Using postmodernism in drama and theatre making AS/A2 David Porter AS/A2

Introduction David Porter is former Head of Performing Arts at Kirkley High School, We live in an increasingly ‘cross-genre’ environment where things are mixed, Lowestoft, teacher and one-time sampled and mashed up. History, time, roles, arts, technology and our cultural children’s theatre performer. Freelance and social contexts are in flux. Postmodernism expresses many of the ways in writer, blogger and editor, he is a senior which this is happening. assessor for A level performance studies, IGSCE drama moderator and GCSE drama As the reformed A levels come on stream, postmodernism may appear to examiner. have little place except in BTECs. However, performing arts in general and drama in particular require knowledge and understanding of wider contexts, reinterpretations, devising and study of texts from different periods. Exploring postmodernism is an excellent way to open up a world of artistic interest, exploration, experiment and mash-ups for students who are 16 and over. Although different in details, the Drama and Theatre A level specifications offered for teaching from 2016 (first exam in 2018) are similar in intention and breadth of study. All require exploration of some predetermined and some centre-chosen texts, a variety of leading practitioners, and devising and re- interpretations. Using postmodernism broadens students’ viewpoints, ideas and practical experiences of using art forms to express material. Exam preparation aside, this scheme serves as an effective introduction/taster Allan Graham, Master Peace to performing arts in general and theatre/drama in particular. New specifications ffOCR’s Drama and Theatre A level: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-a-level-gce-drama-and-theatre-h059- h459-from-2016/ ffPearson Edexcel’s Drama and Theatre A level: http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/drama- and-theatre-2016.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson- UK:Category%2FSpecification-and-sample-assessments ffAQA’s Drama and Theatre A level: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/drama/a-level/drama-and-theatre-7262 ffWJEC’s Drama and Theatre A level: http://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/drama/drama-gce-a-as/index.html ffOfqual’s conclusions from consultations and new exam regulations are available online: Resources https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcse-as-and-a-level-reform- Suggestions are suitable for both teachers and students. Teachers should regulations-for-dramadrama-and-theatre check material before sharing it. BTECs and Technicals are also being revised and students preparing for many routes through these will find postmodernism useful and of help in developingtheir ideas. Devising public performance Learning objectives Most specifications require both group ffTo study postmodern approaches to the performing arts and solo practical performance and ffTo explore issues and ideas from practitioners written analysis of texts from the ffTo put ideas into social, historical and cultural contexts perspectives of performers, directors and designers. Where devising is f fTo stimulate creative thinking, problem-solving and team work through required, postmodernism can help performance material prepare for public performance. ffTo develop writing, devising and performing skills using postmodern material. Scheme in summary Lesson 1: Some postmodernism Towards definitions of postmodernism explored through an experimental piece of performance. Lesson 2: Some history Taking a play extract that uses fragmented history and juxtaposition to air issues and manipulate audience expectations. www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 1 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 3: Some drama A different play inspires a different treatment of high art and low art, intertextuality and physicality. Lesson 4: Some music A piece of minimalist/postmodernist music is an opportunity to experiment collaboratively with bricolage, juxtaposition and repetition. Lesson 5: Some dance A short site-specific dance piece is the stimulus for devising a postmodern deconstruction, reconstruction and diverse performance. Lesson 6: Some art A famous painting inspires a multi-perspective, eclectic, unpredictable and collaborative piece of performance.

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 2 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 1: Some postmodernism Research: Search ‘postmodernism’ online and Learning objectives enjoy a host of definitions of ‘this ffTo create performance which merges, mixes, intertextualises and mashes up contemporary movement of thought ideas from an abstract concept that rejects conventions’. There are no ffTo develop performing skills through improvisation/devising around issues absolute truths in the genre. From Encyclopedia Britannica: f fTo learn some theoretical knowledge that underpins postmodernism as a basis ‘scepticism, subjectivism, suspicious of for contemporary drama study and devising. reason and aware of role of ideology in political power’;.see: Warm-up http://www.britannica.com/topic/ In pairs, a scene in which a clever person is lecturing a student on the role of postmodernism-philosophy women in schools in a way that sounds incredibly clever but may be blatant nonsense. Student responds with different but equally absurd arguments. Resources: Discussion/questions and new learning ff Introducing Postmodernism: A Graphic To start, ask the class for their definitions of postmodernism. Guide by Appignanesi and Garratt Here’s one: ‘Postmodernism defies definition but is a catch-all term which http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/ describes experimental performance from the 1960s onwards that parallels the id/Introducing_ minimalism of the 1950s and since. It covers art, architecture, philosophy, music, Postmodernism/9781840468496 dance, drama, fiction, photography, film, fashion, history, language, time, gender, ff TES: Postmodernism https://www.tes.com/teaching- multi-media and almost anything else. The buzzwords include satire, parody, resource/postmodernism-6420979 reinvention, hyper-reality, bricolage, repetition, site-specific, montage, risk, ff Postmodern Fiction diversity, intertextuality, juxtaposition and collaboration.’ Discuss this view. http://1980swebography.weebly. Postmodernism is very big on definitions. There are many books about it. The com/postmodern-fiction-a-very- website Communications from Elsewhere http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/ posts short-introduction-and-resources. allegedly postmodern statements which may or may not be serious, but which html invite satire and parody. ff Postmodernism and Education http://infed.org/mobi/post- Let’s take this one: Realism and structural subtextual theory: modernism-and-post-modernity/ ‘Art is part of the fatal flaw of sexuality,’ says Sartre; however, according to Dietrich, ff Comment on Roland Barthes’ essay it is not so much art that is part of the fatal flaw of sexuality, but rather the failure, and The Death of the Author some would say the genre, of art. The premise of structural subtextual theory suggests http://www.theguardian.com/books/ that narrative comes from the masses. Therefore, Dahmus implies that we have to choose booksblog/2010/jan/13/death-of- between constructive sublimation and semanticist subcultural theory.’ the-author Development Groups of 4 or 5 develop one scene that turns this argument into a piece of drama. Theory: Lyotard At least 3 ‘experts’ are needed – Sartre, Dietrich and Dahmus. You can use musical ‘That is what the postmodern world is instruments, music, masks, costume, sound effects or whatever else you think all about. Many people have lost the may help to convey some meaning to an audience. You may need a dictionary. nostalgia for the lost narrative.’ One of many quotes from postmodern theorist Plenary and discussion Jean-Francois Lyotard http://www.egs. edu/faculty/jean-francois-lyotard/ Share and show work in progress. Invite peer comment. Is it confusing, baffling quotes/ and bewildering? Does it make any sense as performance? Does it have to? What have we discovered about postmodernism? Question Tip: Basics Neither teachers nor students need Postmodernism has been described as ‘the future stuck in the past.’ Discuss. to get lost in theories and abstract concepts. The basics of deconstruction, collage and re-interpretation will be enough to start appreciating the genre and its value in exploring performing arts.

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 3 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 2: Some history Research: ff The End of History? (1989) article by Learning objectives Francis Fukuyama, which announced ffTo create performance which merges, mixes, intertextualises and mashes up triumph of liberal democracy and ideas from a piece of drama text arrival of post-ideological world ffTo develop performing skills through improvisation/devising around issues http://www.wesjones.com/eoh.htm ff The End of History and the Last Man f fTo learn some theoretical knowledge that underpins postmodernism as a basis (1992 and updated) book by for contemporary drama study and devising. Fukuyama analyses religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific Warm-up progress, ethical codes, and war In pairs, a scene in your parents’ lives before you were born. Demonstrate the https://books.google.co.uk/books/ time the scene is taking place with three different aspects, such as technology, about/The_End_of_History_and_the_ attitudes, food. Last_Man.html?id=NdFpQwKfX2IC​ ​ &redir_esc=y. Discussion/questions and new learning Postmodernism is very big on reconstructing history. The end of history is a concept that suggests that time no longer matters, that the past is the now is the Resources: future. ff What is History, review of Routledge Read the opening of Churchill’s Top Girls and draw from it: how fictional and books on postmodernism and history historical women can be staged having a meal together to celebrate a very 1980s http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/ Whatishistory/obrien.html phenomenon, a career woman. The play goes on to juxtapose Marlene and her ff In Defence of History, (1997), sister’s very different lives. Professor Evans’ response to criticism of his idea Development http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/ In groups of 4 or 5, use the Top Girls extract as a template and develop one scene Whatishistory/evans.html that merges the earlier warm-up ideas and is contemporary, but includes people from fiction and/or the past in a deconstructed, rehashed scene that’s self- imaged, pop-focused, eclectic in style and heavy on signs and symbols (semiotics) Theory: Fingerprints for an audience to read. They include risk, high art versus low art, eclecticism, taboo subjects, freedom Plenary and discussion of meaning, reinvention, re-figuration, Share and show work in progress. Invite peer comment. How persuasive was recycling, hyper-reality, multiple the scene? Did it work as a juxtaposition of real and fictional characters from perspectives, montage, satire, parody, different eras? Was there a sense of history being manipulated for art or to convey diversity, gender reversal, intertextuality, multimedia and unpredictability. a message to an audience? Question ‘Postmodernism has made the study of history obsolete.’ Discuss. Practitioner: Caryl Churchill Churchill takes risks with unconventional structures to explore issues. Act 1 of Top Girls is a dinner party celebrating the success of businesswoman Marlene attended by Pope Joan (woman disguised as a man), Isabella Bird (Victorian traveller), Lady Nijo (Japanese courtesan born 1258), Patient Griselda (obedient wife from Canterbury Tales) and Dull Gret (subject of a Breughel painting), juxtaposed.

Tip: Churchill is a good example of a postmodern playwright, with several works that juxtapose historical events, blur fantasy and reality, contain unpredictability, diversity, intertextuality and non-linear structure.

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 4 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 3: Some drama Research: ff Top 10 Works of Postmodern Learning objectives Literature ffTo create performance which merges, mixes, intertextualises and mashes-up http://listverse.com/2009/02/13/ ideas from a piece of drama text top-10-works-of-postmodern- ffTo develop performing skills through improvisation/devising around issues literature/ ff Postmodern Plays f fTo learn some theoretical knowledge that underpins postmodernism as a basis http://lists.famousfix.com/ for contemporary drama study and devising. ctn_14151537/postmodern-plays/ Warm-up In pairs, read the short scene 10 from East. Begin to get familiar with this dialogue Resources: (though it is mainly monologue) between a Mum and a Dad. Do not share. ff Postmodern/Drama: Reading the Contemporary Stage, (1998 ) by Discussion/questions and new learning Stephen Watt asks if postmodern Berkoff’s play is regarded as postmodern because it juxtaposes ideas and times, drama in fact exists. it is dependent on physicality, has no linear structure (being 19 free-standing Review of the above by Mark Pizato scenes), uses music to transition and stress certain parts, Mum is a tragi- http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tj/ comic role, often played by a man, feminism is touched on and most of it is summary/v052/52.2pizzato.html Shakespearian-style verse and non-modern vocabulary (high art) juxtaposed with ff Postmodern Drama: Contemporary common and vulgar language (low art). Playwrights in America and Britain (1984) by Rodney Simard Development http://www.amazon.com/ Postmodern-Drama-Contemporary- Groups of 4 or 5 develop a scene which updates but mashes-up the scene and Playwrights-America/ keeps basic structure - bring in other figures from past or from fiction, make dp/0819141941 it more of a scene with a socio-political message and more physicality (mime, dance, direct address). Theory: Postmodern theatre Plenary and discussion Informed by history, culture, social Share and show work in progress. Invite peer comment. Did you make a issues in an artistic representation of postmodern performance? What defined it? What effect did it have on the real life in which audience participates, audience? Did they make a difference to the performance? it embraces human experience to access universal truths, but rejects make- Question believe. Standard plots and character ‘In postmodern theatre there are many possible truths, depending on viewpoints. development are minimized. Playwrights, actors, directors and audience lend their perspectives to the creative process.’ Discuss how far you think this is good for performance drama. Practitioner: Steven Berkoff Influenced by Brecht (awaken audience), Artaud (extreme sensory experiences), Kafka (stark prose), Shakespeare (language) and Lecoq (disciplined physicality), Berkoff’s East is a play about London’s East End from ‘a young hero’s point of view’ using memories, undirected passion and frustration.

Tip: Controversial Berkoff is not to everyone’s taste and even with post 16-year olds there may be some resistance to his themes, portrayal of sex and language. Teachers will know their students and their parents well enough to make a judgement. David Hare’s Stuff Happens is an alternative.

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 5 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 4: Some music Research: ff What is Postmodern Music? Learning objectives http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is- ffTo create performance which merges, mixes, intertextualises and mashes-up postmodern-music.htm ideas from a postmodern-minimalist piece ff Postmodern Music, techniques and ffTo develop performing skills through improvisation/devising around issues characteristics https://musicpostmodernism. f fTo learn some theoretical knowledge that underpins postmodernism as a basis wordpress.com/techniques- for contemporary drama study and devising. characteristics/ Warm-up In groups of 4 or 5, let students find anything loosely described as an instrument Resources: and experiment with making a two-minute piece that represents marching, fast ff Music that consciously draws on other walking through different terrains. It can be quite random. Do not share. styles http://www.outsideshore.com/music/ Discussion/questions and new learning ff Postmodern music is a style and a Play the first movement ofDifferent Trains, inspired by Steve Reich’s childhood condition experiences of riding trains between New York and Los Angeles to visit his http://www.scribd.com/doc/​ separated parents during World War II. Later he realised that had he been a Jew in 25384486/Postmodern-Musical- Europe instead of the USA, he might have been on a train to a death camp. This Artists piece was an experiment using clips of actual recorded speech as a source for the ff Popular Music, Gender and Postmodernism: Anger is an Energy melodies. (1997), Neil Nehring https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/ Development popular-music-gender-and- Groups develop their marching piece, using the sense of the Reich work but as postmodernism/book6321 bricolage (do-it-yourself), adding voices to tell the story of a journey that may be circular. Make it time-variable and bring in any other genres or styles to make a collage effect in performance. Use of technology is welcomed. Theory: Difficult to label Postmodern music uses varied Plenary and discussion instruments, embraces technology and Share and show work in progress. Invite peer comment. Did you make a borrows artistic elements from multiple/ postmodern performance? What defined it? What effect did it have on the contrasting sources and cultures in order audience? Did they make a difference to the performance? Is music as valid as to redefine the criteria for assigning words and actions to tell a story that is open to many interpretations? music its artistic value, changes major and minor keys and possesses unusual Question lyrics or sound effects. ‘Nothing is sacred in creating postmodernist performances.’ Discuss.

Practitioner: Steve Reich His early works were called ‘tonal’ and led to him being listed among ‘minimalists.’ He went on to use found sounds, recordings of voices, effects and recorded loops of sound at changing speeds that went into and out of synchronization to tell a story.

Tip: Other practitioners Reich will not suit everyone, so have some others to hand – Philip Glass, John Cage, John Adams, Luciano Berio, Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, Michael Nyman and some electronic music.

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 6 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 5: Some dance Research: ff Judson Dance Theater where Learning objectives postmodern dance began ffTo create performance which merges, mixes, intertextualises and mashes-up http://www.danceheritage.org/ ideas from a dance piece judsondt.html ffTo develop performing skills through improvisation/devising around issues ff What is Postmodern Dance? http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is- f fTo learn some theoretical knowledge that underpins postmodernism as a basis postmodern-dance.htm for contemporary drama study and devising. ff Contemporary Dance History http://www.contemporary-dance.org/ Warm-up contemporary-dance-history.html In small groups devise a piece of dance or drama with minimal words in which everyone is a single famous person living or dead, and all the movements are more or less in unison. Do not share. Resources: ff Dance UK Discussion/questions and new learning http://www.danceuk.org/ Show Lea Anderson’s Car in 3 movements, less than 15 minutes. If time is short, ff Marked by Teachers focus on the second movement, ‘15 Minutes of Fame’, where all dancers are http://www.markedbyteachers.com/ dressed like Jackie Kennedy. as-and-a-level/drama/lea-anderson- Discuss meanings behind the piece - how cars are mainstream in our lives, draws-her-influences-from-many- they can be instruments of death/murder, speed, maggots, models and glamour. sources-to-create-work-which- challenges-stereotypes-to-what- The focus is not on choreography so much as eclecticism, intertextuality and extent-is-this-seen-in-the-work-you- the site-specific nature of the piece - all features of postmodernism. have-studied.html Development Groups develop own interpretation of one movement incorporating non-linear Theory: structure, parody and pastiche, collage and, if possible, in a site-specific location When asked about narrative Lea (outside, corridor, staircase). Anderson said one piece starts in one place and ends in another; that’s Plenary and discussion narrative. Episodic, short scenes and Share and show work in progress. Invite peer comment. Given more time collaborative creation of work, hyper- what would you have done with this material? Where would be the most reality, parody and irony are features in effective performance location? Deconstructing a piece of dance leads to what most postmodern dance. interpretation for an audience?

Question Practitioner: Lea Anderson ‘Postmodernism has become a mishmash of deconstructivist rubbish that is In Anderson’s work there is no dancer barely comprehensible, even to postmodern practitioners.’ Discuss. hierarchy, gender roles are often changed; she mixes past images, eclectic music and pedestrian movement and work is performed in traditional and site-specific settings. She also likes dance on film as much as stage.

Tip: Dance is not for everyone If students are not keen on dancing, then a reinterpretation of a dance piece as drama or a strange eclectic hybrid is acceptable in postmodernism.

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 7 Scheme of work|AS/A2 Lesson 6: Some art Research: ff Most Famous Paintings Learning objectives http://www.touropia.com/most- ffTo create performance which merges, mixes, intertextualises and mashes-up famous-paintings/ ideas from a variety of art ff Post Modernity in Music Videos ffTo develop performing skills through improvisation/devising around issues http://www.slideshare.net/sam_ beecham/post-modernity-in-music- f fTo learn some theoretical knowledge that underpins postmodernism as a basis videos for contemporary drama study and devising. ff Mash-Ups Mix the Old and the Now to Make Art for Today, David Porter Warm-up http://www.davidporter.co. In (whole) group, re-stage a chosen painting from their research as a still uk/2012/04/mash-ups-mix-the-old- image-freeze frame. Add in commentary from an external person and from the and-the-now-to-make-art-for-today/ characters within the painting to help the audience interpret what they are seeing. Share all groups. Resources: Discussion/questions and new learning ff Postmodernist Art Historical background to the chosen image can now be reinterpreted in the http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/ postmodern style. An example of one notorious deconstruction of The Last Supper postmodernism.htm was done by a team of photoshop experts who replaced all the disciples with ff On Postmodernism the England football team and David Beckham as Jesus and retitled it Sven’s Last http://www.onpostmodernism.com/ art Supper (after Sven Goran Eriksson, then England manager, 2001–2006). It caused ff The Art Story offence to many people as postmodern works often do. http://www.theartstory.org/section_ theory_postmodernism.htm Development Develop a scene which starts with the still image and becomes a postmodern performance, incorporating drama, dance and improvised music, technology and Theory: Incomprehensibility effects. The idea that anything goes is a feature and perception of this genre. Students Plenary and discussion shouldn’t be too confused by now, Share and show work in progress. Invite peer comment. What does this work although they may not like what they’ve demonstrate about the genre? What have you learned? If you don’t like the art studied. They should have begun a form, does it nonetheless have some credibility? process of unpicking, analysing and reconstructing stimuli to help future Question drama devising and directing. ‘Postmodernism and the arts do not and should not mix.’ Discuss.

Practitioners: Da Vinci, Van Gogh or Munch Da Vinci’s The Last Supper is a tableaux of established figures from the Bible which can easily be given postmodern treatment. Munch’s The Scream lends itself to a range of dramatic ideas which can be presented as postmodernism. Van Gogh’s Potato Eaters can be a start for some social commentary reworking.

Tip: Be creative Interpret painting in a wide sense - film still, pop video clip, fashion shoots, photo of people crowding round the Mona Lisa - any image that can be deconstructed and reshaped. Bosch, Escher, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Rubens, Seurat and even Dali are possible sources

www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Spring term 1 · 2015/16 8