regular beat of a click track fades in as the credits appear. TITLE: THE DEAD ROOM After several minutes the monotonous rhythm is shattered by a single piercing note from a violin bow played on the edge of a brass Chladni plate. From the darkness grains of sand gradually appear, seen in extreme close-up, vibrating together like huge boulders as the sound resonates through the brass plate. Imperceptibly, the camera begins to zoom out, revealing a dark and shifting landscape.

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