PARIP 2003

NATIONAL CONFERENCE: 11-14 September

CONTRIBUTORS

MACKEY: SALLY
central school of speech and drama
ex[c]-siting the self: problematising the position of the praxitioner in platial-specific performance research

Using a case study of a platial-specific performance project, I will explore the problematic position of the researcher/author/praxitioner within a polyphonic research process. Reference will be made to The Caer Llan Sestina, a 30-strong collaboration which took place in the summer of 2002 on the borderlands of England and Wales. Playing with memory, subjectivity and performativity, I am exploring, specifically, performance in ‘natural’ and landscaped spaces as real and potential sites for facilitating, constructing or contriving a sense of place. The participants have experience in site-specific, outdoor performance, and had interconnecting memories of the site itself and a common performance language. The project will be outlined initially in the paper/demonstration with particular issues then raised and addressed.

What has arisen from this case study of particular interest for the current practice-as-research debate are a number of related ongoing questions. When and how does the auteur/researcher physically exit the self from the process to fully facilitate a collaborative performance project? How do we address the potential moment of excitement that removes the praxitioner into a possible state of non-reflective consciousness (sic Sartre)? How do we disentangle the complexity of multi-vocal subjectivities in group-dependent performance practice as research? How far does the pro-active dystopic ex-siting and re-siting of the self in this particular project affect an autochthonous response to place?

These questions impact upon the challenge for practice as research to be self-evident as research outcomes.

Sally Mackey is a Principal Lecturer at Central School of Speech and Drama and course leader for an applied drama degree. Author of Drama and Theatre Studies and Practical Theatre (2000, 1997), current research interests are in performance, place, outdoor sites and memory and she has conducted several research projects in this field.

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