Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of

The Role and Status of Narrative
in Contemporary Theatre
Neal Swettenham
PhD
April 2003.
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirementsfor the award of
Doctor of Philosophy by De Montfort University
Abstract
At a time when many other academic and practical disciplines are eager to embrace
for
interaction,
human
accounting
experience
much
and
narrative as a means of
is
in
jettisoning
it.
(mythos)
Aristotle
theatre
work
engaged
rated
story
contemporary
follow
drama
has
to
theatre
tended
the
and western
as
most significant element within
this model ever since. Twentieth-century experiments with non-narrative and antibreakdown
the
of rigid categories have suggested new
narrative work and
is
in
What
This
the
thesis
this
role
and
status
context?
of narrative
new
possibilities.
brings together insights from narratology, narrative psychology, and performance
in
light
to
an
attempt
shed
studies,
on the operations of narrative within the context of
contemporary theatre.
Studies in narrative psychology demonstratethat narrative is a fundamentalmode of
cognitive thinking and that identity is constructed around narrative. Significantly,
however,the root metaphorhas shifted from mechanismto contextualism.
Postmodernistcultural production increasinglyprivileges the recycling of pre-existing
desperate
by
Play-boy
Through
texts
two
materials.
exemplar
a close analysis of
is
by
Vanya
Howard
Barker
that
(Uncle)
the
such
made
optimists and
suggestion
In
fresh
deploying
particular,
elements.
narrative
experimentsare openingup
ways of
both works demonstratethat it is legitimate and necessaryto interrogatethe presumed
link betweenstrictly causalnarrative and the possibility of moral debate.
The application of gametheory to the study of narrative is one helpful way of moving
from structural analysesof narrative to more dynamic models. Narrative is likely to
continue to play a significant role within theatre, but its operations will almost
certainly becomeincreasinglyopen,dispersedand multiple.
This thesis is the result of my own independentwork/investigation, except where otherwise stated.
Other sourcesare acknowledgedby footnotes,giving explicit references.A bibliography is appended.
The Role and Status of Narrative
in Contemporary Theatre
Neal Swettenham
Contents
Acknowledgements
0
vii
1
Introduction
5
Chapter 1
Losing the Plot
Chapter2
Narrative Structures
11
Chapter3
ClassicalNarrative
20
Chapter4
Alternatives to Narrative
35
Chapter5
Anti Narrative
46
Chapter6
Narrative Psychology
61
Chapter7
Narrative againstNarrative: desperateoptimists
73
Chapter8
Howard Barker: A Bargain With Impossibility
98
Chapter9
Narrative and Morality
123
Chapter 10
PostmodernNarrative
138
Conclusion
154
Bibliography
157
Acknowledgements
Particular thanks are due to Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, for their extremely
generous help during the very early stages of this research, when they alerted me to
one of the last opportunities to view a live performance of Play-boy; and, at a later
date, for submitting to an extended telephone interview with customary good humour
and unflagging attention.
Thanks also to Richard Foreman, for allowing me to interview him during a busy
in
November
for
his
2000,
period
and
rehearsal
permission to make use of that
interview material in my research.
Finally, I would like to acknowledgeboth the financial supportprovided by Brooksby
Melton College and, aboveall, the invaluable guidanceand encouragementoffered by
ProfessorMichael Patterson,throughout the entire five-year period that it has taken
for this thesisto be researchedand written.
The Role and Status of Narrative in Contemporary Theatre
Introduction
It may certainly be the casethat in our postmodernworld thereis now a substantial"incredulity
toward metanarratives"(Lyotard, 1984:xxiv). However,it would also appearthat narrativeper
it
is
bookseller,
From
titles
to
is
from
to
on
purchase
now
possible
strength.
any
strength
se going
in
cyberspace,
narrative
narrative
ethics,
narrativeandpsychotherapy,narrative-basedmedicine,
in
business,
transformation,
to
social
approach
a
narrative
care,
narrative
primary
narrative-based
interviewing,
theology,
narrativegerontology,narrative
narrative
mediation,
narrative
narrative
Disorder,
law,
Attention
Deficit
the
treating
narrative
narrativeasa meansof
and
alcoholism,or
female
in
and economic studies, the use of narrative
organisational change, narrative as
empowerment, narrative and identity, narrative as a teaching strategy, narrative as the
fundamental basis for designing artificial intelligence, even a narrative analysis of water
'
management.
Narrative, it would seem,is the new buzz-word.A moment's further reflection will revealhow
For
interactions
immersed
in
and experiences. example,
profoundly
narrative are our everyday
two friends meetbriefly on a street-corner.Oneaskshow the otheris. Fine, comesthe reply, I've
just been over to see Geoff and he sendshis regards.Oh, saysthe first speaker,I saw Geoff
And
better,
he
last
Is
he'd
just
his
hurt
had
bad
fall
now...?
myself only
any
week wrist.
a
and
so it goes on. Mini-narratives of our own and other people's experiencessharedas the basic
1By way of example, indicative texts include: J. McLeod (1997) Narrative Psychotherapy, T. Greenhalgh et al
(1998) Narrative Based Medicine: Dialogue and Discourse in Clinical Practice, A. Z. Newton (1997) Narrative
Ethics, J. H. Murray (1998) Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, J. Launer (2002)
Narrative-based Primary Care: A Practical Guide, B. Czarniawska (1997) Narrating the Organization: Dramas
Cultures:
Narrative
Inquiry),
A
Institutional
(New
Practices
Across
Identity
B.
Bradshaw
(2002)
Change
of
of
Approach to Social Transformation, G. W. Stroup (1997) The Promise of Narrative Theology: Recovering the
Gospel in the Church, G. Monk & J. Winslade (2000) Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict
Resolution, T. Wengraf (2001) Qualitative Research Interviewing: Semi-structured, Biographical and Narrative
Methods, G. Kenyon (2001) Narrative Gerontology: Theory, Research and Practice, B. S. Jackson (1991) Law,
Fact and Narrative Coherence (Legal Semiotics Monographs), J. Diamond (2002) Narrative Means to Sober
Ends: Treating Addiction and Its Aftermath, D. Nylund (2002) Treating Huckleberry Finn: A New Narrative
Approach to Working with Kids Diagnosed ADD/ADHD, D. N. McCloskey (1990) If You're So Smart: The
Narrative of Economic Expertise, D. Snowden (2002) Using Narrative in Organisational Change, E. J. Lawless
(2001) Women Escaping Violence: Empowerment Through Narrative, H. L. Nelson (2001) Damaged Identities,
Narrative Repair, G. Bage (1999) Narrative Matters: Teaching and Learning History Through Story, R. C.
Shank (1996) Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence (Rethinking Theory), W. Dicke (2001) Bridges and
Watersheds: A Narrative Analysis of Water Management in England, Wales
and the Netherlands.
currency of everydayconversation.What's more, there's a good chancethat, later in the day, one
or both of thesetwo friends will settlethemselvesdown and catch up with the latest happenings
in their favourite television soaps:the virtual, ongoing narrativesof our media-saturatedsociety,
it
the
thoughts,
and
aspirations
of millions are, would seem, deeply
with which
emotions
intertwined. "Narrative has existed in every known human society", Edward Branigan (1992: 1)
tells us; "wherever there are humansthere appearto be stories", saysPaul Cobley (2001: 2); or as
Roland Barthes still more succinctly puts it: "narrative [... ] is simply there,like life itself' (1977:
79).
It comesas somewhatof a surprise,then, to realise that in theatre,the natural home of narrative
be
being madeto strip narrativeout of the process
imagine,
to
one might
concertedefforts appear
altogether, and to construct plays and performances,which are, at best, non-narrative and, at
worst, very definitely anti-narrative. What is happening?How is it that just at the point when
virtually every other academicdiscipline seemsto be rushing headlongto embracenarrativewith
the freshly-awakenedfervour and evangelicalzeal of a new convert, New Theatre is determined
to jettison it? What is it about narrative that is making it so unpopular with contemporary
practitioners and some audiencesalike? In what ways has narrative functioned up till now as a
is
it
longer
be
drama,
to
no
considered
vital constituent of
such?Are there any reasons
and why
to supposethat narrative will eventually disappearentirely from theatreand performance,or will
it, in fact, begin to operatein radically different ways from before?
This study is an attempt to addresstheseand other questions.It therefore seeksto determineboth
the role and statusof narrative within contemporarytheatre,by first undertakingan historical and
in
from
form
findings
that survey to
theatre,
the
then
analytical survey of narrative
and
relating
two key works: one from the areaof new performance,Play-boy (1999), devised and performed
by Irish theatre company desperateoptimists;2and the other, (Uncle) Vanya(1993), a published
playtext by Howard Barker. These works have been chosen partly becauseof the particular
avenuesof exploration that they open up: by the very fact that both texts are contemporary reworkings of pre-existing narratives,they raise useful questionsthat apply, not simply to any story
structure, but specifically also to postmodernism's predilection for pasticheand the recycling of
2 The uncapitalised typography representsthe company's preferred format and will be used throughout the
thesis.
2
`found' material. They also serve to represent the two
main strands of theatre work being carried
out at the present time - text-based drama and devised work - though they can in no way be
exhaustive of these two categories.
Along the way, I will alsoattemptto draw in key findings from the fields of cognitivepsychology
and narratology. One particular focus will be the link that has frequently beenmade between
narrativecoherenceandmorality (Gilligan, 1982;Macintyre, 1985;Peter,1987;Winston, 1998).
My researchesinto this aspectof narrative have led me to some surprising conclusions.Is it
actually the casethat moral debatehasto takeplacewithin a particular form of narrative,whose
operationsand eventsdirectly mirror the causalityof `real-life', or is it possiblethat disjointed,
fragmented,`impossible' narrativesmight equally well bearthe weight of moral speculation?
Startingfrom a position somewhatsimilar to that takenby JohnPeter(long-time dramacritic for
TheSunday Times)who, in Vladimir's Carrot (1987), arguesstrongly for a vital link between
narrative and morality, I have found myself revising my own views considerablyduring the
courseof the research.
Thereare,of course,legitimateand important questionsto be askedin relation to the politics of
story; for instance,the ways in which the fundamentalstructuresof narrative could be seento
privilege a `masculine' form of writing over the idea of ecriturefeminine (aspositedby Helene
Cixous [see Barry, 2002: 126-30]), or the relationship betweennarrative and ideologies of
control (cf. Althusser [seeGoldstein, 1990: 164-74]). In somesenses,though,it could be argued
that theseare supplementaryquestions,sincethey tend to leaveto one side what is, in my view,
an altogethermore fundamentalissue:the extentto which we actually`need'narrativein the first
place. For that reason,I have consciouslyrestricted the scopeof this particular investigation
primarily to the structuralist/ post-structuralistdiscourse.
The thesisis set out in the following way. Chapter1 setsthe scene,by
placing Aristotle's views
on plot directly alongsidethoseof contemporarypractitionersandtheorists,in orderto get some
immediate senseof the kind of gulf that has openedup betweenthem. Chapter2 then
gives an
accountof the fundamentalstructuresof narrative, as well as providing some initial thoughts
from the field of cognitive psychology in relation to narrative. Chapters3-5
make up the
historical survey of the role and status of narrative within theatre
practice, with Chapter 3
3
providing a broad sweep from early Greek theatre up to the end of the nineteenth century,
Chapter 4 examining some of the alternatives to narrative that were being tried out during the
first half of the twentieth century, and Chapter 5 looking at some of the more aggressively antinarrative strategies of practitioners like John Cage, Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman and The
Wooster Group. Chapter 6 provides a more detailed consideration of narrative psychology and, in
be
looks
fundamental
that
the
at
proposition
narrative
should
mode of
seen as a
particular,
impressions
to
the
thinking,
enables
us
with
which
experiences and
make sense of
cognitive
bombarded.
which we are constantly
The secondsection of the thesis beginsat Chapter7, which is a detailedanalysisof desperate
optimists' Play-boy, placing particular emphasison the work's subtle exploration of narrative
operationswithin an overarchingcontext that is both playful and ethically-charged.Chapter8
considersthe plays of Howard Barker,with a specific focus on (Uncle) Vanya,a text which, in a
ratherdifferent way, andwith a much darkertone,alsosubvertsthe conventionalexpectationsof
narrative. Chapter 9 then considersthe precise relationship betweenmorality and narrative,
drawing on aspectsof narrative game-theoryto accountfor someof the hidden constraintsof
causal narrative. Finally, Chapter 10 looks at narrative in the context of postmodernismand
/
for
its
theatre
proposesan alternative model
evaluating role and statuswithin contemporary
performancework.
A final observation on the significance of the current study: although there has been an
impressivearrayof excellentbooksandarticles
in
the
subjectof narrative general,the
written on
vast majority of thesefocus on narrativewithin a primarily literary context.A notableexception
to this is StantonB. Garner'sTheAbsent Voice:Narrative Comprehensionin the Theater(1989),
is
which
a study of the active, cognitive role played by the audiencein piecing together a
dramaticperformance,andof the absolutelycentralfunction of narrativewithin this. Nick Kaye's
Postmodernismand Performance(1994) also opensup a numberof importantareasin relationto
theatre,andMichael Roemer'sextremelywide-rangingTelling Stories: Postmodernismand the
Invalidation of Traditional Narrative (1995) draws someaspectsof theatrical narrativeinto the
broaderphilosophical debate.But thereis undoubtedlya dearthof titles that focusspecificallyon
questionsof narrative in relation to theatrein performance,as a subject in its own right. It is,
therefore,hopedthat the presentstudy will be a positive contribution to this important debate.
4
Chapter One - Losing the Plot
All humanbeingshave a needto hear stories...
(David Hare, The Designated Mourner)
just
life.
is
for
(Beckett,
Texts
Nothing 4)
compulsory,
a
not
a
story
...
Aristotle was definitive on the subject:"Plot [mythos]is the first essential- the very soul, as it
were,of Tragedy" (Aristotle, 1963: 14).This first "narratologicaltreatise",as SusanaOnegaand
JoseAngel GarciaLanda (1996: 1) describeAristotle's Poetics,situatesstory at the core of the
dramaticprocess,making it the dynamic centre-point,without which the dramasimply cannot
happen.
Whatever Aristotle understoodby the term mythos-a point, to which we shall return in a
moment - it is immediately apparentthat much contemporaryperformancework radically
challengesthis confident assertionconcerningthe role andstatusof narrative.Plot hasbecomea
`dirty' word, and postmodernsuspicionsto do with the very nature of reality have led us to a
deepscepticismaboutconstructs,which claim to supplyuswith `meaning',including anykind of
narrative structuring.
This "anti-narrative" strategyis obvious within modernand contemporarydrama,in its
rejection of the valuesof classicalnarrative,andwithin thejustification of suchdramaby
theoristsasopposedasBrecht andArtaud, who despitetheir different theatricalaimssharethe dramaturgicalbelief that "Stories we understandarejust badly told." (Garner,
1989: 35)
And yet at the sametime, thereis anotherline of thought (articulated,for example,within Peter
Brooks' Readingfor the Plot [1984] and, specifically in relation to theatre,StantonB. Garner's
TheAbsent Voice: Narrative Comprehensionin the Theater [1989]), which would wish to see
fundamental
from
impossible
being
human
to
to
as
narrative as
our experience of
escape
and as
our genetic code.
At this very early stagewe should,perhaps,seekto differentiatethe threekey terms,which will
in
frequently
discussion:
the
throughout
ways
used
story,plot andnarrative are
recurrepeatedly
be
between
indeed
is
distinctions
to
blur
them,
there
the
to
and
considerableoverlap
which tend
found. One starting-pointis provided by Paul Cobley in his 2001 Narrative reader:
Put very simply, `story' consists of all the events which are to be depicted. `Plot' is the
dictates
linked
that
these
and that they are
are
causation
which
events
somehow
chain of
therefore to be depicted in relation to each other. `Narrative' is the showing or the telling
5-6)
2001:
for
(Cobley,
take
these
the
that
to
events and
place.
of
mode selected
At the risk of grossover-simplification, we might saythat `story' is the what, `plot' is the why,
`narrative'
is the how.
and
Thesedefinitions will be useful onesto keepin mind throughoutthe discussion.However,aswe
less
in
different
disciplines
terms
to
the
tend
specific senses.
or
more
shall see,
use
academic
Within cognitive psychology,for example,story and narrativeare frequently usedin waysthat
for
that
to
the
ourselvesof
we
make
areroughly synonymous,referring simply
orderedaccounts
Landa
hand,
Onega
life-events.
For
the
point out,
and
as
otherwisescattered
narratology,on other
the term `narrative' meanssomethingrathermoreprecise,thoughit canbe takeneither in a very
broad,or elsea considerablymorerestricted,sense:"A wider Aristotelian definition of narrative
might be `a work with a plot' (e.g. epic poetry,tragedy,comedy);a narrow onewould be `awork
with a narrator' (epic poetry, but not, in principle, dramaor film)" (1996: 1-2).
Although Onega and Landa determine to concentratetheir attention mainly upon the more
for
the purposesof this study we will be concernedwith the wider
term,
the
restrictedsenseof
Aristotelian version, enabling a full considerationof narrative as it occurs within a dramatic
"A
helpful
definition
is,
final,
Their
technical
though,
one:
a
of narrative
context.
and more
in
is
the
of
a
series
narrative
of eventsmeaningfullyconnected a temporal
semioticrepresentation
and causalway" (1996: 3).
6
Within this careful arrangement of terms, all the key elements of
found.
be
to
narrative are
Firstly, there is a recognition of the constructed nature of the narrative project; secondly, that
connections are made on the basis both of causality and signification (plot); and finally, account
is taken of the temporal dimension of story. During the course of the discussion, we will have
cause to examine each of these aspects carefully.
Aristotle
Returning to Aristotle, it may be helpful to examine in a little more detail the sensein which he
(most
the
mythos
commonly translated as `plot'). A detailed and helpful consideration
word
uses
is
this
question to be found in Lowe (2001: 1-16) and his amplified translation of the relevant
of
from
the Poetics is illuminating:
passage
THE PLOT (mythos) IS THE REPRESENTATION
(mimesis again) OF THE ACTION (praxis
again) for BY `PLOT'HEREI MEAN THE ORGANISATION(synthesis) OFTHEEVENTS(pragmata,
passive cognate of praxis: `things done' as opposed to `doing')
(Lowe, 2000: 7)
Again, it is this useof the word `organisation',which indicatesa structuringprocessat work on
the part of the writer, an organisingprinciple which binds the story elementstogetherin some
kind of meaningful pattern;for it is certainly questionsto do with structurewhich lie at the heart
of the debate.
For Aristotle, of course, Plot is just one of "six (and only six) parts", which determine and
delineateTragedy,the other five being "Spectacle,Melody, Diction, Character
"
Thought.
and
Interestingly, not only is Plot identified as the most important:
fact
that
the
also
note
we may
Aristotle placesSpectacleat the very bottom of the pecking-order.More of that in a moment.
Aristotle went into somedetail asto what constituteda good plot for the stage.It must be wellconstructed,whole and complete,of an appropriatemagnitude,and of course,it must have a
"beginning, middle and end" (Aristotle, 1963: 15). His careful definition of what actually
constitutesbeginning,middle andendmakescuriousreadingnowadays,afterour exposureto the
texts of practitionerslike Brecht andBeckett,andliterary theoristssuchasDerrida and Barthes:
7
A beginning is that which is not itself necessarily after anything else, and which has
naturally something else after it; an end, on the contrary, is that which is naturally after
something itself, either as its necessaryor as its usual sequel, and with nothing else after
it; and a middle is that which is by its very nature after one thing and has another after
itself. (15)
He insists upon this senseof order throughouthis discussionof the topic: "A well constructed
plot ...
begin
just
it
beginning
at
any
or
end
random
point; must makeuseof
andend as
must not
described"(15).
Plots may be simple or complex, not of necessity involving anagnorisis (discovery) orperipeteia
(reversals), but all the more interesting and satisfying if they do. They must be possible or
probable, but it is not required that they be historical. "Poetry.. is more philosophic and of greater
significance than history, for its statementsare of the nature rather of universals, whereasthose of
history are particulars" (11).
In some supplementary remarks, we can find his simplest definition of essential plot
construction: "Every tragedy is in part Complication and in part Denouement. The complication
consists of incidents that have taken place before the opening of the play and often some also of
those that occur within it; the remainder form the denouement" (32).
Compareall this with our contemporarydistrustof "beginning, middle andend". Narrative, and
indeedany kind of structureor organisingprinciple, hasbecomesuspect,a mechanismof closure
hence
inherently deceptive.Gary Taylor, reflecting on the waysin which our understanding
and
of narrative has changedin his book ReinventingShakespeare,commentsthat,
Closure arbitrarily privileges one moment out of a continuum of equal intervals.. By
choosingone.. [moment] as `theend' we artificially unchooseothers.And this suspicion
beginnings
of arbitrary closureaffects
aswell asends,for the commencementof onestate
necessarilyendsanother.Birth hasbecomeas problematic for us as death...
(Taylor, 1991: 361)
Later on in the same chapter, Taylor approvingly quotes Terence Hawkes' essay "Telmah"
which:
`to undermine our inherited notion of Hamlet as a structure that runs a
seeks
...
linear,
satisfactorily
sequential course from a firmly established and well-defined
beginning through a clearly placed and signalled middle to a causally related and logically
determined end which, planted in the beginning, develops, or grows out of it. ' (cited in
Taylor, 1991: 370)
Similarly, Richard Foreman, in his 1975 theatre piece, Pandering to the Masses: A Misdeliberately
to subvertany expectationsof narrative:
worked
representation,
Such a resistanceto a
signs
of
plot
or
narrative
are
evident,
yet
no
plot
emerges
...
...
readingof the elementsof what would be the `play' throughthe constructionof a sensible
or organisedpattern, servesto stave off the emergenceof the `object', a senseof a
`whole' to which meaningand purposemight be attributed. (Kaye, 1994: 52-53)
Clearlythis is notjust in orderto beperverse.Throughtherefusalto reachclosure,Foremanis
asking his audienceto questiontheir expectationsboth of theatreand of reality.
Settingthesemodernperspectiveson narrativedirectly alongsideAristotle's givesan indication
of the nature and size of the shift that hastaken place. One needonly comparethe jigsaw-like
plot of Oedipus Rex with that of, say, Waiting for Godot, where, famously, "nothing
happens...
twice" to seetextual evidenceof this. A primary task in this researchwill thereforebe
to trace the gradual processesof experimentationand shifts of thought, by meansof which
Aristotle's insistenceupon plot as the central organising principle of narrative has been so
fundamentally challenged.For a final thought
dramatic
his
the
of
on
completeminor-image
valuesthat we now inhabit, it is worth looking at his commentson Spectacle:
Spectacleis certainly an attraction,but it is the leastartistic of all the parts and hasleast
connectionwith the art of Poetry...the organisationof Spectacleis more a matter for the
costumierthan the poet. (1963: 15)
These are dismissive words. Aristotle would, presumably, struggle with a great deal of
contemporaryperformancework, which frequentlyallows for a generoushelping of spectacle;a
9
fair amount of Melody; Thought well, yes, but more randomly distributed than Aristotle had in
mind, perhaps; minimal Character; precious little Diction; and very often no Plot whatsoever.
So how have we managed to lose the Plot in the intervening centuries? Was Aristotle mistaken
in stressing its essential nature? And will theatre's further development be seriously
its
"most
if
deprived
important
of
compromised,
part": a narrative?
10
Chapter Two - Narrative Structures
Narrative theory has no critical axe to grind. Its objective is a grid of possibilities,
through the establishment of the minimal narrative constitutive features.(Chatman, 1978:
19)
Two performers,one male andonefemale,enterthe stagespace.Thereis no setto speakof. we
is
table,
notice a
upon which placeda record-playerand,in front of that, two chairs.The recordby
is
player manned a stagemanager,who will punctuateandunderscorethe performancewith
varying musical motifs. "Act One begins with five great nuclear explosions", explains the
'
for
the show. But in the event, it doesn't. It begins with words, phrases,
publicity material
sentences;isolated fragments of plotlines stitched together into a stream of measured
`announcements'to the audience.We are told what is happening,endlesslytold, but nothing
`happens'.The fragmentscannotbejoined in anymeaningfulway,thereis no storyto benarrated
and yet there are any number of story splinters.
Forced Entertainment's Dirty Work, which toured British venues from November 1998 to
February 1999, is typical both of the company'swork and of the postmoderncrisis of faith in
narrative. "There is a kind of broken story getting pieced together in this landscapeof old
electrical equipment and torn curtains, a new kind of theatrewith the scenesout of order, the
2
centremissing". But perhapsthe strongest`story' that is being told hereon this empty stageis
that of a lack of confidencein narrative itself, the performanceembodying its messagein its
physical form and presentingus with a completemise-en-abymeof the essentialdilemma.
In orderto investigatewhat performances
suchasthis aretrying to achieveby the total disruption
and subversionof the narrativeprocess,it is first necessaryto examinethat processand lightly
sketchits workings.
Although Peter Brooks' 1984 study of narrative and plot design, Readingfor the Plot is
concernedmainly with literary, ratherthan dramaticnarrative,heusefully tracesthe development
1 http://www.forced.
co.uk/forced/dirty.htrnl, accessed22/09/99
Z ibid.
11
from
handling,
one of the earliest novels in the Western tradition, Lazarillo de
of narrative
Tormes (1554), through to contemporary experiments, such as the nouveaux romans of RobbeGrillet, where "the reader is askedto build a novel, not as the traditional plenum of meaning, but
itself,
kind
laboratory
315).
(Brooks,
1984:
a
of
narrative
of
experiment".
as a possible model
Throughout the whole accountthe narrative processis seento be one of careful construction,
design with intention, the precise arrangementof plot, or, as he would prefer to expressit,
`plotting'.
The narrative organisation of material in order to construct a senseof meaning corresponds, in
Brooks' account,to processesupon which we are engagedat every moment of our lives:
Our lives areceaselesslyintertwined with narrative,with the storiesthat we tell andhear
told, thosewe dreamor imagine or would like to tell, all of which are reworked in that
in
lives
that
to
we narrate ourselves an episodic, sometimessemistory of our own
in
immersed
live
but
We
narrative,
virtually uninterrupted monologue.
conscious,
the
the
outcomeof
of
past
anticipating
meaning
our
actions,
and
reassessing
recounting
intersection
future
the
of several stories not yet
our
projects, situating ourselvesat
3)
(1984:
completed.
This view of narrativeasa natural,everydayactivity, a ceaselessquestfor meaning,accordswith
describes
the
Jerome
Bruner
For
findings
in
field
the
example,
similar
of cognitive psychology.
to
into
"dramas"
"the
in
the
comes
culture
cultural
young entrant
which we participate,whereby
define his own intentionsandevenhis own history in termsof the characteristiccultural dramas
in which he plays a part at first family dramas,but later the onesthat shapethe expandingcircle
by
his
family"
define
(1986:
67).
In
the
of
activities outsidethe
cognitive mechanisms
seekingto
which we appropriate such "scripts and scenarios" (68), Bruner identifies two "modes of
thought" which he assertsare fundamentallydifferent, yet complementaryin importance:
There are two modesof cognitive functioning, two modesof thought, eachproviding
distinctive ways of ordering experience, of constructing reality. The two (though
complementary)are irreducible to one another.(11)
These two modes are identified by Bruner as the paradigmatic and the narrative. The
is
it
its
typically
employs
paradigmatic mode
categorization, quantification as central operations,
12
logical
scientific,
and rational, open to verification by empirical processes.The narrative mode,
by contrast, is concerned not so much with verifiability as verisimilitude, or believability, and its
intuitive
discursive,
into
imaginative,
"to
its
the
timeless
and
miracles
striving
put
operations are
locate
in
(13).
By
to
the
time
and
experience
means of this
experience,
and
place"
particulars of
from
to
the ostensibly
thinking,
we
seek
extract
meaning
and
order
narrative mode of
life,
experiences
of
we construct narratives of our own and other
random
meaningless and
formal
found
do,
be
lives,
to
the
as
within
structures
use,
we
of all
elements and
making
people's
narratological studies.
What exactly is a `narrative'?
Narratology, an essentiallytwentieth-centuryscience,hasbeenable to uncovermuch aboutthe
natureof the constructionproject, and as a result of various efforts in the field, there are now a
has
bias
Although
tools
the
rangeof analytical
structuralist
of narratology comeunder
available.
increasingfire in recentyears(cf. Gibson [1995] whoseideaswill be more closely examinedin
`layered'.
be
be
to
10),
that
chapter
all narrativescan said
early studiescameto the conclusion
Mieke Bal, drawing upon the work of the RussianFormalists,andTzvetanTodorovin particular,
distinguishesthreedistinct layersof narrative:text,story (alsoidentifiedby variouswriters on the
subjectas sjuzhetor recit) andfabula.
A narrative text is a text in which an agentrelates('tells') a story in a particular medium,
fabula
is
A
language,
imagery,
buildings,
thereof.
suchas
story a
sound,
or a combination
that is presentedin a certainmanner.Afabula is a seriesof logically andchronologically
relatedeventsthat are causedor experiencedby actors.(Bal, 1997: 5)
In otherwords, althoughthe text is the physicalform in which a readerwill actuallyencounterthe
narrative,beneaththat canbe discernedthe otherlevels: both thebasicfabula,the componentsof
layer
intermediate
incomplete,
be
the
tale
the
of
action without which anyrendition of
and
would
this particular `telling' of the story, this particular arrangementof the events.(Confusingly,some
writers usethe termsfabula andstory interchangeably,simply reservingsjuahetto describethe
dramatic
)
Within
a
context, of course,the narrative text as defined by Bal
ordering of events.
should itself be further subdivided into two distinct elements: the dramatic text and the
important
distinction to be madebetweenthe verbalsignsof
thus
text,
clarifying an
performance
13
the script and the signs of performance that are necessarily added as that script is realised in any
given production.
Although these deeper layers are only theoretical ones, they can be valuable as analytical
categories. For example, whilst the fabula behind, say, Aeschylus' Oresteia and Euripides'
Electra is essentially the same,the events are told in two very different ways, reflecting different
just
in
different
but
different
texts,
and
and
questions,
resulting
concerns
not
moral
very
physical
`stories' as well. And as has already been indicated, these layers also find their equivalents within
The
incidents,
loose
the
narratives.
everyday
raw
characters,
our
materials,
collection of events,
locations, and so on, of our experience the elements of thefabula - are woven into a coherent
story as we recount them, first to ourselves and then to others. Inevitably, we employ sounds,
words, gestures, facial expressions to recount our story and these together form the text of our
narrative.
Fabula,story, text; thesearethe formal subdivisionsof narrative,reflectingits underlyingaspects
of construction.Within thesestructuralelementsof narrativelurks the most controversialof all:
the `plot', or mythos.In somediscussionson this subject,plot has been directly aligned with
story, in other words it hasbeenseenassynonymouswith the telling of the tale. However,Peter
Brooks is keento situateit somewherebetweenthe layersof story andfabula and for this reason
seeksa definition of plot which will encompassaspectsof both:
"Plot" in fact seemsto me to cut acrossthefabula/sjuzet distinction in that to speakof
plot is to considerboth story elementsandtheir ordering.Plot could be thought of asthe
interpretive activity elicited by the distinction betweensjuzetandfabula, the way we use
the oneagainstthe other...let us saythat we cangenerallyunderstandplot to be an aspect
of sjufet in that it belongsto the narrativediscourse,asits active shapingforce, but that it
makes sense(as indeedsjuiet itself principally makessense)as it is usedto reflect on
fabula, as our understandingof story. Plot is thus the dynamic shaping force of the
narrative discourse.(Brooks, 1984: 13)
And ultimately, Brooks prefersto deploy the more active participle `plotting', since it favours
dynamicprocessesof meaning-givingratherthan presentingus with a merely staticandartificial
model:
14
If I emphasize plotting even more than plot, it is becausethe participle best suggeststhe
dynamic aspect of narrative that most interests me: that which moves us forward as
text,
that which makes us
the
narrative
of
readers
want
and
need
seeking
plotting,
...
through the narrative text as it unfurls before us a precipitation of shape and meaning.
(35)
Plotting, in Brooks' model, is thus seento be inextricably linked with the reader-response,
a
function of our engagementwith text and not an inherent,pre-existing structurewithin it -a
featureto which we will return later.
But although we can define narrative in these formal, structural categories, it is also helpful to
its
it
in
terms
of
phenomenologicalproperties,causalityand temporality:
view
fabulascanbe said to be constructedaccordingto the demandsof human `logic
most
...
of events,' provided that this conceptis not too narrowly understood.`Logic of events'
be
defined
in
is
by
that
the
may
as a courseof events
experienced
readeras natural and
accordancewith someform of understandingof the world. (177)
The courseof eventsmust, in otherwords, makesomekind of senseto us, evenif that `sense'is
bestunderstoodin termsof its apparentcontradictionof everyday`reality'. Brunercitesresearch
by a Belgian studentof perception,BaronMichotte, which demonstratesthat causalityis a basic,
or `primitive', perceptualcategory,suchthat, "when objectsmove with respectto one another
within highly limited constraints,we see causality" (Bruner, 1986: 17). In later experiments
carriedout by Alan Leslie, this was seento be the caseevenwith babiesasyoungassix months.
Equally, and here is where narrative derives its most basic quality, a story must unfold along
somekind of timeline; again,however distorted,inverted or subvertedthe presentationof that
timeline may be. Thereareat leasttwo distinct aspectsalsoto this questionof time, the timescale
containedwithin the story itself, narratedtime (ErzählteZeit); andthe time takento tell / read/
hear the story, the time of narrating (Erzählzeit) (Ricoeur, 1984)4 For dramatic purposes,the
latter categoryis of particular importance,sincedramais, by definition, andmore than any other
' A. Leslie, "The Representationof PerceivedCausalConnection"(unpublishedD.Phil. Thesis,Departmentof
ExperimentalPsychology,University of Oxford, 1979).
4Ricoeuraddsa third category,which he calls `thetime
of life', relatedto the writer's selectionandarrangementof
material.
15
narrative medium, contained within a strictly regulated experienceof the time dimension. Indeed,
a sense of the immediacy of the time of narrating makes us aware that Aristotle's basic
beginning,
middle and end will inevitably be embodied, in experiential terms at
requirements of
least, within the performance itself.
These two properties, causality and temporality, provide essentialhomologies between our
dramatic
narrativeon the one hand,and everydaynarrativeon the other. To look
experienceof
first at the aspectof time in more detail, the most influential work on this subjectin recentyears
hasundoubtedlybeenthat of Paul Ricoeurandin particularhis detailedaccountof narrativetime,
Tempset Recit 11(1984).Ricoeurarguesthat thereareessentiallythreeaspectsto our experience
of time, summarisedby Wallace Martin thus:
The first is the beginning state,when humanbeingsfind themselvesin a situation that
they want to changeor simply to understand.This is the time of "prefiguration": given
is
likely
knowledge
inclinations,
human
our
of socialpracticesand
we canenvisagewhat
to happennext and plan to intervene, if that seemswise, to affect the outcome. The
secondtime is that of action,or "figuration": we try to do, or understand,aseventsunroll.
Finally, thereis "refiguration": we look back at what happened,tracing the lines that led
to the outcome, discovering why plans did not succeed, how extraneous forces
intervened,or how successfulactionsled to unanticipatedresults.(Martin, 1986:76)
Or, the threefold division could be seenmore simply as a time of origins (birth), a time of
experience(life) and a time of closure (death). In order to make senseof our experiencesof
life/time we look backwardsin orderto try to establisha senseof who we are,a senseof identity;
we examinethe ongoing successionof eventsandincidents,seekingto establishwherewe are,a
senseof context; and we look forward to a final moment of closure, in repeatedattemptsto
determinewhy we are,to give our lives a senseof purposeor meaning.
In repeatedsituations,we encounterthis tripartite structure:we wakeup, we go throughthe day's
activities, we go to bed; we opena book, we read,we closethe book; we embarkon a journey,
we travel, we arrive (if not at our destination,at leastat a staging-postalong the way). Over and
over, the repeatedcycles of our lives presentus with beginnings,developmentand a senseof
closure, if not final termination. (We shall look at alternative modes of perceiving the world
aroundus in the next chapter,andhow thesehaveinfluencedthe structuringdevicesof drama.)
16
These patterns, by means of which we perceive reality, directly affect our expectations of
beginning,
is
('crisis'
kind
development
We
to
to
a
uncover
expect
experience some
of
narrative.
a requirement of classical plotting, not necessarily of narrative), and to arrive at a sense of
just
lives,
In
final.
`read'
the
that
the
so
temporary
same
own
way
our
or
we
narratives of
closure,
too we seek to impose a senseof order upon the dramatic and literary narratives we encounter.
Brooks makes a specific connection between this temporal awarenessand the aspectof plot, now
for
us:
so problematic
Narrative is one of the large categories or systems of understanding that we use in our
in
the
the
problem of
with
of
narrative,
case
with
reality,
specifically,
negotiations
limits
his
the
of
temporality: man's time-boundedness,
consciousnessof existencewithin
to
try
is
force
that
And
wrest
those
the
we
meanings
of
mortality.
plot
principal ordering
from human temporality. (Brooks, 1984: xi)
In otherwords, for Brooks plot is not simply an aestheticconvenience:it is a term which we can,
basic
that
his
justification,
human
premise,
to
with equal
reality, provided we understand
apply
the
is
time
is
drama
in
but
in
life,
`given',
each
remade
plot not a
a constructwhich
or
either
dramaticnarrative/life narrativeis encountered."It is my simple conviction, then,that narrative
discourse
logic
is
internal
the
of
hassomethingto do with time-boundedness,
the
that
of
plot
and
mortality" (22).
Causalityis the otherkey factor in the discussion,andpossiblythe more controversialof the two
that
have
We
causality
the
suggests
which
research
within
postmodernsetting.
alreadymentioned
feature
is
be
It
this
to
of
be
may consideredto
respect
with
of
perception.
a primitive category
between
difference
identifies
Novel,
E.
a
M.
the
in
Forster,
Aspects
that
the
narrative
of
writing
story and a plot:
`The king died andthen the queendied' is a story. `The king died andthenthe queendied
of grief is a plot. (cited in Brooks, 1984:262)
This is a neat distinction, and plausible enough at first glance; however, it assumesa basic
distinguishes
Bruner
than
that
great
asprocess.
what
points out
paradigmof plot asobject rather
literary narrativeis the extentto which it "subjunctivises"the story (1986:35). The gapswhich a
importance
in
in
leaves
the
are
of
crucial
narrative
providing the readerwith the possibility
writer
17
of engagement, inviting a rewriting of the story in a new `virtual' text. This accords fully with
Brooks' picture of plotting as an active, dynamic process, initiated by the text but
completed by
the reader. Bruner picks up the same "story" as Forster, yet draws a rather different conclusion.
Referring to his suggestedtwo modes of thinking, he comments that:
implied in the two modesare palpably different. The term then
types
the
of
causality
...
functions differently in the logical proposition `ifx theny' andin the narrativerecit `The
king died, and then the queendied.' One leadsto a searchfor universaltruth conditions,
the other for likely particular connectionsbetweentwo events- mortal grief, suicide,foul
(1986:
11-12)
play.
The `gap' in the narrative,which for Forsterindicatesthat the story hasnot yet beenrenderedin
form,
is the very samegap which, for Bruner, initiates the reader'ssearchfor causality.In
plot
much the same,spirit, Postlewait,examiningthe role of narrativein historical studies,points out
that:
The representationof these actions takes the form of some kind of narrative order
becausethe actionsarenot simply chronologicalor sequential.Theyarejoined. In other
words, the task of describingand explaining what happenedalso includesthe needto
interpret how andwhy humaneventsoccurred.Narrative providescoherence,a process
of emplotment which configures these actions into a meaningful, comprehensible
interpretation.(1992: 361, italics mine)
Here againit is the reader'srole, in this casethe historian,that is crucial in providing coherence.
It would be nonsensicalto saythat the eventsof history haveneatlyfallen into somepre-ordained
plot format: quite clearly it is the interpretivetask of the historianto contributeto the "processof
emplotment," in order to facilitate the processof extractingmeaningfrom an otherwisemerely
chronological sequence.
And even though Georg Lukäcs, in his essay"Narrate or Describe", insists that it is the j
ob of the
epic poet to provide "a proper distribution of emphasis" (Lukäcs, 1970: 126), when arranging the
story elements, this is specifically so that the reader will then be able to pick out the meaning of a
sequenceof narratedevents:
18
In narration the writer must move with the greatest deftness between past and present
so
that the reader may grasp the real causality of the epic events. And only the experience
of this causality can communicate the senseof a real chronological, concrete, historical
sequence [... ]. (1970: 133, italics mine)
It is to this aspect of reader-responsetheory which we will need to return, when considering the
question of whether even the fragmented and disjointed `stories' of much contemporary theatre
work can nevertheless be considered to demonstrate the phenomenological properties of
narrative.
From the discussionabove, it is apparentthat the narrative enterpriseis inescapablyone of
structuring, organising and shaping raw material into forms that are both transmissibleand
susceptibleto question.Equally clear,however,is anemergingsensethattheseoperationsarenot
simply aesthetic artifices with no bearing upon the wider human experience.In fact, the
categoriesby which we analysenarrative can be found to apply equally within the field of
cognitive psychology,with its distinctive view of how the mind `reads'experience.Our view of
what constitutesplot may alsoneedto be readjustedin the light of evidencefrom both narrative,
psychologicalandhistorical disciplines,which suggestthe reader'svital role in plot construction.
How much credence,therefore,shouldwe give to the argumentthatjettisoning plot andnarrative
constructionmore nearly reflects our actualperceptionsof reality and will ultimately result in a
more honest theatrical experience? In order to appreciate the origins and extent of the
contemporarydisillusionment with plot, it may now be helpful to considerin greaterdetail the
wider context, tracing its historical developmentfrom Greektragedyand Aristotle's theorising
about it to the presentday.
19
Chapter Three - Classical Narrative
A note of caution
Before embarking upon any kind of account of the position of narrative within dramatic
is
it
itself
be
the
this
stating
worth
obvious:
perhaps
account
a narrative,
will
performance,
is
it
be
that
to
to
the
of
narrative
conditions
production,
say
selective, reductive,
usual
will
subject
in
be
in
The
its
told
anticipation
of
many
possible answers.
questions
story could
shaping
different ways. My own narrative of narrative history implies an infinite series of counteris
dilemma
from
Such
2000:
22-27).
(McQuillan,
this
a
particular account
narratives, excluded
inevitable, but it should be noted.
Plot and plotting
As we have already seen,the terms narrative, story, andplot are by no meanssynonymous.
Nevertheless,one helpful point of departurefor this accountis the shift of emphasiswe have
previously noted from an understandingof plot as static construction,to that of plotting as a
dynamic model involving active audience participation in the process of narrative
light
in
is
English
the
linguistic
A
wordplot revealing
comprehension. glanceat the
origins of the
of this transition:
As a noun, its literary applicationsdeveloped,in the mid-sixteenth century, out of its
earlier designation as a `ground plan', the area on which a building is situated and
constructed.(Garner, 1989: 106)
In fact, as Garnergoeson to point out, althoughthis "explicitly spatialmetaphor"arisesdirectly
out of a specifically English languageusage,a similarly atemporalconceptionof plot underlies
Aristotle's own descriptionsof mythosin the Poetics.At one point in his commentsupon the
primacy of plot, Aristotle notes in passing,"You find the samesort of thing in painting: if an
artist lays on eventhe mostbeautiful colourswithout order,he will not give the samepleasureas
will be derived from a simple black-and-whitesketchfor a portrait''(Aristotle,
14). Here
then is a visual image which speaksof an orderly arrangementof parts, combinedtogetherto
make a pleasing whole -a neat, but essentially static, construction in which proportion and
20
balance play the crucial roles. Comparisons which follow, to a "beautiful living creature" (16) do
first
impression
this
not substantiallyreplace
of a structuralorganisationof componentparts.
Plot, Aristotle informs us, is of Sicilian origin and is "nothing more or less than the combination
done
in
(13).
incidents
As we read through his specifications and
things
the
story"
or
of
for
it
becomes
in
that,
a well-made plot, soon
apparent
common with much of the
requirements
discussion of the previous chapter, causality seems to be an issue of primary importance. The
is
is
incidents
basis
be
the
necessary or what
either of what
must
made on
combination of
probable; and his most scathing criticisms are reserved for poets who refuse to stick to these
I
"Of
By
the
the
episodic
plot
an
norms:
simple plots and actions
worst.
regulatory
episodic are
mean one in which the episodes do not follow one upon another in accordancewith probability or
necessity" (19).
Aristotle's criteria for determiningwhat is probableor necessary,however,owe asmuch to his
conceptionof what is morally properasthey do to what lies within the realm of simplecauseand
happiness
from
instance,
For
be
insists
he
that
effect.
a goodman must not portrayedaspassing
to misfortune, nor must a bad man be depictedas passingfrom misfortune to happiness,since
be"
"as
feeling"
"an
transitions
such
untragic as can possibly
and
are
outrageupon our moral
(21). It is clear that ethical determinantsare as important in this argumentas aestheticones.He
describesit as "fundamentally wrong" to constructplots on any other basis than this kind of
necessityor probability. Interestingly,in the final analysisit is moreacceptableto breakthe rules
of probability in favour of verisimilitude, than it is to violate theseethicalstrictures,giventhat he
goeson to observethat, "a likely impossibility is preferableto an unconvincingpossibility" (46).
Clearly, then, we may discern principles other than merely structural ones at work in the
argument. Throughout his apparently technical account, Aristotle is not, in fact, so much
concernedwith whether the kind of necessityor probability he insists upon actually resembles
reality, aswith a quality of necessary`seemliness'.The arrangementof incidentswhich we find
in the courseof an orderedplot must not coheremerely in the way that everydayexperiencesof
life do, they must be fitted togetherabove all by virtue of a clear moral appropriateness.No
matter that our lives consist of a seriesof episodic events,often without immediately obvious
21
connections: there are formal requirements for moral order which must govern the arrangement
of incident within an acceptable plot structure. This whole view of dramatic structuring depends,
of course, upon a wider world-view which seesthe gods busily at work in the affairs of humans,
lives
in
lives
"better
they
that
the
the
those
than
and
ordering
so
particular
man"
average
of
will ultimately reflect the ethical imperatives of a highly patterned universe, "for we recognise
that the gods know everything" (27). A good plot will, of course, reflect the virtues of harmony
justice
`apparent'
in
how
it
be
In
the
which
are
such a model,
world:
otherwise?
and
could
form
important
technicalities
the
of
are
clearly
still
although
considerations, the writer's primary
be
it
`as
in
its
to
that
terms
the
ensure
of
content story ends
concern will, nevertheless,
should'.
The role of the spectator
What is the spectator'srole in all of this? If plot is to be conceivedof not asa static construction,
"ground
but
between
dynamic
the
plan",
pre-determined
as
end product of a
negotiation
or
despite
fact,
is
In
text
the
that
and
audience,
what
precisely
natureof
negotiation?
performance
the static pictorial metaphoralreadynoted, Aristotle clearly anticipatesa transactionof some
kind: "The plot
be constructedin sucha way that, evenwithout seeingthe things take
should
...
he
hears
the account of them shall befilled with horror and pity at the
who simply
place,
incidents..." (23, italics mine).
And he also notesthe possibility of a'wrong' responseto the kind of plot which doesnot follow
his model pattern:"... it makesno appealeither to our senseof poeticjustice, or to our pity, or to
fear
our
human feeling in us, but not our pity or fear" (21). Pity and
the
such
a
stir
story
may
...
fear, then, are the appropriate responsesto a properly constructednarrative: "pity [...] for
undeservedmisfortune, and fear for the misfortune of a man like ourselves"(21-22).
It is precisely this eliciting of a pre-determined audience response
leads
Boal
to
Augusto
which
the conclusion that Aristotelian drama is "coercive" (1979), a form of narrative construction
which demands not merely that the story be re-constructed in the spectator's imagination, but that
(s)he give full assent to every detail of the
in
be
It
playwright's moral universe. may
noted
passing, though, that Boal's argument shows almost wilful naivete in some respects, neglecting
22
to take into account,as it does,either the notion that a single, unified audienceresponsecan
draws
be
(1986)
Bruner
the
to
neveractually achieved,or
aspectof narrativesubjunctivity, which
our attention.Euripides' plays,for example,displaya noticeableambivalencetowardsthe whole
idea of moral `certainties' and it is significant, in this context,that his plays also make far less
narrative use of the Chorusthan thoseof Aeschylusand Sophocles.
Formal structure of Greek tragedy
Nevertheless,Aristotle's arguments,takenwithin the contextof the moral universehe inhabits,
Not
intelligent
to
that,
they
a
response
sense.
only
perfect
also
reflect
and
considered
an
make
in
its
infancy,
despiteAristotle's rather charming assumptionthat the
tradition
still
theatrical
developmentof tragedyhas now come "to a halt on attaining to its natural form" (ibid: 10); a
form, moreover,which wasboth highly organisedandstrictly adheredto: prologue, followed by
finally
by
followed
dramatic
a sequenceof
episodespunctuatedwith choral odes,
parodos,
by
The
is
Chorus
in
the
the
this model of narrative
exodos.
role
of
central
completed
forwards,
interprets
From
Chorus
for
the
the
the audience,constructing
parodos
construction.
being
decisions
judgements
delivering
taken
the
upon
questions
action,
asking
about
meaning,
in
final
interpretive
the
summing-up
narrativemovement,andrenderinga
and actedupon within
the exodos:
Citizens of our ancestralThebes,
Look on this Oedipus,the mighty and oncemasterful:
Elucidator of the riddle,
Envied on his pedestalof fame.
You saw him fall. You saw him swept away.
So, being mortal, look on that last day
And count no man blessedin his life until
He's crossedlife's boundsunstruck by ruin still.
(Sophocles,1996: 81)
In this way, narrative meaningand the interpretation of causality are strictly controlled for the
by
Spectator the dramaticform. Boal was not the only one to reactstrongly to this imposition of
ethical meaningthrough narrativeconstruction:his theatrical forebear,Bertolt Brecht, similarly
rejected Aristotelian form as coercive. Yet despite Brecht's dislike of conventional dramatic
structure,we are furnishedherewith a narrational devicewhich is fully in keepingwith his own
23
for
a story to be presentedto an audiencewithin a clear interpretive framework. The
requirement
ideological basis for the presentation may not be to his liking, but the structural device of using
the Chorus to point up the messagecannot be faulted, and it is, of course, taken up and used in
forms
in
Brecht's own plays.
various
Each individual Greektragedyalso took its placewithin a formal tripartite structure.Although
have
know
Oresteia,
Aeschylus's
trilogy,
now
only
one
surviving exampleof a complete
we
we
that the requirementfor any writer of tragedywho wished to competein the great Dionysian
festivals was to provide threeplays linked by theme,togetherwith a satyr-playto round off the
in
lighter
framed
The
individual
thus
a
mood.
narrative
structure
was
of any
play
entertainment
larger
pattern which echoed on a grand scale the three stagesof narrative time:
a
within
(Agamemnon's
Argos
in
(the
Agamemnon),
figuration
to
return
and
murder
return
prefiguration
his
both
Orestes
Clytemnestra
in
Aegisthus
the
the
and
revenge-killing
of
play
second
of
and
of
by
Libation
Bearers)
The
dilemma
(the
the
proposed
and refiguration
trilogy,
resolution of
Athena, goddessof wisdom, in the final part, The Eumenides).Within this highly organised
it.
is
determined
by
larger
the
the
structuressurrounding
pattern, significanceof eachsmall event
Korace
Horace, writing his own Ars Poetica more than 300 years after Aristotle's, nevertheless draws
for
decorum,
the
similar
principles,
stressing
need
propriety
and
and strongly warning
upon
inappropriate
brings
both
He
an
mixing
of
subject
a more
matter, styles and genres.
against
his
tone
to
precepts and a particular talent for delivering them via memorably visual
strident
imagery:
Supposinga painterchoseto put a humanheadon a horse'sneck, or to spreadfeathersof
various coloursover the limbs of severaldifferent creatures,or to makewhat in the upper
part is a beautiful woman tail off into a hideous fish, could you help laughing when he
showedyou his efforts? (Horace, 1965: 79)
Where Aristotle seeksto persuadeby force of calm
reason,Horaceemploysridicule andderision
("... if your speechesare out of harmonywith your feelings, I
fall
burst
out
asleep
or
either
shall
laughing..." [82]), but essentiallyhe makessimilar
appealsfor order,clarity andappropriateness.
There are familiar restrictionsupon amplitude ("... it
should not be either shorteror longer than
24
five acts..." [85]), comparable concerns about the central role of the Chorus, and some interesting
details,
additional
such as the strict prohibition on using a deus ex machina unless absolutely
describes
largely
Their
in
different:
Aristotle
aims writing, of course, are also slightly
necessary.
is
for
known
Horace
dramatic
`best
more clearly
examples of
and accounts
practice', whilst
intent on giving advice to an aspiring writer. But whether the intention is to be essentially
descriptive or prescriptive, the samemessageseemsto emerge: form, order, balance, proportion,
inviolable
these
virtues arising out of the natural order of things and applying
are
suitability literature.
life
to
and
equally
Almost casually,Horacemakesa significant observationwith respectto narrative organisation
dramatist
does
full
he
that
to
a good
account of a
says
not necessarilyattempt give a
when
if
it
in
his
but
"plunges
his
hearer
into
the
the
were
play,
rather
story as
middle of
situation
him"
familiar
(84).
This
begin
in
to
that
the
suggestion
a
mediasres
writer
may
narrative
already
is a useful gloss on Aristotle's preferencefor a beginning which is "not necessarilyafter
beginning
it
flexible
is
reflects
a
more
already
else";
construction
view of narrative
and
anything
to take accountof the audience'srole in the processof narrative comprehension.
Essentially, then, we may discern in both writers a clear, though not always fully conscious,
defines
divine
the
to
that
shaping
a
grand
recit,
or
metanarrative,
of
ordering
allegiance
be
dramatic
in
to
understood.
context are
parameters,within which causalityand signification a
The Medieval Metanarrative
Betweenthe classicaltheatresof Greeceand Rome, and the Medieval theatrewhich followed
later,
huge
in
disjunction.
there
Theatre-as-literature
to
a
was
centuries
managed survive the
works of writers suchasSenecaandHroswitha, but therewasno continuousWesterntradition of
The reasonsfor this are well-documentedelsewhere(for example,in
theatre-as-performance.
Hartnoll and Brater [1998]), but for the purposesof this study,the key questionis the extentto
which the nature of narrative was affectedby this discontinuity.
The liturgical drama,which emergedduring the
interesting
medievalperiod,marksan
new phase
in the developmentof theatricalnarrativeform,
restrainingit not merelywithin moral andethical
25
boundaries, but theological imperatives as well. Where Greek drama had explored the nature of
irroral choice within a loose collection of myth and legend, mixing god-like human characters
with all-too-human gods, the Christian grand narrative which overarches both the medieval
Mystery Cycles and the allegorical Morality Plays is, by its very nature, a highly patterned and
Whether
beginning,
we
story,
presenting
cosmic
scale.
us with
middle and end on a
organised
look at an individual morality play such as Everyman or any of the larger play-cycles, we find the
from
different
lost-ness
into
The
essential
narrative
seen
which the entire
perspectives.
same
human race has fallen is mirrored in the `individual' story of Everyman, and the remedy to both is
the same,namely the salvation of souls effected by God's entry into history in the person of Jesus
Christ (plus, in Everyman, the necessaryadditional appearancein the story of "Good-Deeds").
The narrative force exercised by this grand recit subsumesall of the smaller narratives contained
in
it,
highly
his
by
Mak
that
the
even
anarchic and
so
wife,
original comedy provided
and
within
from
Shepherds'
Play
in
English
Second
Towneley
first
(possibly
the
the
the
cycle
subplot
drama), is abruptly terminated when the angels appear to announce the birth of the Christ-child
its
the
to
thus
story
proper course.
return
and
There is a distinction to be drawn, of course,betweenthe plot of a play like Everymanand the
individual
from
Mystery
the
taken
the
construction
of
any
of
cycles.
plays
any
of
narrative
Although they are fed by the samegrand narrative,the story of Everymanis completein itself
detached
from
formally
the grand recit, whereasa play suchas,for example,TheHarrowing
and
from
York
larger
Hell
be
the
the
the
cycle,
can
only
properly appreciatedwithin
context of
of
formal
Like
in
Greek
the
trilogies
theatre,
then,
of
althoughmuch moresprawling their
structure.
Mystery
the
patterning,
cyclesalsodirect andcontrolnarrativeunderstandingby meansof
overall
larger
demonstrated
framework.
and
explicitly
a
Whilst the elementsof thefabula are dictated by the Biblical originals, the telling of the story
can, of course,vary within certain parameters,allowing for the emergenceof particular comic
local
detail and colour, as well as stylistic variations. Accordingly the surviving texts
cameos,
vary widely, both in terms of literary merit and what they chooseto include and exclude.
Nevertheless, in these plays we essentially
see plot - according to Brooks (1984), the
constructiveinteractionbetweenfabula andstory operatingin its moststatic,fixed form. There
26
is little or no room here for Bruner's `subjunctivisation' of the story (1986). The correct
denouement is always known right from the start; audience-responseis to be strictly orchestrated
within the prescribed limits, there will be no debate or fresh interpretation. By contrast,
be
delineated,
must
explained,
predetermined:
everything
DOCTOR: This moral men may have in mind;
Ye hearers, take it of worth, old and young [... ]
Amen, say ye, for Saint Charity.
(Anon. in Rhys, 1909:25)
As in the theatreof Aristotle andHorace,the narrative`rules' arelaid down not primarily by the
demandsof literary theory,but by socio-culturalnecessity,andherethe pushtowardsorthodoxy
in audienceinterpretationis even stronger.
Shakespeareannarrative
brought to all aspectsof dramatic production has
The explosive creativity which Shakespeare
been widely and well documented.Coming at a moment in history when medieval certainties
be
being
by
to
aside,
swept
replaced
more open-ended,questioning approachesto all
were
human,
being
his
demonstrate
freedom
to
plot
plays
regard
of
an
adventurous
with
aspects
handling,
and
narrative
as to all other aspectsof playmaking.
construction
So much so, in fact, that early editors of the plays, chafing under the authoritarianstricturesof
Frenchneo-classicism,regularly felt the needto defendhim againstchargesof `sloppy' plotting
'
like
his
`ignorance'
the
Although
of
classicalrulesof plot construction.
earlyplays,
and apparent
TheComedyof Errors or TitusAndronicus clearly showthe influenceof classicalmodelsin their
selectionof narrativematerials,they neverthelessmakeno attemptto obeythe unities supposedly
prescribedby Aristotle (which can,in any case,be seento be descriptiveratherthanprescriptive).
In his later work particularly, as Shakespearegains confidenceand experience,he is more than
ever willing to experimentwith new forms and new ways of telling his story.
RawdonWilson's detailedstudy of ShakespeareanNarrative
just
providesa useful accountnot
of Shakespeare'sown model and usageof narrative,but of the wider Renaissancebackground.
I See,for example,Johnson's
comments,noted in Atkins (1951: 241-242).
27
According to Wilson, this broadly humanist tradition was "committed to the moral, and generally
educative, effects of all literature, but seeing narrative as particularly efficacious" (1995: 25) and
he argues strongly for a central emphasis upon narrative within Renaissancethinking:
fundamental role in humanist education: the texts studied in
narrative
played
a
...
sixteenth-centuryschoolswere commonly narrative [...] For Renaissancethinkers, the
world is a story to be told, a nestof stories,parts,andmotifs of storiesto be reassembled,
in
and all respectsthe patient subjectof the storyteller's art. (1995: 22-23)
Shakespeare'sown useof narrativeis seento be,typically, exploratoryandexperimental.He not
he
the
to
power
of
narrative
understands
persuade
and
convince,
also problematizesthe
only
how
in
first
instance,
the
narratives
of
are
personally
constructed
aswell astransmitted
question
to, and receivedby, others.Consider The Winter's Tale, a play which in its constructionalone
liberties
huge
with the rules of narrative.Theenormousdisparitybetweenthe two worlds of
takes
Sicily and Bohemia is immediately apparentand obviously deliberate.However, this spatial
disjunction is further elaboratedby a bold sixteen-yearjump in the action, presidedover by the
i.
Time.
14)
Explicitly
identifying
(IV.
this
the
tale-teller
representation
of
characteras
allegorical
his
Shakespeare
is
he
through
that
voice,
speaking
openly
admits
re-writing the rules of
and
he
goesalong:
as
narrative
it
is
in my power
since
...
To o'erthrow law, and in one self-born hour
To plant and o'erwhelm custom.
(IV. i. 7-9)
This is the consummateassuranceof the experiencedstoryteller,handling his materials,andhis
audience,with easyconfidence.But within the play's story itself he forms his own model, or
rnise-en-abyme,of the processof narrative construction.
We havealreadynotedthe causalaspectof narrative,andthe fact that in
`write'
to
a story,
order
it is necessaryto forge such links betweenthe basic, raw materials provided. In the opening
scenesof the play, observing Hermione and Polixenes together, Leontes does exactly this,
constructing,from the physical signsof gesture,facial expressionand eyecontact("... paddling
palms and pinching fingers
adultery and betrayal.
for
"),
himself
false
making
practis'd
of
smiles
a
narrative
...
...
28
The play's action arises from Leontes' jealousy, but this externalizes itself in the form of
a story that the king tells himself. Like all narrators, Leontes draws together a number of
scattered observations into a coherent whole... The observations from which Leontes
in
basis
have
his
fragmentary
no
constructs
narrative, otherwise
and noncohering, may
reality, but they may have some in hypothesis. (Wilson, 1995: 98)
This process of constructing a narrative from "scattered observations" is explored also in
Cymbeline, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and -a particularly close study - Othello. In this
latter play, lago repeatedly exploits his own considerable skill as a narrator to recount an
`real'
the
to
events of the action, out of a series of carefully engineered
alternative story, parallel
innocent
lago
looks,
the
remorselessly
weaves
gestures, remarks and even physical
situations.
into
Cassio
Desdemona
Gross
and
of
a
compellingly
physical proof
credible
account.
accessories,
in the form of the `lovers' caught together in flagrante delicto is not to be had, warns Iago, but,
If imputation, and strongcircumstances
Which lead directly to the door of truth,
Will give you satisfaction,you might ha't.
(III, iii, 411-13)
demonstratesthe way in which radically
Through this compelling display of skill, Shakespeare
develop
Accounts
the
accounts
narrative
can
whoseclaims
out
of
same
raw
materials.
alternative
to authority must be rigorously questioned,before they can be acceptedas `true'. Narrative
is
dangerous
broader
is
decentralising
the
In
Shakespeare
a
clearly
matter.
a
also,
sense,
credulity
hear.
instead
believe
tale
to
authority
of
medieval
we
narrative,warning us
every
not
unarguable
Everything is up for questioning,and anything can be misconstruedand re-deployedwithin a
different version of the `truth'.
In fact, the listener's reconstructiverole is repeatedlynoted in Shakespearean
texts. In another
image
is
it
the
to
the
of
of
striking
power narrative elicit and shaperesponsewithin
sameplay,
Desdemona's"greedy ear" that lends the stories of Othello such authority and force. Equally,
Mark Antony, asking the crowdsto "Lend me your ears" in Julius Caesar,is fully awareof the
importance
crucial
of the listener.And in TheTempest,beforerecountingthe narrativeof his own
life to Miranda, Prosperocommentsthat "The very minute bids thee ope thine ear", repeatedly
beratingher, when he suspectssheis not attending:"Dost thou hear?" As Wilson
"[t]here
notes,
29
are manyreferencesto ears,but they alwayspoint to Shakespeare's
awarenessthat a narrative's
lies
in the ear of the hearer, not upon the tongue of the narrator" (1995: 27).
prosperity
Shakespeareis fully cognizantof the role of the audiencein receivingthe narrativeandthat the
`plotting':
is
becoming
be
by
listener.
`Plot'
the
anactive
gaps
will
completed
attentive
narrative
listener-responseis called for, indeedis unavoidable.
One other distinctive and innovative feature of Shakespeare'shandling of narrative is worth
Medieval
`closed'
drama
Unlike
Greek
the
the
of
essentially
and
most
upon.
worlds
of
remarking
dramas(oneinterestingexceptionbeingthe previously-mentionedSecondShepherds'Play from
huge
Cycle),
Shakespeare's
Towneley
the
to
number of
a
plays possess ability
suggest
the
lying
just
beyond
dramatic
frame.
There
the
the
worlds
of
arecharacterswhose
edge
unexplored
It),
lightly
Like
but
You
(e.
from
lives
Jaques
As
touched
whose
upon,
are
not explored g.
past
inner
hinted
but
fully
Hamlet),
(lago,
and realms
struggles
are
or
at
never
explained
motives
in
fairy
kingdom
is
but
(the
inner
territory
remainsunpenetrated
whose existence glimpsed whose
A MidsummerNight's Dream). Above all, there is an understandingof the fact that complete
is
be
be
by
few
fragments:
to
this
the
viewed,
and
provision of a
narrative worlds can suggested
depth
but
in
terms
of careless,untidy plotting,
asproviding an allusive richnesswhich adds
not
is
that
to
all
seenonstage.
and scale
Restoration and beyond
Shakespearewas happy to work with very loose plot structuresin his plays, allowing different
for
for
different
threads
to
to
compete
our
attention
or suggest
narrative
possibilities production.
This flexible approachto plotting is one significant factor, I believe,in his continuing popularity
with contemporarydirectors and audiences.With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660,
however,andthe re-establishmentof an aristocratichegemony,comesalsoa renewedpassionfor
balance
order,
and symmetry in the cultural, as in the political, sphere.Equally, European
influences
brought back to England by CharlesII and his entourage,begin to have an
aesthetic
effect upon all aspectsof drama. Although a number of Shakespeare'stexts are still being
2
during
this period, the tendencyin newly-written piecesis towardsmore
performedandenjoyed
2 It shouldbe notedthat they
were subjectto considerablerevision and re-working at this time, to bring them
into line with conventionalplot `expectations',providing
in
instance,
like
for
King
Lear,
with an ending,
a play
30
be
it
However,
tightly
noted
worlds,
also
enclosed
contained within more
should
structuredplots.
that, free of the overarching grand narrative of Christian theology to be found in the Mystery
plays, and to some extent discernible still beneath the surface of many of Shakespeare'splays,
they are able to flirt with a wider range of moral possibilities (within, of course, a much narrower
influential
for
These
the
aristocratic
ambit).
modish
comedies
of manners, written
social
largely
for
the
time,
the neo-classical unities of time and action,
of
reflect
a
preference
audiences
if not of place, and their plotting generally favours a more obviously mechanistic model. Just like
function
be
increasingly
to
timepieces
the
these
the
elaborate
of
period,
narratives can relied upon
like 'clockwork': put the right elements into the right sequence,tighten the spring and watch the
into
life.
whirr
machinery
Given the structural origins of the word `plot' alreadymentioned,it is appositethat one of the
leading playwrights of the period, Sir JohnVanbrugh,shouldhavebeenboth a writer of comedy
The
His
The
Provok'd
Wife
the
genre.
play
may usefully standasan exampleof
and an architect.
first act of this piece servesto wind up the mechanism:Sir John Brute and Lady Fancyfull are
both on display in these opening scenesas exemplarsof the worst kinds of male and female
behaviour possible.Sir John is a boor, a drunkensot, who takesno careof his beautiful, young
is
(faithful,
least,
in
her
faithful
in
if
her
desires).
Fancyfull
Lady
selfat
wife
actions, not
and
And
Both
heart.
human
lesson
be
to
taught
the
a
and
shallow
vain.
are
ready
a
about
regarding,
lesson,of course,is what the narrative delivers, gatheringmomentumthroughoutthe play and
has
in
breathless
he
final
learns
Five,
Act
Sir
John
the
that
climax
momentsof
when
reachinga
beensparedthe indignity of being cuckolded(this time, at least),andLady Fancyfull's malicious
and self-serving schemes are exposed. The intervening movements of the play are all
in
block
in
Act
Three,
the
ordered:
a pivotal
of action
schematically
play, and set
at the centreof
Sir John's house,brings all of the main characterstogether,enablingthe plot to thicken nicely,
and making use of an elaborately structured sequenceof entrancesand exits; whilst the
surroundingActs Two and Four provide neatly balancedscenesof open-air intrigue, set in St.
James'sPark and Spring-Gardenrespectively.
which Cordelia is revived and Lear doesnot die of a broken heart,but lives happily ever after.
31
The whole play, in fact, delivers proportion and symmetry at both the macro-level of plot
individual
the
and
micro-level
structure
of
exchanges:
Lady B.
Bel.
Lady B.
Bel.
Lady B.
Bel.
How strongis fancy!
How weak is woman.
Prithee, niece, have a better opinion of your aunt's inclinations.
Dear aunt, have a better opinion of your niece's understanding.
You'll make me angry.
You'll make me laugh.
(Vanbrugh, 1994: 410)
plots like this are constructedin formal patternsthat resemblestory-puzzles.That is to say,any
fit
in
Remove
the
to
together
of
seems
one
any
way
and
re-order
plot
one
way
only.
or
given
longer
`works'.
To
it
formally,
fabula,
the
the
puzzle
no
or storyelements,
and
put
more
sections
in
The
be
in
this
to
this
combined
particular pattern order achieve
particular plot.
can only
individual storiesdo not offer themselvesup for endlessre-telling in fresh versions.Rather,it
`telling'
Restoration
be
Comedy
is
itself
that
to
truer
of
say
any
one
playtext
oneparticular
would
husband,
interaction
between
boorish
the
fabula
to
them
the
the
common
all:
the
patternsof
flirtatious (thoughultimately chaste)wife, the preeningfop, the vaingloriouspeacock,the gallant
lover, the boastful coward, and so on.
And while it is true to say that the comediesof this period are self-consciouslyawareof their
is
`nudge-nudge'
in
frequent
this
the
to
the
manifest
mainly
status,
asides
audienceof
artificial
discussions
and
arch,
onstage
about suchtopics as the `correct' social behaviour when
variety,
itself.
than
the
at
a
play,
rather
any
overt
commentary
on
narrative-artifice
sitting
This passionfor neatlybalanced,tightly-sequencedplots gatherspace,if anything,throughoutthe
following centuries,culminating in the excessivelystructured,`well-made'3 playsof writers like
Scribeand Sardou,andthe very obviously plot-driven melodramasof the Victorian stage.Within
an age of rapid industrialisation, which privileges still further predominantly mechanistic
paradigms,it is interestingto note the emergenceof the new genreof detectivestory, underthe
3'well-made'
was intended as a compliment when first coined, however the phrase quickly came to signify the very
opposite, denoting a piece that is mechanical in its plot construction, devoid of interesting characters or credible
scenarios
32
first
of Poe, and then Conan Doyle. Here the strict logic of enchained cause and effect,
aegis
described by Peter Brooks as "the urgency of narrative explanation" (1984: 269), is pushed to its
limits.
had
is
interesting
It
Shakespeare
freedom,
too,
to
that
the
allowed
very
note
which
himself, to range freely in and around his dramatic narratives, is now being employed primarily
is
drama
form,
tending
during
the
time,
the
emerging novel
of
within
whereas
period
same
increasingly to close down its scope.
Moving to the latter half of the nineteenthcentury,we find Ibsenoffering a useful illustration of
first
House,
from
A
Doll's
to
tension
this
the
created,aswriters seek escape
narrativestraitjacket.
is
in
for
1879,
it
does,
the
this
trend,
major
a
particularly
good
example
as
of
operating
published
by
in
dictated
the
twists
turns
ostensibly
plot
and
are
part, as a conventionalmelodrama, which
himself),
by
Ibsen
`random' life-events (carefully controlled and stage-managed,
and
of course,
in
final
in
into
feels
like
different
the
transforming
scene
then
what
a completely
play, which the
momentumof narrativesuddenlygivesway to themomentumof argumentandthe explorationof
ideas.
And it is, in fact, the `dramaof ideas', which forms the first significant challengeto the primacy
is
Although
Shaw
device
in
the
the
and
narrative
still
story.
of
major
structuring
plays
of
Chekhov, it has begunto give someplace to the imperative of argument(in the caseof Shaw)
is
(in
Of
Chekhov).
Shaw
the
the
two,
character-based
exploration
of
still the more
case
of
and
frameworks,
being
Chekhov
upon
conventional
narrative
reliant
preparedto experimentwith
larger narrative gaps. But even Shaw, by the time of Heartbreak House (1919), has taken
Chekhov as his model and moved into very different territory in relation to story. His own
designates
it
"a
fantasia
in the Russianmanneron English themes"andwhilst
to
the
play
subtitle
thematically it doesexplorethe familiar Shavianpreoccupations- money,marriage,morality its tone and structurearenoticeablymore lyrical and ambiguous.Act One endswith the gnomic
remark, "Give me deeperdarkness.Money is not made in the light", and the final, apocalyptic
sceneis also deeply equivocal: the pragmatic millionaire, Boss Mangan, is blown to pieces
during the courseof an air raid (he hastaken shelterin
dynamite),
whilst
a gravelpit stockedwith
Ellie and Mrs. Hushabyegreetthe attack with
almost devotional fervour:
33
MRS.HUSHABYE:
ELLIE:
Did you hear the explosions? And the sound in the sky: it's
splendid: it's like an orchestra: it's like Beethoven.
By thunder, Hesione: it is Beethoven.
(Shaw, 1964: 158)
One othernoteworthydevelopmentover this whole periodhasbeenthe gradualdisappearance
of
kind
figure.
Greek
for
full
Chorus,
tragedy
of
narrator
most of the action
onstage
employeda
any
directly
form
drama.
frequently
Shakespeare
the
of
commenting
on
some
makes use of
and
`stand-in' Chorus,and Restorationdramahad its regularasidesto the audience,not to mention
the accompanyingProloguesandEpilogues.But by thetime we reachthe latenineteenthcentury,
drama
has
"freed
itself
buried
`the
that
the
gradually,
narrator
of
narrative voice, as
we see
himself completelyin the text, disappearedbeneaththe voicesof his characters'" (Ong, cited in
Maclean, 1988:9).
And asthe twentieth centuryopens,andthe momentumfor radical changeincreases,it becomes
in
We
drama
itself
be
longer
the
that
presence
of narrative
can now no
relied upon.
apparent
begin to seethe proliferation of a whole rangeof formal and structuralexperiments,which will
lead ultimately, althoughat a noticeablyslower pacethan in most other artforms,to the kinds of
`nothing'
happens.
in
which
work
34
Chapter
Four - Alternatives
to Narrative
Since the turn of the [twentieth] century, most art forms have vastly expandedtheir
materialsand scope.Totally abstractor nonobjectivepainting and sculpture,unheardof
in 1900, is practised by major artists today. Composerstend to discard traditional
Western scales and harmonies, and atonal music is relatively common. Poetry has
lagged.
has
Almost
theatre
the
aloneamong arts,
abandonedrhyme, meter and syntax.
(Kirby in Sandford,1995: 29)
In his generalintroduction to "The New Theatre",taken from the collection Happeningsand
in
draws
Kirby
theatre,
Michael
Acts,
Other
attention to the relatively conservativenature of
last
done
from
being
the
the
to
century.
of
early
part
within other artforms
comparison work
by
be
forms
drama
to
those
the
Largely speaking, structuring
continued
required meaningand
of
improvised,
information.
highly
Plays,
that
those
were
even
organised,verbal
the transmissionof
for
in
by
by
informed
literary
be
the
their
the
to
clarity
need
nature,
primacy of
word and a
tended
and coherence.
Surveying the same period, Christopher Inns notes that where there was theatrical
identifies
it
he
in
by
towards
trend
primitivism, and
experimentation, was characterised general a
instinctive
facets
"the
dream
distinct,
the
to
this:
andcomplementary,
explorationof
statesor
two
in
levels
focus
the
the
of
psyche;and quasi-religious
on myth andmagic,which
and subconscious
(Innes,
leads
to
the
theatre
experimentswith ritual and ritualistic patterningof performance"
the
1993: 3).
Explorations of dreamstatescanbe traced,in particular,through severalkey playsof Strindberg,
To Damascus(1898-1904),A Dream Play (1902) and TheGhostSonata(1907), leadinginto the
GermanExpressionistmovement.Although thesetexts make extensiveuse of visual imagery,
internal
distinctly
is
`logic'
dreamlike
their
and illogical in quality, they are, nevertheless,
and
essentiallyword-basedplays and not inherently anti-narrative in construction.The twists and
turns of the narrative may be hard to follow at points, may be confusing to an audience,but
narrative itself is still present.For all of its swift transformationsand hallucinatory repetitions,
the essentialTabula of A Dream Play, for example, is very clear and can be very quickly
summarised:Indra's daughtermust, herself, live through the sufferingsof humankind, in order
that she may at last return to heaven,sadderand wiser. As John Peter notes, commenting on
35
another of Strindberg's works, "the essential linearity of drama does assert itself after all. All
three parts of To Damascus tell their story, such as it is, in a recognisably sequential movement.
The play as story proves stronger than the play as a system of dislocations" (Peter, 1987: 255).
Nor is ritual, in and of itself, anti-narrative. Genuine ritual, after all, is the acting out of
in
form.
Underpinning
the apparentarbitrarinessof the ritual actssits
myth
a
stylised
communal
the logic of an ancient narrative. If anything, the active participle, plotting, is more than ever
describe
to
this corporateactivity: the celebrantsof anyritual connectthemselvesto
appropriate
by
by
is
it.
The
their
the underlying story
participation within
story circle onceagaincompleted
their involvement. The major problem facing more recentattemptsat creatinga contemporary
by
has
been
is
lack
fact,
Innes
theatre,
there
the
that
of
contrast,
precisely
a
as
notes,
ritualistic
holding
it
sustaining
story
or
all together:
shared
any
the PerformanceGroup approachdemonstratesis that meaningful participation
what
...
requiresan establishedritual familiar to all, not analienrite where,howeverauthenticthe
imitation, the performanceis bound to be fake. This is not only impossiblein a society
but
belief
has
its
forms
have
lost
their
validity,
where cohesivereligious
goneand ritual
doubly so, given a political radicalism that rejects the social context, since whatever
forms
do
communal
exist are there. (Innes, 1993: 176)1
Early experimentsthat are more directly concernedwith the formal aspectsof narrative can
typically be seento be foundedupon a political radicalism,which seeksto rejectthe whole gamut
including
bourgeois
thoseto do with logic, order and structure:
values,
of
The identifying signatureof avantgardeart, all the way backto Bakuninandhis anarchist
journal L'Avant Garde in 1878, has been an unremitting hostility to contemporary
civilization. Its most obvious aspect has been negative: the rejection of social
organizationandartistic conventions,aestheticvaluesandmaterialisticideals,syntactical
structure and logic, as well as everything associatedwith the bourgeoisie. (1993: 6,
italics mine)
Arguably then, behind modem andpostmodernassaultsupon narrativelies a more fundamental
rejection of both logic and syntax.One of the many `offensive' characteristicsof Alfred Jarry's
provocatively subversiveUbu Roi was the deliberately childish natureof its plot construction.
This play was not just an attack on narrative, however,
for
just
the
or even
prevailing vogue
i The Performance Group
was Richard Schechner's company, working in the United States during the 1960s and
70s.
36
theatrical naturalism, but rather a full-blooded assault upon the institutions and conventions of
1896,
10th,
bourgeois
December
itself.
Ubu
Roi
On
the opening night of
on
contemporary
society
Jarry managed to outrage and frustrate his audience even before the curtain had gone up, by
lecturing them on the finer points of the play they were about to watch.
The Futurist experimentsof the early twentieth century also embodied this confrontational
intentionally,
is
Futurism
(1909),
by
F.
T.
Marinetti,
The
Manifesto
and
of
asexpressed
approach.
the
of
prevailing cultural norms:
subversive
cheerfully,
even
So let them come,the gayincendiarieswith charredfingers! Herethey are!Herethey are!
Comeon! setfire to the library shelves!Turn asidethe canalsto flood the museums!...
...
You have objections?- Enough! Enough! We know them We've understood!... Our
...
fine deceitful intelligencetells us that we arethe revival andextensionof our ancestorsPerhaps! If only it were so! - But who cares?We don't want to understand!(Marinetti
...
in Huxley & Witts, 1996:252-53)
And in their 1915 manifesto, The Futurist Synthetic Theatre, Marinetti and others argued
life
in
found
to
kinds
for
dislocation,
fragmentation
the
everyday
and
sheer
chaos
of
passionately
be reflectedin theatricaltexts, rejectingutterly the strainedlogic of carefully arrangedcauseand
instead
the
thought
that
pursuing
simultaneityandabstractionsmore closely reflected
and
effect
the true energiesof modern existence.
Its stupid to want to explain with logical minutenesseverything taking place on the
stage, when even in life one never grasps an event entirely, in all its causesand
becausereality throbsaroundus,bombardsus with squallsoffragmentsof
consequences,
interconnectedevents,mortisedand tenonedtogether,confused,mixedup, chaotic... It's
stupid to submit to obligatory crescendi,prepared effects and postponed climaxes.
(Marinetti et al in Kirby, 1986: 199)
The syntesithemselvesare extremelyvaried: childish sketches,very self-consciouslymaking a
'point' about art; brief, abstract`anti-theatre' impressions;and completely nonsensicalsoundThey
poems.
are all very short,with a huge emphasisplaced on the immediacy of sensation,of
concrete experience,of the `now' of performance.All things modern and technological are
enthusiastically embraced,all that smacks of the past, of `dead' literature, is belligerently
rejected.
37
Giuseppe Steiner's Il "Saul" di Alfieri in particular is an amusing illustration of the Futurists'
manifesto pledge to rid theatre of long and unnecessary plot detail. Reducing Alfieri's epic
original to a mere page or two, Steiner tells the entire story of King Saul and his troubled
relationship with David in five extremely brief `acts', the longest of which contains
lines
dialogue.
eleven
of
approximately
Yet although the majority of the plays demonstrate a determined effort to jettison narrative
kind
just
(take,
further
Cane
Francesco
Cangiullo's
Non
of
as
one
any
example,
ca un
elements
There Is No Dog - in which the one character is identified as HE WHO IS NOT THERE,and the
deserted
is
),
dog
the
the most
the
of
play,
a
action
set
on
road,
at
night,
a
crossing
street...
entire
feature
Marinetti's
is
his
the
of
own
writings
about
movement
repeated use of classic
striking
his
involving
techniques
to
and
unabashed
appeals
an overarching metanarrative
narrative
innovation:
technological
excitement,
of
progress,
revolution
and
notions
An immensepride wasbuoyingus up, becausewe felt ourselvesaloneat thathour,alone,
awake,and on our feet, like proud beaconsor forward sentriesagainstan army of hostile
down
from
Alone with stokersfeedingthe
their celestialencampments.
glaring
at
us
stars
hellish fires of greatships,alonewith the black spectreswho gropein the red-hotbellies
of locomotives launcheddown their crazy courses,alone with drunkardsreeling like
birds
wounded
along the city walls. (Marinetti in Huxley & Witts, 1996:248)
This is storytelling in the grand style. Possiblenarrativerealmsare constantlybeing evokedby
fragments;
fragments
these
allusive
of
means
are then threadedtogetherinto a larger world of
fire, passionand hostility, and driving the whole piece forward is a tremendoussenseof being
destiny.
With
irony,
then,this awarenessof being artistic pioneers,reaching
of
a
neat
champions
for the future by thrusting asidethe encumbrancesof the past including the useof narrativehas beenperfectly capturedin a compelling piece of self-narrativisation.
In her foreword to the volume Performance Art from Futurism to the Present (1988),
historian
RoseleeGoldbergidentifies the 1909Manifesto asthe point of origin for
performance
all twentieth-century performance art to come. However, although foreshadowing major
developmentsto appearlater in the century, the Futurists'
efforts at subvertingmeaningwere
scornedby most of their contemporariesand had relatively little immediate impact upon the
prevailing theatricalculture. Stressingthe often neglected,althoughsignificant, influence of the
38
Futurists upon individual playwrights such as Pirandello and Thornton Wilder, and the
Kirby
Michael
into
follow,
Surrealist
drama
the
to
continuing reverberations
which was
nevertheless has to conclude that, "[t]hese developments had little effect on the mainstream of
theatre that progressed in a generally realistic direction, and encompassedboth stylization and
(1986:
153).
naturalism"
And he opens his account of the movement by stating flatly that, "Futurist performance is
in
United
States"
(1986: 3). In fact, it was to be some years yet before the
the
unknown
virtually
from
decisively
literary
in
there
the
the
to
the
would
shift
meantime
performative
and
emphasis
be
developments
in
the greatly
the
to
significant
other
with regard
role of narrative,
would
Bertolt
Brecht
Samuel
Beckett.
works
of
and
contrasting
Brecht
Brecht's solution to the irresistible pull of narrativewas not to remove it from his plays, but to
its
take away centreof gravity. By replacingAristotelian plot with Epic narrative,Brechtworked
to dilute the force of story, its power to compel assentby its apparentinevitability. The false
illusion of `beginning, middle and end', createdby the drama of Naturalism, is replacedby
fragmentation,andthe seriesof broken beginningsandpartial endingsformed by a sequenceof
disconnectedmini-narratives. In this, he was undoubtedly influenced by Büchner's Woyzeck
(1837), which, by means of its unexplained narrative leaps from one scene to the next,
undermines an audience's senseof narrative competenceand forces a re-evaluation of the
itself.
Nevertheless,
larger
Brecht
his
to
process
a
storytelling
was able extend explorationsover
body of work, and a much longer timescale.
From his earliestplay, Baal (1918),Brechtmadeuseof this alternativestorytellingapproach.The
do
scenes combineto tell a larger narrative, certainly, but the `jump-cuts' from one to another,
and eventhe apparentnon sequiturswithin the dialogueof any given scene,work to distancean
audiencefrom the story material and the characterswithin it. The influence of the German
cabaret-revuetheatrecan also be clearly seen,for example,evenin a very seriouspiece suchas
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (1938), whose
structureis that of a sequenceof vignettes,
connectedonly by themeand the desireto tell many storiesrather thanjust one.
39
Another strategy Brecht employed to fragment and frame the story was the reintroduction of a
figure,
in direct contrast with what was to be found in naturalistic theatre. As Kirby
narrator
"[t]he
71).
(1986:
longer
fourth
the
notes,
narrator was no
missing, along with
wall"
But there is always a tension in Brecht's work. Certainly he uses narrative in a new way,
in
`neatness',
be
found
the
the
to
conventional
easy
convenient sense of closure,
questioning
dramatic forms, but he nevertheless still gives narrative a leading role: "Everything hangs on the
`story'; it is the heart of the theatrical performance [... ] The `story' is the theatre's great
in
(Brecht
Willett,
1978:
200).
operation"
And in someinstances,his love of storytelling can outweigh his other, more overtly educative,
is
Caucasian
Chalk
Circle
(1944)
The
Grusha's
this.
perilous and
a
good
example
of
aims.
`save
baby'
is
fable
in
its
to
the
the
quest
a
satisfying
political
own
right
and,
whatever
emotive
is
bring
it
Brecht
be
to
to
the
that
the
seeks
play, could argued
effect upon a spectator
message
do
Soviet
the
to
than
the
seeing
with
story-circle
of
merits
neatly closed
with pondering
more
Similarly,
I
The
Life
Galileo
(1938),
that
the
policy.
suspect
an audience
at
end
of
of
agrarian
likely
human
is
individual
be
to
the
triumph
the
more
much
emotionally convincedof
of
member
by
face
in
by
the
than
troubled
this
that
of coerciveauthority,
outcomewas
any strongsense
spirit
no meansassured.
Brecht made a significant contribution towards a process of narrative fragmentation, then, and in
Man
Equals
Man
(1926)
important
to
assumptions
raised
covert
particularly
questions
over
do with a unified senseof self, but there was to be a much more radical assault on the coherence
in
Beckett.
Samuel
the
narrative
and
personhood
of
work
of
-
Beckett
It is a commonly held view that Beckett's plays areplotless,devoid of narrative.Colin Counsell,
for instance,in his excellent surveyof twentieth-centurytheatreSignsof Performance,tells us
that the plays "... lack narrative...nonehave a narrative in the usual sense...the usual cause-andeffect narrativeis absent...we aredeniednarrative..." (Counsell,1996:112-142).And StantonB.
Garner describes Beckett as, "[a]ttacking at its
roots the conventional transformation of
performance into narrative" (Garner, 1989:150). In fact, close examination of the plays
40
themselves reveals that they are shot through with narrative, and in very many instances the
`action' of the drama is that of the narrative project itself. Quite clearly what Beckett does not
beginning,
is
in
linear
the
senseof
give us narrative
plot, or a grand overarching structure with
he
instead
to
`characters'
However,
construct
constantly
working
shows us
middle and end.
in
For
in
hunger
for
example,
significance and closure.
stories, order to allay their own restless
That Time (1976):
B:... just one of those things you kept making up to keep the void out just another of
those old tales to keep the void from pouring in on top of you the shroud [... ]
for
it
doorstep
the
A: ... making all up on
as you went along making yourself all up again
the millionth time...
(Beckett, 1984:230,234)
Kristin Morrison is quick to point out that, when shespeaksof narrative in the plays, shetoo is
is
but
the
to
talking
aboutplot,
ratherabout use which narrative put, asa meansof avoiding,
not
least
the
controlling, painful emotionalexperience:
very
or at
But in this discussion the terms `story' and `narrative' do not indicate plot or `what
...,
have
discussion
to
if
In
terms
those
the
this
only
refer
would
you summarized play'.
you
by
(of
during
length)
delivered
the
the
one of
play
actual narrations whatever
courseof
the charactersin the play, units which comprisean importantpart of the dramaticaction,
involving
kind
self-revelationsand evasionsof a most subtle
on the part of the
units
himself:
speaker
what he tells, when he tells it, and why he tells it are often the real
drama.(Morrison, 1983: 6)
The very languageused by Morrison, the distinction she draws between narrative and plot,
What
to
the
these
two
terms
she
us
more
once
uneasy
relationship
co-exist.
within
which
returns
draws our attentionto, through this careful use of terminology, is the fact that narrativehas not
been`removed' from this new form of drama:ratherit hasbeenresituated,andits role redefined.
In Endgame(1957), for example,one of the few significant activities left to Hamm is that of
constructinghis "chronicle":
HAMM: It's time for my story. Do you want to listen to my story?
CLOV: No.
HAMM: Ask my father if he wants to listen to my story.
(Beckett, 1968: 34)
41
As he begins to tell his story, Hamm is described as adopting a "narrative tone", deliberately
framing the enterprise of narrative construction, the conscious selection, rejection and
in
himself,
interrupts
to
`voice'.
he
frequently
And
order
presentation of material, with a suitable
his
successor failure as a storyteller:
comment on
HAMM: Pale,wonderfully pale andthin, he seemedon the point of - [Pause.Normal
...
tone.] No, I've donethat bit. (35)
But Beckettmakesit clearthat Hamm needsan auditor,for the narrativeeffort to be worthwhile.
Having failed to persuadeClov to listen to his story in the first place,he then demandsthat Clov
it:
him
about
ask
HAMM: I've got on with my story. [Pause.] I've got on with it well. [Pause.Irritably]
...
Ask me where I've got to.
CLOV: Oh, by the way, your story?
HAMM: [Surprised.] What story?
CLOV: The one you've beentelling yourself all your days.
...
HAMM: Ah, you meanmy chronicle?
CLOY: That's the one.
[Pause.]
HAMM: Keep going, can't you, keep going! (40)
Clov's questionsand commentselicit a few more narrativedetails,but Hamm soonreachesthe
his
breaks
Clov,
Hamm's
And
story
own words,
always
although
echoing
at
which
off.
point
bring
"Keep
him
keep
",
Hamm
to
to
going, can't you,
seemsunable,or unwilling,
going!
urges
his story to completion:
CLOV: Will it not soonbe the end?
HAMM: I'm afraid it will.
CLOV: Pah! You'll make up another.
HAMM: I don't know. [Pause.] I feel rather drained.(41)
Ultimately, though, in his final speechof the play, Hamm seems,albeit ratherinconclusively,to
attemptthis closure:
HAMM:
Oh, I put him beforehis responsibilities! [Pause.Normal tone.] Well, there
...
we are,there I am, that's enough.(52)
42
Reluctantly, he has - perhaps reached a possible ending, that which he has both desired and
feared: "reckoning closed and story ended".
This issueof narration, and particularly self-narration,the processof telling our own lives, is
in
life
Krapp
his
the
under
scrutiny
plays.
narratives
repeatedly
sits alone,revisingandreworking
key
in
Listener
That
tape;
Time
the
to
similarly,
on
makesconstantefforts recall and reorganise
his
life
("...
of
was that the time or was that anothertime..." [1984: 230]); the relentless
events
in
is
Not
(1972)
loose
I
fully
jumble
fragments,
Mouth
of
words
a
of story
stream
which
cannot
because
her
inability,
of,
sense
partly
of
make
or refusal,to makeherself the subjectof her own
in
Ohio
Impromptu
(1981)
by
Listener
Reader,
the
the
told
the
visibly
regulates
story
narrative;
in
by
his
knocks
the
a
process
of
controlling
and
ordering
upon the
narrative, meansof
engaged
table, until at last, "Nothing is left to tell" (1984: 288).
In theseand other texts we seethe central figure(s) engagedin the processof telling their own
from
broken
fragments,
always
always in a characteristicallysparseand compressed
stories,
language.Thesenarrativesaredistilled, reduced,paredright down to the barestdetails.Beckett's
in
in
his
have
been
the
to
to
writing
plays
own
would
appear
start
storyline
with a clear
approach
it
back
hints
fragments,
then
to
strip
and
mere
mind,
and
requiring a hugereconstructiveeffort
from the audiencethemselves,as well as the figures onstage.Kristin Morrison has noted this
in
her
draft
at
work
examination
process
of
versionsof a number of the texts:
Changesin detail often involve a move away from specificity.... The overall direction of
thesechanges,however,is toward concision: `Situp.' asBeckettwrote in the margin of a
recentlyrevisedversionof Endgame.The spokenwords areusuallyrefinedin rhythm and
meaning,explicit information is often suppressed,and plot line usually becomesmore
obscure.The result is not obfuscation,however, but condensation.The entire play has
been `boiled down' to its essence.(1983: 112,113)
In one particular instance,as Morrison points out, an unusually detailed and sexually explicit
narrative in a draft version of Comeand Go, is finally reduced,in the published text, to "two
innocentphrases,`Dreaming of... love' and `I can feel the
rings' (i. e., wedding rings)" (1983:
114).In this fashion, the narrative gaps,of which
have
we
previously spoken,are openedup to
the point at which they becomeyawning chasmsof
space,crossableonly by huge speculative
leapson the part of an audience,but
neverthelessdemandingthis interpretive effort from any
43
listener. And whatever the struggle, however great the awareness of dislocation and
fragmentation, the primary task is clearly one of understanding and making senseof (attributing
meaning to) narrative.
John Peter, however, writing about Beckett's work in general, and Waiting for Godot in
is
particular, disturbed by the apparentarbitrarinessof the events of the play, and the clear
he
derives
from
this is that there is no narrativesenseto be madeof it after all:
message
Experiencing such a play is always somewhat like experiencing both arbitrary
imprisonment and unexpectedliberation. We sensethat no personalwill is at work in
these characters,but that a single, impersonal,`unquestion-able'will, rather than the
multiple causesand complications of life, drives forward its events. We sensethat,
thoughthe play is clearly an artefactof humanimagination,both its beginningandits end
beyond
are
our computing. This is why the experienceof a closed play is, ultimately,
alwaysthe experienceof being alone.(1987: 357)
Petermakesan important connectionbetweenthe exploration of moral experienceand what he
terms an `open' play, in the sensethat it is open to question, or will allow us to enter into a
dialogue with it. He arguesthat the searchfor narrative is no less than a quest for significant
frameworks,
ethical
moral and
which is why, in his view, the plays of Beckett canbe accurately
describedas amoral. This is a significant issue,and one to which we will return in chapter9.
If we look momentarily at the writings of Beckett's Absurdist contemporaries,Ionesco,N. F.
Simpsonandthe like, then it would seemthat herewe areencounteringplayswhich truly haveno
story, no narrative, nothing coherent to be found, reconstructed, re-assembled.On first
impression,this might appearto be the case,but althoughtheseareobviously more definitively
it
is
narratives,
nonsensical
worth bearingin mind that the strengthof their effect still dependsto
a very greatextentupon an implicit contrastbetweentheir strange,irrational elements,andsome
pre-existingpoint of reference:the `real' world, in which conversations,actionsandultimately
narratives,do indeed `makesense'.As Michael Roemernotes in Telling Stories:
In a narrative of the absurd, deliberate disconnections
just
the
as an
connection,
are
absenceof feeling canconstitutethe emotional tenor of a work. However disjointed and
fragmentedthe elements,their very inclusion links them. (1995: 11)
44
Ionesco's Rhinoceros, for example, concerns the gradual metamorphosis of almost the entire
population of a small French provincial town into the eponymous animals. Yet although the
in
is
level,
our
the
the
solidly
play are rooted
underlying questions of
scenario absurd at a surface
for
benefits
What
Enlightenment
example,
the
the
rationalism,
exactly are
of
real.
experience of
by
fascinated
is
the paradoxical
the
tradition
contexts of a philosophical
which endlessly
within
Logician),
language
(embodied
in
the
the
and a society which
of
above all
character
properties of
is rushing headlong (literally, in the play) to embrace primal, animalistic energies?
DUDARD:You seemvery sureof yourself.Who can saywherethe normal stopsand the
abnormalbegins?Canyou personallydefinetheseconceptionsof normality and
abnormality? Nobody has solved this problem yet, either medically or
philosophically.
(Ionesco,1962:98)
Meanwhile, as Beckett was straining againstthe limits of narrative drama and the Absurdists
being
kind
through
them,
of performanceexploration was
a new
were smashingrecklessly
in
North
America,
College,
Mountain
Black
the
which was
under
auspices
of
undertaken
decisively to changethe natureof theatrein the Westernworld.
45
Chapter Five - Anti Narrative
Black Mountain College and John Cage
In the sameyear that En Attendant Godot was publishedin France,and extractsfrom the play
for
Frenchradio, a performanceof a quite different naturetook placeon the other
recorded
were
Atlantic.
definition
By
it was a unique,unrepeatableevent,but its contribution to the
the
of
side
development
of theatrewas, in its own way, as significant as that of Beckett's radical
ongoing
in
different
text,
although
a
quite
new
arena,shifting the focus definitively from theatre-asdrama,to theatre-as-performance.
Untitled Event was stagedby John Cage and others as part of the Black Mountain College
1952.
Cage
but
his
school
of
was
primarily
a
musician,
course,
work exploreda very
of
summer
wide range of performancepossibilities, which - quite deliberately- cut right acrossprevious
definitions and boundaries, and in particular the boundaries between different creative
disciplines. In this, and a number of other respects,he drew consciously upon the ideas and
Futurists.
he
But
the
of
addedother elementstoo, suchasa deep,personalcommitment
practice
to the philosophies of Zen Buddhism, and, in contrast to the earlier efforts of Marinetti and
his
have
immediate
impact.
discernible
to
experiments
were
others,
a more
and obviously
In this seminalpiece,CageandMerce Cunningham,the dancer,decidedto createa performance
which would simply combinedance,film, art, poetry andprosereadings,andmusic.Membersof
the audience,eachholding a white cup, which had been placed without explanation on their
in
the performancespacein an arrangementof four triangles, the points of
were
seated
chairs,
which convergedtowardsthe centreof the room. In the centreitself was a large spacethat could
be usedfor danceandmovement,ascould the aislesbetweenthe trianglesand spacesalongeach
four
the
walls.
of
White paintingsby a visiting student,Robert Rauschenberg,
hungoverhead.From a stepladder,Cage,in black suit andtie, reada text on `the
relation of music to Zen Buddhism'
and excerptsfrom Meister Eckhart. Then he performed a `composition with a radio',
following the prearranged`time brackets'. At the
sametime, Rauschenbergplayed old
recordson a hand-woundgramophoneandDavid Tudor played `a preparedpiano'. Later
Tudor turned to two buckets,pouring water from
one to the other while, planted in the
audience,Charles Olsen and Mary Caroline Richards read poetry. Cunningham and
others danced through the aisles chased by an excited dog, Rauschenbergflashed
46
`abstract' slides (created by coloured gelatine sandwiched between the glass) and film
clips projected onto the ceiling showed first the school cook, and then, as they gradually
moved from the ceiling and down the wall, the setting sun. In a corner, the composer Jay
Watt played exotic musical instruments and `whistles blew, babies screamed and coffee
was served by four boys dressedin white'.
(Goldberg, 1988: 126-27)
In contrastto Beckett's approach,which was to work within the constraintsof drama, whilst
limits,
here
them
to
the
was a piece of performancethat simply sidesteppedany such
pushing
disciplines.
boundaries
between
to
and
refused
acknowledge
any
previously
separate
constraints,
As in the work of the Futurists, attention was focused upon the concrete actuality of the
hidden
immediate
There
the
theatricality
that
of
metaphors.
was
wereno
presence.
performance,
Nothing in the work `stoodfor' anythingelse.Therewasno intendedconnectionbetweenanyof
the different elements.The relationshipof oneto anotherwasdeliberatelyalogical. They simply
being
duration
location
the
the only
the
time,
same
performancespaceat
same
and
occupied
factors.
They
designed
to commentmeaningfully upon eachother, nor were
were
not
common
the audience expectedto draw any of the threads together in anything other than a purely
subjective and personalway.
Moreover the `text' for the performancewas not somethingthat had been carefully crafted in
Even
brief
the
the
of
event.
very
sintesi of the Futuristshad beenwritten andrehearsed
advance
but
Untitled
Event was simply the placing togetherof widely
the
to
actual
performance,
prior
in
material
an alogical, spatio-temporalrelationship.As such,it worked directly against
varying
the kind of coherencenormally to be expectedfrom a conventional performancetext, which
relies upon the careful arrangementof partsto form the whole, evenif this carefularrangementis
then deliberatelydisguisedby the artful re-organisationof material.
In this andotherpieces,Cagewasnot so much "anti-narrative",ashe wasuninterestedin specific
content or intention of any kind, thesethings being irrelevant to his concept of theatre. In a
discussionwith Richard SchechnerandMichael Kirby, he (reluctantly) provided a definition: "I
try to make definitions that won't exclude.I would simply say that theatreis somethingwhich
engagesboth the eye and the ear" (Sandford, 1995: 51).
47
He went on to add that, for him, theatre must also be defined in terms of being a "public"
occasion: "I think of theatre as an occasion involving any number of people, but not just one"
(1995: 52).
By Cage's own definition, at least, Untitled Event qualifies as theatre. However, this is a theatre
discarded
is
from
as an
characters,
without
setting, or situation, and
simply
which narrative
irrelevance, to be replaced instead by a collage of non-intentional, although still highly structured,
is
Underlying
everything a philosophy, which assertsthat surprising combinations may
actions.
indeterminacy,
interesting,
that
ä
equally
surprising, and
chance,
results:
notion
produce
level
are
capable
of producing a
of interest and engagement which the repeated
randomness,
be
the
It
that
though,
the
re-arrangements
could
of
expected
never
could
argued,
achieve.
careful
`narrative' of the performance is, in effect, the story of eachindividual audiencemember being in
the performance space and responding to the performance materials.
Although Cageis known for his relianceupon the `chancemethod', it is over-simplisticto define
his theatreperformancespurely in terms of "anything can happen". In fact, whilst turning his
back on a conventionalstructuring device suchas narrative,he createsnew kinds of structures
hold
in
is
does
Cage
What
to
the
to open up an almost
random elements place.
and notations
unlimited range of possibilities within a tight, carefully pre-defined range of performance
In
Theatre
Piece (1960),performersarerequiredto carry out various activities over
parameters.
be
but
The
by
Cage,
time.
to
themselves
activities
are
measuredunits of
are not stipulated
decidedin advanceby the individual performer,with eachactivity written asverbsandnounson
to twenty individual cards.Theseare then shuffled and laid out face down in an arrangement
which enableseachcard to be identified by number (for example,in four rows of five, or five
four).
By readingthe numberon the score,the performerknows which activity to select
rows of
and by measuringthe timeline on the score,(s)he knows for how long the activity should be
sustained.The measure is determined by rulers provided by Cage, or if preferred, by the
performer. Different rulers may be used at any point in the preparation process.Additional
numberson the scoremaybe usedto indicatethe `adjectival' information, suchasthe intensity,
pace,size, and so on, of the activity.
48
His work can thus be described as stochastic. As Peter Van Riper, a musician and artist working
in the sametradition as Cage, explained in a letter to the New York Times: "A sequenceof events
is said to be stochastic if it combines a random component with a selective process so that only
in
In
Cage's
the
to
method, as evolution, the
random outcomes are allowed
certain of
endure.
1
is
new accessedthrough the random, and selection ensures survival of certain content".
There aresignificant philosophicalandaestheticissuesraisedby this kind of work. Given that it
be
`artful',
in
have
history,
been
the
this
to
to
most
of
elements
point
which
up
considered,
rejects
it
to what extent can be judged as `art'? Can it be viewed meaningfully alongsidethose other
have
Marcel
is
Ever
This
we
already
considered?
of
course.
since
not a new question,
works
Duchampexhibited his `ready-mades',which includeda snow shovel,a bicycle wheel, a bottledrying rack, and most notoriously of all, Fountain in 1917,a porcelain urinal, the controversy
`non-art'
`art'
really
constitutes
and
as
artistic production,or whethersuchcategories
over what
be
has
to
said
exist,
ragedon.
can even
There are other questionstoo. How are we to understandthe precise relationship between
in
feels
is
Cage
It
to
this
that
and
structure
comeup with
process?
a
need
significant
randomness
he
in
to
those
order
replace
of character,narrative, purposive action, which
new structures,
discards.But do the structuresproposedby Cagehave any more, or less,inherentvalidity than
thoseprovided by narrative itself?
No way ahead?
And, more significantly, havewe reacheda deadend at this point? How is it possibleto tracethe
kind?
through
of
narrative
such
work, which excludesnarrative as a categoryof any
presence
In fact, this kind of work is highly relevant,to the extent that it provided a catalystfor a whole
rangeof new experiments,manyinvolving similar kinds of decontextualised,or what Kirby calls
`non-matrixed' activity (Kirby in Sandford, 1995: 7-9), but equally many others quickly
discoveringways of combiningthis new setof radical performancepossibilitieswith elementsof
broken narrative,and thus revealing an underlying senseof the 'dis-order' of everydaystories.
1http://www.
vanripereditions.com/filter/cagenyt/cagenyt.
htm, accessed28/01/00
49
Word of Cage and Cunningham's Untitled Event quickly spread, in particular to New York,
New
Cage
the
the
at
where
was now running a course on
composition of experimental music,
School for Social Research. It provoked a rash of new performance pieces and Happenings,
in
to
theatrical
sought
make use of visual, musical, spatial, gesturaland
material constantly
which
new and changing combinations. Some of these undoubtedly incorporated allegorical narrative
`echoes', for example, Allen Kaprow's The Courtyard, produced in 1962, which was staged in
the courtyard of a derelict hotel in Greenwich Village, and included, "a twenty-five-foot-paper
`mountain', an `inverted mountain', a woman in night dress, and a cyclist, all of which had
(Goldberg,
1988:
130).
symbolic
connotations"
specific
Kaprow was recycling the raw materials of his own personalexperience,drawing inspiration
from Cage'sradical explorationsof form and structure,though using them, arguably,in a more
`intentional' way. The raw materials could also include previously published verbal texts, of
Event
Untitled
Meister
Eckhart
the
made
use
of
of
writings
and a variety of poetry
course.
by
Olsen
himself
Richards.
Cage
In
read
and
and
similar
a
vein,
proposesa new way of
selected
dramatic
texts:
old
using
Our situationasartistsis that we haveall this work that was donebeforewe camealong.
We havethe opportunity to do work now. I would not presentthings from the past,but I
would approachthem asmaterialsavailableto somethingelsewhich we weregoingto do
now. They could enter, in terms of collage, into any play. One extremely interesting
theatrical thing that hasn't beendone is a collage madefrom various plays. (Sandford,
1995: 54)
Robert Wilson
The early Happenings were typically brief and fragmented pieces, even when at times, as in the
Kaprow's
Self Service (1967), which involved the creation of a variety of scattered
of
case
`events', they spanned many different locations and time periods. Robert Wilson, often working
within more traditional theatre spaces, took this a step further, by extending these shorter
moments of performance into full-scale theatre works, some lasting as long astwelve hours. One
work, KA MOUNTAINAND
GUARDenia TERRACE: a story about a family and some people
changing (1972) spanned an extraordinary seven day (and night) period (on a mountainside in
Iran).
50
The use of the word "story" in the title (a reference to Scheherazade- the teller of tales par
Clearly
is
indicative,
in
the
Wilson's
terms,
teasing
approach.
more general
of
excellence)
incorporates
he
kind
is
numerous elements
of narrative contract signalled, and
possibility of some
does
be
but
to
them
then
to
the
not
permit
considered
within
province
narrative,
of
normally
his
images
figures
into
kind
form.
iconic
All
appear on
and
any
of narrative
sorts of
coalesce
fairy-tale,
Albert
Einstein,
Abraham
dinosaurs,
from
creatures
stages - cowboys, a spaceman,
Lincoln, Queen Victoria, Stalin and Freud - yet they are divorced from their customary roles as
into
kind
fictional),
(historical
any
service simply as
and are pressed
of story
or
characters within
figures in a landscape, or rather, series of landscapes.
Theserecognisableimageshold out the prospectof meaning,leadaudiencesto expectthat there
be
but
thematic
to
the
the possibilities of signification
some
or
narrative centre
work,
may
dizzyingly,
links.
Adding
to
whilst
eschewing
any
obvious
causal,
or
even
associative
multiply
the effect are setswhich evoke extraordinarily detailedand seemingly`realistic', though often
distorted,
locations.
(1969),
description
King
Spain
A
The
an early work, shows
of
of
surreally
this processat work:
The King of Spain was a spectacular,large-scaleproduction performed within an
orthodox prosceniumarch stage.Much of the action took place in a Victorian drawing
location
the
room,
conjuredwith traditional trompe-l'oeil effects, flats paintedto create
realistic illusion. But the illusion was interrupted.A sectionof the room's rear wall was
missing andthrough the gap a secondpart of the setwas visible, representingan areaof
sunlit countryside. The figures who entered the room seemedundisturbed by this
anomaly, behaving for the most part in the kind of dispassionateand genteelmanner
appropriateto their environment.Yet their activities were incomprehensible;characters
piled straw on the stage,lit a shelf of candles,playedindecipherablegamesat a table and
slid brassrings along a wire. Periodically an athletein shortsand singlet appearedin the
`outside',
meadow
running acrossthe room's missingslice.The piecedrewto a closeasa
set of giant mechanicalcat's legs walked acrossthe stage,its body `out of sight' in the
flies. No explanation was offered for any of these occurrences,for like all Wilson's
`plays', The King of Spain had neither plot nor dialogue, and followed no discernible
logic. Spectatorswere left to makeof the piecewhat they could. (Counsell,1996:179-80)
Within many of the other dreamlike worlds that Wilson conjuresup, there is, in fact, plenty of
dialogueto be found. But typically, this is dialoguethat is devoid of semanticcontent.It is nonsequential,nonsensical, sound- and rhythm-based. Sometimes the verbal texts consist of
assembledfragmentsof conversation,sometimesof apparentlyrandom words and word-like
51
in
Einstein
(dohBeach
(1976)
diatonic
just
the
the
the
and
once
sounds,
on
scale
words of
- of
rey-mi, etc.) and the numbers one to eight. Collaborations with Christopher Knowles, a disabled
language
had
been
brain-damaged
birth,
him,
the
who
at
and
who
world
around
perceived
artist
in particular, in complex and unusual ways, gave rise to highly idiosyncratic texts, constructed
from words used simply as visual and aural patterns.
But it is not the dialogue/languagetext which is at the core of thesepieces, in any case.The
immensely
but
detailed
the
show
signs
and
of
structuring
organisation,
performances/plays
involved
Wilson,
are
visual
and
who trained as
rhythmic,
occasionally
mathematical.
principles
describes
his
dividing
the
principal
working
performancespace
method
as
one
of
architect,
an
into a seriesof zones:
the stageis divided into zones- stratified zonesone behind the other in each of
...
...
thesezonesthere's a different `reality' -a different activity defining the spaceso that
from the audience'spoint of view one seesthrough thesedifferent layers, and as each
it
occurs appearsas if there's been no realisation that anything other than itself is
happeningoutsidethat particular designatedarea.(Kaye, 1994: 66)
The key organisingprinciple is thus spatial,perceptual,andit is thejuxtaposition andpatterning
different
his
defines
Wilson
that
the
these
the
spaces
calls
often
structureof
performance.
of
`operas',
invites
them
conceiving
and presenting
on a scale which consciously
productions
Wagnerian
This
kind
with
epics.
of allusion to narrative form, combined with
comparison
held
and
within clear,patternedstructures,encouragesaudiencesto look for narrative
spectacle,
but
the spaceat the centreis ultimately 'empty':
meaning,
Evenwhen we areoffered no story assuch,asspectatorswe still assumethat stageevents
comprisesomekind of purposefulsequence.We thus try to link oneimagewith the next,
and ascribesignificanceto changesand continuities, seekingto make of the unfolding
action a temporal chain whoselinks are meaningful; that is, we seekto narrativise it by
othermeans,find a conceptualrationalein the absenceof any obviousplot. But Wilson's
stagecraftfrustratesall suchattempts.(Counsell, 1996: 196)
Richard Foreman
Many different examplesof this kind of non-script-centred
work could be cited. But what is the
result when these kinds of influences are incorporated into the work of someonewho is
specificallya writer, one whoseaim it is to provide a literary text asthe basisfor performance?
52
Richard Foreman, the American playwright and theatre director, explicitly rejects Cage's use of
by
but
his
influenced
hugely
the proliferation
work was nevertheless
random, non-intentionality,
Drama
Yale
in
in
`classic'
1960s.
Originally
technique
the
trained
at
playmaking
of new work
School, "I wrote, one year, my imitation Arthur Miller; one year my imitation Murray Schisgal
(believe it or not); one year, my imitation Brecht; one year, my imitation Sartre" (Rabkin, 1999:
118), Foreman quickly rejected this way of working. A chance encounter with the underground
by
in
direction.
He
fascinated
him
different
the
was
a radically
cinema movement propelled
films,
fact
hide
(for
the
the
their
that
they
to
of
construction
example,
made
no
attempt
rawness
the film splices were crude and visible, the holes punched into the end of a reel were often
included) and their energy and everyday subject matter. Foreman began to experiment with
incorporated
fascination
the
the
that
which
with
plays
same
same
sense
of
rawness,
writing
for
He
the
of
everyday
existence.
not
also
aiming
replayed
effects
again
again,
and
minutiae
development of a story, but the multi-layering of sounds and images.
I beganthinking of the attemptto write a play asthe attemptto work andrework the same
material, much as the alchemistswould keep working on their combined metals to
transform them into gold. I really thought of writing a play as taking certain basic
physical givens of the situation in the play, repeatingthem with slight variations again
and again and again in the text. (Rabkin, 1999: 119)
Typically, Foreman'sproductionshaveno formal narrative,no `beginning,middle and end', yet
they are clearly plays, this is writer's theatre. There are usually several performers, but no
is
dialogue,
there
as
such;
plenty
of
essentiallycoherent,but makingno obvioussense;
characters
is
full
jumbled,
frequently
the
stage
of
movement:
anarchic,
and
very funny, and punctuated
throughoutwith repeatedsoundeffects and wild burstsof music. As a designer,he favours the
`over-determined'
use of
sets,which allow performers to encounterand interact with a large
bizarre
of
and extraordinaryprops.His 2000 piece,Now That CommunismIs Dead My
number
Life FeelsEmpty, featured,amongstother items, a toy dog's head,wearing a party hat, peering
over the top of a brightly painted disc; five chickens perchedon tall black poles, with party
streamershangingdown; a larger-than-life,two-dimensional,cartoon-like Yiddish headseenin
profile, which loomed in through an open doorway at various moments; happy, pig-like facemasks;an oversizedpaintedclock facewith no hands;a hugeglassglobe;an equallyhugerubber
53
into
fake
`radio'
hit
it;
could
two
arm
an
to
which
pipes;
an
obviously
ornate
with
which
mallet,
be inserted; and large bright red flags on poles, some fluttering free, others held rigidly in place.
his
impulse,
is
A primary goal throughout the exploration of
spontaneousand alogical, although
that
his
from
drawn
ideas
so
reading,
too,
extensive
own
and argument
plays are crammed with
different
levels:
invite
cognitive, as well as sensual and visceral.
of
responseson a variety
they
founded
he
in
1968,
least
is
the
year which
His output prolific, writing at
one play per year since
flavour:
(1986)
Cure
from
The
Company.
One
Theatre
gives a
his Ontological-Hysteric
example
down
JACK,
image
(After
during
with
the
upside
of
DAVID:
a pause,
which we compare
his legs up, with the image of thepainted ship) Are you staring at the fruit? Or
listening to the radio?
JACK: What's wrong?
DAVID: Can you see things and hear things at the same time?
JACK: (Sitting up) What's wrong?
DAVID:Seeingthem ... or hearingthem.
KATE: (Coming out from behind the rack) I know the unfortunate answer to that
question.
JACK: What's wrong?
know
I
the
in
her
(Using
finger
the
the
to trace one of
painting)
KATE:
energyswirls
answer unfortunately determined by the particular psychophysiologicalmetaphysicalorientation of our Westerncivilization.
images!
(Holding
head)
his
No
DAVID:
more graven
a giant rock over
JACK: (Staring at the ripe fruit he holds in his hand) No more gravenimages.
(Foreman,1993: 133-34)
This dialogue is not `meaningless'.There is a clear senseof a developing idea, centredon the
is
is
in
Western
the
that
which
something
structured,
wrong
with
way
which
civilization
notion
here
"images"
(expressed
do
in the languageof the Bible, one of the
the
has to with
worship of
foundationaltexts of Westernculture). And yet thereis very little genuineinterlocution between
in
dialogue
developing
is
holding
this
that
the various speakers,andcertainly no clear,
narrative
individual
ideas,
The
but
they are not characters
speakers
express
perhaps
even
attitudes,
place.
in a story.And yet, thereis also a 'matrix' establishedby the unified setting("The stagesuggests
a ceremonialroom of somekind, overtonesof afuneral parlour" [1993: 113]) andthe temporal
flow of a piece that is basically linear and uninterrupted, however surreal the dialogue itself
becomes.In someof his other piecesthereis evenmore of a senseof a narrative `space',suchas
Symphonyof Rats(1988),originally written for The WoosterGroup,which exploresthe scenario
54
is
he
US
that
receiving telepathic messagesfrom outer space. (Much to
president convinced
of a
Foreman's amusement, fellow avant-gardetheatre director, Peter Sellars, described this particular
")2
"so
Aristotelian.
play as
In form, then,his work tendsto track a deliberate,middle routebetweenthe purely chance-based
is
longCage
This
John
a
of
and a more consciously-craftedavoidance narrative.
approachof
he
in
first
I
1972,
in
his
Manifesto
Ontological
Hysteric
which
of
articulated
establishedmethod,
definesthreeprincipal "distortions" availableto theatre:
1) logic - asin realism,which we reject becausethe mind already`knows' the next move
is
so
not alive to that next move.
and
2) chance& accident& the arbitrary - which we reject becausein too short a time each
by
determined
`item
becomes
equallypredictableas
produced chance,accident,
choiceso
'
etc.
3) the new possibility (what distorts with its weight) -a subtle insertion betweenlogic
into
keeps
integration
it
the
the
accident,
which
and
mind alive as evadesover-quick
CHOOSE
THIS ALWAYS!
system.
mental
(Reprintedin Rabkin, 1999:146)
And perhapsthe bestdescriptionof how this works in practiceis his own account,publishedon
his
website,
of
regularwriting-method:
the company's
For many years I have createdplays in the following manner. I write, usually at the
beginningof the day, from one half to threepagesof dialogue.There is no indication of
is
just
day
between
dialogue.
is
From
day,
the
to
there
speaking,
who
raw
no connection
day
is
each
pages,
a total `startfrom scratch'with no necessaryreferenceto materialfrom
days'
previous
work. Though it sometimes- infrequently - happensthat there is a
thematiccarryover.Every few months,I look through the accumulatedmaterial with the
thought of constructinga `play'. I find a pagethat seemsinteresting and possible as a
`key' page,andthen quickly scanthrough to find othersthat might relate in someway to
that `key' page.The relationship is not narrative,but loosely thematic- in a very poetic
sense,evenin simply an `intuited' way... When I haveforty to fifty pages,I considerthis
the basis.I then arrangethe pagesin searchof somepossibleloose thematic `scenario',
which again, is more `variations on a theme' rather than strictly narrative. I look to
establisha `situation of tension', then imagining how the other pagessomehowaugment
and `play with' that situation, rather than leading to story and resolution. Imagining a
loosescenario,I re-write a little for continuity, then assignlines to imagined characters,
and eventuallyhave a play.
(http://www. ontological.com, accessed29/11/99)
2 This comment is from
2000
an unpublished interview with Richard Foreman, given to the author on 10`hNovember
55
Despite his assertion that the relationship is not narrative, the use of words and phrases like
"scenario", "situation of tension", re-writing "for continuity", nevertheless implies the reintroduction `by the back door' of a kind of narrative form. However, Foreman is concerned to
avoid a unity of reading, preferring to create contradictions, tensions, perceptions which
de-centre
our usual responses- primary amongst which, of course, is our impulse to
unbalance,
from
fragments
the
stories
we encounter- and which provide opportunities for multiple
construct
readings and responses:
I am trying to achieveis to block the ability of the audienceto read a
generally
what
...
line or a gestureashaving only onepossibleoutcome,only onepossiblereference.I want
to makethe audiencehavethe feeling that eachphrase,eachgesture,could refer to many
different outcomes.(Quick, 1997: 1)
The Wooster Group and Elizabeth LeCompte
We have previously noted Cage's suggestionthat a piece of performancecould be constructed
from a "collage" madeup of various pre-existingtexts. The Wooster Group, under the artistic
direction of Elizabeth LeCompte,hasbeendoing just this, of course,since the early 1980s. In
form
has
been
bring
their
to
another,
or
togethera whole rangeof
regular
working
method
one
different kinds of textual elements,andallow theseconflicting voicesto play themselvesout, one
Their
have
been
by
another.
pieces
also
characterised
an extensiveuse of multimedia,
against
incorporatingsound,film andvideo into the theatricalexperience.A regularperformer with the
Willem
Dafoe,
describes
it
disconnected
from the absolutesof text and
theatre
as
a
company,
"where
to
which
speaks
an
age
we can talk on the phone, look out the window,
psychology,
3
be
TV,
letter
typing
and
a
at the sametime".
watch
The WoosterGroup emergedout of anotheravant-gardetheatrecompanyof the 1960sand '70s,
Richard Schechner'sPerformanceGroup. However, where Schechner'scompanyhad sought
particularlyto extendand developthe theatreof communalritual, the Wooster Group wished to
exploremuch more personalthemes,intertwining thesewith a variety of other materials. The
new companyalso soughtto move awayfrom a theatrecentredupon the personalityand ideasof
individual
(Schechner)towards a more collaborative approach: in their publicity
single
a
3http://www.
pbs.orglwgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/theater/wooster.
html, accessed08/04/03
56
material, the Wooster Group explicitly describes itself as "an ensemble of artists who collaborate
4
development
and production of theater and media pieces".
on the
Rather than offering fresh answersto old questions,the work can be seenas opening up new
developing
by
deconstructive
philosophies,andseeking
a
performance
method
shaped
questions,
from
interrogate,
disconnects
itself
It
to
than
to
rather
any absolutenotion of text,
assert.
always
In
instead
to
and
word-based
materials.
create
collages
of audio, video, movement,
aiming
frequently
is
both
levels
important,
the
changing
as
use
of
comedicand
energy
are
performance,
fragments
juxtaposed
in
Verbal
personal
are
with physical,
closeproximity.
sequences
painfully
`bounce
ones,
which
off eachother.
may
comment
on,
or
simply
movement-based
LeCompte hascited both Wilson and Foremanas significant influenceson her own ideasabout
1988:
4),
both
in
(Savran,
termsof their useof abstract,non-representational
actionandof
theatre
framework.
kind
form
than
rely
which
more
on a
of musicalpatterning
any
of narrative
structures
" `I am looking for somesubstitutefor plot. Non-linear,' writes LeCompte" (Savran,1988: 18).
But whereasForemanwrites his own new texts from scratchandWilson usesverbal texts which
have beencompletelydrainedof cognitive meaning,the Group have developedways of cutting
kinds
into
texts
these collages of contrasting and often contestatory
of
various
and pasting
Like
Foreman,
LeCompte
in
to
wants
create
a
space
which multiple readings,multiple
meanings.
interpretationsare possible.There is no intention to put acrossany kind of stable meaning or
highly
the
content,
rather
pieces
are
personalexplorationsof thematicmaterial,that
authoritative
both
in
termsof the natureof that material andof the theatricallanguagesusedto
canvary widely
it.
Thus
L.
S.
D. (.. Just the High Points...) from the early `80s
a
show
such
as
communicate
Ann
Rower,
babysitter
the
taped
to Timothy Leary's children, texts by
recollections
of
contains
Leary himself, Aldous Huxley, Jack Kerouac,William Burroughs,Allen Ginsbergand others,
two formal dances,both making useof a visual trick, apparentlyconnectinga pair of men's legs
to a woman'sbody, video footage,reenactmentsof historical events,andexcerptsfrom Miller's
play TheCrucible.
All of the Wooster Group pieces begin with a body of found "objects" much as the
lecture-demonstrationalwaysbeginswith a phenomenonor casein point as its subject.
4http://www.thewoostergroup.
org/twg/about.html, accessed08/04/03
57
These raw materials are of five different orders: first, recordings of private interviews or
father
his
in
Road,
interviews
Rumstick
Spalding
Gray's
and
such
as,
with
public events,
in
from
debate;
L.
S
D.,
Leary/Liddy
the
the
excerpts
second, previously
grandmother, or
from
from
dramatic
"classic"
Our
Town,
comic
or
material,
such
as
either
works
written
"Rig";
Strahs's
Jim
from
for
Group,
third,
the
such as
plays written specifically
skits, or
Ken
Town
Our
film
the
or
video of
and video, such as
prerecorded sound, music,
Kobland's film, "By The Sea," as used in Point Judith; fourth, the performance spacethat
is left from the last piece, containing various architectonic elements that will be used in
the development of a new piece; and finally, improvised action-texts: gesture, dance and
language to be used either as an independent strand in the work or as an elaboration of
from
51)
1988:
(Savran,
the
one
of
other categories.
material
dramatic
interviews,
material, prewritten
Recordings of private
or public events,previously
improvised
film
music,
and
spatial
elements,
and video material, architectural
recorded sound,
(dance,
in
clash,
ways
which
overlap,
gesture,
combined
movement),
are
all
pure
action-texts
disrupt and constantlyre-frame eachother. Thus, the work both re-presentsand re-evaluates
in
Plays
hidden
terms
their
texts,
particularly
iconic
of
assumptionsand cultural value-systems.
been
in
(in
Nyatt
have
included
Party
T.
S.
Eliot's
Cocktail
The
have
this
explored
way
that
[1980]),
Eugene
Night
(in
Judith
O'Neill's
Journey
Into
Point
Long
Day's
[1978]),
School
Thornton Wilder's Our Town (in Route 1&9 [1981]), Arthur Miller's The Crucible (in L.S.D
[... Just the High Points...) [1984]), Chekhov's ThreeSisters(in Brace Up! [1991]) andRacine's
To
You,
The Birdie! [2001]). Above all, the Group's approach questions the
(in
Phedre
`innocence' of text, its apparently objective `take' on the world. By constructing this redifferent, yet linked, texts andallowing themto interrupteachother,the companyis
of
patterning
habits
the
them.
to
various
cultural
question
perceptions,
assumptions
and
within
represented
able
The authoritativenarrativesplayedout through culturally-affirmed `classics'aresimultaneously
by
the
questioned
and
smaller, conflicting narrativesaroundthem.
presented
Eventssurroundingthe highly controversial1981work, Route 1&9, graphically illustrated the
When
this
the New York StateCouncil on the Arts cut
element
of
risk
within
approach.
essential
the Group's funding by almost fifty percentthe primary justification given wasthat Route 1&9
hadpresentedblatantly racist stereotypeson stage,whilst nevermaking a clear andunequivocal
fact,
In
the
the work in performancewas a much more elusive
about
evils
of
racism.
statement
anduncomfortableexperience.By presentinguncritically the territory andparametersof racism,
both fictional andnon-fictional, Route 1&9 forced the audienceto confront their own residual
58
for
The
is
instead,
it
tendencies.
the
that
there
message
of
piece
was
a
no message: allowed,
racist
multiplicity
of interpretations, a complexity of vision. As a result, the performance was
incomplete without a spectator:
it
is
be
to the
presented
must
when
each
piece
considered
only
composed
partially
...
because
it
is
it
but
because
public, not
requires an audienceto realize the
unfinished,
his
it
As
to
part,
multitude of possibilities on which opens. each spectator,according
entersinto a dialoguewith the work, the act of interpretationbecomesa performance,an
intervention in the piece. (Savran,1988: 55)
This opennessof meaningcan easilybe seento be both an inevitable and a wished-for outcome
type
this
of work.
of
More controversialstill, perhaps,is the WoosterGroup's transgressiveappropriationof others'
in
L.
S.
(..
Just
Their
)
involved
D.
High
Points...
them
the
performances
of
considerable
texts.
debate, and ultimately legal conflict, with Arthur Miller, who felt that his play had been
inappropriately treatedin the Group's rendition. Their scepticismand `irreverence'towards the
`classics' of westerndramahasbroughtthem, inevitably, to the point wherethey haveexplicitly
definitions
it,
in
As
the
they
to
textual
accepted
see
of ownership, relation
material.
questioned
Miller's play, oncepublished,is public property,opento question,opento re-interpretation,open
to re-construction:
As the theatredies, it is being protectedby a clique of peoplewho are narrowing it back
to the writer. And becausewe don't work that way, we trespasseverywhere. We
plagiarize.We steal.We are outlaws. (Savran, 1988: 94)
Narrative Transgressions
This goesto the heartof the matter.According to Roland Barthes,thoseseekingto transform art
must not seeksimply to displacethe cultural productsof the past,but rather, like the Futurists,
they must breakthe rules of the past:
The revolutionary task is not to supplant but to transgress.Now, to transgressis both to
..
be presented and denied at the same time.
recognize and to reverse; the object
must
...
(in Savran, 1988: 94)
59
The Wooster Group certainly operate in this transgressive territory: co-opting texts to their own
breaking
both
they
texts
the
as
making
and
narratives
re-write
of their own past and
purposes,
that of the wider culture. But Foreman too operates by transgression: he utilises many of the
denying
the possibility that any singular coherent narrative might
of
narrative,
whilst
components
his
kind,
Similarly,
Wilson
Robert
tantalises
makes narrative offers of a
ultimately emerge.
in
it.
Of
delivering
the
the
examined
practitioners
prospect of story, whilst never
audiences with
this chapter, Cage alone seeksto supplant narrative altogether with completely non-intentional,
non-matrixed performance.
We may usefully draw a distinction, then,betweenthosekinds of works which excludeany kind
Piece
Event
Theatre
Untitled
elements
whatsoever,
as
or
such
-a smaller number,
of narrative
from
first
be
they
those
thought
than
not
certainly
are
although
might
at
which,
perhaps,
in a conventional narrative format, neverthelessplay with the conventions, the
structured
form and content of traditional, linear narrative, transgressingthe limits and
the
components,
do so.
they
new
possibilities
as
suggesting
60
Chapter Six - Narrative Psychology
Having arrived at a defining moment in this brief survey (though not, assuredly,a moment of
from
the
has
been
in
),
that
to
removed
substantially
narrative
closure... are we a position say
be,
looking
Or
theatreof the postmodern? arewe
at an expandingpicture of what narrativemight
in
to
which
we
might
understand
narrative
work?
ways
of
In Theory of the Modern Drama, Peter Szondi takes as his referencepoint the drama of the
including,
late
this
Renaissance
that
from
the
to,
the
arguing
century,
nineteenth
up
and
period
interpersonal
drama
dramatic
defined
literature
be
the
of
as
can
particular expression of
dialogue.
through
the
medium of
communications,expressedprimarily
The Drama of modernity cameinto being in the Renaissance.It was the result of a bold
intellectual effort madeby a newly self-consciousbeing who, after the collapseof the
fix
he
to
and
could
medieval worldview, sought createan artistic reality within which
for
himself
interpersonal
basis
The
the
medium
verbal
on
relationshipsalone....
mirror
of
this world of the interpersonalwas the dialogue.(Szondi, 1965: 7)
Dialogue, the primary mediumthroughwhich the interpersonalis explored,is thusunderstoodto
is
it
ideas,
As
flow
inter-relational
the
a
be the exchangeof
of
communication. such,
ebb and
form which is essentiallycongenialto linear narrative,andthis within a categoryof dramawhich
its
in
has
it
describe
its
in
to
to
the
that
work
Szondi goeson
sense
construction,
as absolute
is
Drama
ideas,
"The
locations.
characters,situations and
effects within a closed system of
be
To
is
dramatic,
be
from
it
break
loose
that
to
purely
everything
relational
must
absolute.
be
It
itself'
(Szondi,
1965:
8).
can
conscious
of
nothing
outside
external.
We have alreadyseenForemanusing dialogue in a quite different manner,of course,and we
below,
(see
140).
Narrative,
in
`pure'
to
this
this
point
return
p.
again
setting,would seemto
shall
linear,
the
of
neat,
sequentialplotting of events,suchthat eachmovementcontributesto
consist
the next, each characterdefining his or her own destiny by exercising responsible choices,
exploringthe tensionbetweenfreedomand obligation, and communicating feelings, ideasand
intentions by means of the dialogue. But this model, often taken as normative, is clearly a
restrictiveone, which can give only an impoverishedaccountof the kinds of examplesof new
theatrewe havebeenconsidering.Could it be that what we havecometo think of asnarrative is,
61
in fact, just one - rather artificial - form taken by narrative, in one very specific epoch of
dramatic history? Perhapsthis shedsfurther light on the distinction to be made between narrative
form
latter
for
the
this
of narrative structure, and allowing
constrained
more
and plot, reserving
for further examination of our definitions of what narrative might be and the purposes it might
serve within a wider context.
A "talent"
for narrative
language, rather than narrative, has always beenmy concern (Richard Foreman)
...
I am lookingfor somesubstitutefor plot. Non-linear... (ElizabethLeCompte)
...
The narrative form is dying in our hands...(Howard Barker)
be
defined
(Theodore
inability
to
the
with
others.
stories
Loneliness may
as
or refusal share
Sarbin)
in
has
been
time
theatre
the
other
Whilst much new
sameperiod of
about rejecting story, over
Within
has
been
increasing
focus
there
psychology,
upon
narrative.
study,
steadily
a
of
areas
hasbeenvariously describedas:the survival mechanismof the species(Sarbin, 1986:
narrative
1982:
(Fuller,
health
indicator
1984:
61),
(Marcus,
the
of mental
11), an
engramof our species
Self
basis
book
for
his
Narrative
6).
(Kerby,
1991:
In
the
the
and
a senseof self
134), and
(1991), Anthony Kerby calls narrative "the privileged medium for understanding human
brings
in
this
together
and
claim.
support
of
evidence
much
experience"
particularly striking, though,is Sarbin'sassertion(in his excellent,andcomprehensive,collection
from
"facilitates
the
that
various
writers
of
on
subject narrativepsychology)
narrative
of essays
his
In
"Survival
in
is
talent
the
to
words,
a
world
of
meanings
problematic
without
survival".
interpret
interweaving
lives"
"talent"
for
(Sarbin,
This
to
1986:
11).
and
up
stories
about
make
is
be
"deep
to
the
not
necessarily
seen
as
result of a
structure within the nervous
narrative
`hard-wiring'
into
human
the
or
story
of
physiology. Rather,it could be understoodasa
system",
facility, which developsthrough the necessaryefforts of a growing human individual to make
interact
her/him.
the
of,
and
with,
world around
sense
JamesMancuso(in Sarbin, 1986: 103) invites us to considerthe situation of a baby, lying in a
cot.The child is fascinatedby the sight of a rattle, suspendedaboveher and attachedto the cot.
62
As a result of some movement made by the child, the rattle moves also, evoking surprise and
her.
At
jerking
in
infant,
hears
the
the
the
a certain,
noise
and
sees
above
as she
motions
pleasure
between
is
kind
the
that
there
sensory
vital
connection
some
of
she
realises
point,
critical
information from her legs and the sensory information from her eyes and ears: whenever her legs
`control'
discovers
legs,
by
her
is
that
What
she
can
the
she
moving
more,
rattle moves.
move,
has
her.
The
interesting
thus encountered a structure, through
sights and sounds above
child
the
fundamental
This
learn
lesson
structure, with others, will
effect.
a
about
cause
and
which she can
form a basis for the development of narrative competence, which is, essentially, a process of
into
linking
/
/
hear
a coherent pattern:
events we see
of encounter around us
successfully
The stories we make are accounts,attempts to explain and understand experience.
Narrative thinking is, therefore,a type of causalthinking. The power and versatility of
base
in
the
thinking
the
generative
arerooted
narrative
cognitive schemawhich servesas
for any story. The narrative schemaidentifies several categoriesof information (for
example,protagonist,situation,outcome)andrelevanttypesof relationshipsamongthem
(for example, temporal, motivational). Narrative thinking consists of creating a fit
betweena situationandthe story schema.Establishinga fit, that is, making a story out of
judgment,
is
heuristic
and experience.
skill,
process,one which requires
experience, a
When it is successful,the outcomeof story making is a coherentandplausibleaccountof
how and why somethinghappened.(Robinsonand Hawpe in Sarbin, 1986: 111)
This is the "narratory principle" (Sarbin, 1986:8), a predispositiontowards emplotment,which
is
it
in
that
theatrical
carries
within
us,
even
performance
us
and
which
explains
why
of
each
is
intended,
Mancuso
James
to
audienceswill neverthelessstruggle constructone.
where no story
by
the
to
the
that
majority
of
peopleare able access main elementsof narrative structure
opines
does
Moreover
three
they
this
time
are
yearsold.
not appearto be culturally-bound: "Current
the
knowledgesuggeststhat peoplein widely diverseculturesacquirenarrativestructure"(Mancuso
in Sarbin, 1986: 103).
The example given above of the baby in her cot provides an illustration of the necessary
developmentof causalthinking, but this is only one part of the process.A developingchild will
learn
identify
to
to
and organisevarious other relevant categoriesof information, all of
need
help
to make senseof the world he inhabits. The alternating faces which (quite
will
which
literally) loom large in his field of vision must be differentiated into different `characters',both
`central'(father,mother, siblings) and `supporting' (doctor/nurse,health visitor, family friends,
63
distinctive
behaviour).
(or
their
traits
so
on),
each
with
own
character
of
expected
patterns
and
There must also be formed a sense of spatial and geographical awareness, as the qualities of
different `locations' are experienced and remembered, and indeed become linked, in many cases,
develop
begin
differentiated
Finally,
to
the
those
a practical
child must
characters.
with
distinguishing
how
becoming
time
at
operates,
competent
awareness of
between past
(remembered), present (perceived) and future (anticipated) events.
Then, with the beginnings of language development, comes the possibility of generating
`original' stories within the emerging schema. At this formative stage,there is a primary interest
in the sounds made by spoken words and the earliest narrative fragments generatedby very young
have more to do with melody than meaning ("fat cat.... the cat is fat... ") (see
tend
to
children
Sutton-Smith in Sarbin, 1986: 75). Over time, these `poetic' or lyric stories, similar in form and
imitation
in
develop
to
rhymes,
nursery
will
a
greater
unconscious
complexity conscious or
effect
larger
transmitted
the
the
narratives
and
received
as
part
of
child's wider cultural context.
of
As time goesby these first poetic stories give way to plot stories and with age these
heroines
heroes
hero
Western
to
the
the
approximate
and
myths of
world within which
brought under duress,undertaketaskswhich resolvetheir problems.Although thinking
within developmentalpsychologytendsto privilegetheselaterplot storiesover the earlier
because
here
display
have
their
the
ones,
poetic
of
greatercomplexity,
given
of storieswe
showsclearly that the bias on behalf of complexity and abstractionsimply doesnot do
justice to the characteristic fictional competencesof the young. Nor does that bias
recognizethe child's highly aestheticrenderings,which still remain sensitiveto prosody,
when thoseof their eldersdo not. (Sutton-Smithin Sarbin, 1986: 89)
Much of this developmentcanbe tracedback to issuesof `survival', as Sarbin suggests,but the
in
indication
is
is
just
is
that
that
there
too
that
of
aesthetics
assessment
an
as
mention
much
linked
to the matter of narrativepleasure. A growing masteryof story brings with it a
clearly
ludic
is
based
disruption
the
that
of
enjoyment
on
strategic
of, aswell asconformity to, the
sense
rulespreviouslyacquired.And a major elementof this enjoymentis experiencedaswe shareand
comparenarrativeswith others.
In order that the exchangeof stories will be successfuland pleasurable,however, certain
conditionsmust be met, which are summarisedthus by Mancuso:
64
is interesting if (1) a reader has acquired a general system of cognitions by
a
story
...
which to assimilate the particular text input, (2) the input generatesuncertainty about how
the text is to continue, and (3) the ambiguity which generatedthe surprise is postdictably
resolved. (in Sarbin, 1986: 101)
For our purposes,this may be understoodin the following terms: firstly, an audiencemember
bring
basic
"general
to
this
any
narrative
performance
of
cognitions",
or
naturally
system
will
dramatic
theatre,
the
to
acquired
over
narrative
within
course
of
many
exposures
competence,
Secondly,
cinema
or
radio.
any narrative or non-narrative performancetext which
television,
"generatesuncertainty"is likely to stimulatea cognitive interestin the spectator,to setin motion
lead
development
"narratory
to
the
principle",
which
of a personalnarrative responseto
will
the
heard
is
be
Both
the
texts
that
and
seen
and
non-narrative
can
as
part
performance.
narrative
of
all
final
far,
is
in
but
it
Mancuso's
to
the
the
thus
to
matter,
of
whether
original
conform
pattern
said
"postdictably
by
the
that
to
are
we
resolved"
performance,
may
wish
considera range
ambiguities
of possible outcomes.
Typically, the linear narrative, or plot, which we have beenaccustomedto regard as a primary
in
look
in
its
`absolute'
form,
by
West,
Szondi,
theatre
the
will
asposited
particularly
element of
for clear, neatresolutionin all, or nearlyall, points.Ambiguities establishedin the expositionand
be
by
denouement.
Loose
the
time
the
must
satisfactorily
concluded
we
reach
ends
complication
The
be
be
in
tied
through
the
up.
audience
guided
narrative
must
such a way that they are
must
to
able make senseof previous uncertainties.
This process of what may be termed narrative repair is not simply a feature of dramatic
but
is
be
located
in
to
Hawpe
(in
the
Robinson
also
everyday
exchange
of
stories.
and
narratives,
Sarbin, 1986: 112)arguethat, "most instancesof narrativethinking involve effortsto get from an
inadequatestory to a complete and convincing story. This is not a question of competencein
storytelling or narrative performance.It is a matter of effective causalthinking". The efforts to
"gaps"
(Bruner,
kinds:
1986)
the
two
close
are of
either a story is deemedto be incomplete, in
further
information needsto be supplied,either by the storyteller or by the hearer;or
case
which
it will bejudged unconvincing (the causallinks are improbable) and the hearerwill searchfor
moreplausible connections.Where the gapscannot be closed to the hearer's satisfaction,the
narrativewill be felt to be incomplete,unsatisfactory,failed.
65
`Well-made' plots were designed to resolve all such ambiguities. Many plays written in the
for
have
from
however,
Woyzeck
Büchner's
twentieth
allowed
onwards,
centuries,
nineteenth and
Some
in
final
their
gaps
the
narrative
plotlines.
various
of
uncertainty
resolution
ever-increasing
However,
failing
be
left
incomplete,
but
to
closure.
reach
others may
are satisfactorily resolved,
larger
level
has
become,
the
the
the
the
the
potential
greater
gaps,
of
uncertainty
and
the greater
for narrative `disappointment' in those who have come to expect that all the answers should be
least
at
resolvable.
provided, or
in
devised
by
Cage,
hand,
texts,
the
those
operate a
pure non-narrative
on
other
such as
intentions.
Organised
different
least
to
their
on radically
fundamentally
with
manner,at
respect
is,
hold
there
they
quite simply,
different structuringprinciples,
out no suchoffer of resolution:
be resolved. In such instances,the narratory drive will presumably be frustrated,
to
nothing
in
blocked.
frustration
The
`naive'
their
inescapably
spectatormay, of course, still express
it
However,
`what
to
terms
all
supposed
on
earth
was
mean'.
of
not
understanding
conventional
be
interest
in
that
these
where
stimulated
cases,
will
again
we
cognitive
may
observe
also
even
intentional
interactions,
or observeablepatterns,are perceivedas emerging.
apparently
But thereis much otherwork, falling betweenthesetwo poles,which hasoften beenclassifiedas
be
best
non-narrative,or evenanti-narrative,whoseeffect upon an audiencemay, nevertheless,
in
it
is
If
terms
to
true
that
the
continues
of
narrative
narratory
principle
processes.
understood
in
have
it
does,
then
these
to
that
performances
of
works,
and
we
we
good
reason
suspect
operate
that
the
majority of audienceswill continueto seekto apply the usual principles of
assume
can
logic,
in
to
the most satisfactoryway possible.
and
explain
ambiguities
narrative
Closure and followability
In his studyof narrativeasthe basisfor a senseof self, Anthony Kerby highlights the importance
`closure'
asa constituentelementof narrative:"Closure... is not only a literary devicebut is a
of
fundamentalway (perhapsthe fundamentalway) in which humaneventsareunderstood"(Kerby,
1991:6).
66
Closure is not merely a convenience, a way of bringing events to a satisfactory endpoint: it is also
for
the generation of meaning. Only when we know the outcome of a series of events,
significant
in
are we a position to suggest what those events might mean. This closure need not necessarily
be final, or absolute, although some kind of putative conclusion is desirable. But Kerby makes a
"Failing
least
this
additional
comment:
closure,
narrative
at
aspires to
structure
of
significant
that is, to plotting a meaningful or `logical' development for our lives - which is
it
imposes
linearity
6).
life"
(1991:
that
to
say
or
simplicity
on
not
followability,
This could provide a helpful key to the re-positioningof narrativein new theatre.If we acceptthe
be
form,
that
the
that
the
closure
need
not
essential
component
of
narrative
and
notion
suggestion
be
instead,
`followability'
to
theatrical
could
used
we
reassess
a
wide
are
able
range
of
of
Beckett's
By
plays
rarely
perhaps
never
achieve
closure.
contemporary
narrative
material.
felt
be
incoherent,
disconcertingly
fragmented,
they
difficult
to
to
were
almostwilfully
audiences
follow.
Without exception,the popularpressdismissed[Waiting for Godot] asrubbish. Milton
Shulman called it `anotherof thoseplays that tried to lift superficiality to significance
through obscurity his symbolsare seldommore demandingthan a nurseryversion of
...
Pilgrim's Progress.' Punch called it `a bewildering curiosity.' W. A. Darlington called it
`admirable as a serioushighbrow frolic, but would not do for the serious play-going
'
public. (Bair, 1978:453)
Over a period of time, however,asaudiences'narrativecompetenceshaveincorporateda greater
level of sophistication,andasthe immediateshockof the new hasworn off, it hasbeenpossible
to discerna greatmanyfollowable narrativethreadsrunning through the plays, asthis study has
demonstrate.
Richard
to
Foreman's plays raise similar issues: they have no
sought
already
describable plot, no charactersin the conventional sense, and they play with audiences'
in
bewildering
a
perceptions
way. But althoughhe seeksconstantlyto avoid any kind of unified
narrative,Foremanhimself is readyto admit that audienceswill, nevertheless,continue to look
for stories:"... sometimesI'm forced to sit down and I tell peoplethe `story' of the play, but to
me that's not the focus. But I think it is there, yes".'
1 From
an unpublishedinterview with the author,given on 10`hNovember2000
67
In that sense,audiences may be described as seeking to follow, or track, narrative lines through
the plays. And there is also another way of considering the matter. The language used above by
Kerby suggests that closure and followability
fact,
distinct
In
two
this need not
are
entities.
be
just
in
fact,
be
Followability
the
to
turn
case.
a way of naming a more
may,
out
necessarily
bringing
Closure
be
to
the
to a
mean
would normally
understood
open paradigm of closure.
by
implication,
be
Such
of
a
process,
action,
would,
or
series
of
conclusion
events.
a
conclusion
definitive, terminal, and would provide some kind of satisfactory ending. Hilary Lawson's "story
Closure
(2001),
however,
in
term
the
to
seeks
a way that may prove
redefine
of everything",
helpful. Since closure itself is the central paradigm of Lawson's `story', any brief summary of the
ideas developed in great detail in that book must of necessity be highly reductive. At the risk of
Lawson
`intervention
in
defines
though,
as
an
essentially
a closure
openness',
oversimplifying,
flow
`world'
to
the
that
the
refers
openness
chaos
of
undifferentiated
we
call
around us.
where
Any such intervention will produce the sensethat a stable meaning has been created from the
flow, but this sense of stability is merely an illusion, a temporary staving off of openness.
Closures are thus seen to be provisional strategies, applicable in some local contexts,
in
inappropriate
others. But they do, nevertheless, operate as a means of grasping and fixing the
flow, and whilst only ever temporary, they may nevertheless be effective and useful. (In
Lawson's view they are a way of defining the central activity in which we are all engaged.) The
be
thus
basis,
to
principle
may
also
seen
operate
on
a
provisional
not reliant upon
narrative
finality or absolute conclusions, and therefore no longer dependant upon any fixed ideas
`beginning,
middle and end'.
concerning
However, whether we decide to settle upon closure or followability as our chosenmetaphor,
further questions remain: do we still need to agree new limits of closure? How shall we
determinewhat is followable? Followable by whom? And on what basis?Still that of causality?
Or maybeplausibility? Are we still looking for the samekinds of causal links betweeneventsor
are thereother models available?
68
Root metaphors
We have suggested that the dominant model for narrative understanding in the theatre, from
Aristotle onwards, has been that of the plot, the `ground-plan' laid out in advance by the writer
is
Within
there
this
a
to
model
then
architectural
audience.
gradually
revealed
a
watching
and
based
between
for
the
on
demonstrable need
clear connections
various narrative components,
`appropriateness'.
From
Enlightenment
there
the
shift
was
a
gradual
onwards,
and
structure
Mechanism,
based
the
that
machine.
of
on an alternative root metaphor:
towards a new model,
becomes the dominant worldview of western civilization during this modem
Sarbin,
suggests
period:
The mechanistworld view seesevents in nature as the products of the transmittal of
forces.Modern sciencehastakenthis world view asits metaphysicalfoundation-a view
that supportsthe scientist's searchfor causes.Efficient causalitydescription is the goal
for scientistsworking with one or anotherparadigmwithin the mechanistworld view...
(Sarbin, 1986: 6)
has
Sarbin
`connectedness'
However,
the
thus
the
as
model
altered, essential
remains.
Although
hundred
last
been
has
the
taking
the
to
of
place
over
course
note,
another
radical
shift
on
goes
large
in
1889,
historic
Arguably
dating
from
the
the
were
at
public
moment
when
so.
or
years
it
before
had
Eiffel
Tower
they
to
the
the
city as
never seen
first able climb
and accessa view of
laid out in visual form, "mapped" from above (cf. Hughes, 1980: 9ff. ) - the dominant
hasbeenundergoinga gradualprocessof transformationonce again,this time from
worldview
Sarbin
to
what
calls contextualism:
mechanism
The root metaphorfor contextualismis the historical event[...] The imagerycalledout by
the historical eventmetaphoris that of an ongoing texture of multiply elaboratedevents,
leading
to others,eachbeing influencedby collateral episodes,andby the efforts of
each
multiple agentswho engagein actionsto satisfy their needsand meet their obligations.
Containedin the metaphoris the ideaof constantchangein the structureof situationsand
in positionsoccupiedby actors.Thetexture of eventsdoesnot require linearity [Sarbin,
1977].
To those steepedin the traditions of mechanistic science,traditions that emphasize
order,predictability, and causality,contextualismat first appearschaotic.The categorical
statementsof contextualismassertchangeand novelty. Events are in constantflux, the
very integration of the conditions of an event alters the context for a future event.
(Sarbin,1986:6-7,italicsmine)
Where mechanismreinforced notions of objective linearity, causality, predictability and
hierarchicalstructure,contextualismallows for subjectivity, proximity, novelty and networks of
69
Association,
linearity,
is
than
the key to contextualism. And recent cultural
rather
association.
developments
have
technological
only served to accelerate this change of emphasis. The
and
in
in
the Western world access culture,
ways
which
most
children
and
young
people
main
knowledge and leisure, are all dominated by contextual, associative models.
Television is the primary cultural medium of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century.
And television, of course, is fundamentally about choice, and the rapid juxtaposition of
in
hand.
material,
conflicting/overlapping
with
remote
control
narratives,
especially
contrasting
At the sametime, accessto knowledgeis channelledincreasinglyvia computers,making use of
CD-ROM,
internet.
kinds,
All
the
these
on
educational
software
and
of
various
of
encyclopaedias
information
in
formats
present
which enableandencouragepersonalselectionof material
media
leaps from one aspect of a subject to another, the hyperlink being the
free
associative
and
knowledge-consumer
freedom.
this
expression
of
quintessential
leisure,
field
had
have
of
computer
a part to play in this cultural shift. Many of
also
In the
games
have
been
have
those
popular
games
of
recent
years
which
containedall the elements
most
the
dramatic
find
The
Tomb
Raider
to
normally
expect
narratives.
games,
would
within
series
of
we
to be followed through
for example,combinea variety of different locations,temporalsequences
identifiable
interact
(often in the crudestway possible, of
clearly
by players,
characterswhich
course,
by shootingat eachother), and any numberof narrativepuzzlementsand complications.
the significant differencehasbeenthat thesenarrativesareunder the direct control of
H-However,
(s)he
is
her/his
that
to
such
player,
able
choose
the
own, personal route through the story
development,in the courseof which a variety of different outcomesarepossible.(We shall return
between
link
the
gamesand narrative in Chapter9.)
to
Within this changingcultural context, it is only reasonable,therefore,to expect that theatrical
have
will
also
undergonesignificant transformation, some aspectsof which have
narrative
been
discussed
in
the precedingchapters.
already
70
Big stories and little stories
From the latter part of the twentieth century onwards, there has also been another contributing
factor at work. A key thinker in this respect has been Jean-Francois Lyotard, whose report The
Postmodern Condition identified clearly the gradual shift away from the grand narratives of the
inevitable
beyond
the
triumph
the
the
Enlightenment and
of rationalism,
march of science,
towards
personal
smaller,
more
much
communism,
of
global
and
so
on
establishment
narratives.
We no longerhaverecourseto the grandnarratives- we canresortneither to the dialectic
for
humanity
Spirit
to
the
postmodern
as
a
validation
nor even
emancipation of
of
[petit
little
discourse.
have
just
But
the
narrative
recit] remainsthe
aswe
seen,
scientific
in
(Lyotard,
form
invention,
imaginative
science.
most particularly
quintessential
of
1984: 60)
importance
is
he
in
that
the
the
of
affirms
continuing
sense
Lyotard's analysis not anti-narrative,
in the transmissionof ideasand knowledge,but he raisesthe important issueof narrative
story
identifies
it,
he
legitimated
Within
the
not so
narrativesare
post-moderncondition, as
legitimacy.
by any inherent validity or truth-claim, as by the pragmatics of the way we position
rauch
in relation to them:
ourselves
In a sense,the people are only that which actualizesthe narratives:once again,they do
this not only by recountingthem, but alsoby listening to them andrecountingthemselves
through them; in other words, by putting them into "play" in their institutions - thus by
assigningthemselvesthe posts of narrateeand diegesisas well as the post of narrator.
(1984: 23)
`universal'
there
this
scenario,
are
no
stories.If stories are validated by people,then no one
In
Instead
listening
to a single `authorised' narrative,we are
can
claim
preeminence.
`big' story
of
free to constructandcompareour ownpetits recits. However,thereis a paradoxwithin Lyotard's
Fredric
in
Jameson
his
English-language
it
is
to
the
as
out
points
preface
and
edition,
position,
local
the
affirmation
of
narrativesandthe breakdownof the grandnarrativesof the
smaller,
this:
is
if
in
It
that
sense
makes
only
within
new
grand
a
narrative:
of
a
global
as
crisis
narrative.
past
has
`underground',
disappeared.
it
Or
Jameson
than
gone
rather
as
narrative
succinctly sums up:
"The formal problem involved might be expressedthis way: how to do without narrative by
itself?
" (Lyotard, 1984: xix)
of
narrative
means
71
Grand narratives are replaced by little narratives. Contextualism assertsthe possibility that these
individually
by
imposed
be
a
as
generated narratives can
authoritative as any single narrative
An
understanding of the provisional nature of closure opensup the possibility of similarly
writer.
for
Wooster
Group's
The
work offers one possible model
provisional narrative readings, and
In
theatrical
from
text.
this
to
changing
core
single
narrative
readings
emerge
a
allowing multiple
help
being
can
us to
landscape, what new experiments are currently
undertaken, which
for
further?
What
these
are
emerging,
alternative models
possibilities
understand and explore
investigating the breakdown of narrative, by means of narrative?
Storiesarenaturalmediatorsbetweenthe particularandthe generalin humanexperience.
We should strive to improve and refine this modeof thinking, not eschewit. (Robinson
and Hawpe in Sarbin, 1986: 124)
72
Chapter Seven - Narrative against Narrative: desperate optimists
literary
dominant
philosophical and
For much of the latter part of the twentieth century, the
deferred,
is
never
deconstruction.
Derrida's
that
always
meaning
realisation
project was one of
has
how
broad
and
has
communicated,
are
narratives
of
understanding
our
changed
complete,
in
theatre
forms
development
working
of
to
ways
the
new
and
of new
contributed significantly
ideas
body
if
it
`deconstruction'
of
settled
"To
or
a
system
a
method,
a
as
were
present
also.
"
its
lay
falsify
misunderstanding,
be
to
of
reductive
to
charges
oneself
open
nature
and
would
identify
is
it
to
(1986:
That
Norris
1).
of
companies
Christopher
a
number
possible
said,
warns
by
been
has
this
shaped
to
theatre-making
the
significantly
of
approach
process
overall
whose
have
We
already
the
sign-systems.
ever-shifting
of
combination
a
reading
world
as
new way of
Wooster Group's methodologyand praxis in relation to such an approach.
the
considered
in
have
they
by
this
to
way,
although
theatre
the
worked
company
But they are no means only
drawn
have
Entertainment
Forced
UK
first.
Within
the
the
context,
one
of
certainly
were
frequently
Group,
their work around
by
Wooster
the
structuring
on
models
provided
significantly
in
figures
the
`lists',
but,
interestingly,
use
of
narrator-like
regular
making
of
principle
the
Blast Theory, Stan's Cafe, Reckless Sleepers,desperateoptimists - these are all
process.
have attemptedto find new vocabulariesof performance,creating structures
that
companies,
formulae,
or purely visual approaches.
based variously on mathematics,scientific
desperate optimists
Christine
intention
is
focus
it
Joe
Lawlor
the
to
this
the
and
For the purposesof
work of
study,
on
do
Whilst
form
UK-based
Irish
desperate
they
together
the
not
Molloy, who
company,
optimists.
has
have
highest
taken
those
their
the
work
of
profile
groups
mentioned
public
above,
necessarily
into
different
a
range
of
experimentalareas,whilst evidencing throughout an unusually
them
in
the
sense
of
of
narrative,
usefulness
continuing
albeit narrative used radically nonstrong
defining
do
Group
Wooster
Although
themselves
the
they
as
a
not cite
conventionalways.
influence, useful comparisonscan, nevertheless,be made between the two companies,as a
for
have
Like
Group,
desperate
Wooster
their
the
understanding
work.
optimists
starting-point
importance
incorporation
the
considerable
upon
placed
of personalnarratives,building their first
73
(1992)
Exiles
Two
Anatomy
the
upon
collision of personal and public
of
work,
performance
narrative materials:
Two peoplehad gatheredaroundthem a collection of artefacts- objects,taperecordings,
texts, costumes,stories- in order to explain who they were.
Objectsor narrativesfrom their own lives were presentednext to historical stuff of one
kind or anotherand the borrowed iconographyfrom their sharedcultural history.
(Etchells, 2000: 1)
to
is
the
technical
too
amplify normal speech,
microphones
such
as
use
of
media,
Prominent
live andrecorded- anddigital photography.Their piecesare similar to thoseof the
both
video in
depending
in
Group
terms
effect,
which motifs appear
upon a collage
Wooster
structural
also,
for
but
the
loosely
thematic
throughout,
allowing
core,
a
central
around
clustered
re-appear
and
to
different
kinds
often
other,
upon
each
comment
may
materials,
which
of
introduction of many
ironic
effect.
deliberately
deadpan
humour,
highly
is
by
which provides a
effective,
a
Their work characterisedaboveall
to, and often totally belies, the seriousnessof the issues under consideration.
counterpoint
landscape
journey
for
(1995),
through
the
of
political and social
example,a surreal
Dedicated
Britain, combined earnestquestionsabout the nature of living in a `dedicated' way
nineties
Pinocchio
clown
masks.
noses,
and
of
red
wigs
compromise,
stick-on
culture
with
a
within
the
the
title,
the
piece also generateda seriesof
various
shades
meaning
within
of
on
playing
individuals,
during
taped
to
the
messages
prominent, or significant
performance:
`dedications'
ideas
for
in
the
their
thoughts
world
about
and
shaping
around
and
offering
role
questions
asking
instructive
Dedicated
which
change.
as
an
example
of
postmodern
serves
performance,
possible
be describedaspolitical theatre-a point to which we shall return in more detail
legitimately
can
9.
in chapter
play-boy
play-boy (1999),the sixth major performancepiececreatedby desperateoptimists over a sevenbears
hallmarks
humour,
the
customary
period,
company's
wit and strange
of whimsical
year
its
It
Synge
J.
M.
The
Playboy
takes
the
meanderings.
as
central
motif
of the
play,
narrative
WesternWorld (1907),though it is far from being a simple re-telling, or evenan interpretation,of
that original text.
74
its
fair
`classic'
dramatic
literature,
has
Irish
Synge's
text
share
As an acknowledged
of
received
by
its
been
have
treated
themes
editors and commentators
exhaustively
of critical scrutiny, and
in
The
the
the
a country shebeen,
the
appearance,
central narrative of
play concerns
century.
over
his
by
horrified
from
being
the
Christy
Mahon.
Far
`murderer'
of
the
revelation
on
run:
a
of
locals are enthralled by his `grand story', hailing him as a hero, and offering
however,
the
crime,
in
father
dead
his
from
law.
When
turns
the
pursuit,
up
him shelter and protection
supposedly
it
is,
for
is
and the genuine violence
what
Christy's over-imaginative version of events exposed
its
fictional
be
brutal
than
turns
to
counterpart.
out
rather more shocking and
that ensues
in
`talk'
to
to
violent action, was clearly
relation
question
of
reality,
as
opposed
This central
in
issues
desperate
their own
that
these
to
the
re-surface
and
attracted
play,
optimists
something
listen
happy
frequent
Flaherty's
to
Michael
to
The
than
are
more
villagers
who
shebeen
piece.
in
itself,
but
Mahon
the
the
tales,
out
when played
violence
reality of
recountingcolourful
Christy
In
different
them,
producesa quite
reaction. the sameway, aspart of the sourcematerial
front of
first
invited
individual
into
brought
to
talk
television
play-boy,
and
studio,
a
volunteerswere
for
Syngeplay and about the natureof violence in particular, and then to fire a real gun
the
about
blanks)
between
inevitably
directly
disjunction,
The
the
glamourised
camera.
an
at
(loaded with
in
behind
it,
the
the
account
clearly
and
shocking
more
reality
emerges
tamed
much
physical
or
in
Joe
Christine's
to
of
what
and,
one
aspect
speaks
very
pertinently
and
view,
recordings,
video
be
`Irish'.
Also centralto both works, aswe shall discover,is the issueof the precise
to
it means
between`reality' and the narrative accountsthat attempt to `contain' that reality.
relationship
Joe and Christine take as their starting point the violent riots that accompaniedthe first
Western
The
World
by
Playboy
in
1907
Abbey
Theatre,
Dublin
the
the
of
of
and,
at
performances
bizarre
from
there
of
they
use
a
characteristically
series
of
connections,
making
move us swiftly
to an eclectic variety of different time-periods and imaginative locations, including, most
is
in
This
Mexico.
town
a
small
achievednot through the useof a rapidly changing
persistently,
however,
despite
the presenceof video monitors onstage,through anykind of visual
or
even,
set,
imagery.In fact the stagingis austerelysimple: a low, greencatwalk running from left to right
front
the
of the stage,two stools, a microphone standfrom which hang three mikes, and
across
the two large video monitors, form the only stagefurniture, behind all of which hangs a pale
75
backcloth.
is
It
almost exclusively through the use of words and descriptive narration that
green
the action is conveyed to us; descriptions that are underscored by a single looped piece of Latin
American
in
in
different
the
therefore
music, varying
volume and
points
prominence, at
but
remaining a constant auditory presence throughout.
performance,
From the very beginning, then, a simple narrative tension is establishedbetweenthe opening
dance
Latin
in
history
Irish
the
theatre
rhythms running
and
account of a significant moment
it.
beneath In the contextof all that hasbeensaid so far concerningthe searchfor causallinks that
immediately
is
defining
that
the
the
characteristicof
setbeforean
is a
narrativeprocess, question
is this: how will two such disparateelementsbe resolved into any kind of coherent
audience
As
develops,
the
these
multiplied
are
repeated
and
performance
narrative
puzzlements
whole?
impossible
kind
dizzying
rapidity
until
goal.
of
coherence
any
seems
an
utterly
with
beginning
is
the
the
very
at
an
explicitly
contract
establishedwith the
of
piece,
narrative
And yet,
Joebeginsthe show by offering up a tiny, but fundamental,personalnarrative.The two
audience.
Christine)
for
(Joe
been
have,
he
tells
and
a
single
some
with
wrestling
months
now
us,
them
of
is (he spellsit out very slowly for us): "What - do - we - need- to that
and
question
question,
he
The
".
is
informs
is
humorous
"the
facts".
There
then
answer,
us,
a
ambiguity even
know?
What do we needto know aboutwhat?The preciseobject of enquiry
this
opening
gambit.
about
defined,
been
so the `facts', whateverthey may turn out to be, also remain undefinable.
has not
The facts about what? The facts about the first performanceof The Playboy of the Western
World? The facts about any one of the apparentlyunconnectedsubjectsthat are going to be
during
the course of this presentation?Nevertheless,with great solemnity and
introduced
it is "the facts,plain andunadorned,the factsunencumberedby opinion," that we are
seriousness
in
declaration
this
to
the
promised
opening
audience.
explicitly
There are a number of other important, subliminal signals that we are about to engagewith a
The
fact
direct
enterprise.
very
of
a
addressto the audience,an intimate,reflective form
narrative
hint
the
via
speech
microphone,
a
of the exploratory, all help to establish Joe as a benign
of
buttonhole
for
the evening,entertainus, narrateto us. From the start,
one
who
will
us
storyteller,
then,this deconstructionof narrativeis positioned explicitly within the conventionsof narrative,
invited
to sit back and enjoy an entertaining story about the unreliability of story.
andwe are
76
From Joe's personal mini-narrative, we move swiftly to a concentratedaccount of the first
from
descent
Synge's
Saturday,
26
January,
1907,
the
audience
play, on
and rapid
performance of
into
the
We
told
the
restlessness,
growing
riotous
violence.
are
audience's
of
attentiveness
began
interrupt
that
to
the
violence
of
actual
an
outburst
act
and
and
stamping
second
catcalls
day,
following
The
Joe's
in
the
third
the
a
act.
account,actually prevented performanceof
that,
Sunday, the companyheld a meeting to determinehow to respondto this extreme audience
be
lined
felt
informs
One
Joe
to
that
the
should
with
conclusion,
us,
was
auditorium
reaction.
deaden the noise of stampingfeet (Joe gives us a quick demonstrationof stamping,to show us
its
decision
become
in
The
that
other
was
on
worked up sucha situation).
how you can quickly
have
be
to
the
the
seemed
which
one
element
play
without
performance,
would
presented
second
in
be
The
the
trouble:
the
total
movements
with
only
silence,
words.
play
would
acted
all
caused
and
left
indicate
happening.
to
effects
what
was
sound
facade.
been
have
in
have
We
begun
tiny
the
to
promised
cracks
narrative
appear
Already,
into
degree
is
the
though
account,
of gravity, alreadymoving
presentedwith a proper
"facts", yet
distinctly
imperceptible
because
This
that
sounds
so smooth,
gentle,
almost
unreliable.
territory
into
frequently
like
fiction
in
deliberate
the
what
sounds
signals openinggambits a
and
transition
teasing.
of
process
narrative
repeated
been
has
Joe
speaking,the video monitors behind him have flickered into life and begun to
As
images:
first
"act
title,
display
a simple
one", then different shots on each monitor of various
in
seen
close-up,obviously listening and respondingto instructions, although the
individuals
is
low
low,
this
is
being
too
to
that
at
stage
very
make
out
anything
said.
volume
Suddenly and without warning the narrative focus shifts abruptly. We are now, Joe tells us, in
Chile.
dangerous
These
in
is
leadership
times,
are
moreover,
which strong
eighteenth-century
leadership
for:
be
by....
Don
BernardoO'Higgins (Irish father, Spanish
that
supplied
will
called
This
from
detailed
transition
rapid
a
and almost credible, if rather odd, accountof the
mother).
The
Playboy
Western
World to a weird and patently fictional (or is it?)
the
night
of
of
opening
Irishman
its
takes
of
an
abroad
chargefrom the swiftnessof the motion. Our uncertainty
story
aboutthe possibletruth of the events now being recountedto us is maintained partly by this
77
by
`authority'
Joe's
as narrator.
previously
established
rapidity of narrative momentum and partly
His sincere, dry delivery, commands our belief, or at least, the continued suspension of our
disbelief.
but
Chile,
beloved
his
bring
to
O'Higgins
order andstability
managesto
The narrative continues:
is
by
in
there
is
held
benign
the
he
a
people,
affection
great
and
authority
rules
with
although
problem...
double,
(and
first
for
time,
the
two
a
only)
video screens present
At this moment, the
image:a man in a blue denim shirt looks into the camera,slowly raisesa gun and
synchronised
from
We
the
lens.
is
The
directly
spoken
the
away
are
pulled
shocking.
at
noise suddenand
fires
for an instant andthe interruption is accompaniedby a suddenincreasein the level at
narrative
his
by
boots
is
Joe
to
placing
the
cowboy
white
up
a
pair
of
pick
music
playing.
rushes
which
into them andproceedsto executea bizarreandrathercomical dancewith them. Soonhe is
erns
feet,
is
his
he
identical
the
just
boots
but
his
the
and
on
wearing
pair
which
an
on
arms,
not
using
dancebecomesa still more anarchicfour-boot performance.
two-boot
few
is
dance
the
this
of
moments
represents,
one
of
of
onstage
which
energy,
explosion
-file
during the piece.A very small numberof other eventsarephysicalisedfor us,but largely
action'
imaginative
by
is
is
the
the
of
momentum
and
mental
reported,
and
provided
energy
the action
dependsupon
With
few
descriptions.
then,
the
virtually
entire
performance
a
exceptions,
the
hencenarrativetechniques- anotherimportant irony within a piecewhich reveals
and
narration,
the attractive untruthfulnessof story.
(performed
dance
deadpan
the
expressionand completedwithout comment)comesto an
with
As
`problem',
have
The
it
is
Joe
"you
Latin
takes
the
that
up
story
more.
a
once
seems,
can't
end,
American dictatorwith the surnameO'Higgins". And so O'Higgins retires to Peru,a lonely and
broken man.Now, it has occurredto Joe and Christine that we may not all be equally familiar
Synge's
(we
have
first
to
the
play
returned,
without
narrative
comment
or explanation,
with
line), but no matter,becausethey havemanagedto rope togethera few of their friendsandfamily
it
for
talk
about
us. Someof them have read the play, othershave seenit performed, and a
to
have
done
"but
being
Irish,
them
they're willing to give it a go anyway". And
of
neither,
couple
78
"helen",
is
her
the
to
to
on
cue,
one
of
monitors
switches
who
going
account of
right
give
us
so,
Playboy
is
in
her
late
The
Western
World.
Helen
the
of
of
chatty,
a
silver-haired
woman
the plot
50s or early 60s. She is clearly not an actress - none of those speaking on the videos are
idiosyncratic
but
of
account
performers
she
provides
an
and
amusingly
engaging
professional
the play's central narrative.
While this is going on, the purposeof some white strips, visible on the trouser legs of both
becomesapparent.Joe is taking advantageof this pausein his own narration to use
performers,
done,
he
his
(of
body,
This
blood-pouches
his
tape)
to
to
sticky
under
shirt.
strap
upper
the strips
begins to pierce the poucheswith a needle,so that the blood stains slowly onto the
carefully
impression
in someway.
he
has
been
that
creating
an
wounded
cloth,
white
Joe
Helen's
to
account
comes
a
conclusion,
now picks up a third narrative strand, and
As
HUAC:
Un-American
brief
House
Activities
Committee.
A
to
the
the
us
of
account
introduces
in particulartheir attemptsto getHollywood writers, directorsand
activities
ensues,
committee's
"name names".No soonerhave we begunto grapplewith this new element than the
to
actors
dancebegins, performed this time with
the
music
of
rises
once
again
and
a
second
volume
both
by
Joe and Christine.
movements
carefully-mirrored
The danceover, yet anothernew characteris introduced:Leon Trotsky. We aretold of a seminal
boy with anotherboy of similar age,seenbeggingat the roadside.A hugely
a
small
as
encounter
"organising lots of revolutions, most notably, of course,the October
account
of
compressed
brings
us swiftly to Trotsky's flight from Russiato Mexico. Meanwhile,behindJoe,
gevolution"
Christine is carefully loading the handgun. Our attention is then pulled back to the video
friends
family
discussing
first
in
where
the
more
are
and
the
role of
monitors,
men ThePlayboy
Western
World,
familiar
then
the
themeof the outsiderwho entersthe community and
the
and
of
in so doing revealsits petty narrow-mindedness.Theseobservations,like all those that will be
from
both
the
monitors,
reflections upon a central narrative, the plot of the original
are
spoken
play, yet also containtheir own narrative fragments:a core `objective' story refocusedthrough
the lensesof subjectiveexperience.
79
Joe picks up the narrative again. Jose Miguel O'Higgins, great-great-grandson of Don Bernardo,
is feeling trapped. In a desperateattempt to escapehis ancestral history, he simply leaves home
day
and heads north. He walks and walks until... he reaches a small town in Mexico, where
one
he settles and decides that he will establish a night club, by the name of Casa Amore, the House
designed
for
Love,
him
by
the architect Juan O'Gorman (curiously, also the offspring of an
of
Irish/Spanish mixed marriage... ). The Casa Amore is a huge success: couples come and feel
themselves enfolded in an atmosphere of love and happiness. There are wonderful cabaret
including
famous
Mexican boot-dance (hence Joe's earlier rendition), and
the
performances,
live
interrupts
distinct
Joe
his
has
He
the
animal
acts.
abruptly
own account.
extraordinary
impression that when he mentioned live animal acts there were at least two people in the
had
immediately
imagined
brief,
but
detailed,
A
who
acts
of
a
sexual
nature.
account of
audience
have
been
imagining
is
from
interrupted
by
the
then
we
might
provided and
another gunshot
what
"Whatever
"
he
This
"can
thinking,
thing
monitor.
you
were
continues,
straight?
we get one
video
family
establishment".
a
was
****
By this point in the performance,we are being askedto hold onto a bewildering variety of
bring
threads
to
to
them together.What preciselyis beingasked
and,
somehow,
attempt
narrative
it
How
disparate
be
How
the
these
audience?
of
can
us,
narrativeelements connected?
much
of
intended
believe?
What appearsto be outrageous fiction is being presentedas
to
we
are
historical
accountandyet we havebeentold at the outsetthat we areto be given only
apparently
"the facts". Seriouspolitical issuesarepositionednext to absurdlydeadpancomedywithout any
how
intended
to
to read them. Surely there are momentswhen we are
signals
as
we are
clear
being `spuna yarn', but at which precisepoints andhow much of it might be true?The narrative
has
contract beenestablished,so an expectationof finding somelevel of meaningandconnection
justified,
but so far, eachtime narrative coherenceseemsto be emerging,the processhas
seems
beenviolently disrupted.Canthesefragmentspossibly connect?And meanwhile,what actually
hooksus in andwhat keepsus hookedis the most basicnarrative questionof all: what is coming
next?
****
80
After a brief account from another family member or friend about the role of Christy Mahon, the
"good guy" in the play, Joe introduces us to yet another character and yet another narrative line:
the story of Elia Kazan. Starting with his birth in Istanbul in 1909 (by coincidence, the sameyear
that Synge died) and his parents' emigration to New York, where they opened a haberdasher's
business, he tells us that Kazan wanted a different career for himself. He began to work first in
theatre, then the movies, creating, amongst others, such films as A Streetcar Named Desire, On
the Waterfront and one particular 1952 work, set in Mexico, and starring Marlon Brando and
Anthony Quinn, Viva Zapata! As Joe describes an early, crucial scene in the film in which
Zapata (Brando) sees,like Trotsky, the poverty all around him and decides that this must not be
his
in
begins
level
to
to
tone
the
continue,
voice
rises
volume
and
also
and
emotional
allowed
increase. "Take out the words, take them right out, " he exclaims, "violence is the only thing these
his
He
from
film,
Brando
to
the
understand".
switches
another scene
confronts
where
people
friend, played by Quinn, with the accusation that he has betrayed the revolution and the friend
he
is
bad
in
"Can
from
that
the
thing
a
return
sick
of
all
violence
and
asks,
come
a good
says
".
Joe
"Does
here
know
the
the answer to that simple question?
rounds
on
audience:
anyone
act?
Can a good thing come from a bad act?". When no one (predictably) responds to the challenge,
Joe is deflated. He has lost confidence, he tells us, in the whole process. He thought we were
but
he's
him
Christine
forward
`shoots'
somewhere
now
not
so
sure.
with the
steps
and
getting
handgun. Of course, his shirt is already stained with blood and, rather than falling to the floor,
Joe merely looks back at her. The video monitors announce that we are now entering "act two".
****
Whereaspreviously the questions to the audience were merely implicit, arising out of the
have
been
brought to the surface.Joe's reaction,when
the
they
of
performance,
structure
now
there is no responsefrom the audience,throws doubt on the previously establishednarrative
contract.Were we really getting anywhereat all? Can we not agreeupon an answerto this one,
simplequestion?Christine's `shooting', without causeandwithout consequence,only confuses
things further. And yet, just when we, the audience,are similarly losing faith in our ability to
connectthe apparentlyrandom sequencespresentedto us by the play, we arethrown this crumb
We areremindedby the simple announcementof a secondact, that thereis a
of encouragement.
81
structure, there is an ordering principle to the material: it is not going to fall easily into a classic
narrative model, but there is, nevertheless, forward movement through a pre-constructed
arrangementof events.
****
"geraldine" on the video monitor is shocked:"he killed his own father!". For this secondleg of
the story-sequence,Christinetakesover the role of centralnarrator.Shewould like to stick to the
facts, sheinsists.(So what was Joesupplyingus with then?) For example,the "fact" that gringo,
Mexican
films,
in
Spain
customarily
we
associate
with
cowboy
as a
actually
originated
word
a
description
(Again
faced
Irishmen.
being
the
of
we
are
with
question,
are
we
enlightened
negative
)
Is
information
just
this
teased?
a
revelation
of
previously
unsuspected
or
anothergameplay?
or
And, she goeson, it was a "word" that got Syngeinto trouble: the word `shift' provoked such
first
Chris
have
it
that
that
at
performance,
reactions
speculates
aloud
might
even
whether
strong
been a contemporaryeuphemismfor `cunt'. But shedoesn't think it was that word in particular
that causedthe trouble. It was all the words, taken cumulatively, that Syngeusedto describethe
Irish people. They didn't like being pictured in such negativeterms, and it got so difficult for
Synge,Christine tells us, that eventually, dying of Hodgkins disease,he was forced to flee the
his
lover,
Olgalike
Jose
Miguel
O'Higgins,
he
just
had
to get up andwalk
with
rather
country
away.
While "stephen"on the video monitor now reflectsupon the questionof whetherChristy Mahon
he
killed
his
father
(he does,as it happens:it is becauseOld Mahon
actually
explains
why
ever
hasattemptedto force his son into an arranged,andhighly unsuitable,marriagewith his former
issue
the
and
wet-nurse),
more personal
of whether there are situationsin one's own life when
is
one preparedto useviolence, Christine goesthrough the sameoperationof tapingandpiercing
blood-pouchesunder her shirt. Joereloadsthe gun.
Then after Stephen'sintervention is complete, Chris takes up the narrative (or one of them)
again.Elia Kazanwas oneof thoseHollywood directorsbrought beforethe HouseUn-American
Activities Committee. And he was someonewho namednames.He gave the namesof many
writerswho, like himself, were card-carryingCommunists.The effectwasthat from that moment
82
those writers were (rather like the actors performing Playboy of the WesternWorld) silenced,
deprived of the right to speak.
The friends on video begin to interrupt the live action more frequently. They muse on the
"blood".
Helen,
have
happen,
desire
that
to
to
the
see
people
seesomething
attractionof violence,
finds
is
fire
handgun
the
the
to
the
the
and
camera
very
unhappy
about
process,
required
at
clearly
in
draining.
Christine
begins
loneliness
When
to
anyone
speakabout
andaskswhether
experience
the audiencewould like to say something about the subject, it is an on-screenfriend who
in
loneliness
her
"muiris"
how
it
Widow
Quin
talks
the
of
motives
and
about
affects
responds:
the play. Chris then embarkson the most extraordinarydigressionyet, concerninghow plaguesof
leprosywere dealtwith in medievalEurope,by isolating the individual concerned.Thereareyet
both
in
loneliness,
Synge's
from
the
on
nature
of
reflections
play
and
personalexperience.
more
Then we arereturnedto the story of Viva Zapata anda scenebetweenBrandoandhis screen-wife
for
The
Brando
the
their
an
explains
wedding
night.
wife
questions
need
armed
struggle
and
on
is
began
Just
Joe's
to
the
passion
why
violence
and
must
continue.
necessary
rising
as
voice
with
describing
from
delivery
film,
Christine's
the
when
excitement,
other
scenes
vocal
show
intensifies the emotion. She invites us to picture the climax of the scene -a moment,
brief,
but
interval
thus
time,
this
the
tense
of
wordless
silence
and
of
stillness
significantly,
"
is
broken
by
from
but
by
"Hello?
Hello?
the
not
a
gunshot,
a
voice
video
monitor:
created
"It's all right, Muiris, " saysChris, "we're still here."
****
This establishmentof a more direct interplay betweenthe live performersand the pre-recorded
first
`response'
Muiris's
to Christine's question and then in the reassurance
through
video,
offered to Muiris by Chris, complicates further our perceptionsof what is real and what is
fictional. Where doesstory end and reality begin? What kind of relationshipexists betweenthe
artificiality of the presenttheatricalmomentandthe apparentauthenticityof the video material?
****
83
Another pre-recorded musing from "stephen" ensues,on the subject of loneliness and the desire it
is possible to experience, to communicate with someone you miss very much, a desire which can
The
fail
be
frustrated
(just
Christy
Mahon
Pegeen
the
to
of
end
communicate at
as
and
sometimes
Playboy of the Western World).
When Elia Kazan was filming Viva Zapata!, Christine then continues,he liked to "hang out" in
Mexico to get the feel of the place.Oneparticular househe liked to visit wasthatwhich hadbeen
house
hundreds
by
Trotsky;
bullet-holes,
Leon
there,
put
a
which
was
riddled
with
of
occupied
by
drunken
had
to
tells
a
us,
group
of
surrealist
painters
who
occasion,
attempted,
on
one
she
he
had
his
had
Trotsky.
But
Stalin
Discovering
Trotsky
to,
own plans.
where
retreated
assassinate
dispatcheda hired killer...
As Chris tells us the detailsof his murder,Joeis slowly lifting his armsto shoother with the gun.
The suspenseis palpable: we are getting used to the fact that gunshotsare a feature of the
but
haven't
it
happens.
to
the
the
we
accustomed
noise
yet
ourselves
and
shock
when
production,
However, when it doescome,the shot is fired not by Joe,but by anotherof the friends on video.
Joe simply lowers his arms and Christine continuesher narrative of Trotsky's death. As the
ice-pick
in
hand,
Trotsky
the
approached
exiled
revolutionary,
was apparentlywriting
murderer
"Is
there anotherway to live?".
thesewords:
***
"act three" appearson the screens.Joefires threetimes at Chris and,like Joebeforeher, her shirt
is alreadyblood-stained.She does not move. While we are waiting for her response,we are
startledagainasanotherwomanon-screenfires at the cameraandis clearly shockedherselfat the
physical impact of the explosion. More video reflections on Synge's play, this time on the
violencethat canbe provokedby an outburstof temperandthe madnessthat cancomeover men
when they try to outdo eachother in boastingof their exploits.
Joetakesup the microphoneagain,and with it.the explicit role of storyteller, returning us once
moreto the secondperformanceof ThePlayboy of the WesternWorld. The riotershadturnedout
84
again, and so too had seventy policemen. As the play unfolded before them in total silence, their
violent intentions turned first to bewilderment and eventually to disinterest, as they drifted away
during the third act. So on the first occasion that they were ever performed to an audience, the
Mahon
in
Christy
drama
In
the
were presented
silence
absolute silence.
closing moments of
turned his back on the community he had briefly entered and stepped through the open shebeen
door towards the carefully painted backcloth of Irish hills behind. In silence, the audience were
"fill
in
join
dots"
both
to
the
the
up
and
make
sense
gaps,
of the sceneand of the entire,
required
highly controversial play.
Jimmy (anotherfriend on the video) fires at the camera.Joe, now slumpedto one side, as if in
long-delayedresponseto the earlier shooting,beginsto describefor us a final, climactic scene,
Quinn,
in
Casa
is
Amore....
Zapata,
Everyone
Kazan,
Brando,
Anthony
the
there:
one night
"practising his Mexican accent", Leon Trotsky, twenty surrealist painters sharing one drink
betweenthem, JuanO'Gorman, JoseO'Higgins. After a stunningperformanceby Pabloandhis
dancing chihuahas,JohnMillington Syngeandhis lover Olga turn up to perform their favourite
from
Act
The
Playboy
from
Western
World.
As
Synge
Olga
the
the
and
of
enact moment
extracts
ThreewhereChristy declaresto Pegeenthat he wantsto sharehis life with her,Pegeen/Olgapulls
blank
drunken
in
looking
bewilderment,
him
the
with
and,
spectators
gun
a
on
shoots
at point
out
In
follows,
Quinn,
Brando
Kazan,
Trotsky
the
that
silence
and
and all the otherspresent
range.
just
fill
in
dots
join
have
to
the
the
they
required
and
make
gaps,
up
senseof what
are also
fictional
The
from
have
into
`real'
death
the
turned
scenes
play
as the
a
witnessed.
moment of
blood spreadsslowly acrossSynge'sshirt. (And yet, of course,this is within the most obviously
fictionalised momentin the entire piece.) While Joehasbeenpainting this truly bizarrescenefor
the audience,Chris hasdancedgently to the Latin Americanmusic.Now shebeginsto sink to the
floor -a gracefully artificial stage`death' - and lies there, microphonein hand.
The final momentsof the performancearepunctuatedby fragmentarycommentsfrom the video
monitors. "I'm attracted to men who can defend themselves." "I don't think violence is
attractive." "I think we are drawn to violence, that there's a dark side in all of us." Another
gunshot.
85
Joe is now lying on the floor as well. Using his microphone, he questions Chris about the
truthfulness of her account. When she said that Trotsky had died writing `Is there another way to
live', was that true?
"No, it's not true."
"So, you just... made that bit up?"
"Yes."
"Why? Why did you make that bit up?"
[A final gunshotfrom the video. Muiris is the last personto shootdirectly at the camerahe holds the pose.]
"I don't know."
On the video, Helen gives her reaction to the ending of Synge'splay. "It just ended.I expected
`dead'
in
front
"
Joe
The
Chris
the
the
at
end
are
us.
video screens
of
play.
and
of
more action
display a final message:"curtain".
***
The full complexity of Play-boy's constructionis revealedin theseclosing moments.Bizarrely
first
`hidden'
ingenious
it
bit
a
as that of a
at
sight,
reveals
ultimately
structure
as
every
messy
internal
logic,
lines,
The
their
are
traditional well-made plot.
assortednarrative
eachwith
own
during
final
the
to
other
made
upon
each
converge
momentsof the performance,whilst
cleverly
`facts'
knowing
We
the
to
to
of
arecertainly no closer
nevermaking claims coherenceor closure.
beginning,
deliberate,
discussion
is
the
than
this
were
at
consciously
we
anythingunder
and
a
ironic strategy.Yet althoughwe can find no plot or story in any traditional sense,we seestrands
of narrativecriss-crossingand overlapping,certainlyplotted - in the way that intersectinglines
are plotted on a piece of graph-paper- through an eclectic range of material, both historical,
fictional andfantastical,that canbe revealedandre-plottedby anengagedaudiencemember.The
86
draws
us repeatedly into a project of re-construction, on the clear assumption that there are
piece
stories here to be examined, compared and re-assembled.
Thus Play-boy, in common with Wooster Group performances,demandsthat those watching
it
"requires
the
to
the
on
which
multitude of possibilities
work,
an audience realize
complete
language
interpretative
is
(Savran,
55).
The
1988:
the
of
challenge playfully setout within
opens"
the piece itself how will we, as the audiencepresentat this performance,chooseto "fill in the
framed
join
dots"?
is
This
the
almost entirely within a context of
up
narrativepuzzlement
gaps,
ludic enjoyment.How do we choosebetweencompetingnarrative strands?Which routethrough
the work shall we take? How shall we separatefact from fiction? Is such a separationeven
for
In
possible? publicity material the show,the multiple possibilitiesof narrativeprogressionare
made explicit:
background
latin
dance
a
against
of
rhythms
and the occasionaloutburst of stray gunfire, Play-boy
attemptsto charm
and disarm with tales of
deeds
great
and conquests
or...
background
a
against
of
latin dancerhythms and
the occasionaloutburst of stray gunfire,
Play-boy attemptsto engagewith
seriousmoral and social issues
or...
background
latin
a
against
of
dance
rhythms
and the occasionaloutburst of
stray gunfire,
Play-boy airs the
dirty laundry
of a couple in a long-standingrelationship
or... againsta backgroundof latin
87
dancerhythms
and the occasionaloutburst of
stray gunfire, Play-boy rejects reality and opts
for the fantasyworld of wondering what
our lives would havebeenlike
we had made
I
or...
if - and it's a big if a different set of decisions
The dizzying multiplication of possibilities inherentin that accountis echoedrepeatedlywithin
the performanceitself. Multiple narrative pathwaysare openedup, we are invited to go so far
down a particular route before being abruptly switched to another. The accounts of early
history
The
interrupted
Don
Playboy
Western
World
by
the
the
of
of
are
of
performances
Bernardo O'Higgins. Descriptions of the proceedingsof the House Un-American Activities
Committee are suddenlyreplacedby a scenefrom the early life of Leon Trotsky.
The competencesdemandedof an audiencemember,however,are demonstrablyandrepeatedly
those of narrative. In effect, the work exploits a wide rangeof narrative conventions,although
these do not combine to produce anything even faintly resembling a linear narrative. Or, to
it
is
in
the
the
another
way,
structure
performance
of
no way constrained within
express
limits,
despite
is
it
fact
the
that
narrative
shot through with numerousnarrative
conventional
strands.
The invisible narrative
For desperateoptimists, although they work within what has been describedas New Theatre,
"absolutely
to
continues
an
play
narrative
crucial" role. Joe Lawlor insists that any kind of
for
designed
an audiencemust continue, in one way or another, to take
performancework
narrativeprinciples and narrative structuresinto account? There may not be a narrative in the
traditional sensein a lot of New Theatre,but it is very often the casethat a work will "play with
andaround" the elementsof classicalnarrative. Someengagementwith the basic principles of
1Taken from
a publicity flyer for Play-boy
2Unpublishedinterview
with the author,given on 21 November,2001
88
narrative will, and must, occur, even where these principles are in no way taken as normative
for
is
indeed
in
it
is
difficult
Lawlor's
that,
a
view
models or patterns.
practice,
actually very
boundaries
theatre
to
the
think
of
outside
even
maker
of narrative structure. The new models are
thus defined precisely by their relationship, and responses, to the old. The act of transgression
least
have
in
transgression,
to
theatre,
or
at
an object of
order make any sense:non-narrative
must
that which is prepared with an audience in mind, is dependent upon the pre-existence, and
continuing vitality, of narrative work.
That object may, however, be `invisible'. In this respect,it is interesting to note that although
Play-boy is ostensiblyall about Synge'splay, not a singleword of Synge'stext is actuallyspoken
during the performance.This `disappearance'of the primary text is of fundamentalimportance:it
is
World
Western
The
Playboy
the
the
process
whereby a canonical work such as
of
mirrors
into
it
is
its
`trace',
familiar
by
to
the
that
people's
cultural
awareness,
rather
point
assimilated
than in its original textual form. As a result, the reconstructedtext formed from the recollections
friends
family
is
both
incomplete
inaccurate,
the
various
and
members
and
whilst at
sometimes
of
the sametime revealing what are,for them,the most significant and memorableaspectsof the
Syngeplay. By readinginto the text, they both re-form existing material and addtheir own, selffragments,
bringing
into
the
thus
their
aspects
of
own
personalities
and
experiences
generated
frame. Helen is able to provide a reasonablycoherentaccount of the narrative up to a certain
but
falters
Later
describes
then
the ending as
she
and
cannot
supply
a
conclusion.
on, she
point,
disappointing, whilst Stephenis puzzling over whether Christy Mahon provides any kind of
for
killing
his
father.
Geraldine
is
by
the violence of Christy Mahon's
simply
appalled
reason
focusing
in
Synge's play almost in terms of an accomplished
the
act,
parricide
upon
original
it
is.
than
the
rather
story
so
patently
reality,
Each of the speakerson video, in fact, remembers different things, gives a significantly different
account of the play, commenting on different aspects and revealing, in the process, their own
specific cultural expectations and preoccupations. And this process of what might be called
`prejudicial memory' takes place, of course, in response to Play-boy also. For the CD-ROM
Stalking Memory, published as part of the On Memory edition of Performance Research
(November 2000), desperateoptimists probed this very question,
asking a number of academics
89
details
they could remember of the company's various
to
and practitioners
record what
These
Alex
Johnston's
of
are
some
productions.
recollections of Play-boy:
What I rememberbestabout"Play-boy": the stuff aboutguns,the carefullyframedpanic,
fury.
by
lulling
blood
the
the
the
the
and
alwayssoothed
salsamusic,
and sound
noiseand
Which is unfair, becausean elderly man with a potatoeysort of face spokeat length on
video about the meaning and significance of Synge's "The Playboy of the Western
World", andI can't rememberanythinghe said...The centralnarrative,suchastherewas
one, was blatantly simple, a cobbled-togetherseries of revolutionary cliches. (Alex
Johnston,2000: Play-boy, hyperlink 2)
This impressionisticcollageis interestingboth in terms of what it includesandwhat it leavesout,
be
in
to
typical
the
well
prove
of
way
could
which many of us tend to recollect any
and
have
images,
we
narrative
or
a senseof
seen,
whether
non-narrative:
a
series
of
performances
tone, an awarenessof the core subject-matter,and a more or less tenuous grasp of the (reconstructed)narrative sweep.
Fact or fiction?
Another essentialquality of the pieceis to be locatedin the preciserelationshipbetweenfact and
fiction, andthe deliberateuncertaintiescreatedoverthis highly questionabledistinction.In a very
is
by
deft
this
the
way,
physically
embodied
useof video, with the incorporationof realexplicit
time `interactions' betweenJoe and Christine and charactersseenon the monitors. It is also,
though, embeddedat a deeperlevel in the way that the documentaryelementsof the piece are
handled.To get someidea of how this effect is achieved,it is instructive to comparethe narrative
Joe Lawlor provides of the first production of The Playboy of the Western World, with
Playboy
There
is
doubt
the
that Synge'splay was embroiled
accounts
of
riots.
no
contemporary
in controversyfrom its very openingperformance.However, the situation on that first night was
it:
Joe
quite
as
paints
not
The first act was applauded,andthough therewere protestsin the secondact, `Faintcalls
andejaculationslike "Oh, no! Take it off! " camefrom various partsof the house...' Lady
Gregorywas confident enoughto senda telegramto Yeats, lecturing in Scotland,`Play
greatsuccess.' W.G. Fay [playing the role of Christy Mahon] sayshe felt hostility grow
in the third act from the entrance of the Widow Quin; Padraic Colum blames Old
Mahon's entry, `That scenewas too representational.There stood a man with horribly
bloodied bandageupon his head,making a figure that took the whole thing out of the
atmosphereof high comedy.' There were hissesand cat-calls at the word `bloody' and
loud howls greetedChristy's words abouta drift of chosenfemalesstandingin their shifts
90
(an image made more real and shocking, according to [Joseph] Holloway, by Fay's
`by
increased
for
')
`chosen
females.
`Mayo
The
the time
and
girls'
noise
substitution of
the curtain fell on the last act, the crowd was arguing and fighting with itself. People in
front leaned over the backs of the seats and demanded quiet -a lot of people seemedto
be doing this - and those at the back responded by shouting and hissing loudly. The
'
Gregory
Lady
in
into
the
an ugly mood.
streets was
crowd which eventually emerged
(Berrow
in
disorder
`Audience
broke
Yeats
the
telegram,
shift'.
word
at
up
a second
sent
in Harmon, 1972: 76, italics mine)
Joe's definitive assertionthat the third act remainedunperformedon the openingnight canthus
be seento be the first of a numberof fictionalisations of genuinehistorical eventsandcharacters.
Even more intriguing, however, is the fact that this fictionalising processwas not necessarilya
deliberatestrategyon the part of Joeand Christine,but appears,in fact, to havearisen,either out
incomplete
different
the
readings
of
event,
or
as
a
of
and
conflicting
narrative
versions
result
of
Joe
facts
behind
Talking
the
the
the
account,
about researching
same source materials.
of
this
uncertainty
genuine
on
point:
expresses
I'm trying to remember now. I think the show was stopped, but I think when they
in
just
it
it
did
literally
They
they
mimed
silence.
performed again, completely,
but
to
to
through
they
through
they
the
actions,
get
went
entire
were
allowed
everything,
the very end that time, those actors.So the veryfirst time they attemptedto perform it,
it,
its
have
been
I
I
through
they
which would, guess,would
premiere, suppose,
nevergot
they actually - it was stopped.And so the actual - the very first time they got through it
from beginning to end, successfully,they didn't talk. It was actually done in complete
silence.
If this is the case,not only the piece itself, but alsothe processof making thepiece canbe seento
be `about' the unconsciousslippagebetweeneventsand their re-telling in narrative form.
The underlying conflict andviolence, alongwith someof the specific detailsof Joe'sversion,are
drawn,
it
though,
enough,
would appear, from eyewitnessaccounts.However, the
and
real
compressionand re-shapingof significant elementsis typical of the kind of narrative process,
is
takes
which
placewheneverfabula transformedinto sjuzhet,for the purposes(whetherexplicit
or implicit) of creating a `good story'. By contrast, improbable as it sounds, the theatre
auditoriumreally was lined with felt during the courseof the week, in order to stifle the noise of
stampingfeet (Berrow in Harmon, 1972: 82). And undoubtedly there was a meeting on the
3Unpublishedinterview with the
author,given on 21 November,2001
91
Sunday immediately following the opening night, at which cuts were made to the text, but Joe's
suggestion that the entire verbal text was removed is another exaggeration of actual events.Lady
Gregory, one of the founder members of the Abbey Theatre, gives her account of the situation
thus:
I rememberhis bringing the play to us in Dublin... We were almost bewildered by its
abundanceand fantasy,but we felt - andMr. Yeats said very plainly - that therewas far
too much `bad language', there were too many violent oaths, and the play itself was
by
did
it
I
this.
think
marred
not
was fit to be put on the stagewithout cutting. It was
it
be
in
that
agreed
should cut rehearsal.A fortnight before its production Mr. Yeats,
thinking I had seena rehearsal,writes: `I should like to know how you thought The
Playboy acted...have they clearedmany of the objectionablesentencesout of it? '
I did not, however, seea rehearsaland did not hearthe play againuntil the night of its
production, and then I told Syngethat the cuts were not enough,that many more should
be made.He gave me leave to do this, and in consultation with the players I took out
been
in
book,
have
though
the
that
phrases
many
which,
printed
never since
production
spokenon our stage.I am sorry that they were not taken out before it had beenplayed at
all, but that is just what happened. (Gregory, 1972: 80-81)
That said,the imageof a word-lesssecondperformanceis not asfar-fetchedasit first sounds,or
far
from
January,
28
that
the
the
removed
rate,
actual
audience
experience
on
eveningof
at any
1907:
On the Monday night Riders to the Sea,which wasthe first piece,went very well indeed.
But in the interval after it, I noticed on one side of the pit a large group of men sitting
together,not a woman amongthem. I told SyngeI thought it a sign of someorganised
disturbanceand he telephonedto have the police at hand. The first part of the first act
went undisturbed. Then suddenly an uproar began. The group of men I had noticed
booed, hooted, blew tin trumpets. The editor of one of the Dublin weekly paperswas
sitting next to me, and I askedhim to count them. He did so and said there were forty
making the disturbance.It was impossibleto hear a word of theplay. The curtain came
down for a minute, but I went round andtold the actorsto go on playing to the end, even
if not a word could be heard.The police, hearingthe uproar,beganto file in, but I thought
the disturbersmight tire themselvesout if left alone, or be satisfied with having made
their protest, and I askedthem to go outside but stay within call in caseof any attempt
being madeto injure the playersor the stage.Therewere very few peoplein the stalls,but
amongthem was Lord Walter Fitzgerald, grand-nephewof the patriot, the adoredLord
Edward. He stood up and askedthat he and others in the audiencemight be allowed to
hearthe play, but this leavewasrefused.The disturbancelastedto the endof the evening,
not one word had beenheard after thefirst ten minutes.(1972: 67-68, italics mine)
And thereafter,during the whole of that first week, anyoneapplying for tickets to seeSynge's
new play were presentedwith the following letter, along with a voucher:
92
Dear Sir,
In response to your application, we enclose Voucher to be exchanged at Booking Office
it
Cramer's,
Should
Theatre,
Westmoreland
for
Ticket.
Messers
Numbered
Street
at
or at
be impossible to hear the play the night you select we will send you another Voucher on
receiving your application.
Yours faithfully,
W. A. Henderson,
Secretary.
(in Hunt, 1979: 72)
So althoughthe descriptionof a mimed performanceis, in itself, a playful exaggeration,in some
join
first
fill
in
Joe's
the
those
that
to
the
up
assertion
and
audiences
were
required
gaps
respects,
dots for themselves,working purely on the evidenceof what they could see,is demonstrably
basedupon the genuineaudienceexperienceat the Abbey Theatre,Dublin. As a poem written
it:
the
controversy
after
amusingly
put
shortly
Our own opinion, we admit,
Is rather- well - uncertain,
Becausewe couldn't hear one bit
From rise to fall of curtain
...
(Berrow, in Harmon 1972: 81)
And, asit turns out, a final ironic twist is addedby the fact that therewas a contemporarygrainof
`truth' behind this particular fiction, provided by "La Lingue", who wrote to the Editor of the
EveningMail on 31 January,1907to makethe following suggestion:
SIR - If Mr. Syngewishesto turn the `Sinn Fein' howlers into an applaudingclaque,he
needonly write a play portraying the Irish peasantasa flawlessdemi-god,using language
as reticent as that of a Bishop when denouncingan editor who daresto think. It might,
perhaps,be safer to leave out words altogether, and give a play in pantomime like
`L'Enfant Prodigue' (the artistesthinking carefully-prunedthoughtsin Gaelic).
(Kilroy, 1971: 54)
Fact into fiction
The meansby which fact becomesfiction, and real-life narrativesaretransformedinto fictional
is
ones, also, of course,at the heart of Synge's original. If we trace the way in which Christy's
accountof the `murder' developsduring the courseof the play, we can seethis processat work.
During his first encounterwith Pegeenandall of the men who aregatheredat Michael's shebeen,
beforedepartingfor Kate Cassidy'swake, he is unwilling evento namethe deed:
93
MICHAEL: It should be larceny, I'm thinking?
CHRISTY[dolefully]: I had it in my mind it was a different word and a bigger.
There's a queerlad. Were you never slappedin school,young fellow, that you
PEGEEN:
don't know the nameof your deed?
(Synge, 1964: 81)
But onceforced into admitting that he has `killed' his father, he describesit in terms which are
both blunt and sparing:
CHRISTY:I just riz the loy and let fall the edgeof it on the ridge of his skull, and he went
down at my feet like an empty sack, and never let a grunt or groan from him at
all. (84)
Left alonewith Pegeen,however,he beginsto exaggeratethe details,making themjust that little
bit more dramatic:
CHRISTY:...it was a bitter life he led me till I did up a Tuesdayand halve his skull. (89)
His next account of the event, told on the following day to the village girls, eagerto hear his
killing.
build-up
We
lot
the
to
much
of
provides
more
a
are
given
a
more circumstantial
story,
detail, for example when Christy, beginning to revel in his role as storyteller, describesthe
his
father
him
to marry:
wanted
woman
CHRISTY[with horror]: A walking terror from beyondthe hills, and shetwo scoreand
five years,andtwo hundredweightsand five poundsin the weighing scales,with
limping
leg on her, and a blinded eye,and shea woman of notedmisbehaviour
a
with the old and young. (97)
And when he getsto the murder itself, Christy really lets his imagination play freely:
CHRISTY[flattered and confident,waving bone]: He gavea drive with the scythe,and I
gavea lep to the east.Then I turned aroundwith my back to the north, andI hit a
blow on the ridge of his skull, laid him stretchedout, and he split to the knob of
his gullet. [He raises the chicken bone to his Adam's apple.] (98)
The reactionhe gets from his listenersmore than rewardshis storytelling bravado:
94
SUSAN: That's a grand story.
HONOR: He tells it lovely. (98)
Later still, at the height of his self-confidence,and just before he catchessight of his `dead'
father, Christy extendsthe deedstill further in his own imagination:
CHRISTY:From this out I'll haveno want of companywhen all sortsis bringing me their
food and clothing [he swaggersto the door, tightening his belt], the way they'd
breeches
father
blow
his
to
the
their
set
eyesupon a gallant orphancleft
with one
belt. (106)
In this way, the narrativegrows in the repeatedtelling: the simple, plain knock to the edgeof the
his
father
become
blow
(with
has
the
the
that
to
more
of
some
a
mighty
split
waist
skull
has
into
"gallant
details
himself
Christy
orphan".
also
grown
a
now
omitted),
and
earthbound
Joe and Christine's own narrativesarepropelledalong a similarly dizzying pathof exaggeration,
fantasy
interwoven
fact
become
A
the
to
this
of
and
self-sustaining.
aspect
and
vital
clue
where
is
by
hyphenation
draws
to
Play-boy,
the
the
title,
our
attention
supplied
of
which
performance
interplay
involved.
According to Maurice Bourgeois, an early
of significations
the subtle
Synge's
is
the
on
play,
word
redolent with meaning:
commentator
The word "playboy" (Irish büachaill barra, literally "boy of the game"), a term usedin
the Irish gameof "hurling" (camanaidheacht)is Hibernian slang.Its exactmeaning(not
to be found in Wright's English Dialect Dictionary (iv. 543,s.v. "play-boy"), which gives
only the older acceptationsof the word: 1. the devil; 2. a playful woman) is "hoaxer,
humbugger,mystificator (not impostor), onewho doesshamthings." In Synge'suseof
...
it, it seemsto havethree implicit by-meanings:(a) one who is played with; (b) one who
plays like a player (i. e. a comedianand also an athleteor champion:witnessthe sportsin
the play); (c) onewho is full of the play-spirit: "a wild dare-devil is called a play-boy [as
in Synge'swell-known comedy]" ("The Irish Dialect of English," by Mary Haydenand
Marcus Hartog, Fortnightly Review,April, 1909,p.779 & n. 1). The word, which is halfhumorous and half-poetical is a very rich one, and (like "philanderer," which, Mr.
BernardShawtells me, hasits exactequivalentonly in Swedish)is exceedinglydifficult
to translate.(Bourgeois, 1913: 193-94,note 1)
Thesedescriptionsperfectly capture desperateoptimists' own spirit of play, as they create a
multiplicity of fantasticnarrativesout of the extraordinaryeventsof history and gently teasethe
audience'snarrative credulity. For the surprising fact is that the first SupremeLeader of Chile
genuinelywas the offspring of an Irish-Spanishmarriageby the nameof Bernardo 0' Higgins;
95
O'Gorman,
Juan
Mexican
twentieth-century
architect called
and there really was an early
it
is
the
By
of
both
climax
reach
these
as
we
though
clear,
sound.
contrast,
characters
of
unlikely
Quinn,
Anthony
Kazan,
Brando,
Zapata,
O'Higgins,
Jose
in
O'Gorman,
Juan
the narrative, which
4
"Olga",
ill
Synge
joined
by
terminally
the
Trotsky,
and
Leon
and twenty surrealist painters are
firmly
drama,
his
dialogue
from
that
we are
controversial
with their re-enactment of a section of
he
final
Christine's
impact
Joe
fantasy.
This
exchange, where
in the realms of
and
of
makes the
"made
blatantly
fictional
up" a
ignores the
quality of this entire scene and merely asks why she
its
in
bathetic,
death,
do
thus
Trotsky's
detail
effective,
to
and
all the more
tiny
with
understatement.
by
these
Joe
Christine
the
narrative
is
that
of
means
It apparent
with
audience
are playing
and
T.
R.
111-16)
1969:
(in
Whitaker,
is
interesting
both
J.
L.
Styan
It
that
and
to
note
games.
into
brings
in
Whitaker
forces
Synge's
discern
this
aspect
Whitaker
original.
similar
at work
he
that:
when
notes
relief
sharp
ThePlayboy locatesitself in a much-disputedterritory: the `educational'function of roleits
to
I
in
in
`life'
`art'.
The
think,
are clues
play's very ambivalences,
and
playing
from
Its
us an unusually sustainedcombination of
style
elicits
meaning.
grotesque
in
Christy's
We
irony.
detached
passionate
share
spontaneous sympathy and
improvisation and in the formal patternsof Synge'sprecisecomic control [... ] we share
Synge's marvellously balancedawarenessof the wry fictiveness of the seemingactual
fictions.
the
to
But
these
the
all
point
effects
and
potent actuality of our most profound
centralmysteriesof dramaitself. For dramais that art of cooperativerole-playing which
in
doubled
improvisation
the
its
response
submits passionate
spontaneously
and
brings
formal
`outside'
locates
both
`inside'
to
the
spectator
control,
action,andso
us
and
to immediateawarenessmuch that otherwiseremainshidden in the more compulsively
histrionic texture of our lives. (Whitaker, 1969: 6, italics mine)
Later on in the sameessay,he statesthe audience'srole in this processeven more succinctly
he
"[t]he
begins
full
The
Playboy's
I
text
think, only when we
to
adds,
of
meaning
appear,
when
try to read it as a `score' for a participatory event" (1969: 11).
4 Syngedid, in fact, die of Hodgkins disease,althoughhe himself
wasprobablyunawareof the true nature
final
his
illness (Greenein Harmon, 1972: 183), and his final dayswere spent,not in Mexico, but in a Dublin
of
nursinghome.The strongestromantic attachmenthe formed seemsto have beenwith the actressMolly Allgood,
whosesurnamepresumablyinspiredthe assonantallysimilar 'Olga', and who did, indeed,play PegeenMike in the
originalproduction,under her stage-name,Maire O'Neill.
96
Narrative -a participatory event
A number of important provisional conclusions may be drawn from this close study of Play-boy.
We have already suggested in the previous chapter that it may be possible to find a way of
investigating the breakdown of narrative, by means of narrative. It is evident that this
deliberate
makes
use of narrative processesto raise crucial questions about the role
performance
in
both
the
the
the
spectator
reconstruction of narrative, as well as
wider role of narrative,
of
fictional (and plausible) and non-fictional (and implausible), in human experience. Audience
kind
involve
theatrical
with
a
presentation
of
any
must
surely
a complex set of
engagement
levels,
but
importance
the
at
a
variety
of
central
of narrative processeswould seem to
responses,
be undiminished. However, we can also say that audiences do not read merely for a pre-formed
`closed'
designed
in
by
bring
They
their own
and
advance
an
all-seeing,
all-knowing writer.
plot,
bear
for
to
the
they
themselves, within
narratives
upon
narratives
encounter,
or
construct
personal
the theatrical experience. They enjoy the play of openness and contradiction within this
interchange of forces. The re-construction of a narrative by an audience is both a psychological
imperative - looking for pattern, repetition, development, interaction - and a ludic pleasure,
includes,
fluid
discerning
in,
things,
the
the
amongst
other
of, and an enjoyment
which
boundaries, which separate art from life, and fiction from non-fiction.
97
Chapter Eight - Howard Barker: A Bargain With Impossibility
If that's art I think it is hard work
It was beyondme
So much of it beyondmy actual life
(First Prologueto TheBite of the Night, 11.18-20)
For playwright Howard Barker, "honouring the audience"meansoffering themplaystheycannot
he
his
In
Catastrophe,
Theatre
the
self-styled
all
of
elementsof what critically
easily understand.
form
included.
Clarity"
Yet
"the
theatre
of
come
under
attack,
narrative
a closeexamination
calls
of Barker's writings abouttheatre,and of the playsthemselves,revealsnot so much the removal
its
as
a
re-definition
of
role and status.
of narrative,
In order to appreciatehow Barker repositionsnarrative within his work, it is first necessaryto
he
is
he
the
the
the
of
wider
makes
project,
with
which
engaged,
and
central
criticisms
understand
"humanist
drama".
important
For
Barker,
there
as
contemporary
are no questionsas
majority of
be
in
that
must asked momentsof catastrophe.As he expressesit, the theatreof Catastrophe
those
"inhabits the areaof maximum risk, both to the imagination and invention of its author, and to
both
its
(Barker,
in
Only
1997:
52).
the
audience"
the comfort of
most extremeof situations,as
individuals and social structuresare placed under the most intensepressures,can the deepest
in
human
desire,
dignity
for
for
hope
kind,
the
motivation, animal
reasons
of any
questionsabout
be
in
his
The
characters
plays are contradictory, obsessive,
any measure,authentically asked.
heroic
in
desperate
for
be
to
their
that
occasionally
and
search
reasons
sufficient
will
ridiculous,
living
in
the
a world where suchpassionsand suchcruelties are possible.
sustain experienceof
Barker is certainly not interestedin playing with aestheticform for its own sake,but seeksto redefine forms and structuresin order that they may more appropriatelycontain his transgressive
imaginative
bold
speculations
and
adventures.
moral
As CharlesLamb points out in his succinctoverview of Barker's theatrical career(1995: 1-16),
earlycritical attemptsto position the playwright alongsideother emergingpolitical writers of the
Seventies,such as Howard Brenton, David Edgar and David Hare, quickly proved to be
inappropriate.Superficial similarities, such as the plays' overtly critical stancein relation to
existing social and political structures and their hard-edgedpicture of the world, tended to
obscurefar more significant differencesof approach,particularly in relation to their handling of
98
differences,
in
if
These
they
characterandnarrative.
were notedat all, wereusuallyseen negative
terms: "... I'm not sure that Barker's unprecedented engagement with his characters doesn't
finally fudge his conclusion" (Gilbert, 1977).
The Love of A Good Man (1978)
TheLove of a GoodMan, first performedin October 1978,provides an instructiveearlyexample
in
in
Barker's
is
by
the
which
political
spleen
way
plays
undercut
a much more ambiguous
of
it
it
happens,
human
behaviour.
As
the
actualcomplexities andcontradictionsof
perspectiveon
is
followable
The
the
play
a
clear
and
perfectly
storyline.
narrative structure of
also supplies
linear anddirect, following its own internal logic throughout.Whilst we may balk at someof the
faulting
is
during
the
the
the
the
there
and
no
choices
made,
course
of
expressed,
play,
views
links
that
them together.
causality
carefully
so
chain of
in 1920.Hacker, an English undertaker,has
The scenethroughout is a hill nearPasschendaele,
beenchargedwith thej ob of laying out a war cemetery- its topographyironically modelledupon
is
Jack
have
Union
British
fallen
His
task
the
there.
the
soldiers who
- and re-burying
immediately complicated by the arrival of Mrs. Sylvia Toynbee, an attractive middle-aged
intent
body
her
it,
illegally,
back
England
the
transporting
to
upon
recovering
of
son
and
woman,
for burial there. Enthralled by her "white widow's arse" and motivated by promisesof sexual
favours in reward, Hacker doeseverything in his power to assisther.
Given the locus of action, it follows that thereis plenty of scopefor sharppolitical comment.The
first
frames
is
follow,
kiss
kneeling
Prince
Wales
that
to
the
to
scene,
which
all
presents
very
of
the hand of "a common soldier", by way of apology for all that hashappenedduring the Great
War. The gestureturns out to be a cynical one,however.The Prince is hopeful that the ex-soldier
now turned gravediggerwill at oncereport this symbolic "cameo of m-m-modernhistory" to the
is
his
disgruntled
and
newspapers,
when chosenagentprovesto be rathermore reticentaboutthe
incident. ("Don't d-d-damnedwell keepit to yourself, that's what symbolical means!" [Barker,
1993:59])
99
And there is a definite thread of socialist ideology running through the play. This is informed, in
part, by another early scene,in which Bride, a Commissioner for Graves, quotes elliptically from
in
The
Times:
article
an
BRIDE:Ferocious argument in the House. Copies of Hansard employed as missiles
following the Government'sdecisionto enforcethe standardmodelheadstonefor
officers and all other ranks. Described as creeping socialism. As lowering
downwards.As further evidenceof the persistenterosion of individual choice.
(31)
The Prince's occasionalre-appearancesthroughout the play, dogged by his Equerry, who is
breaches
for
further
to
the
alert
repeated
of
royal
etiquette,
provide
opportunities wider
constantly
he
feels
it
is
his
duty
his
to
comment,
particularly
since
mingle
subjectsat rather
with
satirical
in
"common"
than
to
the
the
quarters
normal,
order
uncover
views
of
man:
closer
PRINCE:As a king in the making, I feel I shouldknow what's making `em beef.As soon
as we've donethe battlefields I intend to do the slums. I will go to them at their
is
doors,
I
the
tell
cottage
and pulling aside
rambling roses will say
me what
wrong. Do not be frightened.I am only a king. (48)
The characterwho comesclosestto embodyingsomedegreeof principled behaviour is Lalage,
Mrs. Toynbee'sdaughter,who is much more awareof the absurditiesand inconsistenciesof the
her
her
body
to
transport
the
and
who
vehemently
opposes
mother's plans
of
purported
situation,
England,
in
box
back
"labelled
to
tools":
a
son
LALAGE:I think we are creatinga new world now. A new world of equality andjustice.
This is 1920, isn't it? And the way we treat the dead will show our intentions
aboutall the rest. They havedecidedto abolish all distinctions in the graveyards.
The samestyle for everyone.I acceptit. If we cannotevenmanagethat, what will
happento the rest of it?
MRS. TOYNBEE: You are a socialist.
LALAGE: Is that what it is?
MRS. TOYNBEE: Yes.
LALAGE:ProbablyI am, then. (44)
But for all her emergent socialist tendencies,Lalage herself is also a deeply damagedand
dysfunctionalindividual. When sheis not fighting with her mother, sheis seekingout the sexual
attentionsof Riddle, a disturbingly amoral and rootlesscharacter,who treatseveryone,himself
included,with a chilling detachment.
100
RIDDLE: Bride thinks the dead matter. I don't. But I don't think the living matter,
either. (23)
And it is through the characterof Riddle in particular, that Barker explores a more profoundly
beings
human
likely
to
the
behaviour
human
the
of
responses
and
of
pessimistic view of
The
than
actionsand
stance
would
suggest.
socialist
an uncomplicated
experienceof catastrophe,
is
Barker
because
difficult
to
these
understand,not
charactersare
motivations of most of
difficult
human
beings
because
to
his
but
in
themselves
are
political worldview,
confused
high
by
behaviour
is
Generally,
Barker
their
moral
not
motivated
suggests,
understand.
fragmentation
in
be
Bride
is
the
the
this
the
and
case,
as
play,
can
with
result
when
or
principles,
disorientation, causedby the disjunction betweentheir own, deeply held convictions and the
them:
they
see
around
realities
BRIDE:I had a practice in Bermondseybefore the war. It was all rickets and TB. The
had
I
dirty
infants
infestation!
kept
back.
The
Piss
a
same
on coming
smell!
and
vision of the perfect world. Trim grass,rose trees, clean homes, square and
brilliant white. My silent city. My just society...(He goes out.)
HACKER: Bride's mad.
MRS. TOYNBEE: Yes. He is. (54)
Thosebestableto survive in Barker's world are,ratherlike the protagonistsof Orton's plays,the
in
for
key
Hacker,
But
the
the
the
the
of
play
chancers,
pragmatists.
even
representative
cynical,
jaded
life,
is
high:
to
the
approach
morally
price
of
survival
this more
HACKER'Sgazefalls on MRS.TOYNBEE'schair. Surreptitiously, with a glance over his
shoulder, he examines the chair, then picking it up, he kisses the seat.
(73)
HACKER:Fuck it ... I have the moral fibre of a rat
...
Barker doesnot makethings easyfor his audience.There is no unambiguousmoral centrein the
in
damaged,
is
filled
behave
They
individuals.
the
stage
with
self-seeking,self-harming
play,
dubious,
which
sometimesrepugnant,andyet althoughthesearenot intendedto
aremorally
ways
be fully-rounded,psychologicallyconsistentcharacters,their actionsareidentifiably realistic,or
truthful, at a level that is deeperthan we are generallyaccustomedto looking.
101
its
in
itself
is
terms
have
however,
of
the narrative
As we
a straightforward one
already noted,
beginning,
its
has
The
development.
There
story
are no significant narrative gaps.
structure and
identifies
Barker
Alan
Thomas
is
and
allegorist
a
modern
as
closure
achieved.
and
end:
middle
the
basic
and
the
progress
there
two
method:
that
allegorical
within
plot
structures
are
out
points
linear
"as
in
He
narratives
battle.
the
the
plots are organised
early plays,
notes that, certainly
the
it
downward
journeying
journeying,
in
individuals
in which societies and
are shown a state of
in
himself
Barker
is
1992:
435).
This
(Thomas,
a
also
acknowledged
a
pattern
which
appears"
1986 interview, where he commented:
I know I could carry on writing the kind of play for which I'm quite well-known ...
I'm
But
linear-epic
is
`rolling
the
play.
the
epic', or what you might call
which
determinednot to write any more linear-epicplays. [... ] I'm trying to get an epic quality
it
the
don't
is
but
[...
]
I
I
the
way
narrativeunfolding
want
want the scale,
which vertical
doesin Victory, for instance,any more. I'm tired of that. (in Donesky, 1986: 337)
for
is
later
look
it
that
to
the
that
are yet more
of
narratives
examples
we
must
And so
plays
less
flow,
in
interrupted
their
from
and
the realities of the recognisableworld, more
distanced
format.
linear
the
classical,
reliant upon
Rome (1989)
in
Love
The
Whereas
different
in
1989
Rome.
has
been
the
play,
A significantly
adopted
approach
by
dislocated
historically
Man
Good
though
A
the
of
absurdities
setting
was
recognisable,
of
falling
(as
is
both
identified
Rome,
to
distortions
here
the
of character,
placeof action
action and
barbarians)
invading
andunidentifiable, through a seriesof renegotiationsandredefinitions.
the
This is a surreallandscape,of no fixed historical period,throughwhich iconic figures,expressive
force,
high
low
brute
power,
repression,
privilege,
corruption,
and
culture,eroticism,suffering
of
(Barker,
1993:
"revolve"
locatable
201),
to
are
seen
pain
asthe echo of a specific place at a
and
in
force.
history,
but
intensely
investigative
in
its
time
now re-invented,and
speculative
specific
Here too we are invited to examine the topography of catastrophe,to admire and to endure,
is
back,
both
human
base
shrinking
what
most
spiritual
nature:
without
and most
about
BEKNOWN:I think, when I look at you, I seeall that is ridiculous in us - and all that is
powerful in us - andweak in us - in one incomprehensible,unfathomableball of
flesh and mischiefl (245)
102
Just as the setting is wrenched apart and broken into fragmentary landscapes, so too is the
forward
definite
interrupted
is
There
to
momentum
structure
constantly
and
violated.
a
narrative
frustrate
impede
frequently
but
juxtaposition
to
the
and
the play,
use of
and counterpoint serves
this forward motion.
As the play opens,the dying PopePius is revealed,"descending"(201). His erstwhile mistress,
Beatrice (alsoendowedwith a "perfect arse"),makeslove with a strangeron the floor below, the
it
Rome
heightened
by
takes
the
the
place.
of
encounter
with
which
stylised rapidity
violence
itself is undersiegeto the barbarianhordes,andthe soldiers,the last "wall of Christianity"(212),
fighting,
dying,
desert.
drunk
to
getting
or attempting
are variously
Against this backdropof chaos,both Beatriceandher daughter,Smith (anothermother/daughter
in
jaded
is
the
which
elder
partner
and world-weary
of
representative a sexually
pairing
form
disappointed,
damaged
hopeful,
but
the
of
and
younger
and
of
a
more
equally
experience,
idealism), seekfreshmodesof survival which can containpassionat least,if not dignity. A new
despair
is
Rome
falls
invading
is
looted,
the
to
the
to
the
the
of
elected,
and
city
armies,
pope
cultured classes:
(to the looters) Do you really needthat? Sorry, but wouldn't somethingsmaller
DOREEN:
do aswell, I just - (They beat her. Shetotters... ) [... ] That isn't in the leastbit
valuable, only my father My people are in it you
Repulsive
Scrap
Of
Animal
Disorder (244)
After a brief interval of power, Park,the newly-electedPopeis swiftly removedfrom office and
brutally tortured, by a highly efficient, though rather unsettlingly parentalTorturer:
The eloquenceI found somewhatcorrupting, even of my toxic nature. He
TORTURER:
gave a running commentaryon his own decline, which distracted me [... ] (A
CHILDenters,crying out a greeting.) I was so nearly late! My little one! Today I
was so nearly late at the school gatemy loved and loving! (250)
103
Indeed, this curious juxtaposition of tender caring and vicious cruelty is to be found in virtually
all the main characters in the play, and above all in Benz, described in the list of characters as a
Vagrant, but quickly identified as a God-like figure - made, however, very much in the image of
Man. Benz makes contradictory demands of the other characters, cajoles them, orders, seduces,
kills
for
is
deity,
That,
Barker,
them.
to orchestrate and shape the
the
and
rapes
role of
even
human
beings,
to attract adoration and compel belief, but ultimately
and
catastrophe
of
suffering
to prove his own humanness, both in character and in origin ("It's you, isn't it, who longs to be
human? " [286]).
By the end of the piece, Beatrice is dead;the puppet-popeLascar,Park's replacement,whose
have
been
his
divided
between
doubts
his
fascination
about
with
own position and a
attentions
"modern"
illuminated
been
future
has
throne
to
and
mitre,
consigned
of pathetic
a
attractively
("SMITH:
Go
in
The
Barbarians
away
now.
a
will
give
curtains
you a caravanwith
retirement
field. And a little pension.Every morning, over the stiles with your blue-veined legs, and your
testicles will go flop-flop, how smarthe was in his papal suit the locals will recall ... Goodbye.
Goodbye." [288]); Benz has been revealedas no more or less than weakly human, and Park
kind
in
his
in
a
of
apotheosis,
which
experiences
of
suffering
succeed somehow
achieves
"annihilating the absurdity" of his existence:
PARK: All I believed has lost significance
And time has left me
A rock
Of
Screaming
Birds (290)
Smith, abusedfirst by her educationandupbringing, then by her contactswith Pius, Park, Benz,
by
herself,
through an act of self-blinding, is seento be
ultimately
and
most
poignantly
and
image
the
the
alone
at
end
of
play,
an
utterly
of survival, possibly of hope,but also of dereliction.
In contrastto TheLove ofA GoodMan, however,this kind of brief linear overview of the play's
is
content utterly inadequateto conveythe manymorecomplications,twists andturns of the main
line,
narrative
quite apartfrom the significant asidesand digressionswhich punctuateand even
bleedinto the main flow. Chief amongtheseis a sequenceof
mini-narratives which re-imagine
104
the biblical story, in which Abraham is required by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac. In the first
is
his
is
himself
first
Abraham
God's
by
that
to
these,
son
able obey
command only
persuading
of
On
impossible
is
inflict
detritus",
love
human
"To
"piece
tissue
to
that
pain.
of,
of, scrap of
and
a
Isaac
by
his
(205).
justify
to
he
In
to
the
announcing
action
second, attempts
self, and others"
that, "I honour you with deeper truths my son. (Pause) I tell you, rather, the savage and
life.
What
the
(Pause)
What
aside
parent
cast
other
nature
of
all
would?
other parent
relentless
lies
At
(228).
None
this
I
the
episode,
climax
of
of
parenthood?
promise
you"
consoling
Benz/God, having rather irritably explained to Abraham that, "You were to submit, in all clarity,
in the fullness of understanding, to the wholly irrational act. You were to kill your son without
from
flees
is
himself
knifed
benefit
(229),
by
Isaac,
the scene and
then
of philosophy"
the
who
"runs into a street in Rome" (230). Isaac becomes a character in the main narrative, marrying a
his
both
he
housemaid,
Beknown,
be
to
and quickly proving
wittily resourceful, as avoids
young
his
hands
barbarians,
by
that
the
the
the
new
wife's
recentlyand
sexual
abuse
claiming
at
of
own
has
invented
"exploding
fiendish
deadly
including
the
whore"
pope
new weapons of war,
elected
(238). His instinctive reaction to suffering is almost always one of compassion and a willingness
by
help,
Beknown,
instincts
these
and
although
to offer
are aggressively challenged and resisted
is
inherent
he
the
danger
the
to
the
of
more
acutely
end
conscious
of
empathy,
remains
of
who
play an atypical representative of generosity of spirit:
BEKNOWN:He never abuses me.
He never ridicules our sex.
Or strikes me in a temper.
And when I have a child he will lift it from my womb so skilfully. (287)
This narrative gameis repeatedagain in a further seriesof interruptions, this time involving a
from
the period of the FrenchRevolution, the Marquis of Dreux-Breze.On his
plucked
character
first appearance(242-43),the Marquis is a pathetic figure, a "comic and archaicmanifestation"
futilely
the
aristocracy,
orderingthe assembledDeputiesto disperse,and being chasedoff by
of
them in his turn. The second"perception" of the Marquis of Dreux-Breze(270-72)discovershim
his
making escapeand forcing a "distinguishedphilosopheLENOUVEAU"to aid andabethim, by
threateninghim with violence. At gunpoint, he also attemptsto make the philosopher ask for
God's forgiveness,againto largely comic effect. By the third
occasion,on which we encounter
him, he is enjoying the lazy privileges of birth once
more, alternatelyentertainingand insulting
105
three female companions ("You sprigs of the rising classes, I am hardly thirty but steeped in
invention!
"
in
his
final
[278]);
becomes
Marquis
like
Isaac,
the
too,
and
scene,
sexual
incorporated into the central narrative line, interacting first with Doreen, the "cultured woman of
Rome" destroyed by the barbarian invasion, and then with Benz, finally exposing Benz's all-toohuman qualities, which are betrayed by his tears:
D-BREZE: Oh, be careful!
Be careful, God! (He laughs loudly and cruelly.) (286)
It is evident, then, that this bold, almost playful, approachto narrative structure challengesthe
do
its
is
discussed
This
to
the
work
without
safety
clarity.
strategy
net
of
naturalistic
audience
frequently in the collectedessayswhich go to make up Argumentsfor a Theatre:
The restorationof dignity to the audiencebegins when the text and production accept
ambiguity. If it is prepared,the audiencewill not struggle for permanentcoherence,
is
by
but
the
the
which associatedwith
narrativeof naturalism,
experience play moment
moment, truth by truth, contradictionby contradiction. The breaking of false dramatic
disciplines freespeopleinto imagination. (Barker, 1997: 38)
Ambiguity takes the place of clarity, the single, unified narrative line is replacedby versions
/
by
Barker
describes
"Too
contradict,
overlap
conflict,
and
and
what
as,
many narratives
which
digressions
/
(1997:
140).
Again
in
his
Barker
too
themes"
many
and
many
again
writings,
too
insists on the right to challengethe audiencewith storiesthat do not make sense,that are neither
nor
comprehensible.
accessible
The theatremust startto take its audienceseriously.It must stop telling them storiesthey
can understand.
It is not to insult an audienceto offer it ambiguity.
The narrative form is dying in our hands.(1997: 18-19)
But this is not for the sakeof being difficult, or so that audiencesand critics may admire his
it
is
for
the purposeof stimulating and releasingthe
construction
of
obscurity;
rather,
cunning
imaginations
those
watching andreadingthe plays,through their encounterswith the
of
creative
from
have
of
characters
worlds
which
never been, and which never could be, but which
pain
deeply
"The
theatre is not a disseminator of truth but a provider of
with
own.
our
resonate
106
is
In
inflicting
Its
is
time
the
clarity
of
versions.
a
statementsare provisional.
when nothing clear,
45).
(1997:
stale
arrogance"
a
Crucially, narrativehasnot beenremoved,but it doesplay a different role. Barker describesthe
do
is
his
"not
(1997:
80),
to
with
construable"
plays as
part of which certainly
narrativeswithin
the fact that their `meanings' are not easily extractable. However, if not immediately
discussion,
in
they
to
the
terminology
this
certainly
are, use
previously adopted
comprehensible,
followable. The responsiveaudience-membercan, indeed must, make their own senseof the
broken narratives."It is the audiencewho constructsthe meaning.The audienceexperiencesthe
individually
is
It
led,
but
its
and
collectively.
not
not
makes
own way through a play whose
play
38).
(1997:
are
cumulative"
effects
As we havealreadyseen,the fact that narrativegapsaremuch larger than would normally be the
The
forms
drama,
does
traditional
that
these
more
within
of
not mean
gapsareunbridgeable.
case
its
for
begin
by
Barker
the
to
the
own
provides necessarystimulus
audience
ambiguity so valued
journey through thesedifficult landscapes,"without maps" (1997: 83).
Narrative causality has tended to dependupon easily understoodconnections:psychological
(Stanislavski)
benefits
(Brecht).
deliberately
Barker
or
social
stepsoutsidequestions
consistency
in
behaviour
behaviour
desire,
impulse,
intuition
to
those
of
seduction,
of psychologyor social
defies
behaviour
`make
doesn't
or
post-catastrophic
situations,
sense',which
which
catastrophic,
`logic'.
Nevertheless,
the plays demandtheir own logic, requiring new
narrative
conventional
links to be forgedbetweenspeechactsandactions;they call for the free play of narrativereading
but
comprehension,
along new and unexpectedlines.
and
As Charles Lamb points out, causality, understood in the usual terms of consistency or
predictability, is inadequateto accountfor the choicesmadeby Barker's characters.He posits a
theoryof seduction,which canprovide the actorsof Barker's dramaswith a new line of character
exploration,andwhich relies neitheron the Method approachof identificationwith character,nor
the creationof a Brechtiandistance,but insteadprovidesa setof `negative' choices,basedon the
seductivepowersof language,and the strong attractive force of the irrational.
107
In the world of reason, motivation is founded always in positive causality and individual
behaviour is structured upon biological drives modified according to various social and
psychological determinants. In the world of seduction, purely negative forces are capable
of intervening decisively like pools of accumulated anti-matter. The secret is a negative
force. So is the meaningless. (Lamb, 1997: 52)
This theory provides not only the actors, but the audience also, with creative ways into the texts
that will help them to `make sense' of the abrupt narrative chasms, which open up every time a
Nevertheless,
be
inexplicable
to
a
choice
makes
which
seems
or
meaningless.
utterly
character
is
be
`making
There
sense'
can
only
ever
no authoritative narrative,
provisional
and personal.
any
"the play being open not to a single interpretation, but to many" (Barker, 1997: 90).
The interruptionsanddisjunctionsthat characterisethe narrativestructureof Romearemirrored
language
level
Gaps
the
the
of
and
sentence
construction
characters'
also.
open
up
within
at
is
fractured,
invited
the
their
to
grammar
acts,
complete
compressed
and
and
we
are
speech
in
interlude,
heads,
join
dots
liking.
In
the
to
our
own
up
our
own
a short philosophical
thoughts
forms
departure
from
flow,
two
the
yet
another
a
man,
central
woman,
narrative
an
old
which
Benz,
the
to
the
themselves
to
women
and
a
soldier
of
attempt
at
end
reconcile
what
younger
describes
"the
inadequacy
love"
is
interesting
(225).
What
this
as
of
about
particularly
scene,
is
has
Barker
it
form
that
to
the
not
only
managed
play
construct
as
a
of
of
mise-en-abyme
scene
but
is
back
in
its
language:
this
whole,
reflected
again
use of
as a
MAN: Are we sufficiently caring I askmyself for one anotherdo you think arewe taking
adequateresponsibility for. (Hepokes in his bags.) Oh, we areso separateand so
cold let's gatherround let's pull togetherand (Two YOUNGWOMENenter. They
sit.) You aretoo late asif on purposewere you nursing were you in attendanceon
the sick perhapsyou found another orphan oh you said and orphan grab that
orphan.(223)
This extraordinaryshorthandcompressionis one of the chief characteristicsof Barker's verbal
Sentences
are unfinished,thoughtsare provisional and open- they invite completion. At
style.
in
desperate
Lascar's
for
the
point
play,
another
search the meaningcontainedwith a singleword,
by
Park, is emblematicof the audience'sparallel searchfor answers:
used
as
LASCAR:What did he mean by Rome?
I think you have to ask that question really I do it can't be simply taken for
grantedwe must examinethe appalling inequalities and lack of flexibility that he
108
during his short Rome yes but whose Rome Rome for whom etceteraand (Silence
butfor the same music ofspoons and plates. ) Many people had no Latin therefore
in
being
the
said was simply sound where was
sense my view people
what was
I
Rome
by
be
draw
did
he
ask
to
their
to
mean
need
own conclusions not
what
perhaps only (251)
And there are moments,such as the election of the new pope, at which the only expressions
devoid
formulaic
import
is
being
though
the
those
and
which,
of what
saidare
neededto convey
intentions:
the
and
attitudes
characters'underlying
of all meaningcontent,perfectly signify
SLIPMAN: I am the candidate for continuity. I was under the impression I was not
opposed. (The CARDINALSmurmur in unison.)
CARDINALS:On the one hand/on the other.
SLIPMAN:I representthose currentsof opinion of which I fervently believe a modem
papacymust be composed.
CARDINALS:On the one hand/on the other.
SLIPMAN:Neither radical nor cautious I anticipate an age of reconciliation which.
CARDINALS:On the one hand.
SLIPMAN:I flatter myself I am neither rigid nor a compromiser but.
CARDINALS:And again. (216)
These are the provisional utterancesof unresolvedcharacters,within a narrative that is always
incomplete and thereforeopento many kinds of re-negotiation.
(Uncle) Vanya
Nowhere canthis be betterseen,perhaps,than in Barker's treatmentof the classicChekhovtext,
l
Vania.
First published in 1993 without the parentheses,the piece was then performed
Uncle
later
by the Wrestling School as (Uncle) Vanya. This provisionality even of title
three years
have
Barker,
the
throughout
the
conjures
up
sense
of
ambiguity
which
runs
as we
work.
neatly
likes
to
revisit the narrativesof the past,reworking them, restructuringand altering them,
noted,
his
from
to
(consider
the
allowing
new
possibilities
emerge
stories' constituentelements
also
and
treatmentsof King Lear, Middleton's WomenBeware Women,and, most recently, Gertrude TheCry, a radical re-working of Hamlet). Like desperateoptimists, he hasturnedhis attentionto
one of the classicsof turn-of-the-centurynaturalism, but unlike them, he has done so, not by
' Throughoutthis section,Chekhov'scharacter(Vania)
can be quickly distinguishedfrom Barker's (Vanya) by
the specificspellingsof the name,which follow those of the printed editions of eachtext.
109
have
from
it
it,
but
by
the
that
transforming
stories
clustered
exploring
around
entering and
within.
Chekhov's original play presentsus with a characteristicallydysfunctional group of people,
bound by ties of love and loathing in fairly equalmeasure.The eponymousVania has sunk into
lethargy and depressionsincethe return homeof the Professor,Alexandre Serebriakov,and his
Yeliena.
is
Yeliena,
It
becomes
Vania
that
wife,
young
with
quickly
obsessed
apparent
new,
her
instincts
feel"
(Chekhov,
1959:
her
"youth,
her
her
to
the
to
obey
of
capacity
vitality,
urging
192), by having an affair with him. Yeliena is portrayedasa beautiful, languorous,idle creature,
,,You give the impressionthat life is too much of an effort for you ... Oh, suchan effort! " (199),
both
in
later
Vania's
to
the narrative, those of
struggles,
nevertheless,
resist
advancesand,
who
Astrov.
doctor,
None of the men in the play emergewith any great credit, it must be said:
the
Astrov - who is totally oblivious to the romanticinterestshownhim by the Professor'sdaughter,
Sonia - and Vania devote most of their energiesto attempting to seduce Yeliena, whilst
Serebriakov sinks into self-pity, accusingher of finding him "repulsive", andTelyeghin, a local
landowner reducedto poverty,merely complainspatheticallyof his own marital disasters.Early
in the play, Yeliena eloquently capturesthis pessimisticview of male behaviour:
YELIENA:Why can't you look at a womanwith indifferenceunlessshe'syours?Because
devil of destructionin every one of you. You spareneither woods,
there's
a
...
nor birds, nor women, nor one another.(199)
The hinge-point of the narrative comes at the beginning of Act Three, when Serebriakov
family,
the
a
meeting
of
extended
so as to reveal his solution to the problems and
summons
frustrations of their life together.He proposesthat they sell the entire estate,buy a small villa in
Finland, and live off the interest of what is left. Vania is outraged at this act of betrayal and
stormsout of the room. A few momentslater, Serebriakovfollows in order to try and calm him
down, and from offstage we hear a gunshot. Serebriakov re-entersshocked, but
unhurt, and
closelypursuedby his enragedbrother-in-law, andit is immediatelyobviousthat Vania's attempt
to take somedecisiveaction has, quite literally, misfired.
The play ends,as so often in Chekhov's writings,
with no real resolution, but rather a failure of
nerve.Serebriakovand Yeliena escapethe messsimply by running away from it. Vania, Astrov
110
Sonia,
follow
Telyeghin's example and embrace an
to
who
cannot
are
compelled
run,
and
future
frustration
of
monotonous
and constantly thwarted hopes.
extended
Though this is certainly compelling theatre,and the characterof Uncle Vania himself is both
it
Barker's
is
to
that
the
response
experienceof readingor watching
argue
credible andengaging,
is actually an enervatingone (Barker, 1997: 168-70).According to him, Chekhov leaves his
feeling
his
like
to
to
them,
as
either
run
away,
or
powerless
choose
as
can
characters:
we
audience
listless,
frustration,
find
but
do
is
this
the
to
any way out of
what we cannot seem
embrace
despairing world. Vania's miserablefailure to make any kind of difference to the situation is
in
his
bodged
Professor:
to
the
encapsulated
attempt
shoot
comically
VOINITSKY:To havemadesucha fool of myself- firing twice andmissing both times! I
shall never forgive myself for that! (236)
And what is Chekhov'sfinal homily, deliveredto the audienceby Sonia,but a stoic's charter,an
life
for
in
bear
it,
in
better
be
hopes
to
the
the
that
grin
and
us
waiting
something
will
exhortation
to come?
SONIA:Well, what canwe do? We must go on living! [A pause.] We shall go on living,
Uncle Vania. We shall live through a long, long successionof days and tedious
evenings.We shall patiently suffer the trials which Fateimposeson us; we shall
work for others,now and in our old age, and we shall have no rest. When our
time comeswe shall die submissively,andover there,beyondthe grave,we shall
saythat we've suffered,that we've wept, that we've hada bitter life, andGod will
take pity on us. (244)
So although Barker respondspassionatelyto Chekhov's rage against life, in his re-written
he
is
also passionateabout finding the exit:
version,
It is necessarytherefore to demonstratethe existenceof will in a world where
is
will
relegatedto the comic or inept. (Barker, 1997: 292)
****
111
Barker's text openswith Vanya repeatinghis name- "Unc - le, Van - ya" - in a sing-song
fashion, emphasisingits power over him, the fact that it hasbecomea 'sign' of his enfeeblement,
is
in
later
the play:
a point which madeexplicit
VANYA:The word uncle castratedme. I forbid the word. (Barker, 1993: 305)
The narrativeelementsareartfully reconstitutedin Barker's first act.The original story is swiftly
in
from
fabula
its
basic
the
takes
a
compressed,
re-ordered
content
version,
which
reprised
by
but
Chekhov,
its
linguistic
from
Barker's
urgency
characteristic
and
surreal
qualities
supplied
style:
ASTROV:Man is endowedwith reasonandcreativepower so that he canenhancewhat he
hasbeenendowedwith but up till now he has beendestroying and not creating
there are fewer and fewer foreststhe rivers are drying up the wild creaturesare
almost exterminatedthe climate is being ruined the land is becomingpoorer and
more hideousevery day when I hearthe rustling of the young saplingsI planted
with my own handsI (Pause) (295)
Running in this kind of fast-forward mode, the charactersbehave more-or-less as they are
by
Chekhov's
lusts
Vanya
Helena
to
andrails against
original
plotting
mechanism:
after
required
Serebryakov;Astrov endlesslyarticulateshis hopelesslyidealistic views and criticises Vanya;
Marina,
by
down,
in
Barker's
the
to
the
ageing
nanny,
seeks
calm
version,
situation
mainly,
and
into
Vanya
handled
His
being
like
to
to
shush
silence.
response
a naughty child
attempting
Barker's
treatment:
another
aspect
of
exemplifies
VANYA:I detestyour futile and transparentattemptsto suffocatemy hatredin what you
call compassionwhat you call what you call your absurdmaternal and anodyne
endearmentswhat you call what you call ... (295)
These criticisms operate not only as an expression of Vanya's rage, they also bring to the surface
of the text some of the hidden workings of Chekhov's original. For it is indeed Marina's role, at
moments of crisis in Chekhov's story, to express herself in reassuring, parental, but also heavily
sentimental, terms:
MARINA:You're shivering as if you were out in a frost! There, there, my little orphan,
God is merciful. A drink of lime-flower tea, or hot raspberry,and it'll pass
off ..
Don't get so upsetmy little orphan
(232)
.
...
112
This deconstructive disclosing of concealed elements of the original is analogous to the approach
taken by the Wooster Group in their re-presentations of classic texts. In a similar way, they also
bare
lay
by
finding
their
to
the
covert
ways
and
re-focus
aspects
of
originals,
re-contextualise
assumptions and mechanisms.
infamous
draws
from
Chekhov's
device
the
to
play:
Barker pointedly
our attention yet another
is
Chekhov
`necessity'
It
the
that
the
such
melodramatic
plot
certainly
case
of
regretted
gun.
letter
difficulty
he
Ina
in
Alexander
Suvorin
1892,
the
to
on
of
commented
written
mechanisms.
finding "creative new endingsfor plays [... ] The chief charactereither gets married or shoots
(in
Yarmolinsky,
1974:
213).
no
way
out"
himself,
is
is
ironically
(and
but
the
there
that
this
a strongsense
a rather reluctant
Chekhov retains gun,
drama.In Barker's
to
the
concession
conventional
plot
expectations
of
nineteenth-century
comic)
her son's
Vanya's
Maryia,
to
events,
vainly
of
as
mother,
struggles
understand
version
frustrations, and quotes almost exactly Chekhov's words about his `inspirational' character,
Vanya replies by insisting upon the gun:
MARYIA:Forgive me for sayingso, Jean,but you have changedso much in the last year
I positively don't recognizeyou VANYA: I have a gun
MARYIA:You were a man of positive convictions, an inspiring personality and now interrupts
Vanya
his
then,
as
mother once more, the audienceis able, for the first time, to
And
full intent of Barker's deconstructive method:
the
appreciate
VANYA: This gun
ASTROV:Oh, shut up about your silly gun -
VANYA: Was given me by Chekhov. (Pause) And having given it to me, he was
profoundly sorry ... (298)
By this powerful device of introducing Chekhov himself into the story, Barker is then able to
into
higher
level
the
characters
potential
a
of self-awareness
release
andself-expression.They can
becomeconsciousof their `existence' as fictional creations,and begin to voice their concerns
being
the
they
ways
are
manipulatedinto the pre-arrangedroutesthat havebeenlaid down
about
113
for them, although only Vanya himself explicitly acknowledges Chekhov's god-like involvement
in the narrative at this stage:
VANYA: I know Chekhov's fear! I know his terrible
SEREBRYAKOV: You are insane. (300)
fear!
This is not a wholly original idea,of course.Pirandello's Six Charactersin Searchof an Author
become
dramatic
the
awareof their
had previously explored notion of
characters,who gradually
fictional status.And the notion of seeinga canonicalwork from a fresh perspectivewas given
in
Guildenstern
its
in
Are
Dead,
Stoppard's
Rosencrantz
most
well-known
and
outings
one of
it
by
Shakespeare's
Hamlet,
to
the
world of
original play,
seeing
which we are given access
by
inside
its
Barker,
turns
the
the
two
though,
out:
eyes
of
metaphor
of minor characters.
through
he
Chekhov
in
its
`reality',
his
thus
as a character one of
own plays, and
asserting
introducing
drawsour attentionto the self-fictionalisingprocessesthat areconstantlyat work in
paradoxically
everyday
existences.
own
our
`reality'
in
interesting
device
by
is
One
of
a
number
used
of ways.
accomplished
This assertion
`real'
is
dwells
in
Vanya
the
to
the
make
gun
a
solid,
more
yet
more
object,
way
which
Barker
its
its
feel,
ivory decorations.Above all,
upon
weight,
physical
colour
properties:
and
repeatedly
it
Vanya
a
gives
specific
which
serial
number,
recites on more than one occasion.This
Barker
between
identity
becomes
the
a
sense
of
and
material
personal
properties of existence,
linkage,
in the final act,when Vanya, strugglingto re-asserthis existenceasa character,altogether
crucial
Chekhov,
has
difficulty
of
great
recalling the serial number:
independent
VANYA:I've forgotten the number.The number of the gun, I've forgotten it. What does
it mean! (337)
We have already noted that one aspect of Barker's treatment is the way that he wrenches the
into the spoken dialogue, and in this modernised version, the sexual undercurrents
subtext
are
far
Vanya
talks repeatedly about wanting to "fuck" Helena, he asks her
made
more
explicit.
also
him
item
an
to give
of her underwear, he dwells unhappily upon images of Serebryakov's ageing
body making love to her, and Barker has raised the stakes still further for Vanya, by transforming
the general level of impotence he feels into a physical inability to put his sexual desire into
action.
114
Although compressed,and quite different in tone, the action of much of Barker's first act does
follow Chekhov's narrative line. At the point at which Serebryakovgoes out to speak with
Vanya, however, the real divergencescommence.Crucially, Barker's Vanya does not miss.
While Sonyarecitesthe obligatory litany aboutthe unavoidablesocio-economicpressureswhich
kill
do,
Vanya
fires
four
(offstage)
to
them
they
not
only
shots,
which
all
act as
cause
but
disfigure
his
body
aswell. He then returnsto the scenegiddy with triumph and
Serebryakov,
"get undressed"(305).
Helena
to
orders
highly
by
Chekhovian
this
the
unorthodox turn of
sudden,
charactersaresuitably shocked
All of
events.
Maryia asksagainwho gavehim the gun, and againVanya replies, "Chekhov":
MARYIA:Oh, patheticman, who thinks the act of violence will -
VANYA: Yes violence is the door. Oh beautiful ivory gun of ivory my doorway my
birthplace
(305)
...
himself
defiant
Astrov
by
the
to
this
will,
act
of
similarly
exerts
Temporarily roused action
kiss Helena passionatelyupon the mouth. But an authorial responseto these
to
sufficiently
is swift in coming. The dead Serebriakovre-enters and gives Vanya a
of
rebellion
motions
ticking-off:
solemn
SEREBRYAKOV:Chekhov says put the gun away before it leads to
VANYA: No
SEREBRYAKOV: More trouble and
VANYA: No
SEREBRYAKOV: Disturbs the fragile
VANYA: No
No
No
SEREBRYAKOV:Balance of characters and
VANYA: He gave me the gun he supplied me with the means
SEREBRYAKOV:He knows this perfectly well
VANYA: He provided me
SEREBRYAKOV: He profoundly
VANYA: Does he now
regrets this
SEREBRYAKOV:Melodramatic interlude
VANYA: Too bad too late too everything
(308)
115
Although Sonyamakesa desperateattemptto restorethe proper order, sheis swiftly silencedby
Vanya:
because
destiny
dying
You
of
SONYA:
classwho cannotactually control our
seewe area
the high level of inflation.
VANYA: Shut up
is
intelligentsia
The
the
SONYA:
marginalisation of
VANYA: Sonya shut up (308)
being
for
Chekhov's
represented
point-of-view still
Vanya strugglesaggressively autonomy,with
fictional
by
his
Serebryakov:
creation,
this
point
at
The problem with an action Chekhov saysis that it leadsto others
SEREBRYAKOV:
VANYA:I do not wish to know what he says
SEREBRYAKOV:Each action more ridiculous than the last
VANYA: So be it
Ramifications of suchoutlandishcharacterthe perpitrator [sic] forfeits
SEREBRYAKOV:
every sympathy
VANYA:I don't require sympathy tell him. (309)
discovered
have
been
has
Vania
to
that
they
exercise
released
already
grasps
what
now
Sonya
is
in
long
from
knitting!
"
("This
[310])
and
partners
a
completely
a
manner
way
new
wills
their
laughing
interrupted,
dance
Their
is
in
the
around
stage.
exhilaration
exuberant,
abruptly
an
him
`openings'
by
Barker's
the
of the text as, with the sound of
next of
remarkable
however,
literally
begins
breaking
to come apart at the seams.
the
wood
and
set
glass,
Splintering
from
flurry
is
is
Sonya
the
that
terrified
this
characters.
a
of
activity
momentarily
This provokes
by
inflicted
Chekhov
his
The
beginnings
of
a
punishment,
on
wayward creations.
only
the
is further exercising of the will. Thus, Vanya orders Helena to go
to
them
available
resistance
bedroom
for
him
Sonya,
Chekhovian
the
to
there,
the
and
wait
and
now
also
resisting
upstairs
inactive
insists
boldly
impregnate
Astrov
her:
that
of
imperative
resentment,
SONYA: You see, what is terrible, what is unforgiveable, what is pure toxin is resentment, isn't it? And we all - oh, we all resented everything! (Pause) Which
was comic. Which was pitiful. Which was utterly demeaning and hateful of
mankind Get your clothes off, Mikhail. (313)
116
Before this can be accomplished, however, there is a further catastrophic disintegration of the set.
At this moment in the 1996 Wrestling School production, the back wall crashed open with a
tremendous noise, to reveal a bare seascape,simultaneously expressive both of great freedom and
icon
in
That
drama,
Chekhovian
is
floating
terror.
the water and
the
great
of
samovar,
spotted
of
Sonya and Marina start throwing stones at it, whilst Maryia paddles ecstatically. Serebryakov,
however, continues to issue oracular warnings:
SEREBRYAKOV:Chekhov knows the brevity of pleasure
The insubstantiality of [... ]
All euphoriahe knows to be merely the prelude
All ecstasythe merepreparationfor
The inevitable [... ]
Inevitable
Solitude (314)
And sureenough,the actionsinitiated with suchvigour and life-affirming purposebegin to turn
in on themselvesand to provoke increasinglydisturbing reactionsof frustration and violence.
Vanya is unableto consummatehis passionfor Helena; Astrov rapesHelena; Sonyastrangles
Astrov with her "strong arms", andMaryia protestsagainstthis uncontrolledexerciseof freedom,
begins
it
for
herself:
to
she
as
embrace
even
MARYIA:What do you expect?All this. What do you expect?This. Nakednessand so on.
No, I don't meannakednessI also love nakednessI alwayshavethe wind the air I
mean the throwing down of things to go to bedwith a man yesbut freedom is a
place somewherebetween desire and I was the first to be nakedbelieve me the
first but every impulse cannot be every urge just licensed oh yes very very
naked and to look at me you might not think it why shouldn't I reveal since
everyoneis yeswith all sorts but neverpainful never hurtful never did I trespass
on the rights of othersfreedom is the point of balancesurely nights of passion
yes but violation I ... (She dries.) I have not been happy
(Sizecloses her
...
eyes.) Why? Why? (318)
Eventually,a boat is spotted,clearly in trouble, sinking in the turbulent waves;the man who had
beensailing it flounders in the water, desperate,in need of rescue.As in Rome,the immediate
impulse to help those in distressis brought into question, as Vanya
challengeshis mother to
her
"instinct"
(324) and to let the man drown. She, however,
natural
restrain
rejects his
argumentsand, togetherwith Sonya,rushesto the man's aid. As this frenzied activity gathers
momentum,Vanya suddenlyrealiseswho the strangeris and beginsto searchfrantically for the
117
"
"He's
joyfully
first
Maryia
Finally,
alive!
the
this
exclaiming,
act,
climax of
re-enters
at
gun.
(325), only to be brutally slapped across the face by Marina.
****
Their
"standing
in
is
Chekhov,
the
a row.
"He"
characters
and the second act opens with all
his
lectures
both
like
"
They
Chekhov,
hang
amused and cross,
heads
penitents.
are motionless.
"Uncle,
hated
behaviour,
Vanya
the
their
taunting
phrase,
and repeating
mutinous
characters on
Uncle, Uncle Vanya! " (326).
in
his
impasse
intriguing
Barker
himself
arrives at an
By presentingthe author
on the stage,
the
deconstruction,
for
Serebryakov
Astrov
the
of
role
explicitly
question
and
whilst
narrative
in
the
process
of
creation
author
We know what a play is but what is an author?
SEREBRYAKOV:
The author also sins
The author is not very clean
Is he clean
I often wonder
ASTROV:His impeccableauthority I must say I
His infallibility sometimesstrikes me as (326)
SEREBRYAKOV:
for
his
`invisible'.
himself,
is
He
Chekhov
to
to
Barker
account
of
course,
call
remains
able
_
handling of narrative,his presentationof character,whilst remaininghimself beyondthe reachof
such criticism.
Nevertheless, Chekhov's presence provokes an intriguing variety of reactions from the
Vanya
is
hostile
him,
her
flatly
Marina
towards
to
sullenly
and
refuses reassume
characters.
him
"creeping
into
(329).
is
Maryia
role
as
a
servant,
calling
a
cowed
priest"
physically
required
Telyeghin
`tells'
he
the
to
the
treatment
the
and
on
others,
complaining
author
about
submission,
has receivedat their hands,like a frightened schoolboy:
I nearly died! They nearly killed me! Sheespecially,wanted to castrateme
TELYEGHIN:
and tread on my eyes! (326)
118
Most telling is Helena's response. She adamantly resists his influence over herself and Vanya,
freedom:
hard-won
is
for
her
of
existential
statement
self-realisation offered as a
plea
and
HELENA: I want to say
Without temper
If possiblewithout the least senseof the heroic
Without even that measured ambition to speak the truth which is only another
vulgarity
To say
I am not what I was
Indeed
I was nothing and now I am at least a possibility of something
And this
I will defend (329)
is
He
his
dismissive
is
both
viciously cruel
Chekhov portrayedas
characters.
of
admiring and
for
he
to
Finally,
dependent
in
them.
them,
the
permission
asks
upon
and,
end,absolutely
towards
his
he
he
does
die,
in
Vanya,
of
to
philosophy
once
more,
so,
asserts,
as
and
with
order
sit alone,
kind
illusion,
indeed
futility,
total
action:
the
of
purposive
the
of
any
and
complete
solitude,
utter
liquid
like
I
One
day
hoped
I
tell
a
CHEKHOV:
myself, pour myself
would reachout and
from a jug into the void of another,all, entire, to the last drop, how I struggled
drained
be
into
To
A
dream
this
to
anotherman! woman!
pour myself
with
...!
(Pause) And in abandoningthat dream, I found something like freedom. In
discardingall that was arguably,the best in me, I found a peaceof sorts. We are
entirely untransferable. (333)
The charactersare left alone. The sea has disappearedwith the death of Chekhov, but they
frozen
in
temporarily
time and space,authorless,containing within themselves the
remain,
for
further
for
but
grounds
action,
considerableuncertainty about whether they
giving
potential
will actually realisethat potential.
**
Stylistically, and in terms of its narrative structure, the play has already undergone a series of
transformations. It began as a dislocated retelling of the original story, placed in an undefined
location, and cut adrift from its temporal moorings, but, nevertheless, with a close relationship to
its source material. From its key point of divergence, however, the gap widens rapidly. Although
119
the dialogue still retains echoes of Chekhov, the sudden shift into violent and decisive action,
together with the reappearanceof the dead Serebryakov as Chekhov's mouthpiece, represent the
first of a series of intrusions of `external' forces into the world of the play, and the cracking-open
is
in
introduction
breaking-apart
Finally,
then
the
the
the
the
of
narrative
physicalised
set.
of
of
Chekhov into the re-configured story both re-emphasisesits fictional nature and interrogates the
its
in
final
beyond
Now,
to
the
the
third
the
of
relationship
act, a
real world
and
play.
nature
further shift takes place.
Helena beginsthe actionwith the longestsingle speechof the play so far. It is Chekhovian,to the
in
its
form,
it
long,
he
that,
those
carries
echoes
of
self-disclosing
monologues,
which
extent
his
but
in
its
is
it
is
At
Barker.
to
the
tone
characters,
of
and
content
core
an
assertion
pure
gives
human
of
physical
reality
over
every
other
aspect
of
experience:
primacy
HELENA:... all things leadto my body what elseis therebut my body all things lead to
it including physics mathematics linguistics where else could they lead
psychology hygiene and weaponstraining ask the student on the train who
seemsconsumed by numbers where his efforts lead my body is the end of
thought the terminus of rationality and instinct
(336)
...
She is surroundedby the other characters,who are"sprawled lifelessly around the stagelike the
(336).
been
has
Vanya
by
his
but
Chekhov,
too
of
a
party"
wounded
encounterwith
not
remnants
fatally. Helena,by now the strongerof the two, urgeshim to act decisively. He strugglesto recall
the gun's serial number and thus reasserthis grip on `reality'. Their conversationis elliptical,
by
and
punctuated
offers of tea, or vodka, from Marina, who, togetherwith most of
ambiguous,
the other characters,seemsto haverelapsedback into Chekhovianinertia. Finally, he raisesthe
it
Helena,
her
first
the
at
aims
and
shoots
as
act of what appearsas if it is going to be a
gun,
He
his
head
the
to
to fire the final bullet, but, after an emotion-filled
pact.
raises
gun
own
suicide
he
it
floor
towards
the
re-directs
and `misses'. Calling for a coat, he readieshimself to
pause,
into
the unknown:
venture out
VANYA: This - is -a contract with - partly with Helena partly with myself the
clausesof which demandof me the highest - [... ] The highest responsibility
towards- me - my own potential obviously but also [... ] Also (He
stops
suddenly.)
Where am I going (A catastrophic silence.)
Where am I
120
VANYA closes his eyes, and with an effort of will, strides out of the room. Pause.
TELYEGHIN lets out a small cry of satisfaction at a chess move. SONYA murmurs to
MARYIA. Time passes.
SONYA:He'll be back ... (Insignificant moves.Timepasses.)
MARYIA:He'll be back ...
Theyproceed with their lives. The lights diminish. VANYA does not return. (340)
And thus the play ends. In this closing image, Vanya standsfor action over passivity, selfthe
the
resignationof submission,
over
self-annihilation,
over
realisation
of
potential
expression
but he hasno direction in which to move, other than outwards.Barker's `catastrophe-survivor'
knows that action is called for, without knowing what that action shouldbe andwherethat action
him.
Crucially,
he
does
take
though,
not return.
might
Narrative and moral exploration
The significanceof this piece of theatreis not simply that Barker haschosento retell a story and
in
form
it
different
has
As
Charles
Lamb
the
which
pointed out,
setof outcomes.
provide with a
is
is
defining
told
also
a
elementof the work:
the story
For any art - andwe areconsideringherethe questionof theatre the problem of form is
crucial. The principal modeof almostall popular television/film/theatrefiction is realism
facie
light
In
the
the
simulation
authenticity.
of prima
of the theoretical position
outlined above [postmodernistdeconstruction] it is uselessas a vehicle for a radical,
critical art. It is, however,the dominantpopular form not only in `democracies'but it is
also the only genre with which totalitarian statescan feel comfortable; it lends itself
easilyto academicism- the purveying of `messages',ideology, role models,etc. but one
of its chief functions is reassurance...(Lamb, 1997:22)
Since, as we have seen,Barker explicitly rejects both the "purveying of `messages"',and the
it
follows
that the realistic, linear, easily comprehensiblenarrative
of
easy
reassurance,
provision
be
discarded.
it,
With
too, go the componentparts of traditional narrative: a senseof
also
must
place, a senseof period, psychologically consistentcharacterisation,chains of causality based
upon psychologicalor social realities, naturalistic dialogue or behaviour.
For the theatreto regainthe initiative in a society
which offers a superfluity of dramatic
productit must addressitself to its own uniqueness.This entails the creationof structures
121
in both language and narrative that do not owe their legitimacy to representation of the
beyond
the stage. (Barker, 1997: 83)
world
This rejection of narrative clarity, as a formal constraint, is thus a rejection of the world beyond
is
it
the
Nevertheless,
of
most,
or
even
many,
as
customarily
the stage,
perceived.
whilst
have
been
defaced
the
process of
of
narrative
removed,
may
completely
altered,
or
properties
in
in
to
Barker
does
order
clarity
narrative
reading
remains
operation.
repudiate
not
narrative
like
his
just
be
found
in
Instead,
there
that
to
the
own character
are
no
meanings
work.
prove
Lvov in The Last Supper (1988), he problematises the very nature of narrative reading, in order to
into
highly
his
their
audiences
personal responses.
making
own
and
moral
choices
goad
are
in
following
Questions of morality, as we shall see the
at the centre of Barker's plays
chapter,
by
his
in
the
these
narrative
of
moral
explorations
rupturings
are
powered,
a
vital
way,
and
rnodel.
[-ionouring the audience,making a bargainwith impossibility, involves opening up the stories
by
the
the
to
work
most rigorous of readings- opennarratives,offered the
that still exist within
by
writer and remade the audience.
122
Chapter
Nine - Narrative
and Morality
To tell a story is inescapablyto take a moral stance,even if it is a moral stanceagainst
moral stances.(Bruner, 1990: 51)
in
linked.
We
inextricably
is
in
believing
that
saw
an
Bruner
narrative and morality are
not alone
dramatists
Greek
their
the
that
the
of
outcomes
patterned
chapter
ancient
consciously
earlier
he
lines
imperatives,
is
John
Peter
thinking
when
along similar
and
narratives around ethical
it
is
immediately
"Drama
is
in
Yet
(1987:
37).
that,
obvious
not
character
moral
action"
asserts
in
be
like
Peter
terms
the
the
to
this
of a
connection
should
case.
make
necessarily
would
why
logic
of causality:
clear
In both Sophoclesand Ibsen,the past we are discoveringhascausedthe presentwe see.
The two narratives,oneturning us towardsthat pastandthe othercarryingus forward, are
boundtogetherby the moral chainsof causeand effect.They createa senseof movement,
both complex and inevitable,which is the true dynamicof both dramaand morality. It is
for
forward
by
is
different
the
the
world a
place
end of such plays
also a
movement:
everyonein it. And sowhen we saythat we understanda dramatic narrativewe meanthat
its
forward
(1987:
255-56)
the
we perceive causeswhich created
movement.
And again:
live in, and are conditionedby, a dynamicworld where things happen,and happen
we
...
with causesand consequences;
so that we arenaturally baffled by a play in which things
happenwith neither. (1987: 328)
Baffled perhaps,but is Peterright when he statesthat to encountersuch a play is to encounter
"the amoral" (328)? In a 1997article for the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Roger
Freeman is similarly concernedthat, "while causal narrative representation may present a
distorted perspectiveon the world, thereseemsno guaranteethat lesscausally-orientedforms can
depiction"
(Freeman,
1997:
53). However, we have seen, in our
a
more
accurate
offer
Barker's
desperate
Vanya
(Uncle)
Play-boy,
of
that while theseare
and
optimists'
examinations
flout
the conventionallaws of causeandeffect, it could still be arguedthat
repeatedly
which
texts
both seemable to engagewith seriousquestionsof moral exploration and choice, albeit in very
different ways.Barker himself is adamantthat, "I also am a moralist, but not a puritan" (Barker,
1997:76). Perhapswe should look more closely at Peter's "true dynamic".
123
A universal morality?
Of course,the moral debateitself haslong sincemoved away from being a pursuit of universal
has
become,
time,
to
and
along with many other
any and every culture,
truths, applicableat any
Rejecting
the
the
modernist view of
of
postmodern
world,
and
particularised.
relativised
aspects
feminist
defined
by
fairness,
justice
impartiality,
the
moral
absolutesof
and
morality, as
in
Carol
for
Gilligan,
has
describe
terms
the
to
particular
of
example,
sought
morality
researcher
his
book
Drama,
in
In
1982).
(Gilligan,
the
context of particular relationships
needs of others,
Narrative and Moral Education,JoeWinston explainsthat it is this understandingof morality, as
based in relationshipsandin the wider networksof socialcare,that hasled Gilligan andothersto
hold
"that
is
best
form
to
the
and convey such
suited
narrative story-telling
the conclusion
interactions
interactions,
(Winston,
Telling
1998:
17).
knowledge"
settingsuch
stories,exploring
here
is
their
the
the
cultural
everydayusageof
context:
emphasis
placed
primarily
upon
within
it,
literary
the
than
world
a
means
and
as
of
making
of
our
place
within
on
sense
rather
story
however,
from
Winston
this
the
starting-point,
per
se;
goes
onto
examine
role of more
narratives
formalised narrativeswithin the classroomsettingandthe way in which the active explorationof
help
for
traditional
tales
to
a
surprisingly
can
externalise
complex
questions
set
of
moral
many
primary school children.
Drawing upon Bruner's commentsabout the subjunctivity of narrative (1986, cf. Chapter 2),
Winston arguesthat the value of such stories is not that they teach a set of `moral rules' to
but
debate.
before
in
As
discussion,
find
that
they
minds,
this
that
ethical
stimulate
we
receptive
is
being
in
the
placed
reception,
and
upon
on
emphasis
processing
of
narrative
elements
a way
an
both
invites
affective engagementandcritical evaluation.Moreover, the very natureof such
that
idea
is
`taught'
by
that
the
precludes
engagement
morality
simply
such narratives,however
an
be
they
may
structured:
traditionally
There can be no one universal clarification or emotional responsewithin a drama,
of
course;it is patentlyevident... that a dramahasno single effect, predictableor otherwise,
upon an audienceor a group of children. Responsescan depend upon a number of
variations within the individuals watching or participating: their personal cultural
baggage,their past narrativesand future aspirations;the
social nature of the group who
sharethe drama;or, asRobinsoninsists,whichever `selfhappens to be prominentat this
momentin time. (Winston, 1998: 66)
124
And it is this potential for ambiguity of response,this vital personal engagement with the clashes
both
Barker
imperatives
that
too
narratives,
social
embedded
within
of
moral
contradictions
and
is
describe
he
the
in
to
his
to
the
moral
able
at
which
point
work,
and
extends
exploits
(Barker,
illegitimate
"exposure
thought"
in
the
to
the
and
pain
plays
as
a
necessary
explorations
1997: 47).
The exhaustionfelt by the audiencein a theatreof this natureis not enervating, but the
imagination is stimulated and the structuresof morality are tested, even if only to be
italics
(1997:
54,
But
it
is
mine)
the audiencewho must calibrate and assess.
affirmed.
between
the
the
it
and
then,
to
of
narrative
use
relationship
posit a continuing
I5
possible,
dynamic"
"true
invoking
Peter's
of
cause
of
necessity
without
of
moral
questions,
exploration
fuller
this
kind
What
to
take
active
of
account
a
us
model
might
enable
of
alternative
and effect?
happen
insists
Barker
engage
as
audiences
will
which
morality,
of
with
questions
engagement
its
fit
Vanya
like
(Uncle)
how
And
text
when
a
model,
such
would a
with the story materials?
logic
inimical
is
fragmented
the
to
causality?
of
conventional
so
and
so
narrative
own
Game theory
in
the
the
towards
understanding
causality
an
of
of
workings
valuable
An extremely
contribution
Western
Classical
The
Plot
Invention
Lowe's
has
been
J.
N.
the
of
and
narrative process
Narrative (2000).In it, Lowe invokes gametheory asan alternativeparadigm for describing the
is
involved
His
the
that
the
recognition
cognitive processes
starting-point
structuring of narrative.
do
little
formal,
have
to
with
structural, or literary descriptions
in readingnarrativeactually
very
but
the
the
text,
way
we
process
are
our
vitally
with
experience
connected
of
world around
a
of
discussed
in
is
As
this
acquiring
narrative
competence
a
previous
chapter,
not simply a matter
us.
logic
in
but
developing
learning
to
the
terms
of
cause
of
read
and
events
effect,
also
of
an
of
flow
`characters'
the
the
time,
the
of
of
nature
of
geographical
of
space,
and
of
awareness
inhabiting that space.Therearealsovariouskinds of rules which must be learnt:notjust the rules
but
how
likely
behave,
kinds
to
also
people
around
rules
about
are
causality,
us
which
of
of
behaviourwe can safelyindulge in andwhich are dangerous,or forbidden. Someof thesewill be
in the natureof universal laws ('If I put my hand on to a hot-plate, I will experiencepain') and
be
determined
by
others
may
arbitrary
and
context ('If I throw a tantrum, I will be sent to
many
Finally,
is
there
room').
an ever-expandingcatalogueof experienceswhich incorporate a
my
125
degree of provisional closure, even if this is only very rarely - as in the event of the
substantial
friend,
Lowe
that
animal
absolute.
out
or
perhaps
a
much-loved
points
relative,
a
close
death of
is
finds
it
be
found
that
the
to
these
and
of
game-worlds
patterning
are
within
elements
also
of
all
headings:
following
for
the narrative clock, the
the
to
structure
under
account
narrative
possible
board, playersand moves,rules and endgame.
7e
narrative clock
Storieshappenin time; and narrative [...] likes to mimic this flow of time in telling its
(Lowe,
2000:
20)
story.
flow
direction
be
the
to
the
of
of
and
rate
primary
clock
can
progress,
said
measure
narrative
-V[le
it
is
it
but
in
how
functions,
to
to
order
exactly
necessary
narrative,
understand
(or central)
between
different
involved.
is
describes
Lowe
First
the
time-layers
there
of all,
what
distinguish
is
it
for
i.
takes
the
to
this
the
the
time:
time
absolute
story
events
occur,
e.
calendar
story
the
as
in the storythat is being narratedmarksthe commencementof story time whilst the
event
earliest
for
its
is
fixed
be
it
Secondly,
the
to
that
takes
the
text
time
period
story
final event marks end.
in a theatricalcontext,would be the clock-time betweenthe start and end of the
which,
narrated,
Finally, there is the narrative time, which is "entirely fluid: it can start, stop, run
performance.
later
date.
it
In
to
an
earlier
slower,
suspend
or
or
movement,
somecases, can even
or reset
faster
run
backwards" (2000: 36-7).
disjunction
betweenstory time
then,
the
the
narrative
aware
clock
us
of
makes
many
Essentially,
In
dramaticnarrative,it is extremelyrare that the time neededfor
the
telling
time.
text
of
any
and
to
the
(although
on
stage
the
unfold
will
exactly
match
clock-time
events
of
performance
the
Alan Ayckboum hasprovided an intriguing exampleof just this in House & Garden [2000]), so
be a need to find ways of compressingthe story events into the fixed time
usually
will
there
for performance.Sometimesthis is accomplishedby a kind of theatrical
sleight-ofa,vailable
in
Othello,
for
instance,
that
do
`work',
if you examine
the
the
so
events
of
simply
play
not
hand,
limited
for
Shakespeare's
time
in
space
lies
his
them.
of
calendar
extremely
available
skill
the
to distractour attentionaway from the ticking of the narrative clock. But more typically,
ability
be
in sucha way thatjumps in the story time
will
arranged
by
are
accomplished
a change
Scenes
location,
or
a
clearly
signposted
the
lighting
re-setting
of
clock-hands,
such
as
a
change.More
of
126
include
introduction
devices
the
the
of
re-ordering
units,
would
of
narrative
sophisticated
in
Pinter
Betrayal to tell the story
time,
the
sub-plots,
of
such
uses
even
reversal
as
simultaneous
in
first
being
last
backwards,
the
played
with
chronological scene
of an adulterous relationship
theatrical sequence,and so on.
The board
Whilst in theory therewould seemto be no upper limit to the number of locationsthat could be
board
be
in
The
to
tell
small
will
actually
needed.
a story, practiceonly a relatively
number
used
imagined
be
different
locations
thus
the
totality
required.
as a narrativespacecontaining
of
can
According to Lowe, the boardhasthree main functions:
to limit the sphereof action, sincetoo many narrativelocationswithin a finite story-world
would potentially be confusingand too `open',
to structure the narrative,by providing `significant' spaces(thesemay oftenbe spheresof
2
in
be
in
is
to
more control of the spacethan another),the
power, which onecharacter able
most significant of which is usually reservedfor the endgame,and
to reify the narrative, by providing `recognisable'spaces,which increasethe senseof
3
verisimilitude andthereforeengagement(in theatretheseare often evokedby the useof
significant props, sounds,imagesand so on, rather than by the full re-creation of real
spaces).
Players and moves
Not all the characterswithin a story-world will beplayers. Somewill be merelywalk-onsor have
functional
minor,
roles to play. Normally a charactercan be identified as aplayer when we are
invited to empathisewith them, to careabout what happensto them, or to seeeventsand other
(even
if
briefly)
through their eyes.
only
players
A player can be defined in relation to three essentialcharacterelements:
"
motivation (the Stanislavskian super-objective): usually (though not necessarily)
introducedor explainedearly in the narrative,andrequiring the achievementof specific
goals,
"
knowledge:charactersmay needto acquiremore information before they can perceive
their goals properly, or approachthem realistically, and
127
"
power: charactersmay have the motivation and the necessaryinformation, but still need
to acquiremore power beforethey can achievetheir goals.
It follows that the two basicmovesavailableto a player aremovesof communication(acquiring
knowledge)
releasing
and movesof power (acquiring or concedingpower). However, not all
or
be
by
the rules of the game.
will
allowed
moves
Rules and endgame
The clock, board, and players define between them the contents of a narrative universe,
but they do not in themselves determine the actual course of play the sequence of
moves that assembles into a finished story. Two last conditions need to be established:
what kinds of moves the players are allowed, either collectively or as individuals; and
how the game must end. (Lowe, 2000: 54)
The rules of the gameare summedup by Lowe as "the logic of causality in the world of the
(2000:
54).
In
bear
this
almost
all
cases,
will
a superficiallycloserelationshipto real-world
story"
However,
by
in
fact,
determined
For
heavily
the
example,
many
of
genre.
rules are,
causality.
within the modemcinemathriller, repeatedfights andblows to the headwill neverresult (at least
for the hero) in anythingworsethan minor cuts andbruises;the villain must finally be killed by
his own treacheryratherthan by the hero's direct action, and so on. Similarly, in a conventional
"the
did
love
true
comedy,
course
of
never
run smooth".
romantic
The most powerful influence of all within the story universe,however, is the endgame.This is
the point towards which the narrative must convincingly move from its very outset. It must
justice,
our
sense
of
satisfy
or rightnessthat things have turned out as they `should'. Yet in a
well-told story,asAristotle observedvery early on in this debate,the route towardsthe endgame
be
not
a straightforwardone and shouldusually include a pleasingnumber of frustrations,
must
reversalsand surprises.In theatre,for instance,the traditional endgameexpectationsof comedy
have
been
tragedy
that:
and
"
in a comedy,we are likely to end the evening with a
for
(but
only
number of marriages
thosedeemed`worthy'), with folly exposed,vice unmasked,but no oneseriouslyharmed;
"
in a tragedy, the result will probably be
several dead bodies (including the central
protagonistalong with the main villain), and folly and vice being equally punished.
128
The steady progress towards the endgamemust ideally seem both plausible and inevitable: any
false
is,
`just
being
jar
this
that
of
a
after
all,
note
sensibilities,
us
struck will
on our
remind
sense
by
For
the
that
the
the
the
exerted
compulsion
and
narrative
story'.
reason,
of
game
rules
a
hidden
from
the audience throughout, or transparent.
should
conventionally
remain
endgame
Alternatively, asin classicalGreektragedy,it is possibleto imposean explicit control level upon
directing
influencing
by
in
that
the
the
the narrative, positing
and
godsareactive
affairs of men,
their outcomes. Even at a very early stage,though, it is possible to discern a feeling of
far
Euripides
than
this
their
opportunistically
more
with
services
strategy:
employs
awkwardness
the deeply-religiousAeschylus,or the rather more circumspectSophocles.Within a broadly
becomes
less
it
however,
level
this
theistic world-view,
active,although
control
remainsmoreor
less
in
drama
Mystery
English
beyond
the
plays.
explicit
medieval
once
we
move
gradually
Divine interventioncanthereforeexplain muchthat might otherwiseappearcontrived or forced.
(What is also apparentis that within later naturalistic drama,the control level has never really
influence
it
has
`the
influence
been
from
`the
to
the
god-like
merely
shifted
gods'
of
gone away:
)
the
author'.
of
It is less immediately obvious why a similarly tight set of genre expectations should have
developedin relation to comedy,but heretoo Lowe makessomeinterestingobservations.In his
view, the precedenceof tragedy meant that the Greek audiences'fundamental experienceof
theatrewas shapedby the watching of familiar stories,whoseoutcomeswere safelypredictable.
The narrativeinterest,therefore,as every good studentof Greektragedyknows, lay in how the
in
development
be.
The
than
the
events
unfolded,
rather
of early
story
end result would
what
Greek comedy,however, required playwrights to generateoriginal stories, whose basic plots
have
been
known
in advanceby their audience.How could a correspondingsenseof
not
would
`familiarity' be generatedin suchconditions?The solution was to shift the site of predictability
from the story level to that of the narrativerules. If the specific endgamecould not be known in
advance,tight genericrule-systemscould ensurethat the type of endgamewould. The shorthand
of quick genrerecognitionthus makesthe cognitive processingof narrativeboth easierandmore
controllable.
129
Local modifications
Lowe's analysis provides us with a number of helpful keys to identifying the core reason for the
in
felt
by
many with an assumedmapping of causeand effect, as experienced the
sense of unease
is
difficult
It
to
the
to see why narratives should,
world,
on
world
of
narrative.
not
real
fundamentally, seek to reflect our senseof the world as we experience it, including, therefore, a
has
As
Mike
Alfreds
awareness
of
causality.
observed:
general
There must be a recognisablehuman experience.Stories are about people. Theatre is
about people. [...] The important thing is that the experiencesportrayed should be
recognisable,identifiable- anunfashionableword, but if the audiencecan't identify, how
can they relate?(Alfreds, 1979:7-8)
It is also reasonablyuncontentiousto observethat the use of narrative, the telling of a story,
involves
degree
some
of structuringandre-orderingof reality, usuallyto makeevents
necessarily
fit into a rather neater pattern than life generally provides. What it also involves, as Lowe
demonstratesforcibly, is the absolute necessityfor local "modifications to the operation of
`natural' causality" (2000:54):
It is never, for instance,an option in the Odysseyfor Penelopeto die in the measles
epidemicof 1216BC. Whythis is impossibleis not instantly easyto say,let alonehow the
reader comes to know it. Indeed, it is precisely questions of this kind that existing
theories of plot seemunable to address.But classical narrative is permeatedby such
restrictionson the real-world structureof causality.(2000: 28)
The needto tell a particular story gives rise to a specific set of gamerules. The gamerules then
define the preciseworkings of the narrativeworld. According to Lowe, this is necessarybecause
he
`classical
the
calls
what
plot' requiresan extremelyhigh degreeof closurein order to work as
it should.This is not just a simple caseof everythingendinghappily or unhappily ever after.
The gamemodel suppliesus with anothervital clue in this respect:the classical plot needsa
closeduniversespecifically in order to ensurethat, in the progresstowardsthe final resolution just as in the world of a game- there are no wasted moves, and narrative energy is neither
expendedunnecessarily,nor leaksout of the system.The entire movementof the classicalplot is
thus determined by the various redistributions of knowledge and power demandedby the
endgame,towards which everything is moving.
The total information content of a narrative
but
be
to
universecannot added or reduced,
only redistributed amongelementsof the system;andthat redistributionwill alwaysbe in
130
the direction of increased entropy, the more even distribution of information amongst
players in the game. [ ... ] Like games, narrative universes are constructed as a closed
is
it
be
Within
that
system.
system, narrative power effectively conserved: cannot created,
destroyed, or even transferred between players in the course of the game, but only
converted into differently harnessableforms. (2000: 50,52)
An aspect of narrative has been revealedhere that might remain hidden in a more formal,
how
free
issue
be
The
thus:
can
a
and open
analysis.
summarised
at stakecan now
structuralist
by
debate
be
fully
is
constrained
a series of
artificially
enabledwithin a world which
moral
fundamental
beyond
the
hidden, genre-based
more
requirement
rulesandcontrols,which go way
to reflect the basic laws of causalitywithin the story universe?
(Uncle) Vanya and negative entropy
What Lowe hasidentified hereis the full extentto which narrativeshavetendedto be constrained
is
be
`ideal'
between
And
the
to
this
there
classical
a
connection
of a
made
plot paradigm.
within
insistence
"stop
[the
Barker's
telling
that
system
and
must
audience]storiesthey can
we
closed
(1997:
is
intelligibility,
18).
basic
This
to
as
of
a
refusal
not
a
question
of
so
much
understand"
format.
that
to
this
neatly
up
ordered
narrative
worlds
operate
according
closed
system
serve
Frequently, thingsjust do not `addup' in Barker's story worlds, nor can they be explained by a
be
it
`real'
fact,
In
the
the
to
mapping
of
can
equivalent
world.
play-world on
simple
demonstratedthat (Uncle) Vanya,in particular, breakstheseentropic laws in a most interesting
manner.
In the original versionof the story,the moral debatecentreson questionsof regretandaspiration,
and a certain view of action/inaction. The arrival of Yeliena and Serebriakovhas brought an
indolence
of
enforced
and boredom to the whole estate.At the sametime, it has
atmosphere
disturbedthe household'shabitual routines,so that both Vania and Sonia are required, eachin
their own way, to examinethe motivationsbehindtheir normally frantic activity, andto turn their
attentions towards two separate,yet equally unattainable, objects of desire. Astrov too is
distractedfrom his customaryabsorptionin environmentalconcernsand drawn insteadinto an
interest
in Yeliena's youth andbeauty.Vania rails againsttraditional morality asa way
obsessive
justifying
his own passions("To be unfaithful to an old husbandwhom she couldn't bear
of
would be immoral - but to do her utmost to stifle within her all her youth, her vitality, her
131
is
feel
immoral!
"
but
is
[192]),
is
Astrov
to
that
the
too
not
evident.
self-interest all
capacity
more witty and direct in his flouting of traditional values: "... sooner or later you'll be bound to
in
if
happens
Harkov,
it
be
better
feelings
it's
inevitable.
And
that
to
or
not
will
give way your
here,
it's
least
in
but
down
here,
in
lap
At
Kursk,
the
quite
poetical
of nature.
somewhere
beautiful in fact... There are forestry plantations, half-ruined country houses in the Turgenev
down
finally
debate
"
[239]).
irritable,
just
But
to
the
settles
moral
whether
witty
or
plain
style...
like
how
is
live,
to
the
to
the
make are simply not
would
one
choices
question:
one
when
asking
imitates
These
framed
the
which
perfectly
pattern
questions are
within a narrative
viable?
limited
`reality',
but
it
is
that
there
set of options available to the
a
of
only
also clear
are
causality
in
force
here?
Whose
the
tight
the
rules are actually
play.
game-structure of
characters within
Barker wants us to see that they are imposed by Chekhov, rather than by the workings of an
irresistible higher moral order.
In order to demonstratethis, he plays a numberof tricks with the game-world.We havenoted,for
instance,that Chekhov'sprimary narrative forms the basisfor the first part of Barker's play, but
that Barker could be saidto be deliberatelyspeedingup the workings of the narrative clock, refiguring the original as a kind of fast-forward summary.Then he `breaks' it altogetherby his
introduction of Chekhov as a characterwithin the play. How are we to measurethe difference
betweenstory time and text time, once its (implied) author has steppedinto the narrative?The
board is introducedas solid and `real', andthen it too is subvertedandbroken asthe back of the
into
into
hinterland
fictional
And
between
what
up
a strange,
set opens
spaceand real space.
board
beyond
it
does
Vanya exit at the end of the play?
the
on
or
place
Theplayers are initially thoseof Chekhov's original, yet the historical Chekhov then entersthe
in
fictionalised
form, once again rupturing the boundariesof the narrative system,and
scene
questioningthe relationshipbetweenthe fictional charactersinhabitingthe world of the play, and
the play's audiencelooking in. What is more, the players are clearly unsureof what movesare
permissible,what will they be allowed to do, once they have begun to question and break the
rules of the control level.
In relation to Lowe's thesis, this is probably the most striking feature of the play: the way in
which Barker makes the control level of the original narrative explicit. Quite clearly, it is
132
Chekhov's rules, not universal laws, which hold sway in this narrative universe. But Barker's
challenge to the very assumptions, on which that universe is founded, is neatly played out by this
device of allowing the players to interact with their god-like maker. Chekhov's control is thus
be
to
entirely arbitrary, the players begin to be aware of other possible moves available to
shown
them, outside the strict confines of the game rules, and, once the restrictions are lifted, alternative
become
in
Morality
is
for
possible.
endgames
opened up
question the same way that the story
itself
is
opened up: its fractured boundaries make possible a kind of negative entropy, and
world
leak
both
into
longer
it
is
hermetically
that
the
can
no
and out of
energy
narrative space, now
"Vanya's
became
for
Chekhovian
the
the
and
closed.
a
quitting of
madhouse
metaphor
sealed
heroically,
if
blindly, to the open door" (Barker, 1993: 293).
to
of
art
point
potential
Of course,aswe notedin the previouschapter,this senseof freedomis itself paradoxical,for the
level
has
been
not
removed:the god-like power of absolutecontrol has merely been
control
'
from
Chekhov
Barker,
himself
`transparent'
to
throughout.
transferred
who
remains
The questionto which we must now return is whether the fact that this narrative universe is
in
a
construct,
which the laws of causeand effect have ceasedto operateas expected,
patently
have
that
we
means
entered,as John Peterwould have it, an amoral landscape.Are Barker's
invalidated
explorations
moral
within a narrativewhich deliberatelyexposesits own artifice?Are
they in anyway lessrigorousthan Chekhov's?I would suggestnot. What we havehereis, in fact,
an alternativearenafor the debate.Barker repudiatesthe kind of theatrewhich comesbearing a
but
is
fiercely consciousthat thereis still a place for anothertype of theatre,onewhich
message,
its
many
questions
asks
of audience,often extremelyuncomfortableones.If genreexpectations
and the accumulatedrules of narrative story-telling constrainthe story outcomes,they will also,
by implication, constrainthe possiblescopeof the moral debate,andBarker'sresponseis to write
plays which, amongsttheir other innovations,consciouslyviolate the narrative rules in order to
createan arenain which new outcomesarepossible.As in the original version,the moral debate
in (Uncle) Vanyais concernedwith questionsof freedomandconstraint,however,in this patently
non-causaluniverse,theseexistential choicesarenot constrainedby a 'hidden' control level, and
this is effectively embodiedasthe central metaphorof the play. By refusing to allow the moral
Transparent,that is, in the sensein which Lowe
usesthe word, to mean `unseen'
133
space of the play to be hermetically sealedoff within a separatenarrative world, Barker forces the
questions out into the audience.
Play-boy
In a rather different way, desperateoptimists' Play-boy also managesto reconfigure some of the
issues
of Synge's original. Playboy of the Western World invites us to consider the
central
it
is
form,
in
its
fictional
be
that
generally much more
whilst violence can glamorous
proposition
for
when
encountered
ugly
real. Within that, there are also questions about the nature of
fact
inevitable
based
that
the
slippage
of
on
a romanticised view of others, and
relationships
involve.
processes
narrative
All of theseissuesfind their equivalentsin Play-boy, andalthoughthe moral questionsarevery
inserted
into
it
is
Lowe's
identify
Again,
the
to
them.
model
mix,
subtly
neverthelesspossible
Firstly,
disruption
describing
the
the
of
narrative process.
provides us with a useful way of
is
there
the
there
are many mini-narrativeswithin
no clearprimary narrative,
piece,
although
fact
benefit.
for
Joe
j
Christine's
than
the
through
the
of
and
other
störy-materials our
own ourney
Thus the narrative clock is irrelevant from the start- it hasno definitive story time to measure.
Even if it were operational,it would certainly be `wrong'. It is demonstrably`impossible' to
bring all the characterstogetherfor the final scenein the way that it happens:the charactersall
from
different story timesanddo not fit togetherin the way that their false narrativeinsists
come
that they did.
The board too is confusing. There are a great number of different narrative spacesmentally
for
evoked us, including the Abbey Theatrein Dublin, Chile, Mexico, Fifties America, the filmsetof Viva Zapata, andthe CasaAmore nightclub, but they do not `cohere',andnoneof them is
illusionistically.
The only spaceswe canactually seearethe real onesof the performance
created
itself
space
and the television studio capturedon the video clips.
The playersarea mix of real, virtual, historical and fictional. The only two actorswe can seeare
the performers,Joe and Christine. They arejoined by friends and
family,
their
real
membersof
peoplepresentto us asvirtual figures in the television monitors. The other playersarepresented
in
only terms of their narrative descriptions,we can accessthem only by means of Joe and
134
Christine's accounts. Known historical figures such as Marlon Brando, Leon Trotsky and John
Millington
Synge mingle confusingly with the more exotic sounding (but also historical) Juan
O'Gorman and Don Bernardo O'Higgins. These are supplemented by the fictional characters
by
Brando,
in
Zapata,
Quinn
Viva
and
others
as well as gangs of surrealist painters and
played
invoked
hired
More
the
as players, explicitly
audience
are
also
assassins.
solidly,
we
shadowy
drawn into the narrative process by Joe's direct questions and challenges.
Whereasin (Uncle) Vanyathe rules were invoked in order to be deliberately smashed,here we
have the sensethat the rules arebeing madeup aswe go along.They areopento negotiation,the
in
is
indeed
it
is
from
the
that
outset
one which
we are watching an experiment,
narrative offer
we areinvited to participate.The openingquestion,"What do we needto know?" invokesa sense
that we will never,for all our investigations,actually arrive at the truth of anything,but we will
need to revise the rules of the gameat every stage.
The gamerules of stagenarrativearebroken in front of us: the `natural' laws of causeand effect
illusionistic
dictate
blood
is
that
will
within
an
story
when
someone
shot
on
stage,
embedded
begin to flow. Instead,we watch asJoeandChristine sewthe blood-pouchesonto their costume
before
fired.
The
then
them
any shotsare
rules which sealoff the narrativeworld, and
pierce
and
hard
delineate
ignored
it
becomes
fiction
the
very
spheresof
andreal-world action are
and
which
to find the boundariesbetweenthem. How much of what is deliveredto us asthe truth aboutJoe
is
how
Christine
much that seemsblatantly fictional within the
actually
made up, and
and
narratedeventsis actually basedupon fact? At the very end of the performance,the arbitrary
is
the
of
game madeexplicit within the closing dialogue:
nature
JOE: So, you just... made that bit up?
CHRIS:Yes.
JOE: Why? Why did you make that bit up?
The questionis left hanging, open-ended,for us to answer.In fact, in direct contrastwith the
tightly-closed narrative universe of the classical plot, this story world is left teasingly open
throughout.
135
And
in
ironic
faithfully
invokes the classical plot
to
the
this,
yet,
contrast
performance also
device
of endgame.There is a final climactic scene,for which all the participants in the narrative
impossibly
in
in
Casa
Amore
The
the
tense
the
culminates
gathered.
showdown
shooting
are The drama ends as Joe and Christine sink to the floor, acting out the requisite moments
Synge.
of
before the eyes of the audience.
`death'
of
Yet although it works its materialsin very different waysindeedfrom Barker's play, againit is by
interrogating andforegroundingthe devicesof narrativethat the piece is able to ask whether the
in
invited
fact
based
frequently
draw
in
theatre
to
the
conclusions
we
are
not
are
upon
moral
behind
from
in
And
the
this
the
artificial
start.
worlds,
which
outcomes
are
rigged
highly
danceof fact and fiction, the figures on the video screens,the nonand
engaging
complicated
directly of their own thoughts about the issuesraised for them by Synge's
speaking
actors,
original
play and experiencingtheir own momentsof genuinepanic/exhilaration, as they are
fire a real gun directly towards the camera,are rehearsingfor us the truly genuine
to
required
Their reflections on violence, on relationships, on the
the
questions
of
performance.
moral
handling,
loading (with blanks), and firing the gun are lightly painted in, but
of
experience
becauseof their honesty and immediacy. The directnessof their unprepared and
affecting
fictional gamesbeingplayedout
the
responses
contrasts
with
starkly
and
effectively
spontaneous
them.
around
Closure and followability - again
different
two
These
approachesto the normally concealedproblematicsof narrative suggestthat
investigating
certainly
are
alternative
ways
of
raising
and
moral questionswithout needing
there
the
tight
indeed
the
within
confines
of
classical
stay
plot,
or
of naturalcausality.Therearenew
to
be
landscapes
both
these
which
can
asked
within
new
and
what
pieces of work also
questions
is a useful critique upon the traditional narrativeforms which havetendedto
achieve
work within
the rule-bound,closure-orientatedformat of the classicalplot. And we should not be temptedto
Lowe,
just
because
that
became
says
this
the dominant narrative form in the Western
suppose,
tradition,
that
Greek
the
had
developed
it, had fooled themselves
ancient
writers,
who
cultural
into thinking that what happenedin storieswas a true model for life, or that closurewas quite as
in
to
the
achieve
real world:
easy
136
`Call no man happy till he is dead' : the Sophoclean platitude articulates an uncomfortable
But
in
happy-ever-after
do
life
in
terminate
state.
stable
that
a
not
stories
awareness
real
this does not in practice prevent us from viewing the future in terms of short-range goals,
Classical
right.
the
moment when everything comes vaguely
and their attainment as
fiction simply takes this goal-based life-model and treats it as conventionally true. (Lowe,
2000: 59)
What both pieces also have in common, however, is that they could both be described as
followable. Ethical questionswould still be much more difficult to ask - if not impossible finally
is
the
point at which any possibility of coherence
within work that anti-narrative to
disappears.Preciselywhen that point is reachedbecomesever harder to define, however, as
Presumably,
fragmented,
in
we
narratives.
multi-strand
audiencesgrow more skilled reading
but
in
Dadaists
Cage
John
this
deliberately
the
category,
or
non-sensicalworks of
could countthe
in
form,
in
for
instance,
Foreman's
though
still
Richard
anarchic content and non-linear
plays,
Wooster
The
deal
to
speculation.
of philosophical and cultural
seemable accommodatea great
Group's work, again usually non-linear in format and reliant upon broken narrative and
incomplete apprehensions,neverthelessengageswith seriousethicalandpolitical questions,such
into
investigation
the
dangerous
1&
9's
Route
the
their
politics
of
race,
or
of
exploration
as
).
Points...
High
drug-taking
in
(...
Just
L.
S.
D.
implications
the
of recreational
social andpersonal
Forced Entertainment, fragmentary and splintered as their pieces are, also raise significant
in
`ethical
to
the
the
seen
the
relation
moral
of
audience
and
role
about
spectator',
questions
events.
We have reacheda point in the investigation where we can posit, once again, that closure-a
fundamentalrequirement,it would seem,of the classicalplot - is not necessarilya function of
narrative,though somekind of followability almost certainly is. The sequenceof narrativeneed
be
it
be
linear
but
is
in
in
its
likely
be
that
to
an
will
not necessarily
still
presentation,
read ways
`re-construct'
it
is
in
Causality,
linearity.
to
attempt
sucha
as
experienced our everydayrealities,
doesnot appearto be an essentialpre-requisitefor an exploration of moral questions,nor an
indispensable
definitions
formal
for
though
the
absolutely
many
narrative
process,
requirementof
of narrative,it hasbeenthe lynchpin. We arenow at a stage,at which we canbeginto re-examine
the difficult questionof postmodernnarrative: what is it, and in what ways might it be said to
differ from the traditional model of narrative;how doesit operateandwhat implicationsdoesthis
havefor the role and statusof narrative in contemporarytheatre?
137
Chapter Ten - Postmodern Narrative
We no longer have recourse to the grand narratives - we can resort neither to the dialectic
of Spirit nor even to the emancipation of humanity as a validation for postmodern
form
discourse.
little
[petit
But
the
the
quintessential
scientific
remains
recit]
narrative
...
of imaginative invention... (Lyotard, 1984: 60)
Postmodernthought is inherently antinarrative.(Roemer,1995: 78)
Within the multi-faceted,much-debatedcultural shift that is postmodernism,narrative hasbeen
both discreditedandrebranded.Whilst we areno longerableto call uponthe grandnarrativesof
the past,we seemto be evermoreindebtedto the little narrativesof our fragmented`now'. In his
in
decades
knowledge
the
the
account
of the twentieth century,
of
condition
of
seminal
closing
Jean FrancoisLyotard writes of "the preeminenceof the narrative form in the formulation of
traditional knowledge" (1984: 19). His argumentthat the narrative form is self-legitimating,
by
is
borne
its
the
the
transmission,
out strongly
pragmaticsof
own
primarily as a result of
`reverse-image'quality of the two exampleswe havebeenconsidering.Both of these,aswe have
instance
forcing
the
their
problematise
of
us to remain awareof their status
seen,
own re-telling,
its
both
limitations
the
thereby
constructed
as
narratives,and
of such a processrevealing
inability to supply an `authoritative' discourse- and also its continuing potential for provoking
affective engagementand openmoral exploration.
This foregrounding of the `telling' of the tale, is perhapsthe most obvious characteristicof
postmodernnarrative- more so, even,than that other notablekey signature,fragmentation- in
Emile
form
it.
It
French
linguist,
identified
first
Benveniste,
the
whatever
we encounter
was
who
two distinct modesof telling as histoire and discours. Characterisinghistoire as a form which
presentedits narrativematerial in a `historical' manner,he observedthat in suchan accountthere
is little or no senseof the subjective speakerbehind the narrative, but rather it is impersonal,
detachedand - crucially the presentmoment of the utteranceis excluded. Discours, on the
other hand, is acutely consciousof the narrating moment, the contract between speakerand
listener is made explicit, and narrative transparency
key
the
three
of
one
of
requirements
classicalplot, accordingto N. J. Lowe (the othertwo being amplitudeandeconomy;Lowe, 2000:
62) - is deliberately ruptured. We know that
we are being `told a tale' and there is a
consciousness
of the constructednatureof the narrative.
138
been
have
forms
different
history,
be
theatre
It could
many
argued, of course, that throughout
developed, through which the `present moment' of narration has been made explicit. The Chorus
in Classical Greek tragedy, the narratorial devices of the medieval Morality Plays, Shakespearean
dell'arte:
these
direct
Restoration
all
of
the
commedia
of
engagement
asides,
audience
soliloquy,
its
direct
have
to
have
theatre's
contact
with
ability
made extensive and varied use of
conventions
from
late
time,
the
fact,
has
been
In
there
a comparatively short stretch of
only
audience.
been
has
the
for
fourth-wall
general expectation.
realism
which
nineteenth century onwards,
What has changed, however, is that whereas, in all these earlier instances,the constant reminders
the
the
the
to
now
the
of
narrative,
authority
reinforce
narrating
moment served ultimately
of
discours is made explicit in order to undermine and question its own reliability and integrity.
Instead of watching the presentation of a series of events, we are made acutely conscious of the
fact that we are watching a re-presentation, and that that re-presentation is subject to all the flaws,
inaccuracies and falsehoods of that narrating moment.
And so there has developedan ambivalencetowards narrative: on the one hand it remains an
ideas,
of
and of new possibilities; yet, on
extraordinarily powerful communicatorof experience,
inability
its
it
to tell the
be
fatally
to
trapped
own
the other, appears
and constrainedwithin
`truth'.
Nick Kaye's Postmodernismand Performance(1994), tracesthis uneasynew relationship with
Group's
Route
1&9,
detailed
Wooster
through
readings of
narrative
Karen Finley's The
ConstantStateof Desire andYvonne Rainer's This is the story of a womanwho... Eachof these
is
be
to
shown
resistingthe usualdynamicsof narrative,by foregroundingandquestioning
pieces
the narrative processesat work in their own construction, and by their setting of multiple
for
he
In
tendency
the
voices
and
narrative
perspectivesagainsteachother. particular, examines
conventionalnarrativeto operateasa vehicle that tells us `whatwe alreadyknew', andhighlights
the waysin which eachof theseworks both challenges,and is implicated in, that tendency.(And
in
so, the spirit of the new grand recit of postmodernism,thesefragmentednarrative voices do,
paradoxically,tell us the samestory: we must not hope to find a unitary meaning or coherent
)
worldview amidst thesemultiple and conflicting perspectives.
139
Some contemporary playwrights are also beginning to demonstrate an awareness of this new
first
back
it.
Consider
both
drawn
to
and
and
narrative,
nervous
of
are
repeatedly
ambivalence
this proposition taken from Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking:
ROBBIE:I think... I think we all need stories, we make up stories so that we can get by.
And I think a long time ago there were big stories. Stories so big you could live your
The
Journey
Fate.
Gods
to
life
in
Hands
The
Powerful
the
them.
and
whole
of
Enlightenment. The March of Socialism. But they all died, or the world grew up or grew
Little
But
forgot
them,
stories.
stories.
own
senile or
our
up
so now we're all making
we've each got one. (Ravenhill, 1996: 63)
And take now theseopeninglines from an experimentalscript createdin 1995by PeterBarnes,
Studio:
Theatre
National
the
two-week
the
course
of
a
workshop at
over
JACK
ALICE
JACK
ALICE
JACK
ALICE
If only I'd donethat instead...
I know how it works, the side-thought-chasers.
Hish-hash,his-hash,hushie,hushie.
We're both gromish; sadand gromish.
Let it out, you and me, any girl or none, glad it was you.
I'm not in the mood for archesor the soundof white.
(Barnes,1996:204)
There are echoes here of Richard Foreman's style, although without his idiosyncratic
is
how
feel
for
his
This
comic, aphoristic rhythms.
combination of senseand non-sense,or
Barneshimself describeshis method:
The intention in Luna Park Eclipsesis not to depict plot or characterbut show directly
the contrastbetweenwhat viewers apprehendandwhat they provide for themselvesasin
an abstractpainting or collage.The audienceis facedwith the samedilemma the author
facedwhen writing the play it must make choices.[...]
Thereis no consciousplot, or characters,only actors.The play relies on the audienceto
provide the absentplot and characters.The dialogue consistsof non-sequiturs,and the
audiencemakesa connectionbetweenthem becauseit must. (1996: 203)
Through the characterof Robbie, Ravenhill exploresthe view that narrative must continue to
play a centralrole in what it meansto be human,and therefore in theatrical expressionsof that
human-ness,but Barnesis less sure he seemsuneasyabout the
whole processof storytelling,
exploring insteadthe possibility of transferring all responsibility for narrative coherenceto the
audience.And in many ways,theseviews arerepresentativeof the two most commonresponses
140
to the crisis of narrative in contemporary work: on the one hand, a continuing and persistent bias
towards story, on the basis that story-telling, and the need for stories, continue to lie at the very
from
being;
lack
the
of
of
confidence,
a
move
away
our
and on
other, an uncertainty, a
centre
forms that, up till now, have been taken as normative.
An escape from geometry
One valuablecontributionto the debateis providedby Andrew Gibson's Towardsa Postmodern
Theory of Narrative (1996). Gibson's central thesis is that narratology,with its roots in early
twentieth-century Structuralism,has remainedinexorably bound to a view of narrative that is
for
`grammar'
(Greimas,
1971,
in
for
The
a narrative
search
essentially geometric nature.
for
`deep
for
was
a
search
structures',
patterns,recurrences,regularities and rules.
example)
Underlying all of this, says Gibson, "is a fantasy of a geometrical clarity, symmetry and
Even
(Gibson,
3).
1996:
to
the
text"
so-calledpost-structuralist
narrative
or
narrative
proportion
like
he
Peter
Brooks
(1984),
that
of
argues,are essentially presenting us with a
accounts,
instead,
is
describable,
fixed.
Gibson
homogeneous,
that
controllableand
seeks,
narrative space
to find new forms of languageto describewhat he seesto be the multiple, flexible, changeable
linear
is
journey
be
A
to
through
of
course
conceived as a
such spaces not
spaces narrative.
through a mappablelandscape-a narrative discourse- but rather as a `parcours', a voyage or
`coursethrough' many dispersedand scatteredspaces(ibid: 16). And where there can be no
formal geometry,so too there can be no fixed centre,no point of reference,no `safe' place to
There
are only shifting points-of-view, unstablesites of meaning.
stand.
So fiercely does Gibson interrogate both structuralist and post-structuralist definitions of
narrative, that there are points in his argument,at which the very possibility of any kind of
meaningful description of narrative form seemsto dissolve into an endless regression of
paradoxesandcontradictions.Nevertheless,of particular interestfor the purposesof this present
debateis his contentionthat this preferencefor the geometryof a narrative text hasbeenat the
expenseof what he calls its `energetics'.Within a fixed, static conceptof narrative,he says,there
be
little
can
effective vocabularyfor describingthe dynamicinterplay of forcesat work within its
shifting movements.It seemsto me that this is precisely an areain which dramatic narrative,
in
viewed the context of live performance,can offer somehelpful alternativeperspectives.
141
Theatre provides us with a space in which narrative can be viewed, above all, in terms of its
mobility and its forceful energy. The text is always and only ever perceived in motion, its agents
itself
The
to
the
shown
performance
event
us
constant
change.
via
processes of
repeatedly
dynamic
a
reading: this is a format, which must take place within time, which must
necessitates
work
its effects by means of the live, interactive dynamics set up between performer and
Performers,
be
is
`stopped',
above all,
showing.
and which new at every
spectator, which cannot
before
how
instant
line,
the
an attentive and
unique
of saying a
playing a moment,
understand
fresh
its
by
possibilities, unperceived until
audience
can
change
revealing
meaning,
responsive
that precise point in time.
Both Play-boy and (Uncle) Vanyamake explicit use of this liveness,and both foreground and
it
is
in
discours,
different
In
Play-boy
their
a matter of
ways.
own
although quite
problematise
immediate
between
an
relationship
performersand audience,with questionsand
establishing
for
being
thrown
to
those
out
watching,althoughwithout space
created,perhaps, them
challenges
to give a genuinelydirect, vocal response;aswhen Joeinterruptsthe performanceto ask,"Does
here
know
"
from
bad
Can
the
to
that
thing
question?
a
good
come
a
act?
answer
simple
anyone
This livenessis then contrastedwith the mediatedimagesprovided by the video material. Here
there is no possibility, even, of responseand yet there is the `performance' of interaction, in
Christine's reassurances
to the onscreencharacters("It's all right, Muiris, we're still here.").
By contrast,(Uncle) Vanya'slivenessis most apparentthroughits very artificiality. Although the
action nevermovesoutsidethe theatrical frame, we find our attentiondrawn repeatedlyback to
that frameby the manyviolations of theatricalandnarrativeconventionthat take placewithin it.
By eschewingthe methods of realism and adopting instead a starkly overcoded artificiality,
Barker remindsus constantlythat we are watching a theatrical world that is incommensurable
with anyconventionalexperienceof the socialworld in which we live. In this way, Barker's play
embodiesanother strand of Gibson's argumentconcerning the particularities of postmodern
narrative.By conjuring up a world that canonly be readin its own terms,that hasno direct, oneto-onecorrespondence
with the world aswe perceiveit to be, or to the generallaws of causeand
(Uncle)
Vanyademonstratesthe
effect,
meansby which narrativecan'inaugurate'a perceptionof
the `real', ratherthan merely imitating it (Gibson, 1996:87-88).Barker tells us storieswe cannot
142
in
order to lead us into worlds we have never seen. This opening up of possible new
understand
worlds Gibson seesas a distinctively postmodern form of narrative, and the words he uses in this
describe
it
be
just
films
Jean-Luc
Godard,
to
the
could
as
easily,
seems,
applied to the
of
context
Howard
Barker:
of
plays
[He] refusesto allow realism and referenceto have any kind of founding or final status
They
He
them
elements.
are
within a given work.
grants
no privilege over othernarrative
disappearance,
themselves
and thus
rather caughtup
within a play of appearanceand
resituated,transformed,`reinaugurated'.(1996: 94)
In accordancewith Derrida's thoughtsconcerningdifferance,Gibsonlays particular stressupon
the deferralof meaning,andhe is ultimately scepticalaboutanyform of narrativeschematisation,
is
that
to do with thematics,voice, narrative layers,narrativetime, or whatever, seeing
whether
these strategiesas the imposition of a false geometricsupon a text, and even as an illegitimate
is
(1996:
107).
He
through
also
systemsof categorisationand control
exercise of power,
"pushing
it,
like
Nick
Kaye,
the reader
theory,
of
as a way of
viewing
suspicious reception
backwards into a particular perceptionof what is alreadyknown" (1996: 272).
Redefinitions
Is suchscepticismjustified? Both Play-boy and (Uncle) Vanyaareexploring alternativemodels
in
towards
the
narrative
which
not only compel
a processof personalengagement the
of
reader
meaning-makingprocess,but which, it could be argued,also questionandchallengethe familiar
by
categories which we normally read theatrical narrative. It is my contention that we need
neither abandonnarrative,nor cling too tightly to the forms in which we have encounteredit in
the past.
Let us remind ourselvesof the definition of narrative with which this discussionbegan:
A narrativeis the semioticrepresentationof a seriesof eventsmeaningfully connectedin
a temporal and causalway. (Onega& Landa, 1996: 3)
In the previouschapter,we examinedthe questionwhethercausalitywasa pre-requisitefor
moral
debateand it was arguedthat we could
explore suchissueswithout, of necessity,relying upon
causalnarrative. Indeed, should we now go further and ask whether causality is therefore an
143
essential element of narrative itself? The point has already been made, in fact, that it is closely
tied to (em)plot(ment), which can more properly be seen to be a sub-category of narrative, a
tighter, more restricted story-universe in which natural causality is modified to fit a predetermined set of genre-rules and reader-expectations. Perhaps, then, we should re-phrase the
in
itself,
in
be
the
the
the
to
should
work
or
element of causality
question:
seen reside primarily
reader's re-construction of it?
To answersucha question,it is necessaryto return oncemoreto the questionof how narratives
definition
implication
further
A
the
cognitively
given aboveof
processedaswe read/watch.
are
"a seriesof eventsmeaningfully connected"- is that narrativesare essentially linear in their
in
if
disrupted,
Brecht's
linear
has
been
that
or,
as
noneven
sequence
provisionally
construction,
Aristotelian theatre,hasbecomedisjointedanduneven.Thetemporaldimensionis alsoimportant
to the definition: this too suggestslinearity, sincetemporalflow is all aboutthe presentationof a
in
keeping
is
This
time.
of
with
events
much
over
story
very
a measurableperiod of
series
Gibson's objections to this way of viewing narrative, where even time is contained within a
description
A
typical
geometric,
of the processof reading narrative
spatial matrix.
primarily
linear
involve
in
therefore,
the
that
and
would,
way which we re-construct
some account of
temporal sequencein our headsas we assemblethe information provided. Such a description,
however,would seemto give an inadequateaccountof the actualcomplexities involved, evenin
relation to traditional narratives.
Postmodernnarratives,moreover,have relied increasingly on fragmentation,interruption, the
openingup of multiple spaces,and inadequateclosure,and suchdevicesdisrupt sequentialand
temporal flow, sometimesonly partially, sometimesfatally. Whilst the cognitive process of
reading narrative has conventionally beenseenin terms of reconstructinga strictly linear path
through a unified space- relying upon a basic predispositionto interpret contiguity in terms of
`expressive' causality (a rather loose forging of connectionsbetween otherwise apparently
unconnectedelements),andthus exploiting the notion of narrative `gaps' (Bruner, 1986)- there
are almost certainly other concurrentprocessesat work.
N. J. Lowe has further insights to bring to this
question. In his account of the cognitive
mechanismsusedfor reading and interpreting narrative (2000: 17-35), he proposesa three-fold
144
like
the notion of a triptych, containing a central panel, which is then flanked by
rather
model,
two side panels. The central panel can be imagined to be the mental `screen' on which we are
`seeing' the story events unfold. If these are presented to us in a linear format, then there will be
little or no re-ordering of events needed for this version of the story. This central panel, then,
represents the conventional picture of how the process of narrative reading tends to be
Lowe
be
However,
One
them,
the
suggests,
of
can
side panels are also crucial.
conceptualised.
`jigsaw
lay
is
Here
the
the
as
puzzle' of
out the pieces of the puzzle, as
seen
narrative.
where we
they are presented to us. They are not necessarily given to us in the correct order, of course, nor
joined
first.
begin
become
be
into
Pieces
they
to
the
at
only
when
we
are
aware of
slotted
puzzle
their correct placing. In some narrative genres, we may be positively encouraged to place the
in
`wrong'
the
place in the puzzle. This is particularly the case, for example, in a murderpiece
mystery story, where wrong-footing the reader is a central part of the narrative game, but consider
despite
instance
in
knowledge
Oedipus
Rex,
the
rather
more
subtle
our
pre-existent
also
of
which,
of the story outcomes, we are nevertheless (temporarily) encouraged at various moments to try
in
the `wrong position', and to see the story from Oedipus' perspective:
pieces
placing
If I can foretell the future,
Either by prophecy,or common sense,
I predict that by tomorrow morning
This truth will be dawning:
That mysteriousCithaeron,
That magical mountain
Was father and mother and nurse
To Oedipusour king,
And our voices will sing
Praisesfor his outlandishbirth,
A child of the earth,
And glory to Apollo, and thanksgiving.
(Sophocles,1986:45-6)
As anynarrativecontinuesto unfold andmore piecesareprovided, sowe areslowly ableto build
up the picture and to graspthe shapeof the story as a whole. Rather than a jigsaw, however,
which must, by its nature,be somethingto be `completed', or closed,it is even more fruitful to
envisagethis second panel as a kind of gradually-forming hologram: a three-dimensional
narrative shape that is built up by the reader. Details are filled in or not as relevant
-
145
information
becomes available. However, a basic form can be imagined at a very early stage in
the process and re-configured / filled-in as more information becomes available.
Meanwhile, the other side-panel is also being altered as the story is told. This third panel can be
imagined
as recording a list of the game-rules of the given narrative. Some of these are
determined in the first place by the basic ground-rules of the genre, and others are then added
during the course of the narrative, as further, more local information becomes available to us. So,
for example, in Oedipus Rex, there are general rules about the nature of tragedy, which will
dictate the eventual outcome and the manner of its arrival; but there are also more specific rules
fact
Oedipus
has
the
that
such
as
already acquired a considerable reputation as a
emerging,
"genius for solving riddles", a guaranteethat, once the question of his parentagehas been opened
he
in
be
dissuaded
from
it
its
final,
disastrous
to
will
no
way
conclusion.
pursuing
up,
So what we are fed as we read the text is actually three things. First, there are the raw
sequentialdataof story: `Sheenteredthe room. The telephonerang.' Thesewe useasour
axis of internal orientation,our index of where we `are' in the time of the tale. Second,
there are non-sequentialfacts, whether purely narratorial ('This was to be their last
eveningtogether') or tied to the simulatedmental processesof viewpoint ('It dawnedon
him that the woman at the bar was Juliette, whom he had last seen six years ago in
Vienna'). This secondstreamof information feedsdirectly into our holographic storymodel.And finally, andmost subtly,therearecodedrules aboutthe universeof the story,
from which we can ourselvesdeducefurther conclusionsabout missing elementsof the
global model ('She knew that Peterwasnot the kind of man who breaksa promise given
in good faith'). (Lowe, 2000: 25)
This three-fold model is helpful, sinceit mapsout the readingof narrative not merely as the rearrangingof eventsinto a linear flow, but also asa processof developinga senseof the story-asa-whole, and of the story-world as a locus of intersectingpossibilities and restrictions.
Testingvariousforms of postmodernnarrativeexperimentationagainstthis paradigm,it could be
arguedthat they tend to rely more heavily on the second,`holographic' side panel than on the
traditionally `central' screen. (At the same time, often, the third panel is either removed
altogether- the whole notion of narrative `rules' beingutterly inimical to postmodernnarrativeit
is
or
spotlightedas the artificial constructthat it so obviously is.) Whilst we no longer view
many new forms of theatre with an expectationthat we will be able to reconstruct a linear
narrative,we may neverthelessremain confident that we can createa satisfying narrative shape
146
from the materials available to us. And what we end up with, of course, may well be, not one
interlocking,
but
ordered
of
partially completed, partly open
story universe,
neatly
a pattern
in
loose
Play-boy,
worlds,
as
ends are not tied up and where such closure as there
where
narrative
is, is to be viewed ironically, playfully. The closing line of Synge's original text (PEGEEN:"Oh,
")
World.
lost
him
Western
I've
lost
Playboy
I've
the
the
may allow us a
grief,
of
surely.
my
only
it
is
forever
but
lost
Pegeen,
in
to
the
contemplation of possibilities now
certain wistfulness
hardly undecideable; Synge has neatly closed the narrative loop as required by the classical plot
in
line:
Chris's
final
is
The
by
Play-boy,
up
succinctly
conclusion of
contrast, summed
structure.
"I don't know". We have failed to arrive at the clearly-signposted terminus of a neatly-ordered,
logical sequenceof events, causally and temporally linked. Instead, the invitation throughout has
been to enjoy the process of constructing our holographic picture(s) of the story-as-a-whole,
live
image
in
to
the
with
as many places as possible, whilst remaining willing
sharpening
infinitely
imprecisions
in
final
the
the
possibility of closure
object, and with
necessary gaps and
deferred.
Possible responses
It is this picture, I believe, which helps us to model new ways of reading, and therefore also of
Indeed,
there are any number of possible responsesto this changed
narrative.
creating,
have
has
developed
Howard
Barker,
as we
seen,
an approach,which
storytelling environment.
involves finding new ways of engagingthe human imagination and shocking it into resistance
This
"de-civilising"
he
it,
both
action.
calls
as
and
exploits and explodesthe narrative
method,
its
its
properties
and rule-boundnatureareexposed,asaudiencesarerequiredto wrestle
process;
with ambiguity anda multiplicity of possibleinterpretive readings,noneof which areidentified
as authoritativeand all of which are problematic in someway.
desperateoptimists' strategyhas also beento questionthe notion of the authoritative, centred
but
narrative, in their case,this hasbeenachievedby subjectingit to a playful, ironic scrutiny;by
allowing competing narratives and multiple voices to jostle for our attention; by juxtaposing
blatantly fictional elementswith unlikely truths, and framing both within genuinely open and
spontaneoussequencesof reactionsrecordedon video (though,it shouldbe noted,still controlled
and selectedvia the editing process).
147
Another,
slightly different, perspective on the possibilities open to postmodern narrative is
supplied
by Edward Bond. His own reading of postmodernism identifies both a specific
from
in
"a
for
terms
away
response
of
radically
materiality
and
a
possible
new
role
movement
imagination in society" (Bond in Köppen, 1997: 99). Bond's view is that,
we have to invent stories in order to be human. In the past, ideologies would tell us
has
happened
is
What
individual
to
the
those
the
now
world.
storiesand
storiesrelated
that thereareno longeranycoherentstories.If theremaybe coherentstories,we don't yet
tell them. (1997: 102)
portraying human history in terms of an evolving three-way dynamic betweenhuman beings
(what we arebiologically andpsychologically),society(how humanbeingsrelate to eachother),
he
(the
the
technology
to
control
world
around
us),
and
extent
manipulate
which we can
and
imagination
longer
has
that
to
the
technology
at
which
can
no
point,
advanced
now
suggests
"keep up with it"'(1997: 103)it is now capableof providing anykind of reality that we desireto
danger
into
`reality':
fictions
illusions
the
turning
precise
and yet
of
evenour
and our
create, of
human
imagination
in
Bond,
is
"there
is
The
that
this situation,
this, says
role of
no new reality".
he thereforeproposes,is to relocateitself in the material:
In postmodernismyou do not relate to a material world in a direct way. Before, our
relationship to the material world was always disciplined. It is so no longer. The
technologicalcircumstanceshavechanged.If we continueto survive as spiritual beings,
we haveto be materialist. (1997: 102)
Yet it is not immediately clear from Bond's commentswhat structural form this might take in
The
he
to
narrative.
only specific suggestion makes in this context is a comment in
relation
relation to the aspectof closure:"It could be possiblefor storiesto becomemore truthful about
the threefold relationship- not about an ultimate `closure', an end to the story" (1997: 102).
Thus we arereturnedto a certainkind of open-endedness,
the notion of closureasa provisional,
temporary strategy in a local situation, rather than the final resolution of all questions,
contradictionsand ambiguities that it hastendedto be in classicalnarrative.
148
Difficult
narratives
Ultimately,
the debate is always going to come back to a question of structuring: to what extent
does the imposition of a structure also impose an absolute inevitability that certain truths will be
at the expense of others that are then excluded from the mix? Narrative, as we have
privileged
in
by
is
is
in
theatre,
thus
the
told,
the
the
and
process,
which
essentially
a
story
way
which
seen,
fabula, or story elements, are selected and combined together, relayed to and reconstructed by, an
audience.
And yet, since the experimentsand disruptions of the twentieth century, from the Futurists
Foreman,
Forced
Entertainment
Group,
Richard
Cage,
Wooster
Kaprow,
through
the
onwards,
in
for
have
become
the
tendency
narrative general,and plot
profoundly awareof
and others,we
in particular, to falsify asit tells. Selectionandre-presentationalsoexcludes,privileges, silencing
to
voices,
whilst
speak.
allowing
others
some
It's impossibleto saya thing exactly the way it was, becausewhat you say can never be
exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too many parts, sides,
crosscurrents,nuances,too many gestures,which could mean this or that, too many
flavours
in
described,
fully
be
too
the air or on the tongue,
many
shapeswhich cannever
half-colours, too many. (Atwood, 1985: 144)
This process of selection and combination, far from being a purely formal, literary device,
however, turns out to be fundamental to the ways in which we organise and make sense of the
We
be
tempted to view narrative as an optional extra, something to
around
us.
should not
world
be abandoned as an inherently untruthful way of presenting and communicating information,
feelings and understandings. Selection and re-presentation of everyday narrative materials (time,
`rules'
identity,
people,
and
consequences)
our
sense
of
creates
personal
place,
our place within a
`sense'
social
and
cultural
space,
of our otherwise disparate emotional and
particular
and makes
cognitive responses.
The theologian, Alisdair Maclntyre, reflecting on the idea that it is not so much a question of
imposing
narrative
a structure on an otherwise formless reality, as that narrative appearsto reflect
fundamental
our
cognitive interactions with reality, finds it difficult to view disjointed narrative
fragments as anything other than a story waiting to be assembled:
149
deprived
falsifying
human
be like? [... ] the
what
of
any
would
actions
narrative
order
...
only picture that I find myself able to form of human nature an-sich, prior to the alleged
misinterpretation by narrative, is the kind of dislocated sequence which Dr. Johnson
offers us in his notes of his travels in France: `There we waited on the ladies - Morville's.
he
find
Spain.
Country
beggars.
At
Dijon
Orleans.
the
to
towns
could
not
way
all
Cross roads of France very bad. - Five soldiers. - Women. - Soldiers escaped. - The
Colonel would not lose five men for the sake of one woman. - The magistrate cannot
seize a soldier but by the Colonel's permission, etc., etc.' (quoted in Hobsbaum 1973, p.
32). What this suggests is what I take to be true, namely that the characterization of
actions allegedly prior to any narrative form being imposed upon them will always turn
disjointed
be
the
to
the
parts of some possible
out
presentation of what are plainly
italics
(Maclntyre,
1985:
214-15,
mine)
narrative.
We can, of course,explore alternativeways of organising performancematerial - structuring
formulae,
lists,
in
Forced
Entertainment,
the
the
or
mathematical
principles
of
as
work
of
along
interesting
helpful
But
they
throw
these
whilst
andnecessaryexperiments.
up
are
perhaps - and
is
basis,
beg
they
to
the
excluded
and
on
of
what
what
and of
strategies,
continue
question
new
falsehoods
impose
kinds
the
time.
they
their
of
at
same
also
own
peculiar
course
The fundamentalrequirementsof any new narrative paradigmswould seemto be that, a) they
find ways of telling which allow for multiple narrativesto clashand combinewithout feeling the
b)
impose
facilitate
full
them,
they
the emergenceof those
to
and
coherenceor closureupon
need
be
by
formal
to
the
tend
excluded
and
perspectives
normally
structures of
which
voices
linear,
forms
be
`difficult'
These
unitary
new
narrative.
will almost certainly
conventionally
however
be
hard
inconsistencies.
to
their
try,
tensions
able
not
resolve
we
we
will
or
narratives:
Nevertheless,perhapswhat we are realising is that we will have to learn to accommodatesuch
paradoxes.
Narrative in the cinema
We havelooked at particular exampleswherebythe dominantmodesof theatricalnarrativehave
beenchallengedand openedup to questioning,but there arewider forcesat work in culture and
society, which are also having a huge influence upon the way we now read stories. Crucial
amongstthesehasbeenthe rapid developmentof the cinema,from its birth in the late nineteenth
centuryto its presentstateof technical sophisticationand narrative complexity.
150
It is significant that at its earliest previews, Ridley Scott's dystopian film Blade Runner was felt
by its financial backers to be incomprehensible, unclear and in pressing need of narrative
explication.
With this in mind, Harrison Ford, who played the central character, Deckard, was
lay
down
in
to
to
to
the
suitably
clear
voice-over
run
a
returned
order
recording
studio
reluctantly
folklore
film
into
`baffling'
has
It
the
that
the
the
surrounding
otherwise
visuals.
passed
alongside
Ford, who knew of Scott's distaste for such a device, deliberately contrived to make the narration
but
later,
its
find
downbeat
dull
film
ten
The
to
years
audience,
and as
was slow
as possible.
as
Scott was in a position to release his own director's cut, restoring scenesthat had been excised
from
the original cinema version in the interests of narrative `clarity', and removing the
it
is
his
in
form
that
Seen
to
that
conception,
clear
original
closer
was
voice-over.
a
explanatory
Scott had always intended to place a great deal of responsibility upon the audience to read their
film,
he
demanded
the
that
version
and expected considerable narrative sophistication
of
and
own
`difficult'
his
had
his
(Stanley
Kubrick,
narrative quite some
own
offered
audience.
of course,
of
being
but
in
Odyssey,
his
film
1968
2001:
Space
A
under the same contractual
not
time earlier,
)
its
bafflement
had
been
Scott,
to
without opposition.
able retain
constraints as
This trendtowardsincreasinglyfragmentedanddifficult narrativepresentationshasbeenimitated
David
Lynch,
Greenaway
Peter
further
developed
by
filmmakers,
as
and
such
other
and
ChristopherNolan. Although the paceis slower andthe examplesfewer, thesesametechniques
drama,
being
increasingly
finding
into
their
television
and audiencesare
askedto piece
way
are
together ever-morecomplicatedandbrokennarratives,suchasLynch's influential Twin Peaks.
in
cyberspace
and
...
Even more significant, though, hasbeenthe developmentof the interactive narrative, whereby
follow
to
their own route through a story. These kinds of developmentsare
are
able
readers
foreshadowedin a numberof literary narratives,for exampleJorgeLuis Borges's TheGardenof
Forking Paths (1941), which exploresthe notion that the repeatedchoicesof our lives give rise
to an infinite seriesof possibleparallel worlds. In the earliestexamplesof genuinelyinteractive
fiction, wherereadersareencouragedto follow multiple pathsthrough manypossiblenarratives,
by meansof choices made at regular intervals, the format of the printed book imposed strict
limitations on what was possible,but sincethe developmentof web-basedstorytelling an area
to which desperateoptimists have beenturning their attentions since 1997 the potential for
151
has
increased
dramatically.
These
selection
of
narrative
materials
and
control
new
audience
hyper-narratives
are experienced within a narrative timeframe determined by the individual
has
been
the
selection
under their control, the sequencing of events
spaces
of
narrative
surfer,
down to their choice from a range of possible hyperlinks. The same is true of CD-ROM based
in
in
lines
the
which,
narrative
most
sophisticated
recent
examples,
parallel
continue to
games,
develop out-of-sight of the game-player, but can then be glimpsed at various moments later in the
for
Beneath
(as,
in
Steel
Lure
Temptress
Sky
Revolution
Software's
the
and
example,
a
of
game
[Gibson, 1996: 276]). Most significantly, in such interactive fiction the closure of the narrative is
determined directly by the choices made throughout the reading/journey.
An alternative definition of narrative
One key to understandingall of thesedevelopmentsis Bruner's notion of narrative gaps. Such
between
have
been
determining
the
the
to
of
contract
precise
nature
storyalways
crucial
gaps
follow
What
for
the
the
engagementof
audience.
will
teller andstory-listener:gapsareessential
is
it
How
Why
into
behaviour?
to
that
should
possible
anyone
venture
such an
explain
next?
how
it?
Traditional
have
be
by
tended to supply
they
and
narratives
will
changed
experience
for
by
Guided
the
template
the
these
of
classicalplot, working to ethical
all
of
questions.
answers
frameworks
lived
in
both
the
the
their
they
view
of
world
and
moral
which
which
constrained
and
dramas
followed,
just
drama,
the rules of
to
available
which
not
constructed
writers
possibilities
but
Constrained
the
requirements
within narrativegame-worldswhich
of
emplotment.
narrative,
image
but
back
the
they
the
only
reflected
experienced,
sent
of
world
subtly changedimages
not
from distorted mirrors, modified to fit the local requirementsof that narrative space, they
followed the rules of the genre,the `laws' of that country. And so, all questionswere answered,
all tensionsresolved,all narrative energyconservedand re-distributed. Storiesconfirmed to us
knew.
we
already
what
Now, though,the narrativegapsareopeningup in any numberof different and interestingways.
Audiencesaremore frequently being askednot just to maketheir own connectionsbetweenthe
but
elements,
story
often to bridge gapsbetweenmanydifferent competingnarrativepossibilities.
The contradictorypathsoffered by Barker disputethe possibility of neat
closure and demanda
critically active response.How shall we interpret a situation, in which the charactersof (Uncle)
Vanya`resist' their own narrative destinies?By
what rules are we able to explain Chekhov's
152
be
`outside'
Vanya
Into
in
that
death,
`his
play
can
what world
own' play?
appearance, and
be
to
exiting?
understood
invite
by
desperate
and tease,rather than
By contrast,the playful questionsposed
optimists
impossible
down
in
but
the
set
of
take
a similar
their own way, they too
audience
compel,
`forking paths'. Thesestrategiescan be seenas attemptsto retain the most useful elementsof
the
of
continued
ethical
possibility
and
connection,
cognitive
affective
engagement,
narrative least
to
debate
other,
more
scrutiny,
the
open
exposing
very
or
at
whilst
removing,
political
and
by
imposed
inherent
false
plotting,
unitary
artificiality
an
empathy,
such
as
aspects
problematic
invisibly-weighted
drift
towards
the
conclusions.
constant
and
in
becoming
At the sametime, audiencesare
more sophisticated their responsesto narrative.
in
interact
learning
to
Through a variety of media, they are
with narrative elements more
both
increasingly
the
conventions
They
of
narrative
artificiality
of
aware
are
ways.
complicated
in
interactive
narrative.
the
engagement
of
and
pleasures
possibilities
and
With all this in mind, we might arguethat narrative should be seenas afollowable meansof
linear
kind
that
and
than
structure;
of
strictly
or
causal
any
communicatingexperience,rather
local
for
time-bound
the
be
and
sake
of
generating
closure must seenas a provisional strategy
An
down
that
alternative
than
all alternativepossibilities.
one
actually closes
meanings,rather
definition of narrativein performance,which seeksto take all of thesefactorsinto accountmight
thereforebe that it is: afollowable, interactiveprocess involving performer(s) and spectator(s),
individual
time,
cognitions and social
space,
of
experiences
and explorations
whereby
interactions are both presentedand perceived, such that somesenseof `story-as-a-whole' is
be
held
in
asprovisional rather than
communicated,and which any apprehensionof closuremay
final, thus leaving the way openfor further clarifications and alternative outcomes.
153
Conclusion
There is no way that narrative, with its preclusive form, can validate a Positivist
coordinate system. If we need to believe absolutely that our will is free and that our
actions lead to predictable results, we had best not tell or hear stories. (Roemer, 1995:
35)
Looking
back over the historical development of theatre, it is possible to see that narrative
has always tended to operate in a more-or-less coercive fashion. In the earliest surviving
dramas of Western theatre - the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - we have
noted narrative patterns that reflect a strong sense of what are, and are not, appropriate
dictated
by
in
determinants
These
are
certain views of
any
given
story-situation.
outcomes
how men - and gods - are expected to behave, as well as by emerging genre-rules. The
is
lessons
However,
latent
flaws
the
uncertain.
often
character
complex,
are
morality
inevitable
drive
doom,
towards
their
to
the
protagonists
as
ruthlessly exposed and allowed
later
fear.
Aristotle
both
to
watch,
articulated these narrative rules
moved
pity and
audiences
in
binding,
but
the
to
them
they were rules that
normative
and
process,
contrived
make
and,
in
already
very
much
operation.
were
The medieval dramas of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries continued this pattern,
broadly
framework,
but
theological
their
more
a
own
narratives
within
yet again,
constraining
be
us
characters
only
could
properly
and
which
events,
understoodwith referenceto
showing
the inevitable endgame,and the local modifications to natural causality within that particular
story-universe.
Shakespeare,along with other Elizabethan and Jacobeandramatists, began to open up the
narrative possibilities available to theatre and, specifically, he chose to dramatise the very
nature of narrative construction, questioning its claims to transparent authenticity, its
authoritative statusas a meansof portraying `reality'. But with the theatre of the Restoration
there camea return to the tighter constraintsof order and balance,proportion and symmetry.
More than ever, narrative outcomes were determined by the required endgame and the
mechanismsof plot, which dictatedthe precisemovementstowards that endgame.
154
The emergence of the theatre of ideas (Ibsen, Shaw, Chekhov) at the end of the nineteenth
century provided a significant challenge to this mechanistic model of narrative, and this was
swiftly
followed by a diverse range of experiments ranging from the dream-plays of
Strindberg to the Futurists' syntesi, in most of which, however, and to varying degrees, it is
discern
to
possible
continuing traces of the narrative process at work.
still
The performance experiments of John Cage and others, though, marked a decisive turningin
development:
by
this
opening up the whole area of non-matrixed performance, these
point
in
form
being
themselves
non-narrative
pieces
whilst
experimental
- nevertheless pointed
the way towards new forms of theatre which would be able to take far greater account of
contradictions, of multiplicities,
interventions,
whilst still making use of
and of audience
many of the elements of traditional narrative.
For narrative is a crucial factor in how we continue to read not just theatre, but life itself. It
identity
for
developing
of
within a
our own sense personal and social
provides a mechanism
impressions
that
unintelligible
unsorted,
would
otherwise
remain
an
mass
of
world
and
It
events. shapesour perceptionsof who we are,where we are, and ultimately why we are.
Nevertheless,there is also a growing senseof how much more complicated and fragmented
those cognitive processesare than had previously been imagined, and of the fact that our
be
in
shaping our experiencesof reality, as much as
constructednarratives, particular, might
reflecting them. In this cultural setting,the experimentsof practitioners like Richard Foreman
Robert
Wilson,
and
and of companiessuch as The Wooster Group, Forced Entertainment,
Blast Theory and Stan's Cafe, have a vital role to play in exposing and questioning our
expectationsof narrative.
In particular, a piece like desperate optimists' Play-boy demonstrates one specific way of
using and playing with narrative conventions that both feeds and interrogates our thirst for
story, as well as acknowledging the fundamental importance of narrative strategies in our
grasp upon the world(s) we inhabit. Similarly, Barker's (Uncle) Vanya makes use of story, at
the same time as it explodes and subverts it, honouring the audience by goading them into
making their own moral choices in response to the `impossible' choices made by the
characters.
155
The deployment of apparently non-causal narratives does not necessarily imply that all moral,
debate
is
be
be
in
it
is
impossible.
fact,
In
to
true,
that
the
political,
reverse
can
said
now
or
have
demonstrate
been
far
to
traditional
that
the
narratives
so
outcomes
of
more
possible
constrained within the rules of the story-universe and the requirements of the particular
A
distort
invisibly
them.
to
the
within
contained
significant
moral arguments
endgame, as
factor, then, is a growing awareness of the ability of the audience to interact with, and
intervene in, the narrative outcomes of any given story.
With all of this in view, it is possibleto suggestthat narrative will continue to thrive within a
be
less
but
its
and
more open
obviously
operationswill almost certainly
postmodern setting,
`geometric'. The presenceof multiple narrative spaces and possibilities within a single
death
but
imminent
be
heralding
the
of
narrative,
as a reflection
seen,not as
performancewill
in
interventions
These
be
intervening
its
inherent
openness.
will
validity, as a meansof
of
less likely to provide the kind of narrativereassurancesof earlier forms, but they will take far
greater account of our understanding that stories are constructed at the moment of
Audiences
be
increasingly
in
the
than
the
or
study.
room
will
rehearsal
performance, rather
increasingly
be
join
dots,
in
fill
they
to
the
the
will
also,
perhaps,
ready to
gaps,and
required
form
followability,
that
of
rather than the
open-ended
narratives
more
offer a
encounter
but
"reckoning
less
of
pre-determined
ultimately
option
closure
satisfactory,
closed
easier,
and story ended".
156
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