posted on 2022-11-14, 13:50authored byAlexander Kelly
This study explores the contribution of three solo performances created by
Alexander Kelly and Third Angel to the field of autobiographical
performance: Class of ’76, The Lad Lit Project and Cape Wrath. The three
Existing Published Works are preceded by a contextual, critical synopsis and
a Timeline of Submitted and Related Projects, positioning them in their
immediate context of Third Angel’s 22 years of practice. The study recognises
the political potential of autobiographical work to give voice to those whose
stories are often overlooked by the dominant media around us as the central
argument for the value of this work. Consequently it considers what the
ethical implications are of using autobiographical performance to tell other
people’s stories.
Chapter 1 introduces the study, and identifies the key literature that has
framed and informed the work: Heddon’s Autobiography and Performance,
Govan et al’s Making A Performance and Maguire’s Performing Story on the
Contemporary Stage. Chapter 2, Mapping The Territory, identifies the key
themes that have emerged in this theoretical consideration of
autobiographical performance in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, notably
the importance of authenticity, the construction of the self, the role of
persona, the relationship to place. It places the work in a lineage of devised
and autobiographical performance, notably the work of Spalding Gray,
Bobby Baker and Bryony Kimmings. Chapter 3, Telling Other People’s
Stories, identifies the importance and impact of the submitted projects.
Recognising the devising methodology of the work, the different roles of
Kelly (deviser, writer and performer) and his principal collaborator Rachael
Walton (director) are identified. Through exploration of a process of real world investigation, the study demonstrates a model of reportage
performance that tells both the stories uncovered and the story of their
discovery. Autobiographical narratives are utilised as a frame to explore
wider themes and to tell other people’s stories. Processes that solicit and value
contributions of auto/biographical stories from participants facilitate the
construction of ‘multi-author solo-performances’ that give voice to those not
positioned or inclined to make performances of their own. Re-telling these
stories, performers find their own resonances, and place their own emphases.
Therefore mechanisms need to be deployed that genuinely invite
contributions, and recognise the responsibility we have as researcher performance-makers to the stories and lives that we tell. Through producing
performances that ‘show their working’, these autobiographical works invite
audiences to imagine, and even make, their own versions, in recognition that
everyone has a story worth telling, and worth hearing.
The three projects are presented in their own volumes that detail their
intentions, their unique devising processes and the evolution of the
performance material. The full touring history of each show is included,
alongside a demonstration of its critical reception and impact. Finally, each is
represented with photographs and a full performance text or transcript.