Poster-Su, T (2020) 'A grotesque act of ventriloquism: raising and objectifying the dead on stage.' Applied Theatre Research, 8 (1). pp. 45-56. ISSN 2049-3010
Abstract
As a real-life figure who was extensively written about in medical journals after his death, but whose voice is entirely absent from the historical record, the character of Tarrare presents the theatre-maker with a number of ethical and artistic considerations. In documenting Tarrare’s life through puppetry and opera, Wattle and Daub engaged in both a literal and a metaphorical act of ventriloquism, wherein we put our own words into the mouths of the dead. Drawing on Levinas’s ethics of the ‘other’ and Salverson’s reflections on the ethics of documentary theatre, this article interrogates The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak as an example of documentary theatre and explores the unique opportunities and challenges presented when using puppetry to represent the historical ‘other’.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | documentary theatre, ethics, historical drama, opera, puppetry, the ‘other’ |
| Subjects: | C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CT Biography N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general R Medicine > R Medicine (General) |
| Divisions: | Bath School of Music and Performing Arts |
| Research Centres and Groups: | Arts for Social Change Research Group Creative Corporealities Research Group |
| Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00025_1 |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Oct 2023 09:33 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Oct 2023 09:43 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/15294 |
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