Gibson Dementia, Narrative and Performance

Staging Reality, Reimagining Identities
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-3-030-46547-6
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 301 Seiten

Reihe: Progress in Mathematics

Focusing mainly on case studies from  Australia and the United States of America, this book considers how people with dementia represent themselves and are represented in 'theatre of the real' productions and care home interventions, assessing the extent to which the 'right kind' of dementia story is being affirmed or challenged. It argues that this type of story - one of tragedy, loss of personhood, biomedical deficit, and socio-economic 'crisis - produces dementia and the people living with it, as much as biology does. It proposes two novel ideas. One is that the 'gaze' of theatre and performance offers a reframing of some of the behaviours and actions of people with dementia, through which deficit views can be changed to ones of possibility. The other is that, conversely, dementia offers productive perspectives on 'theatre of the real'. Scanning contemporary critical studies about and practices of 'theatre of the real' performances and applied theatre interventions, the book probes what it means when certain 'theatre of the real' practices (specifically verbatim and autobiographical) interact with storytellers considered, culturally, to be 'unreliable narrators'. It also explores whether autobiographical theatre is useful in reinforcing a sense of 'self' for those deemed no longer to have one. With a focus on the relationship between stories and selves, the book investigates how selves might be rethought so that they are not contingent on the production of lucid self-narratives, consistent language, and truthful memories.


Janet Gibson is the Program Manager, Communication, at UTS Insearch, Australia, where she also lectures on the relationship between dementia and citizenship. She is also a TimeSlips facilitator and an actor, having performed with Tectonic Theater Project in New York in Women in Beckett. 

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gibson, Janet

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Acknowledgements;6
2;Contents;9
3;Abbreviations;11
4;List of Figures;13
5;Chapter 1: My Mother’s Story, My Story;14
5.1;Focal Points, Challenges, and Contributions;17
5.2;Theoretical Contexts, Disciplinary Locations, and Approach;22
5.3;Mapping the Arguments;28
5.4;Resisting the ‘Right Kind’ of Dementia Story;31
5.5;References;36
5.5.1;Filmography;44
6;Part I: Dementia, Identity and Narrative;45
6.1;Chapter 2: Recasting Senility: The Genesis of the ‘Right Kind’ of Dementia Story;46
6.1.1;What Is Dementia? Biomedical Approaches;47
6.1.2;Defining the ‘Right Kind’ of Dementia Story;49
6.1.3;Recasting Senility as Alzheimer’s Disease: Historical and Geocultural Contexts;53
6.1.4;The ‘Crisis’ of Dementia: Sociopolitical and Economic Contexts;55
6.1.5;“A very neoliberal condition”;58
6.1.6;Metaphors and Stigma;61
6.1.7;Them and Us;62
6.1.8;References;65
6.1.8.1;Filmography;68
6.1.8.2;Plays;68
6.2;Chapter 3: Narrative Regimes;69
6.2.1;Narrative and the Construction of ‘Reality’ as ‘Normalcy’;70
6.2.2;The Narrative Self: How Stories Constitute Selves;71
6.2.3;“Against Narrativity”;76
6.2.4;Reminiscence Regimes: Reminiscence and Its Therapies in Dementia Care;78
6.2.5;Digital Storytelling and Virtual Technologies;87
6.2.6;‘Re-story-ing’: What Might Narrative Look Like Beyond Reminiscence?;91
6.2.7;References;94
7;Part II: Dementia in Performance;100
7.1;Chapter 4: Staging the ‘Reality’ of Dementia;101
7.1.1;Exploring Theatre of the Real;103
7.1.2;Staging Real Life: A Brief Genealogy;107
7.1.3;The Revival of the Real: Theatre of the Real and the “Lie of the Literal”13;113
7.1.4;Defining Verbatim Theatre and Locating Its Cultural Work;116
7.1.5;Words and Dementia: Do They Matter?;122
7.1.6;What Dementia Offers Theatre of the Real;125
7.1.7;Constructing ‘Real’ Worlds;126
7.1.8;Representation and Reality;129
7.1.9;Normative Age-and-Dementia-Effects;131
7.1.10;References;134
7.1.10.1;Plays;138
7.2;Chapter 5: Staging Dementia Voices in Australia: Missing the Bus to David Jones, Theatre Kantanka, and Sundowner, KAGE;140
7.2.1;Postdramatic Theatre;142
7.2.2;Missing the Bus to David Jones2: The Production;145
7.2.3;The Coming of Age;146
7.2.4;“The Shangri-La Living Room is a Carnival of Entertainment and Activity”;148
7.2.5;Warehousing;151
7.2.6;Authenticity-Effects in Missing the Bus to David Jones;154
7.2.7;Resistant Strategies;157
7.2.8;Lust for Life;161
7.2.9;What Is Missing in Missing the Bus to David Jones?;163
7.2.10;A Tragedy Is About to Unfold;166
7.2.11;Sundowner as Dramatic Theatre;168
7.2.12;Memory as a Carrier of Identity;171
7.2.13;All You Need Is Love;172
7.2.14;Putting MBDJ and Sundowner in Conversation;174
7.2.15;References;177
7.2.15.1;Films;181
7.2.15.2;Plays;181
7.2.15.3;Television;182
7.3;Chapter 6: Mapping Applied Performance in Dementia Cultures;183
7.3.1;Narrative Interventions, Social Intentionality, Change, and Transformation;185
7.3.2;Change, Choice, and Participation: Dementia as Provocateur in Applied Performance;186
7.3.3;Narrative Recall and Healing;191
7.3.4;Re-story-ing (Old) People Living with Dementia: TimeSlips;195
7.3.5;TimeSlips: Resistance to the ‘Right Kind’ of Dementia Story;196
7.3.6;TimeSlips: Problems of Control, Power, and Regimentation;200
7.3.7;Narra[tive]-Theatrical Spaces/Places;201
7.3.8;The Bucket List, Starett Lodge;203
7.3.9;De Hogeweyk;206
7.3.10;Rethinking the Story;210
7.3.11;References;214
7.3.11.1;Filmography;219
7.4;Chapter 7: “I Don’t Want to Disappear”: Dementia and Public Autobiographical Performance;220
7.4.1;The Provocations Dementia Offers to Autobiographical Performance Scholarship;222
7.4.2;Rights, Justice, and Agency;224
7.4.3;To Whom I May Concern® (TWIMC): Origins and Format;227
7.4.4;“I don’t want to disappear”: The Politics of the ‘I’ in TWIMC;228
7.4.5;A Boundary Phenomenon;231
7.4.6;Staging the ‘I’;234
7.4.7;Discourse Disables the Possibility of a “Real-real”;239
7.4.8;Performers and Spectators;241
7.4.9;Promising Change;243
7.4.10;References;245
8;Part III: Dementia as Performance;250
8.1;Chapter 8: Rehearsing a Theory of Dementia as Performance;251
8.1.1;Situating Performance Paradigms;252
8.1.2;Rehearsing a Theory of Dementia as Performance;255
8.1.3;Dementia Activism as Cultural Performance;264
8.1.4;References;269
8.1.4.1;YouTube;272
8.2;Chapter 9: Revisiting My Mother’s Story, My Story;273
8.2.1;Future Imaginaries;279
8.2.2;References;280
8.2.2.1;Films;281
8.2.2.2;Television;281
9;Index;282