{"id":2165,"date":"2018-02-19T20:20:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T19:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/?p=2165"},"modified":"2018-02-19T20:20:47","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T19:20:47","slug":"conference-report-nation-nationhood-and-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/blog\/conference-report-nation-nationhood-and-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference Report: \u201cNation, Nationhood and Theatre\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNation, Nationhood and Theatre\u201d: 26th<\/sup> Annual Conference of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English (CDE)<\/h1>\n

Reading (Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading\/UK),
\n29 June\u201302 July 2017<\/h2>\n

Julia Boll (Konstanz, Germany)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The 26th<\/sup> CDE conference, hosted at the Minghella building (Dept. of Theatre and Film) at the University of Reading, provided a platform to discuss the representation of issues of nation and nationhood in contemporary theatre and drama in English, a very topical theme in the year after the referendum on Britain\u2019s EU membership, and in times of a global rise of nationalisms and populist movements.<\/p>\n

The conference started with a welcome address by local organisers Vicky Angelaki<\/strong> and John Bull<\/strong>. They stressed the uniqueness of CDE and how the background of many members of the society is intricately connected to questions of nation and nationality. They also commented on the society\u2019s spirit of community, reflected in the practise of avoiding parallel sessions, and then spoke about the critical momentum of the conference, the case of worrying nationalism, of jingoism, and how theatre might be the best way of approaching these issues.<\/p>\n

The first day opened the conference with the first keynote, given by Dan Rebellato<\/strong> (Royal Holloway, University of London) on \u201cNation and Negation (Terrible Rage)\u201d (chaired by Clare<\/strong> Wallace<\/strong>, Charles University Prague). Rebellato pointed at the correlation of educational level and leave\/remain vote in 2016\u2019s Brexit referendum, coming to the conclusion that the remain vote was strongly connected with financial capital, cultural capital, and therefore also theatre capital, wondering whether the theatre may have abandoned \u2018the poor\u2019. He then introduced his development of a concept of \u2018placenessless\u2019 in British theatre.<\/p>\n

The subsequent conference warming took place at the university\u2019s Park House Bar.<\/p>\n

Friday began with the conference\u2019s first panel, focusing on nation and race. Lynette Goddard<\/strong> (Royal Holloway, University of London \u2013 \u201c#BlackLivesMatter: Remembering Black Deaths in Custody, Race Riots, and British Police\u201d) spoke on the disappearance of Mark Duggan\u2019s story in Gillian Slovo\u2019s The Riots<\/em> (2011) and Alecky Blythe\u2019s Little Revolution<\/em> (2014), comparing them with Oladipo Agboluaje\u2019s 2009 adaptation of Kestor Aspden\u2019s The Hounding of David Oluwale<\/em> (2007). Goddard was interested in exploring how the \u2018dead black man\u2019 is given a voice in theatre. Questioning how far the \u2018serve and protect\u2019 mantra is actually applied across the board, across all communities, she described her own emotional response to Blythe\u2019s play. Sophie<\/strong> Nield<\/strong> (Royal Holloway, University of London \u2013 \u201cReclaiming the Riot as Political Speech: the Problem of Theatre\u201d) then thematised the \u2018ongoing social cleansing\u2019 in cities, stating that the riots in August 2011 were depoliticised as allegedly not being about anything \u2018political\u2019. Reflecting on what \u2018riot\u2019 meant and in how far rioting was a political act, Nield then argued that institutions and associations were being pushed to appear as representations of themselves and that opposition was forced to \u2018speak in its own voice\u2019 to prove its authenticity and legibility.<\/p>\n

The second panel of the conference concentrated on contested territories and opened with Tom Cornford<\/strong>\u2019s paper on \u201cExperiencing Nationlessness: Staging the Migrant Condition\u201d (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama). He focused on plays such as Zinnie Harris\u2019 How to Hold Your Breath<\/em> (2015), Isango Ensemble\u2019s A Man of Good Hope<\/em> (2016) and Zodwa\u2019s Nyoni\u2019s Nine Lives<\/em> (2015), NTW\u2019s 2015 Iliad<\/em> and Alistair McDowall\u2019s X<\/em> (2016), all plays concerned with the existential nature of the migrant. In his analysis, Cornford drew on anthropologist Tim Ingold\u2019s concept of the \u2018in-between\u2019, reading the current so-called \u2018migrant crisis\u2019 as a crisis of borders and questioning the concept of containment. Ellen Redling <\/strong>(University of Birmingham \u2013 \u201cFake News and Drama: National Identity, Immigration and the Media in Recent British Plays\u201d) then looked at fake news and drama. She called fake news \u2018a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing\u2019 and discussed whether verbatim drama offered greater access to \u2018truth\u2019, whether it was ethical and political by aiming to intervene against fake news and encourage the audience to consider the complexities of a problem. The panel\u2019s final speaker was Elizabeth Sakellaridou<\/strong> (Aristotle University in Thessaloniki \u2013 \u201cConflicting Nations: conversing individuals in Lola Aria\u2019s Minefield<\/em>\u201d). She used Lola Aria\u2019s 2009 production to discuss its collaborative effort across national divides, pointing at the liminality of its performance method: a blurring of the lines between presentation and representation and of the lines between performers and the characters they portray.<\/p>\n

The third panel of the conference concentrated on \u201cCapitalist Legacies\u201d and opened with William Boles<\/strong>\u2019 paper on \u201cTheatricalising the National Housing Crisis in Mike Bartlett\u2019s Game<\/em> and Philip Ridley\u2019s Radiant<\/em> Vermin<\/em>\u201d (Rollins College). In a close reading of both plays, he traced their portrayal of the UK\u2019s current housing crisis. Benjamin Poore<\/strong> (University of York, \u201cBefore the Fall: Looking Back on the RSC\u2019s \u2018This Other Eden\u2019 Season\u201d) then revisited the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s 2001 season and discussed the key idea of what he calls \u2018time-hop plays\u2019. Christiane Schlote<\/strong>\u2019s (University of Basel) paper \u201cDrilling for England: the Oil Encounter in British Drama\u201d introduced the concept of the \u2018oil nation\u2019 and petrol fiction as a growing and important interest. Schlote then pointed at the relative lack of petrol drama before discussing in greater detail Alistair Beaton\u2019s Fracked! Or: Please Don\u2019t Use the F-Word<\/em> and Ella Hickson\u2019s Oil<\/em> (both 2016).<\/p>\n

The second day closed with a conversation between playwright Jez Butterworth <\/strong>and Graham Saunders <\/strong>(University of Birmingham). Butterworth\u2019s recent play The Ferryman<\/em> had just transferred from the Royal Court to the Guilford, and a number of conference delegates went to see the show later that night. They spoke about Butterworth\u2019s interest in areas \u2018on the edge\u2019, the hinterlands, and notions of liminality. Stating that \u2018we are surrounded by death\u2019, Butterworth explained that for him, all drama was about entrances and exits. A discussion with the panel attendants followed, reflecting on the fact that with The Ferryman<\/em>, Butterworth, as an English playwright, wrote a play exploring \u2018Irishness\u2019.<\/p>\n

Saturday started off with the fourth panel of the conference, \u201cState of the Nation\u201d. Paola Botham<\/strong> (Birmingham City University) gave the first paper, on \u201cAnatomising the State-of-the-Nation Play in 21st<\/sup> Century Britain\u201d. Referring to Michael Billington\u2019s 2007 publication on the State of the Nation Play, she pointed out that he appeared to mourn the disappearance of a very specific kind of theatre writing. Botham suggested extending the notion of State of the Nation Play to a play of ideas that manages to link the private and the public, then discussed Simon Stephen\u2019s Pornography<\/em> (2007) and its sense of fragmentation as potentially mirroring the sense of fragmentation within Britain. Cyrielle Garson<\/strong> (University of Avignon \u2013 \u201cDoes Verbatim Theatre Still Talk the Nation Talk?\u201d) argued that the entire country was currently, in the wake of political events of the past three years, going through a period of intense scrutiny. She suggested reading verbatim theatre as a national \u2018shadow archive\u2019, pointing to plays concentrating on marginalised voices opposed to the general national identity narrative, such as The Meaning of Waiting<\/em> by Victoria Brittain (2010) and A Pacifist\u2019s Guide to the War on Cancer<\/em> (Complicit\u00e9 and Associates \u2013 Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel in Association with HOME Manchester, 2016). The panel\u2019s final paper by Yana Meerzon<\/strong> (University of Ottawa) on \u201cMulticulturlism, (Im)migration, Theatre: National Arts Centre, Ottowa: the Case of Staging Canadian Nationalism\u201d discussed Canada\u2019s more recent institutionalised instruments of further enforcing its policy of multiculturalism by expanding to projects that can be likened to the concept of transitional justice. Canada\u2019s National Arts Centre 2016-17 season \u201cTheatre for the people\u201d programmed the work of multicultural and indigenous artists. Meerzon argued that the NAC\u2019s repertoire reproduced the cultural-political line of artistically affirming the ideological mechanisms constructing Canadian nationalism by bringing them to the country\u2019s most prominent stage.<\/p>\n

After coffee, playwright Alecky Blythe<\/strong> was interviewed by Chris Megson<\/strong> (Royal Holloway, University of London). They discussed Blythe\u2019s verbatim pieces and her interest in \u2018the periphery\u2019. Blythe stressed that she has attempted to give lightness and humour space in her work. The conversation then moved on to the gestation process of some of her plays, such as London Road<\/em> (2011) and Little Revolutions<\/em> (2014).<\/p>\n

After lunch, the conference continued with a panel on \u201cQuestioning National Narratives\u201d, starting out with Camille Barrera\u2019s paper <\/strong>\u201c\u2018For we are American\u2019: postmodern pastiche and national identity in Anne Washburn\u2019s Mr Burns, a Post-Electric Play<\/em>\u201d (Freie Universitaet Berlin). Barrera investigated the relationship between the various versions of pastiche in the play and the notion of community in the play’s post-apocalyptic context. Tom Maguire<\/strong> (University of Ulster) then spoke on \u201cPrecarious women on and off the contemporary Irish stage\u201d and discussed the conditionality of Irish citizenship and the implications of\u00a0 \u2018watching the working class\u2019 in relation to recognition, voyeurism and containment, referring, amongst others, to Georgina McKevitt and Jacinta Sheerin’s Waiting for IKEA<\/em> (2007) and Phillip McMahon’s Pineapple<\/em> (2011). The panel\u2019s final paper by Ciara Murphy<\/strong> (NUI Galway) on \u201cChallenging state-led narratives through performance during Ireland\u2019s Decade of Centenaries\u201d looked at two plays from 2016, ANU Productions’ These Rooms<\/em> and THEATREclub’s It’s Not Over<\/em>, to analyse notions of witnessing and audience participation and disobedience.<\/p>\n

The final day of the conference began with Liz Tomlin<\/strong>\u2019s keynote \u201cThe State of the Nation Play: Only Ordinary People Please\u201d. She focused on a political and philosophical trajectory of postdramatic models of performance and postdramatic and poststructuralist challenges to the State of the Nation Play. Introducing the concept of a \u2018theatre of real people\u2019 (as defined by Ulrike Garde and Meg Mumford, Bloomsbury 2016), Tomlin pointed at the construction of the remain-voters in 2016 Brexit referendum as in opposition to \u2018the real people\u2019 who voted for Britain to leave the EU, a categorisation that Tomlin calls a conflation of class and expertise. \u2018The real people\u2019 were thus constructed as \u2018the left-behinds\u2019, and fault lines were made up to run between the young and the old, university-educated vs. school leavers, immigrants\/immigrant-descendants and those who claim a longer-standing family heritage within the country. Tomlin then looked at Rufus Norris and Carol Ann Duffy\u2019s My Country: A Work in Progress<\/em> (2017), a production that suggests matricide had been committed by the children of the country against Britannia. She then discussed Kaleider\u2019s and Seth Honnor\u2019s game play The Money<\/em> (2015) as an example of participatory performance in which the people in the action were \u2018real\u2019 in the sense that they were spontaneously reacting in unrehearsed scenes.<\/p>\n

The sixth and final panel of two papers focused on \u201cImagining the Nation\u201d. Chris Megson<\/strong> (Royal Holloway, University of London) presented a paper on \u201cEngland, Austerity and \u2018Radical Optimism\u2019 in the theatre of Anders Lustgarten\u201d. Megson examined Lustgarten\u2019s play on austerity, If You Don\u2019t Let Us Dream, We Won\u2019t Let You Sleep<\/em> (2013), in relation to the State of the Nation Play as well as to the Occupy Movement, arguing that Lustgarten\u2019s approach of radical optimism might be the key for a theatre that could effect social transformation. In the final paper of the conference, \u201cWhat State Are We In?\u201d, Christine Kiehl<\/strong> (Universit\u00e9 Lumi\u00e8re Lyon 2) spoke about Lucy Kirkwood\u2019s Chimerica<\/em> (2013) and the manipulative power of images in relation to claims of state and nationality.<\/p>\n

The conference closed with a round table discussion. In relation to David Hare\u2019s notorious statement (in Jeffrey Sweet\u2019s early 2017 collection of interviews with playwrights, What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing<\/em>) about the European theatre \u2018infecting\u2019 the British stage, several delegates discussed what was being talked talking about when talking about nation: the state of the nation play, or rather, the state of the nation state play. It became a moving discussion on nationhood and Europe, on what one thinks and feel the world is like and how this might jar with one\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n

The 26th<\/sup> annual conference of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English demonstrated how urgent and public as well as personal it is to discuss the nation, nationhood and the theatre at this point in time. The conference created a productive platform for an exchange between performers, scholars and students alike.<\/p>\n

(Selected papers of the conference will be published in JCDE: Journal of Contemporary Drama<\/em> in English<\/em>, vol. 6.1, 2018.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNation, Nationhood and Theatre\u201d: 26th Annual Conference of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English (CDE) Reading (Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading\/UK), 29 June\u201302 July 2017 Julia Boll (Konstanz, Germany) The 26th CDE conference, hosted at the Minghella building (Dept. of Theatre and Film) at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conference-reports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168,"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essenglish.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}