Overview
Considers dementia, narrative and performance in relation to the fields of reality theatre and applied theatre
Contributes to the burgeoning field of dementia and the arts as well as in ageing and health
Explores how people with dementia are represented to publics as well as how they represent themselves
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Dementia, Identity and Narrative
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Front Matter
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Dementia in Performance
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Front Matter
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Dementia as Performance
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Focusing mainly on case studies from Australia and the United States of America, this book considers how people with dementia represent themselves and are represented in ‘theatre of the real’ productions and care home interventions, assessing the extent to which the ‘right kind’ of dementia story is being affirmed or challenged. It argues that this type of story — one of tragedy, loss of personhood, biomedical deficit, and socio-economic ‘crisis — produces dementia and the people living with it, as much as biology does. It proposes two novel ideas. One is that the ‘gaze’ of theatre and performance offers a reframing of some of the behaviours and actions of people with dementia, through which deficit views can be changed to ones of possibility. The other is that, conversely, dementia offers productive perspectives on ’theatre of the real’.
Scanning contemporary critical studies about and practices of ‘theatre of the real’ performances and applied theatre interventions, the book probes what it means when certain ‘theatre of the real’ practices (specifically verbatim and autobiographical) interact with storytellers considered, culturally, to be ‘unreliable narrators’. It also explores whether autobiographical theatre is useful in reinforcing a sense of ‘self’ for those deemed no longer to have one. With a focus on the relationship between stories and selves, the book investigates how selves might be rethought so that they are not contingent on the production of lucid self-narratives, consistent language, and truthful memories.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Dementia, Narrative and Performance
Book Subtitle: Staging Reality, Reimagining Identities
Authors: Janet Gibson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46547-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-46546-9Published: 30 September 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-46549-0Published: 01 October 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-46547-6Published: 29 September 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 298
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations
Topics: Performing Arts, Contemporary Theatre, Applied Theatre, Social Care