PERF219 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Applied Drama
Chapter Summary
Textbook: The Applied Theatre Reader, edited by Tim Prentki
and Sheila Preston, Routledge, 2009.
Chapter 9 – Introduction to Ethics of Representation
By Sheila Preston (pp. 65-69)
- Representation: “a powerful system of communication whereby meaning is culturally
constructed and received.”
- Ethics and representation are key interrelated components of applied theatre.
- Representations depict the real lives of some people and this is an ethical/political
concern.
- We have a responsibility to produce sensitive and respectful representations in
applied theatre.
- However, representations will also carry a political agenda.
- Representations of disability in the media are an example. The hero character who
has the disability is seen to triumph/fail. People personally identify with the
situations, but not actually what it’s like to have the disability as it is misrepresented
because of the political agenda.
- To accurately represent something, we must develop a “knowingness” and consider
the alternate point of view depicted by the media.
- Whether an applied theatre performance speaks about, for, or with a community
largely depends on the ethical and political priorities.
-“The development of the aesthetic has been brought about by challenges to the
politics and ethics of representation.”
-“Similar tensions … are operating in applied theatre.”
- Representations that speak ‘for’ a community can be misrepresented.
- Applied theatre can be used to allow others to represent and advocate for
themselves.
- The ethics of representation create a dilemma in applied theatre: whether to speak
or not to speak on behalf of something/someone.
-“To compound this dilemma is to consider the ideological interests involved in the
representation act both politically and socio-politically.”
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Document Summary
Textbook: the applied theatre reader, edited by tim prentki and sheila preston, routledge, 2009. Chapter 9 introduction to ethics of representation. Representation: a powerful system of communication whereby meaning is culturally constructed and received. Ethics and representation are key interrelated components of applied theatre. Representations depict the real lives of some people and this is an ethical/political concern. We have a responsibility to produce sensitive and respectful representations in applied theatre. However, representations will also carry a political agenda. Representations of disability in the media are an example. The hero character who has the disability is seen to triumph/fail. People personally identify with the situations, but not actually what it"s like to have the disability as it is misrepresented because of the political agenda. To accurately represent something, we must develop a knowingness and consider the alternate point of view depicted by the media.
