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Lost Property: the Marginalisation of the Artefact in Contemporary

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Lost Property: the Marginalisation of the Artefact in Contemporary Lost Property: The marginalisation of the artefact in contemporary museum theatre Joanna Clyne B.A. (Hons) Dip Ed. (Monash) Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2014 Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne ii iii Abstract The use of performance as an interpretive tool in museums has a long, although largely under-researched, history. Central to this thesis is the paradoxical observation that performance in museums, or ‘museum theatre’, regularly fails to engage with collection items. The title of the thesis, ‘lost property’, refers to both the apparent displacement of collection objects as the subject of museum theatre and the complexities of performing historical artefacts in a museum without reducing their significance to the status of a theatrical prop. Traditionally, the object has been central to the concept of ‘museum’. With the advent of a new museological approach to the running of museums, the exhibition object seems to have taken a subordinate role to the presentation of ideas and concepts through exhibition design and interpretation. This thesis draws on disciplinary literature, case studies, site visits and interviews with museum theatre practitioners to identify and examine the factors that have contributed to the shifting focus of performance based on objects to performance based on ideas. iv Declaration This is to certify that: (i) the thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated in the preface; (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used; (iii) the thesis is fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, bibliographies and appendices. Joanna Melinda Clyne v Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the incredible moral support provided by my partner, Cam Wilson, and my mother, Dr Irene Donohoue Clyne, without whom this thesis would not have been completed. I would like to dedicate this work to my father, Professor Michael Clyne, who passed away during my candidature. My thanks go to my supervisor, Professor Andrew May, for entrusting me with his honours class and for being so supportive of my extra-curriculum activities during my candidature. Thanks also go to my co-supervisor, Dr Denise Varney, for embracing my foray into interdisciplinary research. In addition to developing a body of research, my PhD candidature has been an opportunity to pursue interesting and challenging work across a number of disciplines. I would like to thank all the people and organisations that offered me opportunities to develop my skills and have nurtured my interests. I have been lucky to have a private cheer squad in the form of the staff and board members of the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria. Special acknowledgements go to Dr Rosalie Triolo for her supportive mentoring in history education over the past eight years, John Whitehouse for his constant encouragement, and Richard Smith and Annabel Astbury for being supportive and understanding employers. My thanks go to the staff of the public programs department at the Melbourne Museum for encouraging me while I was employed there. Incredible support, assistance and good wishes also came from the members of the International Museum Theatre Alliance in the Americas, Europe and the Asia- Pacific branches. vi And finally, to all my informants who gave me the tools and knowledge to build this thesis. vii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iii Declaration ......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vii Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Aims and objectives ................................................................................................................... 3 Terminology ................................................................................................................................. 4 Literature review ........................................................................................................................ 4 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 10 Case studies ............................................................................................................................... 12 Interviews .................................................................................................................................. 16 Observation and analysis ...................................................................................................... 16 Thesis structure ....................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter One: Defining object-rich museum theatre ........................................... 18 What is museum theatre? ..................................................................................................... 18 What is object-rich museum theatre? ............................................................................... 26 What role does the ‘new museum’ play in shaping contemporary museum theatre? ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Are objects an inherent part of museum theatre? ........................................................ 31 Distinguishing between prop and artefact ..................................................................... 34 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 39 Chapter Two: The history of object performance in museums ....................... 41 The history of object performance in museums ........................................................... 41 Wunderkammer: The cult of the object ........................................................................... 42 Performative techniques in the wunderkammer .................................................................... 43 Skansen: Developing performance to contextualise objects .................................... 46 Dime museums: The age of deception .............................................................................. 48 Human artefacts: The exhibition hall ........................................................................................... 52 The lecture room ................................................................................................................................... 53 Museum theatre and education .......................................................................................... 56 New generation museum theatre ....................................................................................... 59 How could new museology shape the role of the object in museum theatre? .... 63 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 65 Chapter Three: Introducing and analysing the case studies ............................ 69 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 69 Case studies ............................................................................................................................... 71 Case study one: The Clue in the Claw of the Dinosaur ............................................................ 72 Case study two: Troubled Times ...................................................................................................... 89 Case study three: The Bog Man’s Daughter ................................................................................ 98 Case study four: Children’s Museum of Indianapolis ......................................................... 105 Case study five: Robbie the Rat ..................................................................................................... 110 Case study six: The Dora Faye Davenport Show .................................................................... 117 Case study seven: Platform 4 Theatre Company (V for Victory) .................................... 124 Chapter Four: The centralisation of the object in museum theatre ............ 129 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 129 Function of objects in performance ................................................................................. 129 viii Object lessons ...................................................................................................................................... 132 Provoking numinous experiences through object-rich museum theatre .......... 134 Finding the human story in objects ................................................................................. 136 Cultural Capital ...................................................................................................................................
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