Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 12 Number 3, December 2011
___________________________________________________________________
Theatre as ‘thinking space’: performing immortality in Staring at the Sun
by
University of Western Australia
In his book Theatre and the Mind, theatre director and playwright, Mick Gordon, states that that our mind constructs the story that tells us who we are (Gordon 2010). He goes on to state that during our daily lives the activity of our minds does not allow us the space to reconsider this story of self. The mind’s function is to be on alert for threats, however small, and the mind’s habitual response is to replicate actions that have maintained safety in the past. He argues that this functionality limits the mind’s ability to contemplate new thoughts and ideas.
However, Gordon believes that the environment and circumstances of theatre can create a safe place where our minds move beyond the intuitive function of survival. He suggests that within the darkness and safety of the theatre, we can be released from this instinctive response, and contemplate different ways of being and thinking, and thus we enter a space where we could choose to review our own story. Gordon states that ‘This is why theatre is the art form of the potential of the human mind,’ a place where we are able to change how we see the world and how we act within it (ibid: 15). It provides us with a safe space within which to pause, ‘consciously consider and judge the story our mind is telling us about a behaviour, a thought a feeling’ (ibid: 13). He also states that ‘our minds intuitively recognise that the state of transcendence is possible in human life, and that a glimpse of this state is achievable in theatre.’ (ibid: 60-61).
Gordon has named this mental refuge a ‘thinking space’ (ibid: 13), and in this essay I will discuss how Gordon has achieved such a space through writing what he calls a ‘theatre essay’. I will then describe why and how Gordon’s theatre essay form has been useful in the creation of my own science play text, Staring at the Sun, and which aspects of this form I have employed to create a thinking space for the contemplation of certain aspects of immortality.i These aspects of immortality are represented thorough a range of states of mind in performance: from rational, scientific and magical thinking, to fractured and imagined consciousness.
Staring at the Sun explores contemporary issues around the potential bio-medically increase longevity and immortality. It can also be termed a science play, and this assertion will be discussed in more detail below. With the increasing impact of science and technology on our lives, science plays become an important genre available to performance makers to address scientific issues through their work. However, the rational, objective nature of scientific practice, the density and specificity of its terms, and the expertise required to engage with it make it a difficult topic for the emotional and subjective realm of theatre. In order to create a ‘thinking space’ within which to contemplate the impact of certain scientific advances on our lives, the above challenges need to be resolved in the context of performance. Through a subjectively engaging performance informed with objective facts, I would argue that the theatre essay is one form that enables the creation of a thinking space in a science play.
It should be noted that to date the play text, Staring at the Sun, has been through several drafts, and the version I will refer to is the sixth draft. It forms part of my creative writing PhD, which will be submitted in early 2012. After that time, I will be actively looking for opportunities to realise the play text in performance where its efficacy can be tested in front of an audience. Nonetheless, a reading of the work has taken place with student actors and this has yielded some evidence on the reception of the text. Therefore any discussion of my work can only be viewed in the context of the written play text and this play reading.
The theatre essay
To date, scholarly research is limited on the theatre essay as a form. Gordon’s works are developed and produced by the London-based company, On Theatre, which he leads. Soho Theatre, which has presented many of On Theatre productions, provides a description of the theatre essay. They state that:
ON THEATRE explores fundamental preoccupations of modern life through a new form of theatre, the theatre essay. As with a written essay, the starting point for a theatre essay is a theme and a question (Soho Theatre website 2011)
On Theatre also provides its own definition of the theatre essay, stating that:
A theatre essay is a theatrical presentation of the written essay form. As with a written essay, the starting point for a theatre essay is a subject. On Theatre selects an issue of contemporary concern and then proceeds to debate, dramatise and present it on stage. (On Theatre website (1))
Thus a theatre essay is developed and presented around a central question, and through performance this question is examined and certain answers tested. However, to fully appreciate the question being asked, the play text and the production in performance must provide the necessary information or exposition to enable the audience to consider their responses to it.
As far as I have been able to research, criticism of On Theatre’s approach to performance making has come from reviews of the theatre productions, and opinion appears to be divided as to the success of the form. Critiques of their work have not always been favourable as one review of On Theatre’s essay, On Emotion (Gordon and Broks 2008), produced at the Soho Theatre in London shows. Michael Coveney in ‘What’s on Stage’ states that this work ‘generates little theatrical heat’ and likens the play to Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers, but without the ‘intellectual resolution to the conflict of philosophy and action’ (Coveney 2008). Ian Shuttleworth writing in the London Financial Times states:
Plainly not all theatre can or should be like this, but there is room for such a mode of presenting object lessons rather than working through more opaque metaphor (Shuttleworth 2005).
Furthermore, Neil Dowden in an online review for CurtainUp writes that, “the play makes complex scientific ideas accessible in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner” (Dowden, 2005). However, he also states that the play still leaves the audience with a sense of mystery about human consciousness despite current neuro-scientific knowledge.
The theatre essay as a form appears to challenge conventional text-based theatre and Gordon acknowledges this. He has responded to criticisms of the theatre essay by defining them as falling within two camps: those that accept the central premise of the work, and those that do not. He describes this central premise as an exploration of an idea through theatre, even if that means working outside conventional theatrical approaches to character and narrative. Gordon resists what he describes as the notion that ‘theatre must be only one thing’. He states that On Theatre’s work is ‘bold, innovative and celebrates the countless possibilities of theatre’ (On Theatre website (1)) Whilst a detailed review of the criticisms of this approach is not possible within the scope of this discussion, it is worth noting that On Theatre has been creating work continuously since 2003, and their works are produced internationally, so there appears to be an audience for this form of idea-led theatre.
The criticisms of the company’s work have been mainly focused on the outcome of the work, that is, the production, and not on the creative process. For my own creative work an understanding of On Theatre’s process is more useful. The company is explicit about how they develop and present work and their process can be summarised as having six steps:
1. Frame the appropriate essay question
2. Find a primary collaborator from outside the theatre world to work with
3. Speak to many other experts, artists and interest groups to gain a wide range of views
4. Workshop the material with actors ‘to generate the most imaginative theatrical language to express it’ (Gordon 2008)
5. create a written text
6. Interrogate the theme through a theatrical production.
The most unique feature of this approach to theatre making is the posing of an essay question. Whilst conventional playwriting may frame a question around a character, for example, for Shakespeare’s Hamlet this could be, ‘How will Hamlet revenge his father’s murder?’ or for Becht’s Life of Galileo this might be ‘Will Galileo declare his belief in scientific or religious truth?’ (Brecht, trans. Willett 1980). In a theatre essay this question is framed not around a character in the play but around the audience. It directly addresses an idea or issue that the audience can relate to. For example in On Theatre’s play On Ego (Gordon and Broks 2005) the question asked is ‘How does the brain create a sense of self?’ (On Theatre website (2)). In On Emotion, it is ‘Are we just puppets of our emotions?’ (On Theatre website (3)). This is an invitation to the audience to become inquisitive, and to hold this question in their thoughts as the story of the play unfolds.
In the preface to On Emotion Gordon describes how, in the development of the play, this central question is fluid and how the process enables this flexibility to ensure the question can be interrogated around a narrative. Gordon suggests that our minds are designed to seek out narrative, to empathise with others (real and fictional), and to understand codes of moral behaviour. Gordon acknowledges that these have been the principal elements of drama even before Aristotle’s codification in Poetics (Aristotle trans. Heath 1996). Aristotle wrote about the primacy of plot, by which he meant the forward momentum of a narrative driven by the actions of the characters. However, Gordon wants to create a ‘thinking space’, and by asking a central question, he wants to direct the audience towards a particular subject of contemplation within this thinking space.
The science play and exposition
As stated above, the theatre essay can be usefully applied to create a thinking space on scientific topics. Gordon and On Theatre have tackled a range of questions from a scientific perspective including neuroscience, Darwinism, love and death, using the theatre essay form. Contemporary culture is inescapably influenced by science and technology, and contemporary performance culture has embraced these disciplines. Many performance works today often engage with science and technology, not only to enable the presentation of the work (such as sound, lighting, set, etc.), but also, and arguably more importantly, in the content of the work. As a consequence of this growing interest in science over recent decades, a unique genre of performance has evolved which has been called the ‘science play’. Scholars are still defining the term science play and various approaches and categories have been suggested to solve this. I would refer you to the works of Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, Harry Lustig and Judy Kupferman for a more detailed discussion. ii Even though the term science play is problematic and requires more rigour, it is, nonetheless, sufficient for the purposes of this essay. I will use a summary drawn from the thinking of these scholars to define a science play as a performance work that engages deeply with science for the purposes of exploring the moral, ethical, cultural or philosophical implications of science and technology on society. It reflects the growing practice of artists engaging with science across disciplines and conceptual distinctions. This has offered important critiques of scientific disciplines along with the opportunity to interrogate notions of normality, to bring scientific issues into the public discourse, to relate these to commerce, politics, and so on, and to question the authority of the ‘expert’. iii Through this a rethinking of science within society, and with respect to self, can take place.
Despite its unclear definition a science play provides an opportunity for performance makers and audiences to contemplate the impact science and technology have on our lives. My own research into certain extant texts has contributed to the determination of a dramaturgy for science plays. From this research, I would argue that there are similarities in the approach taken by playwrights and performance makers when tackling science across many performance styles. In brief, these similarities revolve around the following dramaturgical techniques: the orientation of the audience to the science during the opening engagement with the work; the modification of scientific language and the explanation of its terms; the use of metaphor both spoken and performed to engage with the science on a more subjective level; and lastly, the use of what I call a novice scientist – a naïve character who will have the science explained to them and thus deflect and disguise any overt didacticism. Generally, in any play, exposition needs to be handled carefully but in science plays special care is required to creatively find ways to balance the rational nature of science based on epistemology with the ontological nature of performance. Where a significant knowledge of a scientific concept is necessary for the performance to work, a certain amount of education of the audience must take place. It is important for a playwright or performance maker to deal with this exposition in performance in a way that enhances the creation of a thinking space. As Gordon states, ‘Theatre does not serve us well when it is being didactic’ (p.63). To overcome this difficulty Gordon has employed conventional theatre techniques such as direct address, creating a seminar within the world of the play, simplifying language and so on. These theatrical devices serve to further involve the audience within the play as active participants whilst they contemplate the theatre essay question being posed.
One specific scientific discipline that Gordon has approached in his work is neuroscience. For two theatre essays, On Ego and On Emotion, Gordon worked closely with Dr Paul Broks, and Gordon states that Broks’s book, Into the Silent Land, was the primary source text. (Broks 2004). Although I have little evidence on how this collaboration occurred in practical terms – whether Broks influenced the performativity of the work or contributed to the theatrical workshops, or whether he was there purely in an advisory role - it is evident that the ideas Broks expresses in his book are performed in both On Ego and On Emotion. Some examples are the idea that if you could create two versions of yourself, then which one is the ‘real’ you; or by showing how a character suffers the dissolution of self after a brain injury, and so on. This close association of Broks with both play texts satisfies one of the key elements of the theatre essay in that the performance makers work closely with a primary collaborator. This is also acknowledged through Broks being credited as co-writer with Gordon. At the time of writing the play texts, Broks was a clinical neuropsychologist practicing at the University of Plymouth in England. He wrote Into the Silent Land as an exploration of the nature of consciousness from several perspectives, including clinical case studies, memoir, and first-person narrative. This allows the book to move beyond the usually sanitized certainty found in the genre of popular science writing and to become a more nuanced and subjective attempt to articulate consciousness. In particular it presents the opposing ideas of a self that is separate from the body, and a self that arises from the physical matter of the brain. Stephen Pincock, in a review of Into the Silent Land, states that Broks ‘gave life to a narrator whose own doubts allow these questions to be approached more deeply’ (Pincock 2004).
The simultaneous awareness of self, and of self functioning in society, relates to the main premise of the two theatre essays, On Ego and On Emotion. They theatrically propose the idea that our sense of self emanates from our physical self and is generated in the materiality of the brain. Both works discuss the current scientific understanding of the physical and neurological nature of human identity as displayed through ego and emotion. They achieve this by posing a question during the initial engagement with the audience, thus at the outset of the performance, an expectation is created that information will be required in order for an answer to be achieved.
In the past, writers have variously solved the challenge of exposition in science plays. For example, in Life of Galileo, Brecht portrays his main character as a teacher thus enabling him to literally teach the science to the novice character, Andrea, on stage. Michael Frayn in his play Copenhagen has the two renowned theoretical physicists, Werner Heisenberg and Neils Bohr, explain the discipline of quantum physics in ‘plain language’ so Bohr’s non-scientist wife, Margrethe, can understand it. Also both of these playwrights deal with exposition within the life of the play, by having the characters speak to each other on scientific topics. The theatre essay, on the other hand, both directly and indirectly frames the science in an overtly didactic manner either as a form of a seminar or lecture. In On Ego the audience is placed in the role of attendees at a seminar. In On Emotion the main character, Stephen, is seen rehearsing and revising his lecture. Both these techniques variously ask the audience to take on the role of the novice scientist.
However, this form of presentation appears to contradict Gordon’s own view (as mentioned above) that theatre is not well served by didacticism. He also states that, ‘Theatre is a corollary of our subjective experience of ourselves’ (Gordon 2010, 10), that is, not an objective experience. I would argue the theatre essay flows between these two states of experience, by posing a question and the information required to construct a response to this question, alongside a subjective engagement with story, plot and character, to create a single, informed (objective), emotional (subjective) experience.
The word ‘corollary’ has similar etymological roots to the botanical term ‘corolla’, meaning the structure of the petals that surrounds and protects the reproductive organs of a flower, that is, the creative centre of the plant. As stated earlier, Gordon is suggesting that theatre is a protected space that surrounds our subjective and possibly more creative self. Within the protection of the theatre we can allow ourselves to creatively contemplate various concepts and questions that may be too difficult to consider in our everyday, more objective lives. In this way a theatre essay sets out to create this subjective ‘thinking space’, and to infuse it with an objective state. The resulting performance aims to create a state of informed contemplation, where a question can be considered both intellectually and emotionally. This appears to resolve the apparent contradiction that objectivity works against the subjective and emotional engagement that theatre requires. All science plays need to deal with this apparent contradiction. They present objective facts about a particular science, but at the same time must create emotionally engaging theatre. Based on Gordon’s two science plays, On Ego and On Emotion, I would argue that creating a theatre essay is one solution to this challenge.
Performed consciousness
The two On Theatre productions mentioned above reflect current concerns in science and society about how the mind functions and what consciousness means. These concerns are also of interest to the general public as evidenced by the number of popular science books on the nature of consciousness that have been written over the past few decades. iv These have studied the nature of consciousness from a range of perspectives.
Daniel Dennett argues that consciousness cannot be defined in terms of phenomena and only in terms of a ‘scientific, materialistic theory’, that is, ‘mere matter in motion’ (Dennett 1991, 25). Others, such as Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe, suggest that consciousness can be studied across many disciplines in science and the humanities, and this allows the adoption of various models including those that offer a first-person or subjective approach (Meyer-Dinkgrafe 2003).
A.R. Damasio distinguishes two kinds of consciousness: core and extended (Damasio 1998). He states that core consciousness is automatically generated and allows a sense that an organism owns its own thoughts and actions. This gives the individual the ability to process information in its environment and to become mindful of the threats and opportunities this presents. He suggests that all humans and non-human species have core consciousness. He goes on to say;
In its simple, and non-languaged way, core consciousness was and is now saying, in the mind of the organism, that attention must be paid to the images in the rest of the mind of that organism, that attention must be paid because those images probably concern the organism’s future (Damasio 1998, 1882).
Extended consciousness, ‘or consciousness proper’, encapsulates all present, past and expected future thoughts that engender a more complex understanding of self for an individual. These are, Damasio states:
Thoughts [that] portray not just the present state of the organism but also its past and its expected future. They depend on the gradual build-up of an ‘autobiographical self’, a set of memories of the individual’s unique past and expected experiences (Damasio 1998, 1880).
I would argue that these two states relate well to Gordon’s understanding of consciousness. By creating a thinking space in theatre, Gordon implies that contemplation of our extended consciousness can occur without core consciousness unduly disturbing it.
In my own creative work aspects of Gordon’s approach to creating a thinking space through the theatre essay form has been useful. I hope to create such a space for an audience, where questions about the potential for immortality are contemplated both objectively and subjectively. A brief synopsis of Staring at the Sun may be helpful at this point. The narrative revolves around a cell biologist, Dr Daniel Fredericks. He is driven by his ambition to work in the exceptional research facilities provided by the commercial pharmaceutical company, Artemis Industries. His work is associated with realising the physical immortality of Tanya, a brain-dead cadaver. His mother, Brigid, is a scholarly expert on The Epic of Gilgamesh, a story that highlights the futility of Daniel’s quest. Connor, Daniel’s father, is suffering from Alzheimer’s and Brigid reads to him from his favourite book, On the Origin of Species, in an effort to settle his states of anxiety. v Sandy, a laboratory technician at Artemis Industries, becomes curious about Tanya after she encounters the drug addict, Raf, who wants to know what has happened to his former girlfriend. Daniel starts dating Sandy, and through her concern for Tanya, he begins to question his own professional motives and ethics. Each character in the play is representational of a facet of the question being asked through the work. The laboratory technician, scientific researcher and company executive, located in the world of biomedical science (Sandy, Daniel and Diana, respectively), demonstrate the practical challenges of realising immortality, and the costs and expertise required to control natural processes. These characters also represent of the roles of ambition in achieving excellence in research, and of commerce in bringing this research to society through the market. In the realm of the humanities, the history professor (Brigid) serves to focus reflection on the mythical exploration of immortality, through referencing the ancient text of The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Through attempting to present on stage the extended consciousness of two characters, Tanya and Connor, I aim to realise their states of mind as ‘performed consciousness’. I use this term to refer to a non-naturalistic state, which is performed in an effort to understand and experience this state through imagination and imaginative playing within the context of the play text. This serves to distinguish between the performed states of these two characters and the states of the other characters, which are based in realism. It could be argued that all characters realised by actors are imagined and are a type of ‘performed consciousness.’ However, I am using this term to mean an expression of a character’s consciousness where their ability in performance to communicate with other characters through conventional dramatic dialogue is extremely limited. This limitation creates dramatic possibilities to present their states of mind performatively, and through poetic language, gesture, and metaphor. Unlike characters presented realistically, these characters’ presentations would be introspective and unfamiliar, but still aim to provoke empathy from the audience. These moments may also bring the audience back to the idea behind the work, and distance them from a solely, passive emotional engagement, thus blending both the objective and subjective states.
In Staring at the Sun, I have attempted to represent in performance a type of extended consciousness through the subjectivity of Tanya and Connor, even as this falls away when examined objectively. It is impossible for me to ‘know’ how characters such as Tanya or Connor experience themselves, especially as they are both fictional. Nonetheless, I have attempted to locate their performed consciousness sufficiently close to what I perceive as our own, as a means by which an audience may enter into their imagined realities. At the same time, in performance the reality of these two characters will seem ‘other’ or different. This would stimulate a dramatic tension, balancing between the accessible and the strange - a representation perhaps that acknowledges that consciousness is both individual and universal.
Both Connor and Tanya are also important catalysts to elicit responses from the other characters on the nature of consciousness and how this relates to their moral and ethical selves. To achieve this effectively, Connor and Tanya’s histories need to be created, their ‘autobiographical selves’ as noted by Damasio. For example, Tanya is shown in flashback injecting heroin just before she dies; her boyfriend, Raf is driven to find answers about what happened to her body and this provides a turning point in the narrative. For Connor, his past healthy self and his relationships with Daniel and Brigid are referred to through artefacts such as photos, films, and reminiscences. These devices serve to paint these characters as ‘real’ people with histories, whilst several theatrical devices, along with various spoken and performed metaphors counter this and act as signifiers of their difference: Tanya exists in a state ‘beyond life’, from within Raf’s memory, and Connor exists in a fracturing and deteriorating consciousness due to dementia. The conceit of theatre allows Tanya to vocally reflect on her own death and her possible physical immortality, and similarly allows Connor to reflect on his deteriorating mental and physical health, and his mortality. This interpretation of dementia through the voice of Connor, also considers whether the physical, fleshy brain constructs ‘self’ or whether there exists an essential ‘I’ or ego. Whilst these two characters are the most experimental in approach in this creative work, and potentially the most challenging to realise in performance, they should be seen as following two converging lines of ‘presence’ that meet at the end of the play when both characters die.
The first character I will discuss is Tanya who could be seen as an unresolved presence in the play. She is seen physically on stage as a body with no brain function that has been donated for scientific research, but at the same time she communicates with the audience and with her boyfriend, Raf. Her spoken and physically moving presence could be interpreted in many ways: either as her brain being repaired as an unforeseen consequence of the research on her; as her imprisoned ‘soul’ that manifests an understanding of existence beyond the purely physical activity of neurons; or finally, as an imagined Tanya in the mind and memory of the emotionally unstable Raf. The unresolved nature of her presence reflects the unresolved nature of the quest for immortality. It also resonates with the instability of Daniel’s future career and his relationships with his girlfriend, Sandy, and his mother, Brigid. Raf’s unresolved grief, a condition exacerbated by the absence of a funeral or other socially relevant ritual to acknowledge her death, is yet another facet reflected by Tanya’s presence.
The dramatic realisation of Tanya is enhanced through the design of her physical space, including specific lighting states. A number of times during the play she walks along a narrow strip of light towards the sterile room where the experiments on her take place. The light is symbolic of transition from one state of existence to another and reflects commonly reported near-death experiences of seeing shafts of light. Raf is always present when Tanya speaks, and he is located at the end of the light strip furthest away from the sterile room. That is also the location where red rose petals fall at significant moments in the play. The red rose is a symbol of love, as witnessed by the practice of giving red roses on Saint Valentine’s Day, for example, and the falling petals allow for an interpretation signifying the falling apart of that love. These petals are also used as a linking device between Tanya and Connor, and thus aid in the association of these two characters. Connor was a rose-grower and breeder and several references are made to the importance of roses to him and his family.
The performed consciousness of Connor is differently realised. He is an Alzheimer’s sufferer and his presence in the play is manifested through several theatrical devices. Alzheimer’s Disease is a condition that results in a slow deterioration of the physical brain, which eventually leads to loss of memory, loss of control of bodily functions, and eventually death when the brain and the nervous system can no longer maintain the body. The time over which this deterioration occurs, and the course of the disease, varies for each Alzheimer sufferer. In Staring at the Sun, Connor’s performed consciousness is constructed through an imagined experience of his condition. He begins the play seemingly unaffected and able to walk without aid. It is only when Daniel talks to him that he realises that Connor has signs of early dementia because of his inability to follow conversations and his use of repeated phrases. Through the course of the play, the physical presence of Connor is shown deteriorating, as he becomes less able to walk, talk, or look after himself. Through poetic monologues Connor implies he has some awareness of his state of deterioration and at times reminisces about his former self.
Notwithstanding their respective states of death and dementia, Tanya and Connor speak on stage, and this is a powerful tool to express their state of mind. Poetry is used extensively to create a vocalisation that is emotional and insightful, and invites an audience to enter into these imagined states, without them being fully articulated. For example, when Tanya describes how it felt when she injects a fatal dose of heroin, she says:
And it was beauty
Beauty slipped into my veins
and spread and spread,
took hold
no words
no slippery words
never mean what they say.
Beauty
part of my story
part of me.
it was…
It was Heaven.
It felt…
I felt like love.
I was love.
There’s no end to me.
The repetitions, the simple language, the striving to articulate an experience, are all attempts to dramatically present the sense of euphoria as the drug takes effect. This was also Tanya’s final experience of heroin, before, with some irony, her body became a test bed for many different pharmaceutical drugs and technologies.
Likewise, Connor communicates through poetic language. For example, when he is in an advanced state of decline, Brigid briefly leaves him alone in the garden. With considerable effort, Connor puts his hand on top of the book she has been reading to him and he is heard in voiceover to say:
This gossamer thread continues through,
no break between life and death
like a mist it seamlessly blends
lacking clear lines,
we cannot define when it begins.
It lives on through others
woven in those we have known
life’s meaning patterned
in those we have loved.
To know life is to learn to love
and to have loved in life
is to learn how to mourn.
This poem references the book Brigid is reading, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (to give it its shorter and more well known title), which puts forward a theory of evolution through Natural Selection (Darwin 1859). The ‘gossamer thread’ refers to the biological mechanism for this process of passing on inherited characteristics, that is, through DNA (or deoxyribonucleic acid). vi Connor’s speech then connects the biological understanding of life and living, love and loss, with a personal understanding.
There is also a Chorus present in the play text when both Connor and Tanya are on stage whose function is essentially three-fold. Firstly, it is a linking device that shifts between the ontological states of performed consciousness and realism; a theatrical device to transition between the physical actions on stage; and a device to create the world of the play by the actors in the Chorus taking on different roles as required, such as laboratory technicians or aged care workers and elderly patients. In effect, the Chorus functions to enhance the visual, spatial and transitional elements in performance, as well as occupying an intermediate space between the realism of Daniel Fredericks and his family and colleagues, and the performed consciousness states of Tanya and Connor.
Performing immortality in Staring at the Sun
Through the writing of Staring at the Sun, I have attempted to uses aspects of the theatre essay to resolve the dilemma often faced by writers of science plays, that is, that objectivity often works against the subjective and emotional engagement that theatre requires. However, I have not engaged with a primary collaborator as closely as On Theatre does but I have consulted with experts and interested parties to inform the work, in particular with molecular biologist, Dr. Guy Brown, at Cambridge University. Brown’s book The Living End has been an important reference text for much of the science and the issues surrounding the science of longevity, ageing and death (Brown 2008). Another point of difference with On Theatre’s process is that I was unable to workshop with actors during the initial creative phase of my play, although I hope to develop my text through more conventional processes, such as a play reading with professional actors. Also I have adopted conventional narrative and character techniques often used in theatre and in the theatre essay form to present these scientific issues in performance. vii Alongside these is a state of performed consciousness realised through specific characters.
Nonetheless, as with the work of On Theatre, the narrative in my play is restricted and revolves around a central question; characters signify aspects of this question, and the audience is exposed directly to the science behind increasing human longevity and biological immortality. In addressing the central question the play can explore the particular area of biomedicine that presents the prospect of biomedical immortality, especially through the manipulation of cell apoptosis, a form of cell death. Apoptosis is a cellular mechanism that results in the removal of damaged or malfunctioning cells. Along with as-yet-unrealised advances in nano-technology, the body of Tanya, is kept functioning after her death. Her body is to be used as a substrate to test the potential of immortality-inducing treatments that are being developed by the fictional company, Artemis Industries. This forms the basis of the central question presented in the play, that is, ‘Would you want to live a longer, healthier life, and possibly become immortal?’ A secondary level of narrative is located around the ancient story The Epic of Gilgamesh, and this inter-textuality serves to highlight how biomedicine is the latest in a long line of quests for immortality throughout human history.
The theatre essay, Staring at the Sun, brings together references to both the history and future of the science of immortality. This reflects the above theatre essay question presented in the opening scene, in this case through direct address in the form of a seminar where the audience are attendees. The question supposes a positive answer and, during the seminar, this is stated as the most likely response. Through the narrative of the play a further question is implied: ‘Would you still answer ‘yes’ if scientific research achieved this unethically?’ Various perspectives on this question are presented through the characters and ultimately, Daniel, the play’s protagonist, has to make a choice about how he will act. Furthermore, the theatrical conceit of a brain-dead character (Tanya) suspended between life and death, resonates with metaphysical questions about the nature and location of the soul. In this way Staring at the Sun covers many territories and multiple perspectives through character, for contemplation of the central question. This moves beyond the restricted territory of science into philosophy, ethics, history, society, the commercialization of medicine, the conflict between science and religion, and the future of ageing.
By Way of Conclusion
The theatre essay form, as defined by Mick Gordon, can be usefully adopted for a science play to enable it not only to create an engaging performance work, but also to convey enough knowledge of the relevant science being addressed. This is a challenge in performance because if the exposition of the science becomes too fulsome or didactic it can distant an audience from a satisfying, emotional engagement with the play. A theatre essay openly acknowledges the objective nature of exposition and deliberately adopts presentational forms that are unselfconscious of this nature. However, these forms are still a coherent part of the world of the play, such as creating a seminar with the audience as attendees, or having a character practicing out loud for an upcoming lecture. In this way, a theatre essay creates a subjective ‘thinking space’, infused it with an objective state - a state of informed contemplation, where a question can be considered both intellectually and emotionally. It could be argued that this allows for exposition to be openly delivered as an integrated element of the play. It also places the audience in the role of a novice scientist, as I mentioned above, thus both utilising a technique common in science plays, and actively including the audience within the world of the play.
Within the frame of the science play, I have adopted the technique of the theatre essay and organised Staring at the Sun around a central question. The play then proceeds to interrogate that question and aims to create a thinking space where a subjective contemplation of the question may occur.
The play text attempts to create two characters that are each presented as a ‘performed consciousness’. These two characters, Tanya and Connor, are realised through the use of space, lighting, poetry, gesture and metaphor so as to create the world of their imagined consciousness in performance. Through this, and the conventional tools of drama, such as story, plot, character, and the use of stage design, I hope to inspire in an audience, a moment of contemplation directed towards the question asked at the beginning of the play, ‘Would you want to live a longer, healthier life, and possibly become immortal?’ Although the play does not seek to answer that question, leaving that to the individual audience members, it does seek to stimulate a dialogue around this issue and the ethical questions it poses. This ability to stimulate the contemplation of social and personal issues is, in my view, one of the strengths of theatre. Creating an emotional engagement with the audience during a performance can affect a powerful, subjective theatrical experience.
If addressing a theme that requires particular knowledge, such as a scientific discipline, then exposition is required and this can potentially take the audience out of this subjective, engaged state. By integrating the didactic elements as part of its form, the theatre essay helps bring together objective and subjective states in a coherent and engaging manner to create a thinking space in the theatre. In the case of my own creative work, I adopted elements of the theatre essay form, and created states of performed consciousness for particular characters (Tanya and Connor) in an effort to inspire a thinking space in performance on the scientific issues. In particular, through empathy with these characters and the situations they are in, I am attempting to create a thinking space within which an audience may contemplate and speculate on their own moral and ethical views concerning how far biomedical research should go in order to achieve immortality.
Notes
i The title Staring at the Sun was inspired by La Rochefoucauld’s maxim ‘Le soleil ni la mort ne se peuvant regarde fixement.’ From “Reflexions, sentences et maximes morale” by La Rochefoucauld, (Paris: Guiraudet et Jouaust, 1853), Verse XXVI, p 17.
ii For a discussion on the definition of a science play, refer to the following: Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, Science on Stage: From Dr Faustus to Copenhagen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), pp. 219-230; Harry Lustig, Physics in Theater, American Physical Society newsletter, October 2005, http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/2005/october/articles.html, (accessed 07 August 2009); Judy Kupferman, Science in Theater, Jewish Theatre.Com, http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=485&refpage=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jewish-theatre.com%2fvisitor%2farticle_display.aspx%3farticleID%3d486, (accessed 23 May 2009).
iii For further reading, a comprehensive account of science plays can be found in Shepherd-Barr’s book, Science on Stage: from Dr Faustus to Copenhagen.
iv There are too many popular science books on the subject of consciousness for a comprehensive list, but three early and notable books are:
Penrose, Roger (1989), The Emperor’s New Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989;
Gregory, Richard L. (1981), Mind in Science: A History of Explanations of Psychology and Physics, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1981;
Dennett, Daniel (1991), Consciousness Explained, London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1991.
v As an aside, the presence of On the Origin of Species may resonate with an audience aware of recent history, and in particular the application of Darwin’s theories to various eugenics movements. Perhaps this association will provoke contemplation of the rights of the dead, although audience reception can vary widely.
vi There is research and debate within science that susceptibility to Alzheimer’s Disease is a genetically inherited characteristic. For further reading see Booji, B. B. (2011), ‘A gene expression pattern in blood for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease’, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease vol. 23(1), pp.109-19.
vii Briefly, conventional theatrical techniques could be described as attributing characters with actions, along with emotional stakes attached to achieving them (that is, desires). Presenting obstacles to these actions creates conflict. Finally, these characters perform these actions in a coherent visual-spatial environment.
Bibilography
Aristotle, Poetics, trans. Malcolm Heath (1996), London: Penguin Classics.
Brecht, Bertolt, Life of Galileo, trans. by John Willett, collaborator, M. Steffin (1980), ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim, London: Eyre Methuen Ltd.
Broks Paul (2004) Into the Silent Land, London: Atlantic Books.
Brown Guy (2008) The Living End: the future of death, ageing and immortality, Basingstoke, Hants: Macmillan Science.
Coveney, Michael (review 13 November 2008), “On Emotion”, What’s on Stage website, http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8821226569981/On+Emotion.html (accessed 26 December 2010).
Damasio, Antonio R (1998), ‘Investigating the biology of consciousness’, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 353(1377): 1879-82.
Darwin, Charles (1859), On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, London: John Murray.
Dennet, Daniel (1991), Consciousness Explained, London: Penguin Books.
Dowden, Neil (2005), ‘On Ego’, CurtainUp, http://www.curtainup.com/onego.html, (accessed April 2011).
Frayn, Michael (2003), Copenhagen, London: Methuen.
Gordon, Mick and Paul Broks (2005), On Ego, London: Oberon Books.
Gordon, Mick and Paul Broks (2008), On Emotion, London: Oberon Books.
Gordon, Mick (2010), Theatre and the Mind. London: Oberon Books.
Gordon, Mick (2008), What’s On Stage website, http://www.whatsonstage.com/interviews/theatre/london/E8821227711822/Mick+Gordon+On+...+Emotion+%26+Michael+Coveney.html, (accessed 12 December 2010).
Gregory, Richard L. (1981), Mind in Science: A History of Explanations of Psychology and Physics, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
Kupferman, Judy, “Science in Theater”, Jewish Theatre.Com, http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=485&refpage=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jewish-theatre.com%2fvisitor%2farticle_display.aspx%3farticleID%3d486, (accessed 23 May 2009).
Lustig, Harry, “Physics in Theater”, American Physical Society Newsletter. October 2005. http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/2005/october/articles.html, (accessed 07 August 2009).
Meyer-Dinkgrafe, Daniel (2003), ‘The Relevance of Consciousness Studies for Theatre History and Practice in the Context of Globalisation’, The European Legacy, 8(6): 769-776.
On Theatre website (1), http://www.on-theatre.org.uk/process.html, (accessed 26/12/2010).
On Theatre website (2), http://www.on-theatre.org.uk/onego.html, (accessed 14 May 2011).
On Theatre website (3), http://www.on-theatre.org.uk/onemotion.html, (accessed 14 May 2011).
Penrose, Roger (1989), The Emperor’s New Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pincock, Stephen (2004), ‘Paul Broks’, The Lancet, 363:1564.
Shepherd-Barr, Kirsten (2006), Science on Stage: from Dr Faustus to Copenhagen, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Shuttleworth, Ian (16 December 2005), ‘On Ego’ review, The Financial Times, :15.
Soho Theatre website, http://www.sohotheatre.com/pl1575.html, (accessed 26 December 2010).