Woman Undone by Brokentalkers: Activism with a Difference

Helena Young

doi:10.11606/issn.2595-8127.v25i2p101-117

Authors

Helena Young University College Dublin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2595-8127.v25i2p101-117

Keywords:

Postdramatic, Gender, Patriarchy, Embodied Trauma

Abstract

Brokentalkers theatre company first set up in 2001 may be described as a fearless, innovative organisation which has from the outset tried to balance the inequalities prevalent in Irish society. It comprises of Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan who describe their ethos as to devise original, accessible live performance and explore new forms that challenge traditional ideologies of text-based theatre. They use the postdramatic medium in order to convey the urgency of a particular situation and in line with this, their performances can often include slapstick, violent physical action, pop cultures, breaking of the illusion and hysterical outbursts from the actors. One of their more recent performances, Woman Undone, which premiered in 2018, is an impactful reimagining and reconstruction of an aspect of blues singer, Mary Coughlan’s life. This essay investigates the use of dramaturgical strategies such as musicality, bodily movement and cross gender casting in the performance in order to highlight the situation of those who have been abused in Ireland. The microcosm of one well known woman’s experience is brought to the macrocosm of society to educate and enlighten all women.

Author Biography

Helena Young, University College Dublin

Helena Young is currently a PhD student at University College Dublin (Ireland) and recently completed a Masters in Drama and Performance there having previously achieved one in Anglo Irish Literature and Drama. She is presently a tutor in Drama Studies in the U.C.D School of English, Drama and Film and her research interest is investigating Irish theatre company, Brokentalkers’ political and social activist role.

References

Bamber, Helen. The good listener. Wiedenfeld and Nicolson. 1998.

Bardet, Marie. Philosophy of bodies in motion: between improvisation in dance and Bergson’s philosophy: study of immediacy. Diss. Paris 8, 2008.

Beck Julian, The Life of the Theatre (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1972), No.84.

Carlson, Marvin. 2015. Postdramatic Theatre and Postdramatic Performance. Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença 5: 2015. 577–95.

Chappel, Freda, and Chiel Kattenbelt. “Key issues in intermediality in theatre

and performance” Intermediality in theatre and performance. Brill, 2006. 11-25.

Chung, Rachel. “Come, Sir Boy: Subverting Masculinity Through Cross-Gender Performance.” Inquiries Journal 9.11 (2017).

Coughlan, Mary. Bloody Mary My Story. Dublin: HachetteBooks,2009.

Etchells, Tim. Certain fragments: Contemporary performance and forced entertainment. Psychology Press, 1999.

Ferriter, Diarmaid. The transformation of Ireland 1900-2000. Profile Books, 2010.

Filipas, Henrietta H., and Sarah E. Ullman. “Child sexual abuse, coping responses, self-blame, posttraumatic stress disorder, and adult sexual revictimization.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 21.5 (2006): 652-672.

Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The transformative power of performance: a new aesthetics. Routledge, 2008.

Freebody, Kelly, and Michael Finneran. Critical themes in drama: Social, cultural and political analysis. Routledge, 2021.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of indignation. Routledge, 2015.

Fuchs, Georg. Der Tanz, Stuttgart: Verlag von Strecker & Schroeder, 1906.

Garvin, Tom. Preventing the future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long? Dublin:Gill & Macmillan Ltd, 2004.

Giroux, Henry A. Disposable youth: Racialized memories, and the culture of cruelty. Routledge, 2012.

Hawton, Keith, Kate EA Saunders, and Rory C. O’Connor. “Self-harm and suicide in adolescents.” The Lancet 379.9834 (2012): 2373-2382.

James, Allan. “Linguistic layering and the play semiotics of postdramatic (and dramatic) theatre.” AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 45.2 (2020).

Klett, Elizabeth. “Re-Dresssing the Balance”. Ed. James Bulman. Shakespeare Re-Dressed: Cross-Gender Casting in Contemporary Performance. Cranbury, New Jersey: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp, 2008. 166-188. Print.

Lehmann, Hans-Thies. ““Postdramatic Theatre”, a decade later.” Dramatic and Postdramatic Theater Ten Years After: Conference Proceedings. Belgrade: Faculty of Dramatic Arts, 2011.

McMullan, Anna. Performing embodiment in Samuel Beckett’s drama. Routledge, 2020.

Miller, Gemma. “Cross-gender casting as feminist interventions in the staging of early modern plays.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 16.1 (2014): 4-17.

Oh, Chuyun. ““Can you dance for me?” the (Im) possibility of speaking trauma in dance ethnography.” Text and Performance Quarterly 41.3-4 (2021): 241-261.

States, Bert O. “The phenomenological attitude.” Critical theory and performance (1992): 369-79.

Pine, Emilie. “Introduction: Moving Memory.” Irish University Review 47.1 (2017): 1-6.

Pine, Emilie. The memory marketplace: Witnessing pain in contemporary Irish and international theatre. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2020.

Rhodes, Karin V., et al. ““You’re not a victim of domestic violence, are you?” Provider–patient communication about domestic violence.” Annals of Internal Medicine 147.9 (2007): 620-627.

Solomon Alisa. Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender. London: Routledge 1997.

Vicary, Judith R., Linda R. Klingaman, and William L. Harkness. “Risk factors associated with date rape and sexual assault of adolescent girls.” Journal of adolescence 18.3 (1995): 289-30.

Walsh, Fintan, and Willie White, eds. That Was Us: Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

Weygandt, Susanna. “Revisiting skaz in Ivan Vyrypaev’s cinema and theatre: rhythms and sounds of postdramatic rap.” Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema 12.3 (2018): 195-214.

Wright, Colin. “Lacan on Trauma and Causality: A Psychoanalytic Critique of Post-Traumatic Stress/Growth.” Journal of Medical Humanities 42.2 (2021): 235-244.

Willcoxon, Jeanne. “Postdramatic Theatre.” Theatre Topics 18.2 (2008): 248-249.

Woman Undone By Brokentalkers. Directors Feihlim Cannon and Gary Keegan. Project Arts Theatre. Attended 16/11/2018.

https://www.auroranova.org/ Accessed 25/05/2023.

https://www.drcc.ie/news-resources/research-shows-most-people-believe-ireland-has-problem-with/ Accessed 25/05/2023.

https://www.hotpress.com/culture/mongoose-pitfalls-industry-crowdfunding-stunning-new-album-22782801 Lucy O’Toole. Accessed 25/05/2023.

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/keep-the-spotlight-on-dark-corners-of-our-past/42193534.html Colin Murphy. Accessed 26/05/2023.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/mary-coughlan-32-times-i-ended-up-in-hospital-with-alcohol-poisoning- Patrick Freyne. Accessed 25/05/2023.

https://nctheatre.com/blog/women-theatre-historical-look Accessed 25/05/2023.

https://wildfirefilms.net/films/druid-shakespeare/ Accessed 25/05/2023.

https://vimeo.com/335430804 Woman Undone by Brokentalkers. Accessed 31/05/2023.

The Works Presents - Louise O’Neill | RTÉ - YouTube