Re-thinking, Re-imagining, and Re-interpreting Disability in Brad Fraser’s Play Kill Me Now Andrea Connell Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Theatre Theory and Dramaturgy Department of Theatre Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Andrea Connell, Ottawa, Canada, 2020 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... V ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... VII PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................. IX INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................. 5 METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................. 7 TERMINOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................ 7 SUMMARY OF THE PLAY ........................................................................................................................... 12 KILL ME NOW—2017 CO-PRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 14 THESIS LAYOUT ......................................................................................................................................... 14 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 16 CHAPTER 1—“CONTEXT. IT’S EVERYTHING.” ........................................................................... 17 BRAD FRASER AND KILL ME NOW ............................................................................................................ 19 “ON CHARACTERS AND CASTING”—THE RIGHT TO WRITE AND PERFORM ....................................... 22 CASTING—THE BODY AND SOCIAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF WHAT BODIES MEAN ............................... 23 TIME AND MONEY ..................................................................................................................................... 30 ACCOMMODATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 33 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER 2—TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF KILL ME NOW’S DISABLED FIGURES .................... 36 FRIES QUESTION 1—“DOES A WORK HAVE MORE THAN ONE DISABLED CHARACTER?” ................... 37 FRIES QUESTION 2—“DO THE DISABLED CHARACTERS HAVE THEIR OWN NARRATIVE PURPOSE OTHER THAN THE EDUCATION AND PROFIT OF A NONDISABLED CHARACTER?” ................................ 38 FIGURAL POTENTIAL .................................................................................................................................... 38 CONFIGURATIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 41 FIGURAL PARTICIPATION IN THE TEXT .......................................................................................................... 43 FIGURE CHARACTERISATIONS AND CONCEPTIONS ........................................................................................ 45 DISABILITY’S REPRESENTATION AND FUNCTION WITHIN KILL ME NOW ....................................................... 50 SUMMARY OF QUESTION 2—“DO THE DISABLED CHARACTERS HAVE THEIR OWN NARRATIVE PURPOSE OTHER THAN THE EDUCATION AND PROFIT OF A NONDISABLED CHARACTER?” ............... 53 iii FRIES QUESTION 3—“IS THE CHARACTER’S DISABILITY NOT ERADICATED EITHER BY CURING OR KILLING?” .................................................................................................................................................. 54 CHAPTER 3—MAKING AND SHIFTING PHYSICAL AND ATTITUDINAL SPACES .............. 57 PHYSICAL SPACES ..................................................................................................................................... 59 REHEARSALS ................................................................................................................................................. 60 ACCOMMODATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 62 SET AND COSTUME DESIGN .......................................................................................................................... 63 PRODUCTION SPACES ................................................................................................................................... 65 ATTITUDINAL SPACES ............................................................................................................................... 69 ACCESSIBILITY CONSULTANT ........................................................................................................................ 69 BONDING AND/OR MENTORING ..................................................................................................................... 70 ECONOMICS ................................................................................................................................................. 71 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 72 CHAPTER 4—ACTING AND PERFORMANCE ................................................................................ 73 THE RESCRIPTING WHEEL ........................................................................................................................ 79 KILL ME NOW– THE 2017 ROYAL MTC AND NAC’S PERFORMANCE ................................................... 82 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 95 CHAPTER 5—CRITICISM OF THE CRITIC AND DISABILITY ................................................... 97 CRITICS AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS ............................................................................................. 100 RESCRIPTING WHEEL—SPECTATOR/AUDIENCE’S PERCEPTION OF FIGURE VERSUS ACTOR’S DISABILITY ............................................................................................................................................... 102 NARRATIVES ABOUT DISABILITY ........................................................................................................... 105 IDENTIFICATION OF DISABILITY ............................................................................................................ 107 A GOOD ACTOR—AUTHENTIC CASTING ............................................................................................... 109 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 111 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 113 APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................................. 120 WORKS CITED ...................................................................................................................................... 121 iv “I have heard it said that disability onstage is like Chekhov’s gun—a play’s promise to the audience. If disability appears in the opening act, it had better fire by the play’s end.” —Carrie Sandahl (“The Difference Disability Makes” 90) v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Figural Potential Comparison Table of Jake and Joey .................................................................. 39 Table 2. Textual Participation of Figures Jake and Joey ............................................................................ 44 Table 3. Scenes and Corresponding Page Numbers for Kill Me Now ...................................................... 120 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Kill Me Now Freytag Pyramid .................................................................................................... 13 Figure 2. Aerial view of the Set Design of the 2017 co-production, Kill Me Now .................................... 64 Figure 3. Adapted reconstruction of David Proud's Circles of Disability ................................................... 78 Figure 4. The Rescripting Wheel ................................................................................................................ 80 vi ABSTRACT Disability representation on stage is not a new concept and has been