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Works of theatre that depict grievous histories derive their force from making audible voices of the past. Such performances, theatrical or tourist, require the attentive belief of spectators. This engaging new study explores how theatricality works in each instance and how 'playing the part' of the listener can be understood in ethical terms.
List of contents
Notes for the Traveller: An introduction to the Journey Ahead 1. Landscapes of Aftermath 2. Performing Museums and Memorial Bodies: Theatre in the Shadows of the Crematoria 3. Vietnam: 'Not the Bullshit Story in the Lonely Planet' 4. Here was the place: (Re)Performing Khmer Rouge Archive of Violence 5. Lost in our own Land: Reenacting colonial Violence 6. The World Watched: Witnessing Genocide Phantom Speak Works Cited
About the author
Emma Willis is an academic and artist based in Aotearoa New Zealand where she teaches Drama at the University of Auckland. In addition to publishing performance criticism, she works as a writer, director and dramaturge in theatre, dance and radio.
Summary
Works of theatre that depict grievous histories derive their force from making audible voices of the past. Such performances, theatrical or tourist, require the attentive belief of spectators. This engaging new study explores how theatricality works in each instance and how 'playing the part' of the listener can be understood in ethical terms.
Additional text
"Emma Willis's worthy project, Theatricality, Dark Tourism and Ethical Spectatorship, places works for the theatre in dialogue with place-based memorials. Willis offers us practice-centered analysis for diverse objects of study. Following Willis as she takes on the challenges of these ethical/aesthetic encounters, readers will appreciate the book's ethorough research, sound argumentation, and elegant prose. An ambitious project effectively realized, this is insightful scholarship about a timely subject." - Laurie Beth Clark, University of Wisconsin, USA
Report
"Emma Willis's worthy project, Theatricality, Dark Tourism and Ethical Spectatorship, places works for the theatre in dialogue with place-based memorials. Willis offers us practice-centered analysis for diverse objects of study. Following Willis as she takes on the challenges of these ethical/aesthetic encounters, readers will appreciate the book's ethorough research, sound argumentation, and elegant prose. An ambitious project effectively realized, this is insightful scholarship about a timely subject." - Laurie Beth Clark, University of Wisconsin, USA
