scholarly journals Faces of the Captives: Aesthetic Distance and Emotional Absorption in Young Children's Engagement with Theatre

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Catherine Swallow
Keyword(s):  
Peter Pan ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
Children's Songs ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Distance ◽  
Lost Boys ◽  
Dangerous Level ◽  
Emotion Contagion

<p>When Captain Hook has the lost boys tied up on his ship he cannot recognise that the sparkle on the ‘faces of the captives’ is the thrill of mimesis. It has been suggested that if young children cannot distinguish between reality and illusion then instead of suspending disbelief in the stage world, they will actually believe and therefore experience a dangerous level of emotional absorption.  Using Peter Pan as a frame of reference, this thesis examines responses to three contemporary theatre works, Capital E National Theatre for Children’s Songs of the Sea and Boxes and Scottish company Catherine Wheels’ White to challenge the idea that aesthetic distance provides a necessary protective function. Instead, it will be argued that the imagination, empathy and emotion contagion provide the conditions in which children can capably enter the aesthetic space of fictional worlds on stage.</p>

scholarly journals Faces of the Captives: Aesthetic Distance and Emotional Absorption in Young Children's Engagement with Theatre

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Catherine Swallow
Keyword(s):  
Peter Pan ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
Children's Songs ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Distance ◽  
Lost Boys ◽  
Dangerous Level ◽  
Emotion Contagion

<p>When Captain Hook has the lost boys tied up on his ship he cannot recognise that the sparkle on the ‘faces of the captives’ is the thrill of mimesis. It has been suggested that if young children cannot distinguish between reality and illusion then instead of suspending disbelief in the stage world, they will actually believe and therefore experience a dangerous level of emotional absorption.  Using Peter Pan as a frame of reference, this thesis examines responses to three contemporary theatre works, Capital E National Theatre for Children’s Songs of the Sea and Boxes and Scottish company Catherine Wheels’ White to challenge the idea that aesthetic distance provides a necessary protective function. Instead, it will be argued that the imagination, empathy and emotion contagion provide the conditions in which children can capably enter the aesthetic space of fictional worlds on stage.</p>

scholarly journals A Victory for Real People: Dangers in the Discourse of Democratisation

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 234-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Tomlin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
Real People ◽  
Eu Referendum ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Uk

AbstractIn this essay, I will examine the development of a growing trend of democratisation in British contemporary theatre that seeks to reject the expertise of playwrights, actors or professional ensembles in favour of verbatim material drawn from a range of the public selected for their ordinariness, or conceptual frameworks within which the audience themselves construct and perform the aesthetic content of the work.This essay seeks to highlight how the discursive and aesthetic framing of real people in this context can, in certain instances, be seen to reflect the construction of ‘real, ordinary people’ in the political discourse surrounding the 2016 EU Referendum in the UK. In both cases, ‘real people’ are understood to be in opposition to those who might be said to hold particular professional expertise and also, commonly, to those of a more privileged socio-economic status: the so-called ‘liberal elite.’ With reference to Rimini Protokoll’s 100 % Salford, The National Theatre of Great Britain’s My Country and Kaleider’s The Money I will suggest that this particular discourse of democratisation, in both politics and theatre, can too easily conceal the expertise that lies behind the construction of ‘real people’ and their narratives.

scholarly journals A Shift Towards Digital and Participatory Performance Practice Post-Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Mastrominico ◽  
Elizabeth de Roza
Keyword(s):  
Performance Practice ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Digital Medium ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Democratic Performance ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Global Reaction ◽  
Participatory Performance

This perspective analyses and reflects upon the experience of conceiving, curating and participating in&nbsp;Bodies:On:Live&nbsp;Magdalena:On:Live,&nbsp;the first online multi-platform Magdalena Festival, bringing together digitally competent artists with creative roots in the immateriality of the internet, in dialogue about current shifts in performance making&nbsp;with performers, writers, and directors declaring their uneasiness towards online adaptations of live work.&nbsp;As part of the global reaction to the standstill brought about by the Covid pandemic,&nbsp;we argue that shifts in practice for women in contemporary theatre associated with the Magdalena network – whether as an attempt for immediate artistic survival or a conscious experimental choice – were not exclusively determined by the available sharing of technical knowledge, or by the need to increase awareness of the digital medium in order to gain&nbsp;experience&nbsp;of&nbsp;different working&nbsp;modalities, but&nbsp;served a participatory and social purpose.&nbsp;These conditions were surfacing due to the digital space manifesting as a specific format of gathering through the Zoom windows and other platforms,&nbsp;which framed the encounters within a democratic performance arena, making the boundaries between participation and spectatorship porous.&nbsp;Therefore,&nbsp;the shift provoked&nbsp;by the festival&nbsp;not only pertains to the aesthetic&nbsp;sphere,&nbsp;but&nbsp;it&nbsp;is dynamically and organically geared towards the recognition of new working contexts arising from the unsettling experience of ‘disembodiment’&nbsp;–&nbsp;as an ontological paradox of the original in-person Magdalena festival -&nbsp;and the embedded argument of the creative use of new technologies for a more sustainable and accessible future of performance making, both live and digital.&nbsp;

Censura y traducción

Babel ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-38
Author(s):  
Eterio Pajares
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Spanish Version ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
History Of ◽  
Heavy Burden ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Distance

Abstract Britain’s involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession was such a heavy burden for this country that many essays were written against prolonging the struggle. To this, John Arbuthnot (this satire was wrongly attributed to Swift for many years) contributed with The History of John Bull, a collection of fine satirical pamphlets designed to put and end to the campaign, and advocating a return to peace and common sense. It was soon translated into French and, from this language, Juan Ignacio de Ayestaran tried to produce a Spanish version. However, this version was not authorised by the harsh and voracious Spanish censorship of the period. This essay offers a comparative critical study of the translation and analyses the censors’ reasons for rejecting it. The close reading of this fine satirical work makes the arguments for rebuffing the authorisation so obvious that one wonders to what extent some eighteenth century translators were really aware of the time they were living in and the aesthetic distance between two countries so geographically near but so alien in freedom and tradition. Résumé Le rôle de la Grande-Bretagne dans la guerre de succession espagnole a été un tel fardeau pour ce pays que de nombreux essais ont été écrits contre la poursuite de la lutte. John Arbuthnot y a contribué avec L’histoire de John Bull (pendant de nombreuses années, cette satire a été attribuée à tort à Swift). Cette collection de superbes pamphlets satiriques, conçus pour mettre fin à la campagne et préconisant le retour à la paix et au bon sens, a rapidement été traduite en français. En partant de cette langue, Juan Ignacio de Ayestaran a tenté de produire une version espagnole. Toutefois, cette version n’a pas été autorisée par la censure espagnole, dure et dévorante, de l’époque. Cet essai propose une étude critique comparative de la traduction et analyse les raisons pour lesquelles le censeur l’a rejetée. Une lecture attentive de cette belle oeuvre satirique rend tellement évidents les arguments invoqués pour l’interdire qu’on se demande dans quelle mesure certains traducteurs du dix-huitième siècle étaient vraiment conscients de l’époque où ils vivaient et de la distance esthétique entre deux pays, si proches géographiquement parlant et pourtant si distants sur le plan de la liberté et de la tradition.

The Peter Pan and Wendy Syndrome: A Marital Dynamic

1982 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Quadrio
Keyword(s):  
Peter Pan ◽  
Dyadic Relationship ◽  
Lost Boys

A marital system is described which features an unfaithful and narcissistic husband, Peter Pan, and a long suffering and depressed wife, Wendy. The dynamics of their individual adjustments are examined as well as the symbiotic nature of the dyadic relationship. Other characters take their parts—Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, and Little Lost Boys. Peter's infidelities belie a firm attachment to his Wendy/mother whilst she depends upon him for protection from forbidden impulses.

scholarly journals Spectatorship, Politics and the Rules of Participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgita Staniškytė
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Audience Participation ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Aesthetic

Contemporary theatre performances offer many examples of audience engagement - its forms range from physical interventions into public space to mental emancipation of the audience’s imagination. These practices put into question the effectiveness of the existing tools of audience research because, in some instances, theatre serves as a manipulation machine, “tricking” the public to perform specific social actions, while in other cases, it becomes a tool for the deconstruction of manipulation mechanisms at the same time serving as a platform for engaging entertainment. Audience research paradigms, based on dichotomies such as passive/active, inclusion/exclusion or incorporation/resistance are no longer able to address the complex concepts of spectatorship as performance, co-creation, or audience participation. Therefore, new practices of audience participation, conspicuously emerging in contemporary Lithuanian theatre, can only be adequately addressed by combining methodologies from different disciplines and critically evaluating historical and theoretical implications of these practices. In my article, I will focus on the historical implications of the term “audience participation” as a form of public engagement and issues of its application as experienced by theatre artists and audiences in Lithuania. The article will also examine the theoretical implications of the notion of participatory turn and its effect on theatre productions at the same time challenging the conceptual equations of “active spectatorship” in the aesthetic sphere to the emergence of “active participant” in the public sphere.

‘The Money Was Real Money’: Talking with Audiences about Corruption, Domestic Violence and Aesthetic Values during the Roverman Festival of Plays at the Ghana National Theatre

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
AWO MANA ASIEDU
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Real Money ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Values

This article is about audiences’ reactions to plays at the 2013–14 Roverman Festival of Plays at the Ghana National Theatre. Using a modified version of Willmar Sauter's ‘Theatre Talks’, questionnaires and participant observation, I sought to ascertain what audiences at this festival made of two of the plays presented to them:What's My Name?andThe Day Dad Came. Audiences identified and discussed endemic corruption and domestic violence in ways that showed their keen engagement with and interpretation of the plays and their eagerness to take what was presented to them and make it their own. The discussion also reveals the audiences’ interest in the aesthetic qualities of the plays, which they shared in surprising detail. I argue that the personality of the director–playwright, Ebo Whyte, frames the audiences’ appreciation of the plays.

Peter Pan, Wendy, and the Lost Boys: A Dead Mother Complex

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-74
Author(s):  
Robert S. White
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Projective Identification ◽  
Mental Development ◽  
The Self ◽  
Melanie Klein ◽  
Peter Pan ◽  
Internal Objects ◽  
Mother Complex ◽  
Lost Boys

Melanie Klein and André Green offer competing descriptions of primitive mental development. The former emphasizes the need to control internal objects through splitting and projective identification, while the latter emphasizes a narcissistic retreat from objects through progressive deadening of the self. To bridge these theoretical differences a spectrum of fantasies is proposed ranging from reanimation (bringing deadness back to life) to reparation (healing damage caused by paranoid attack). Clinically, alternations between these two defensive patterns occur, acting together to avoid painful anxieties. The interplay of these defenses is illustrated by a dream drawn from clinical practice, from the life of James Barrie, and from his fictional creation Peter Pan.

scholarly journals Powrót „Dziadów”, czyli dwa teatry

2015 ◽  
pp. 64-86
Author(s):  
Jacek Kopciński
Keyword(s):  
Critical Distance ◽  
Imagined Community ◽  
Community Theatre ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
Alternative Proposal ◽  
Interpretive Strategies ◽  
Entire Text

The essay of Jacek Kopciński is dedicated to new realisations of Adam Mickiewicz’s Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve) in contemporary Polish theatre. The author juxtaposes performances of two leading avant-garde directors of younger generation: Michał Zadara and Paweł Passini, and analyses the interviews of both artists. The purpose of the essay is to reconstruct their artistic consciousness. This reconstruction leads to illustrate two interpretive strategies that correspond with different directions of development of Polish contemporary theatre. Zadara stages the entire text of the drama, but distorts its meaning to build a critical distance to romantic myths. Passini, however, made an adaptation of the drama, followed its metaphysical meaning and exposed it as a rite consistent with romantic idea. The author of the article puts Zadara’s performance in the current of critical theatre, while Passini’s intepretation is treated as an alternative proposal called imagined community theatre. The context for this discussion is the jubilee of the 250 anniversary of the National Theatre and the public theatre in Poland

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