b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2020-21 Aoife RushThe actors body in British participatory theatre as a challengeaffected by hegemonic discourses. These unstable pointsrefugee women through this actors body could be con-of identification (Hall 2005:446) are represented by socialsidered as an interaction of two distinct fields of perfor-to hegemonic constructions of the cultural identities of womenand conceptual categories such as gender, refugee status,mance (Thompson and Schechner 2004:13). Our social who are refugees and/or seeking asylum. An analysis of tworace, nation, religion, home, and family. An analysis of theand cultural identities - like social locations - are arenas plays, Tanja and Queens of Syria. representation of these categories is underpinned by anrich in performance moments (Thompson and Schech-elaborate convolution of philosophical, social, political,ner 2004:13). Therefore, if these identities are construct-Dissertation Extracts theatrical, and personal paradigms of the body. Tanja anded and expressed through our synthesised and situated Aoife Rush Queens of Syria highlight gender and refugee status as sig- bodymind[s] (Zarrilli 2013:np), then our bodies are also nificant social categories, which inform the constructionssites of multiple performance (Thompson and Schechner of a socially shared image (Seu 2003:158) through certain2004:13). Within participatory theatre, therefore,the homogenising official and popular narratives. actors body is not simply applied but is integrated, through This essay examines how the actors body in participatoryate the cultural identity narratives of women affected bya continually renegotiated flux (Thompson and Schechner theatre can challenge hegemonic constructions of the cul- the turbulent events of Europes refugee crisis (KingsleyCultural identity is a contested concept (Yuval-Davis2004:13), into the performers identity. Within both plays, tural identities of refugee women through an analysis2017:np). These examples of participatory theatre follow,2009:58), further complicated by the introduction of anthe actors body works to represent the cultural identities of key performance moments in two plays, Tanja andand respond to, the events of the extraordinary year ofactors bodymind (Zarrilli et al 2013:ix). The bodymindof refugee women as constructed through various social Queens of Syria. It explores how the representations of these2015 (Kingsley 2017:6). This year was characterised by anis defined by the performers cultivation of a state ofand conceptual, physical, and psychological categories women, through the actors body, may reinforce or counterinflux of forced migrants in Europe and the neoliberalismnon-dual consciousness to enable an holistic embodyingand narratives. These include performer, gender, refugee constructions of cultural identity maintained by dominantof Britains Conservative government, defining the nationswhich encompasses all aspects of [] being (Zarril- status, citizen and alien (Smith 2014:48) violence, ideas of social structures and positions (Kiesling 2009:262). [.] political response to this mass displacement and human- li 2013:43-44). The actors body, then, is constructedself and constructions of otherness (Bharucha 1996:202). itarian crisis. It is further framed by public and mediapsychophysically through a process of equally engagingSpecifically, the cacophonous intersections between these The human need to belong and have a clear sense of iden- narratives which often perpetuate homogenized stereo- the inner and outer dimensions of experience andsubject positions and affecting factors work to define the tity is indisputable. For people forced from their homestypical (Yuval-Davis and Kaptani 2009:57) perspectives ofembodiment (Zarrilli 2013:viii). It manifests through acultural identities of refugee women. These intersections the consequences are profound. The search for a place in apeople who are refugees. In this way, the representationsdialogical relationship between the social, political, andare represented through the actors body. All of this occurs new country can prove as perilous as the hazardous jour- of cultural identity in these plays are contextualised. Withtheatrical environments with the actors emotional andthrough a theatre which relies on the acknowledgment and neys endured to reach safe lands. Responses by receivingcurrent government plans seeking to unjustly differentiatepsychological state. This psychophysical interrelationshipexploration of the interplay between social, personal, and nations, often characterised by dehumanising processesbetween the deserving and undeserving refugee by choos- produces the actors body. Through this actors body thetheatrical performances of identity.and rejection, and compounded by a societal narrative ofing to provide protection for those fleeing war and terrorcultural identities of refugee women are represented by refugee women as victims and refugee men as dangerous,based on how they travel to the UK (Grierson 2021),Ntshangase-Wood in Tanja and Queens of Syrias all-femaleThese theoretical considerations lay the foundation for my shape a view of these people as somehow Other and threat- representation of these identities remains urgent. ensemble. The actors body in participatory theatre mayanalysis of Tanja and Queens of Syria, with a focus on how ening. What is absent and yet needed are for their voicesthen function as an additional positioning within the iden- the actors construct the performances, the relationship be-to be listened to. Who tells these stories and how they areTo establish my analytical framework, it is important totity narratives of the performers. This performer identitytween audience and acting space, between text and body, conveyed matters. They can shine a bright light on the he- define how specific terms are used. Approaches to un- may serve or challenge dominant ideologies. Given this,and significantly the interrelationship between actor and gemonic constructions of the cultural identities of refugeederstanding cultural identity are varied and elusory. Itsmy analysis of the representations of cultural identity isrole (Pavis 1985:209). women. It is through creating, questioning, dismantling,consignment to a fixed definition risks creating a distortedgrounded in theories of the body as a site of social and po-and rebuilding narratives that all of us come to be who weand essentialist explanation which overlooks the intrica- litical contention and significance and driven by an enquiryUltimately, my analysis will demonstrate that the perform-are (however ephemeral, multiple, and changing) (Somerscies of humanitys existence (Rush 2021:1). It is a shiftingof the ethical implications of this kind of representation. ers representation of cultural identity can foster agency, 1994:606). Theatre offers a direct and embodied modeand multifaceted concept characterised by its dynamicinvigorating the actors body with both personal resonance of storytelling. The body of the actor, then, is a channelinterrelationship with its context and can be described as aRecognising the interplay between cultural identity and theand political power. It provides a medium through which through which our stories may be told. It becomes a tan- framework through which we come to understand whatactors body within participatory theatre, reveals a com- individuals are able to resist and negotiate the position gible site through which to negotiate and work to relocatewe really are; or rather [] what we have becomeplex process of interdisciplinary performance (Thomp- (Seu 2003:159) they are seen to occupy within the he-ourselves within the dynamic narratives of identity. In this(Hall 2005:445). Cultural identity, then, encapsulates theson and Schechner 2004:13). This suggests that both thegemonic structures. Viewing cultural identity as a matter way, it is an affecting social device. names we give to the different ways we are positionedsystems of construction and modes of representation, asof becoming as well as of being (Hall 2005:445), I by, and position ourselves within our surroundings, thatwell as the constructed categories of cultural identity them- intend to highlight the potency of the performer identity I use the UN Refugee Agencys definition of refugees asis, the social, political, and cultural contexts as well asselves, are malleable to reconstruction. The participatoryor actors body as active in shaping the representation of people who have fled war, violence, conflict or perse- narratives of the past (Hall 2005:445). These combinetheatre context enlivens the actors body as a tool for socialthe cultural identities of refugee women in participatory cu-tion and have crossed an international border to findto inform the constructionand the discourses whichchange. Participatory theatre offers a platform for thetheatre. I advocate its use as an affecting and political vehi-safety in another country (UNHCR 2021). Within thisshape this constructionof our understandings of whoexploration of cultural identity through the additional inte- cle for social change and thus an activist tool which can ex-definition are included those who seek asylum in the des- we are in relation to people and the world around us. Ifgration of a performer identity or actors body into whatpose, deconstruct, and redefine hegemonic discourses built tination country. Within the plays Tanja and Queens of Syria,subjected to the continuous play of history, culture, andalready constitutes our unstable points of identificationand maintained by a deficit of compassion. In Tanja, the the actors body represents the complexities which perme- power (Hall 2005:445), cultural identity is unavoidably(Hall 2005:446). 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