Playtext
3 total works
Designed for undergraduate performance, Carnival Texts comprises three related dramatic works, all of which have as their point of departure Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of carnival, a literary style designed to subvert dominant assumptions through chaos and humor. Making creative use of post-Brechtian performance theory, these texts blur the distinction between spectator and performer in a fascinating exploration of physical, moral, and cultural upheaval in a postmodern age. Performance theory is crucial to understanding how performance affects collective understanding, and this book will be of interest to a broad range of students of drama and theater.
Disability studies have long been the domain of medical and pedagogical academics. However, in recent years, the subject has outgrown its clinical origins. In Freaks of History, James MacDonald presents two dramatic explorations of disability within the wider themes of sexuality, gender, foreignness and the Other. Originally directed by Martin Harvey and performed by undergraduate students at the University of Exeter, Wellclose Square and Unsex Me Here analyse cultural marginalization against the backdrop of infamous historical events.
MacDonald, who is cerebral palsied, recognizes that disability narratives are rarely written by and for disabled people. Therefore, his plays, accompanied by critical essays and director’s notes, are a welcome addition to the emerging discourse of Crip theory and essential reading for disability students and academics alike.
Russia, Freaks and Foreigners is a collection of three thematically linked plays set against the backdrop of a fractured, post-Soviet Russian society. Written by acclaimed playwright James MacDonald, who is cerebral palsied, these performance texts critique accepted notions of normality within authority, offering various models of difference – physical, cultural and moral – and their stories of dislocation. Their themes, contextualized here by companion essays, expand the boundaries of British drama and connect to the comic grotesque tradition by giving the ‘abnormal’ a broad appeal. To date, MacDonald is one of the few severely disabled playwrights to have their work staged and he deals with issues rarely covered in drama. Consequently, Russia, Freaks and Foreigners is a daring portrayal of disability from the inside.