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This volume seeks to instigate a discussion about dementia in theatre.
The discussions in this book borrow from the literature on dementia's representation in other artforms, while reflecting on theatre's unique capacity to incorporate multiple artforms in a live context (hypermediacy). The author examines constructions of diegesis and the use of various performance tools, including physical theatre, puppetry, and postdramatic performance. She discusses stage representations of interior experiences of dementia; selfhood in dementia; the demarcation of those with dementia from those without; endings, erasure, and the pursuit of catharsis; placelessness and disruptions of traditional dramatic constructions of time; and ultimately, performances creatively led by people with dementia. The book traces patterns of narrativisation on the stage-including common dramaturgical forms, settings, and character relationships-as well as examples that transcend mainstream representation.
This book is important reading for theatre and performance students, scholars, and practitioners, as well as cultural studies writers engaged in research about narratives of dementia.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: "We’re all in our own little world": Inside Dementia Experiences
Chapter 1: Dementia from the Inside: The Father and Autobiographer
Chapter 2: Research-based Performance: Inside Out of Mind
Chapter 3: Social Narratives and the Family as Microcosm: Really Old, Like Forty-Five
Part I summary
Part II: Active and Passive Embodiment
Chapter 4: Transforming the domestic space: Sundowner and 1 Beach Road
Chapter 5: Puppetry and Dementia: It’s Dark Outside and D-Generation: An Exaltation of Larks
Part II summary
Part III: Postdramatic Theatre: Radical alternatives for staging dementia
Chapter 6: Experiential performance: Memory Point(s)
Chapter 7: Problematising dementia: Sul Concetto di Volto nel Figlio di Dio
Chapter 8: Dementia and Creative Agency: RUFF
Part III summary
Conclusion
End Matter
Index
About the author
Morgan Batch is a Sessional Academic with the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Summary
This volume seeks to instigate a discussion about dementia in theatre.
