Theatres of Learning Disability This page intentionally left blank Theatres of Learning Disability Good, Bad, or Plain Ugly? Matt Hargrave Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts, University of Northumbria, UK © Matt Hargrave 2015 Foreword © Tim Wheeler 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-50438-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-70023-3 ISBN 978-1-137-50439-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-50439-5 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hargrave, Matt, 1971– Theatres of learning disability : good, bad, or plain ugly? / Matt Hargrave. pages cm Summary: “This is the first scholarly book to focus exclusively on theatre and learning disability as theatre – rather than advocacy or therapy. Matt Hargrave provocatively realigns many of the (hitherto unvoiced) assumptions that underpin such practices, and opens up a new set of critical questions. Stemming from a close engagement with the work of several very different theatre companies – including Mind the Gap (UK); Back to Back (Australia) – and unique solo artists such as Jez Colborne, this book shifts the emphasis from questions of social benefit towards a genuine engagement with aesthetic judgement. Hargrave examines the rich variety of contemporary theatrical practices in this field and spans a wide range of forms such as site specific, naturalistic and autobiographical performance. The book examines ways in which the learning disabled performer might be read on stage, and the ways in which s/he might disturb assumptions, not least about what acting or artistic authorship is. This is an important and timely study for all upper-level theatre and performance students and scholars alike, as well as a provocative contribution to debates within disability studies”—Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. People with disabilities and the performing arts. I. Title. PN1590.H36H37 2015 791.087—dc23 2015002377 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. For Carolynn, Alex, and Dylan This page intentionally left blank Contents Foreword by Tim Wheeler x Acknowledgements xiv Prologue: Of Moths and Methods 1 The Moth Ball (2008) 1 Overview of the book 6 Cognitive dissonances: a note on the appendix 14 Part I The Surrogate 1 The End of Disability Arts: Theatre, Disability, and the Social Model 21 What is learning disability? 21 What is disability arts? 27 The social model of disability 28 Applied theatre: all the marginalised of the world 34 Is disability arts worth paying for? 38 The end of disability arts and the sharing of a hidden secret 41 Conclusion 44 2 Pure Products Go Crazy: The Aesthetic Value of Learning Disability 47 Defamiliar dramaturgies 47 One: Small Metal Objects (2005) 51 Between work and audience 53 Between work and artist 56 Between art and reality 61 Two: Hypothermia (2010) 63 Eugenics as subject 65 Form as eugenics 67 Anomalies 73 Conclusion 75 3 On Quality: Disability and Aesthetic Judgements 79 The parallax gap 79 Quality: why be interested? 81 Pinocchio (2007), the tale of a puppet 90 vii viii Contents Artistic visions 91 Creative tensions 94 Heteronomy/autonomy 95 The aesthetics of support 99 Outsourcing authenticity 103 Conclusion 107 4 Genealogies: The Cultural Faces of Learning Disability 112 Introduction 112 Untamed minds: the face of the outsider 115 Radical dignity: the face of the feral 119 Intolerable ambiguity: the face of the freak 123 Punctum indifferens: the face of the fool 127 Conclusion: the trickster 132 Part II A Proper Actor 5 Nobody’s Perfect: Disability Identity as Masquerade 137 Masquerade 137 On the Verge (2005) 140 Creating Colborne 147 Camp Syndrome 154 Tear marks 158 Nobody’s perfect 165 6 The Uncanny Return of Boo Radley: Disability, Dramaturgy, and Reception 169 Introduction: the uncanny 169 Ide’s affect 174 Autistic presence 176 ‘It’: the strange presence of Jonathan Ide 179 Authorial presence 186 Theatrical and un-theatrical presences 190 Side affects 196 Reading the signs 198 Looking at the evidence 203 Heading them off at the pass 206 In the dark 209 Conclusion 211 Conclusion: A Proper Actor 217 Amateur professionals 217 Towards a craft-based poetics 225 Contents ix Envoi: The Bartleby Parallax 231 Appendix: Easy Read Summary 235 Notes 250 Sources and Bibliography 257 Index 273