Authenticity in Contemporary Theatre and Performance: Make it Real (Methuen Drama Engage)

Description

Authenticity is one of the major values of our time. It is visible everywhere, from clothing to food to self-help books. While it is such a prevalent phenomenon, it is also very evasive. This study analyses the 'culture of authenticity as it relates to theatre and establishes a theoretical framework for analysis. Daniel Schulz argues that authenticity is sought out and marked by the individual and springs from a culture that is perceived as inherently fake and lacking depth. The study examines three types of performances that exemplify this structure of feeling: intimate theatre seen in Forced Entertainment productions such as Quizoola! (1996, 2015), as well as one-on-one performances, such as Oentroerend Goed s Internal (2009); immersive theatres as illustrated by Punchdrunk s shows The Masque of the Red Death (2007) and The Drowned Man (2013) which provide a visceral, sensate understanding for audiences; finally, the study scrutinises the popular category of documentary theatre through various examples such as Robin Soan s Talking to Terrorists (2005), David Hare s Stuff Happens (2004), Edmund Burke s Black Watch (2007) and Dennis Kelly s pseudo-documentary play Taking Care of Baby (2007). It is specifically the value of the document that lends such performances their truth-value and consequently their authenticity. The study analyses how the success of these disparate categories of performance can be explained through a common concern with notions of truth and authenticity. It argues that this hunger for authentic, unmediated experience is characteristic of a structure of feeling that has superseded postmodernism and that actively seeks to resignify artistic and cultural practices of the everyday. Dedication Contents List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Foreword Mark Ravenhill Preface • Mark Edward and Stephen Farrier 1 Drag: Applying Foundation and Setting the Scene • Mark Edward and Stephen Farrier 2 Dragging the Mainstream: RuPaul’s Drag Race and Moving Drag Practices between the USA and the UK • Joe Parslow 3 Race for the Money: The Influence of RuPaul’s Drag Race on the Livelihood and Aesthetics of New York City’s Drag Culture • Kalle Westerling 4 Chinoiserie Drag: Masquerading as the Oriental Other • Rosa Fong 5 ‘It’s Always Better Performing with the Troupe’: Space, Place and Collective Activism • Jae Basiliere 6 Of Hills and Wheels: Tilda Death Drags Memory • Raz Weiner 7 A Transfeminist Critique of Drag Discourses and Performance Styles in Three National Contexts (US, France and UK): From RuPaul’s Drag Race to Bar Wotever • Kayte Stokoe 8 Not a Cock in a Frock, but a Hole Story: Drag and the Mark of the ‘Bioqueens’ • Stephen Farrier 9 Destabilization through Celebration: Drag, Homage and Challenges to Black Stereotypes in the Practice of Harold Offeh • Kieran Sellars 10 Gender Euphoria: Trans and Non-Binary Identities in Drag • Olympia Bukkakis 11 The Tranimal: Throwing Gender out of Drag? • Nick Cherryman 12 Drag Kings and Queens of Higher Education • Mark Edward 13 Drag Publique: The Queer Spectacle, the Emaciated Spectator and the Public Secret • Allan Taylor 14 ‘Blessed Is the Fruit’: Drag Performance, Birthing and Religious Identity • Chris Greenough and Nina Kane Index