Virtual Papers
As part of our week-long Following the Affective Turn Symposia 13-17th September, we are delighted to present our virtual panels, our live virtual panel q&a and discussions and our keynote address from from Marie-Luise Angerer (Universität Potsdam).
Keynote Speech
Prof Marie-Luise Angerer (Universität Potsdam)
From the affective dispositif to an affective nonconscious'
'"Sitting in a rehearsal room looking at fucking little bits of paper and just feeling sick" as politically generative affect? Interviews with contemporary British theatre-makers'
Tim Cowbury (Royal Holloway)
As Tim was unable to attend the in-person event in Brighton to present this paper, he has kindly recorded it to present virtually here.
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Tim Cowbury is a theatre-maker, writer, and teacher. As co-founder of contemporary performance company Made In China, he has created acclaimed works performed across the UK and internationally. His playwriting has been staged at venues including Young Vic, Crucible Theatre and Royal Exchange Theatre, and is published by Oberon Books. Tim teaches in community and education settings across the UK and is currently working on his Techne AHRC funded PhD into the politics of alternative theatre at Royal Holloway University of London.
Abstract
My paper will offer preliminary reflections on interviews I am conducting with contemporary performance practitioners based in the UK. These interviews are exploring the links between affective moments of process (making of performances) and affective moments of performance (presenting of performances). The practitioners I am interviewing are Lucy McCormick, Christopher Brett Bailey, and three collaborative ‘companies’: In Bed With My Brother, Sleepwalk Collective and Nigel&Louise. These artists all established themselves, like myself, in a decade of austerity that saw increasing cuts to the arts, increasing labour precarity, and arguably a corresponding renewed interest in - and prevalence of - political protest both on stage and in wider society.
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Some questions the paper will begin to address with recourse to interview findings:
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How have the changes and climate of the last decade impacted the work of these artists?
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What does it feel like to work on the margins of a marginal and increasingly marginalised industry/artform?
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How does that affective working experience impact the work itself?
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To what extent might this research suggest a new politics of theatre-making or even a new political theatre?
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How do these working experiences connect with existing critiques of affect and labour politics in the arts, such as the critiques of Shannon Jackson, Jen Harvie, Nicholas Ridout, Bojana Kunst and Lauren Berlant? My hypothesis is that there are some nuances and patterns emerging through these interviews that the prevalent critiques in this field do not account for, even as these theorists’ methods and frameworks provide the basis for this ongoing research.