Ashley Wallington

(In)authentic Tendencies: Postdramatic Theatre with Young People

Supervisors: Professor Adrian Kear and Margaret Ames

This research project examines the discourse of authenticity as it relates to both postdramatic theatre and radical pedagogy, leading to the consideration of a range of performance works from the multi-vantage perspectives of making, performing and spectating postdramatic theatre with young people. These initially include Victoria’s Bernadetje (1997), üBUNG (2002) and That Night Follows Day (2007), Pina Bausch’s Kontakthof with Teenagers (2009), Campo’s Before Your Very Eyes (2012) and Ontroerend Goed’s Once and For All We’re Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen (2009), Teenage Riot (2010) and All That is Wrong (2012). Then, in first-hand perspective from within the messy terrain of performance making, I offer an account of an emergent methodology that is designed to exploit postdramatic theatre as an apparatus for radical pedagogy in practice. This makes reference to three specific performance works made with young people during the course of the research project – All Straight in a Line or Wild Like Thorns (2012), Think of Me Sometime (2013) and Music To Be Murdered By (2014). By way of conclusion, the research culminates in a manifesto for practice that is intended as a starting point for others’ radical pedagogic work.

Link to full-length performance works made with young people- https://vimeo.com/ashleywallington/albums

Email address – wallingtona@ceredigion.ac.uk