This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Florea, Bogdan M Title: Actor in a Second Language General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. Actor in a Second Language Bogdan Mihai Florea December 2020 A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts. Submitted December 2020 Word Count: 80009 1 Abstract The thesis is focused on actors who use English as a second language in performances on stage or on screen in England. The question that frames the enquiry is, “Who is a Second Language Actor?”, and it is posed three times, differently in each of the three chapters. Throughout the thesis, I will be applying philosophical terms from Gilles Deleuze and Felix, such as plane of immanence, plane of composition, becoming, schizo-affect, grammaticality. In the first chapter, I discuss the possible emergence of an SLA from within the totality of random events of act-ing (as opposed to acting) in a second language, termed the plane of immanence of second language act-ing. I will introduce the concept of becoming-SLA, a second language actor in the process of appearing, and always coming into being. Each act of uttering is seen as a minorisation of the second language, a creative pushing of the language’s limits, which generates a special form of English, named English-becoming-another-language. The second chapter introduces the concept of grammaticality: a complex machine (people, technologies, schools, traditions/customs) that names the SLA’s as either Migrant or Nomad and inscribes them onto a given plane of composition of second language acting, restricting their immanent, creative energies. The final chapter discusses the possible emergence of a new type of SLA : a schizo-actor who produces schizo-affects in an English-becoming-another-language, uncontrollable by grammaticality. The schizo-SLA operates in a state of bottomlessness, which is defined as a specific creative/existential condition. The thesis discusses all these in the context of the practice-based research conducted with Nu Nu Theatre, a company that focuses its work on the question of who a Second-Language Actor is and who he/she can become. The two performance processes that are analysed in relation to the research question are Billie Killer and BANDIT. 2 Acknowledgements This research project would not have been possible without the inspiration and continued support provided by my wife and artistic partner Ileana Gherghina. I owe to her the existence of Nu Nu Theatre: under Nu Nu’s umbrella, I have conducted the two practice-as-research projects. Heartfelt thanks are very much due to my supervisors Professor Simon Jones and Dr. Katja Krebs, who have bestowed upon me a great gift: they allowed me the freedom to try out various theoretical and practical avenues until I was able to find the path most suitable to the research theme. I thank them for always being inspirational interlocutors. I also laud their patience and am grateful for the logistical support they have so often and so generously provided. I would also like to thank Pam Tait and Rod Terry, who have supported the production of the two practice-as-research-projects. Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to my son, Luca, who has practically grown together with the research project and has made – with his very witty questions, interventions, interruptions – my travail so much more worthwhile. 3 Author’s Declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University’s Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degrees Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate’s own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. Signed: …Bogdan Mihai Florea…… Date: …21/12/2020…… 4 Table of Contents Title Page 1 Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Author’s Declaration 4 Table of Contents 5 Table of Images and Figures 7 Introduction 8 Defining the Terms for this Study 8 Where do I start? 17 The Auto-Ethnographic Route 28 The Ontological Turn 39 Organisation of Argument: The Bottomless Hourglass 40 Practice-based Research – Nu Nu Theatre 47 1. First Chapter – Towards an Ontology of the SLA 53 1.1 Immanent SLA 53 1.2 Schizo-affect 71 1.3 Becoming-SLA = English-becoming-another-language 82 2. Second Chapter – Grammaticality 96 2.1 The Neck of the Hourglass 96 5 2.2 Grammaticality 105 2.3 Migrant-SLA 130 2.4 Nomad-SLA 157 3. Third Chapter – A Third Way 172 3.1 Nu Nu Theatre – Heterotopia 173 3.2 BANDIT – Bottomlessness as an Ideal Solvent 188 3.3 Recalibrating the Diaphragm 207 Conclusion 225 Continuing to Look for the Body-without-Organs 232 Final Remarks – Dangers 236 Reference List 238 Articles 247 Websites 252 Film and Television References 252 Bibliography 253 Digital recording media: video and photography 259 Appendix A: Billie Killer Text 260 Appendix B: BANDIT Text 276 6 Table of Images and Figures Image Page: Number: 1 A Bottomless Hourglass 46 2 The Upper Part of the Hourglass 53 3 The Hut – Billie Killer 69 4 The Lower Part of the Hourglass 102 7 Introduction – A Bottomless Hourglass Defining the Terms for this Study In my endeavour to understand and explain who an SLA is, I will utilize a number of terms and concepts, many of them borrowed from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. I list these terms and concepts in this section, along with short explanations of the way in which I employ them throughout the thesis. Ontology The discussion about an ontology of an SLA appears in the context of my preoccupation with what makes this kind of actor different from other actors. How is such an actor born? How does he/she come into existence? What about his/her existence (if anything) is different, distinct from other actors? Ontology here means how an SLA is “born” and how s/he evolves throughout his/her existence, particularly in relation to the function of representation that is required of an actor. Is an SLA born when a person“ walks across an empty space whilst someone else is watching” them, as Peter Brook once said? (Brook 1968: 7) The idea of an ontology of the SLA stems from my interest in pointing towards a most basic, fundamental performative event that engenders (or can engender) an SLA. The use of ontology is a reflection of my curiosity about what the event-based, indivisible and indispensable particle – Alain Badiou (date) calls it an “atomic object” ready to enter into a ’’new possibility of formalisation’’ (Jöttkandt 2010: 75) – from which an SLA emerges. My research project locates such an ontological event in the moment when a second language is being influenced (or put under strain) by non-native/external 8 elements, a minorization of the language from without, as I will explain below. I will argue that the source of the ontology of an SLA lies precisely at the meeting point between elements pertaining to two languages; first and second. My argument will be that the SLA has to be born not only on a first tier (Brook’s man crossing the stage) but most necessarily on a second tier, from within the utterance that takes place at the intersection between two languages. What the SLA’s ontology illuminates that an SLA is not made but born, he/she emerges or is immanent in the encounter between two languages. An SLA cannot be produced (only) by cultural or aesthetic programmes (Brook and other interculturalists like Barba or Mnouchkine migrants’ theatre, multilingual theatre): a SLA is not constructed by people or cultural institutions (and their aesthetic programmes) from above. In other words, an SLA is not the product of a genealogy but of an ontology. I will argue that there is no God-like entity, person, or institution that can or should take charge of making or producing an SLA. In such case, the birth, the emergence of the SLA is no longer immanent, it does not appear spontaneously from the act/event of speaking/acting in a second language, but as a restrictive response (given by people other than the actor concerned) to the question: What do we do with this actor who speaks English as a second language? Should we call him/her a migrant-actor, or a foreign actor? What roles should we assign to him/her? In other words, a genealogy of an SLA means asking the question what an SLA is, instead of who an SLA is.