Twining plants & cultivating the unexpected : disruption through contemporary theatre practices

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the role of disruption in an artistic process and the possibilities of utilizing disruption in contemporary theatre. The theoretical starting point is John Dewey’s view of disruption as the onset of all learning and problem solving, and hence crucial for all pedagogy and education. The two research questions are: (1) in what ways could disruption be made a more central, productive, and visible element of an artistic process by means of contemporary theatre practices, and (2) what kind of a theatre performance results from an artistic process which aims to provide the audience with experiences of disruption? The basis of this research is the artistic process of the devised theatre performance Names of Plants, as well as its four performances. A group of nine performers, aged 19–48, and myself as the director experimented with various contemporary theatre practices used to create potential for disruption for the participants. An added pedagogical dimension to the process was acknowledging the gender diversity in the group as some of the participants and the author do not identify with binary terms for gender. The resulting performance, staged in an art gallery, was devised from the ideas, elements, autobiographical accounts, and movement sequences which originated in these exercises and practices. The artistic outcomes were created with the aim that the members of the audience would have possibilities to experience disruptions. Material for this practice-led research was collected in a research diary, through questionnaires to the participants and by an exit questionnaire to the audience. The theatre practices used turned out to have different results in cultivating experiences of disruption. Particularly fruitful were exercises that didn’t provide a clear model of a successful completion but rather allowed for the unexpected to happen. Both primarily physical and primarily verbal approaches seemed to produce disruptions and recollections of past moments of disruption. Other useful means included shifting the rehearsal structure multiple times. Some disruptions arose from the concrete aspects of the rehearsal situation itself; some of these fed the creativity while others caused tension and stress. Focusing on experiencing disruptions seems to have fostered a warm, caring atmosphere and acceptance towards mistakes, unfinishedness, and individuality. Aiming to provide the audience with experiences of disruption, Names of Plants combined a collage-like collection of elements with a unified, cohesive aesthetic quality throughout the performance. The elements were created through collecting autobiographical material from the participants as well as crafting scenic ideas from the experiences come upon during the exercises. The collage-like structure allowed for a diversity of autobiographical voices and was intended to provide opportunities for the audience to self-identify with, to recall past unexpected moments, and to experience new ones. The audience members found various unexpected elements in the performance, even in the kind of artistic context where people expect to be surprised.