THE STORY OF AN IDEA MOVING WITH A PLAYMAKING EDUCATION by Donard Anthony James MacKenzie B.F.A. (Theatre), University of Victoria, 1987 M.F.A. (Creative Writing and Theatre), The University of British Columbia, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Language and Literacy Education) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) February, 2015 © Donard Anthony James MacKenzie, 2015 ii ABSTRACT This dissertation combines the disciplines of theatre, film, and education through a living inquiry which tells the life story of a playwriting idea. I document my playwriting process for a new full-length play written from research-based sources, which include in-person work at archives in London, UK and Los Angeles, CA. I examine the source of the idea and its continued influences. I move with its evolving nature through the interstitial spaces, especially as it pertains to what I term Father/author(ity), a relational presence within my creative writing. I ask what the making of art may teach if we are able to accept the invitation to learn. The subject (and object) of my study moves through the charged creative dynamics in the making of the 1962 biographical film, Freud (Huston). The resulting play, The Freudian Palimpsest of Monty and John, was staged and read for an invited audience as part of the research. I locate my work as a combination of theory as practice within an extended community of playwrights, drama educators, and theatre artists. I reference Freud’s theories of play and writing (Freud & Nelson, 2009), as I inquire through the arts based educational research method of a/r/tography, which sees knowing/making/doing as métissage. To make what Brook has called the “invisible visible” (1968, p. 48), I use dialogues and prose poems and auto/biographic narrative reflections on the source idea(s). I reveal some elusive ‘understandings’ offered as a playmaking education from within the process. The importance of learning through questions as provoked by making the play is analysed. The organizational concepts of the palimpsest and underwriting and Freud’s magic slate are examined. I reflect on the role of fear in creative writing. I offer Britzman-like notes on the “teacher’s illness” (2009, p. 123) and the redemptive joy of making art. iii Through seeing the entire project as an exegesis, a recursive, reflexive and responsive description of the story of a source idea for a playwriting process, I bridge the gap of knowledge by building further understandings of father/author(ity) and playmaking education. iv PREFACE This dissertation is original and independent work by the author, Donard MacKenzie, with the Ethics approval required for this research: BREB Ethics Certificate Number: H12-03190. As per this certificate, applicable participants gave permission for their names to be identified. The interlude, Playwrights Together/Alone, was expanded upon and adapted from an earlier version called Sketches of the Rhizome, Playwright’s Notes, which was published as a separate section written by the author, in the article cited below. The production script for this article was written by the author of this dissertation. Grateful thanks are extended to the editors of the journal for the publication of the article, and the research/producing team for that play’s production, as listed. MacKenzie, D., Belliveau, G., Beck, J., Lea, G., Wager, A. (2011). Naming the Shadows: Theatre as Research. Canadian Journal of Practice-based Research, 3(1) http://cjprt.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/cjprt/article/viewFile/29/18 I first presented the closing monologue of I, Interstitial in an a/r/tographical cabaret event which I coordinated for the UBC Investigating Our Practices conference, 2011. I thank all the participants and the organizers of this yearly conference. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. ii Preface ................................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ x Dedication ........................................................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 It Begins with a Whale… ............................................................................................................... 1 Being Home ................................................................................................................................... 2 A Note on Interludes ...................................................................................................................... 3 A Note on the Structure of this Dissertation .................................................................................. 5 Briefly: a/r/tography ....................................................................................................................... 6 The Education from the In-Between Space of a Playwright’s Working Draft .............................. 7 Towards the Play Idea ............................................................................................................ 12 Dream Fragment .................................................................................................................... 14 Swimming with the Source .......................................................................................................... 15 Notes on the First Staged Reading and Script Format ................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 2: THE FREUDIAN PALIMPSEST OF MONTY AND JOHN ...................................... 20 Text of Playwright’s Working Draft ............................................................................................ 20 ACT I ........................................................................................................................................... 20 Circa 2007, Son Requests Father Magic from the Playwright ............................................... 20 Circa 1970, Back Yard Movie Dream ................................................................................... 21 His Voice, His Father, and Freud's Revenge, and Escape. Circa, 1938. ................................ 23 The Power of the Father as Now, In the Past and Forever. ................................................... 25 John Huston, Master Filmmaker's Next Big Idea, 1957 ........................................................ 28 Monty's Last Words ............................................................................................................... 29 The Source of the Idea Calls To The Playwright ................................................................... 31 Master Filmmaker John Huston Foxhunt, Late Fall, 1955 .................................................... 36 Huston Freud's Man?, Ireland, 1959 ...................................................................................... 37 Paris Cafe, 1958, Playwright/Philosopher Sartre ................................................................... 40 St. Cleran's, Huston Estate, Ireland, Writing Conference, 1959 ............................................ 42 Saint Clerans, Later, 1960. Late Night Screening Of Banned Film, And Hypnosis In The Parlour With John .................................................................................................................. 43 Snap Your Fingers For The Screenplay Writing, 1960 ......................................................... 47 vi Meeting With The Catholic Committee For Moral Decency Ratings, New York, 1960 ...... 50 Making Repression Visible, St. Cleran's, Late 1961 ............................................................. 54 Shattered ................................................................................................................................ 60 ACT II .......................................................................................................................................... 63 Artmaking Dream .................................................................................................................. 63 Costumed Demands ............................................................................................................... 66 Shooting the Medical Hall Scene, September, 1961 .............................................................. 68 Reinhardt Rehearses Scene with Monty ................................................................................ 72 Angelica's Visit, John's Nine Year Old Daughter, 1961 ........................................................ 75 Dreaming in Freud's Back Garden, Circa 2011 ..................................................................... 78 St. Cleran's, 1960, Writing Battle .........................................................................................