The End of the Story?

Abstract

One of the central arguments of the previous chapter was that participatory theatre work is explained by discursive systems, some of which we may (perhaps inadvertently) encourage and some of which feed from our work in ways that we might not choose. This chapter focuses on one such ‘system’ and seeks to question its hold on theatre and performance studies. It aims to move beyond what I will argue are its limits, to construct a vision for applied theatre that is strongly historically situated and culturally specific: one that both rejects this particular theoretical framework and questions the practice that emerges from it. The chapter focuses on theories of trauma, approaches to trauma relief and related practices of storytelling and narration. It would be wrong to argue that all applied theatre projects have been dominated by or are situated within these fields but, as will be demonstrated below, many practices are either directly or indirectly affected by their terms of reference. The claim here is that a dependency on theories of trauma narrows the potential of the work and aligns applied theatre with some deeply problematic assumptions and practices. In order to develop this argument, the origins of trauma as ‘one of the signal concepts of our time’ (Leys, 2000, p. 10) will be explored and then I will outline how it has been adopted by or translated into performance practice.

I will not speak too long because there are still things unsaid, too terrible for you to hear, and too terrible for me to say, and my heart is heavy with them. Nkosi. [Begins song.].

(Woman witness at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Cited in Segall, 2005, p. 149)