QUESTIONS…
1) Do you feel that plays with a social economic / social
message to convey have more longevity than an original story that is purely
there for entertainment?
2) Is it really necessary to update plays in the way of
language and the setting? Or do you feel that plays keep their social relevance
when left in the original time period?
3) In your opinion is theatre really as “accessible” as people
claim? Or do you feel in some cases the word “Theatre” itself can act as a
divide and put some people off?
4) In times of recession shows like Matillda, London Road, Lion
King and many, many more continue to sell out. Do you feel that in this way theatre
produced solely for entertainment is as vital as theatre produced to put across
a social message?
5) Do you feel some issues are more popular than others? And
that making issues “trendy” almost takes away from their hard hitting and
realistic message?
6) Are there some issues that should be discussed with more
sensitivity than others? Do you feel that some writers will be radical and
shocking in their plays juts to be a sensation? I know that Niklas Rådström was
accused of this for his 2008 play – Monsters.
Good start - there are some solid issues within this group of questions. There may be more than you will have time to look into - but then again if you also focus on writing - as you discussed in person - the complexity of your topic might require this range. It is important, however, that you do not try to 'prove' the above - but explore the whys and the hows of your inquiry questions.
ReplyDeleteContinue to look at PArts 4 and 5 of the Readers to inform you about how to go about thinking about these questions. What is an insider-researcher - what is disciplinarity (the craft of theatre) as opposed to trnasdisciplinarity - (using your craft and working with others from other disciplines to think through new solutions). Does inclusive practice, as you define it and as it is practiced at the Chickenshed, use transdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary? Are there specialists from various areas that come together to create a specialised activity or field or is inclusive practice a sub-group of drama? Is writing for the theatre a different craft than performance?
Your questions sound like ones that are close to your philosophy of practice - so continue to engage in literature that informs your views. When we met, we mentioned reengaging with various theatre practitioners that looked at social theatre - like you mentioned Pinter http://www.scribd.com/doc/21957287/Enlish-Drama-Since-1940. to convince others of your point of view, you need to back up this argument with literature and the expertise of others. Extend this quality in some of your questions above - how are you going to go about finding out if some issues should be discussed more sensitively? How will you investigate this individual practitioners? Will you ask anyone who might not agree with you?
For this module - you need to look at the process of discovery - of inquiry - of how to research a topic of your choice and find out how your research relates back to your practice. for this you will need to develop a plan (see tutor network blogs about this). In the next module you carry out the plan.