Performance: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies Vol 1

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PER FO RMANC E

Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies

Edited by Philip Auslander

Volume 1

11

~

Routledge

T.ytor &. r... ncl~ Croup

I ONn(J r~ ANIl Nrw YORK

CO N T EN T S

VQLU M E l

A ckI1UlVle(~¡;el11enIS Chrol1(Jlogical r abie (JI reprinlcd urlicles

XV (/l1d

clwplers

General Introduction

XV ll1

1

l'irst published 2003

by Ro utledgc

2 Park Square, M ilt o n Park, Abingd o n, Q W I1 , OX 14 4RN

Simullaneously published in lbe USA a nd Ca nada

by R oullcdge

270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016

ROlllledge is an imprim (JI I/¡ e Tay lor & halle;s GrOtijl

PART I

25

Foundations 80d defi nitioos 1./ Foundalio!1al/I:'Xls a/UI concepls

TransICrred to Di gital I'rinlin g 2009 Ldiloriallllalle r and sdection Ce) 2003 Philip A usla ndcr; individual

owners rctain co pyright in their own malerial

T ypeset in Times by G raphicrart Limitcd , Ilon g K o ng

Al! rights n:scrved, No parl of this book may be reprintcd or

reproduecd or utiliscd in any fo rm or by an y e lccu'on ic,

Tllechanical, or othcr means, now known nr hereaftcr

inventcd , including photocopying and rcco rdin g, or in any

ini'ormati o n slorage or retrieval systcm, wilhout pcrmi ssion in

writing frol1l lhe publish crs,

Hrilish Lihrar)' Calaloguing ;/1 I'lIhlimliol1 f)a/a

A calalogue record ror lhis book is available i'mm lhe 13ritish Libr'ary

fJhrary

o/ Congress

Cafaloging in Puhlicafiol1 J)afa

A calalog record ror lhis boo k has bcc n rcquesled ISBN 0-41 5-25 511-2 (Sen

lSI3N 0-415-25 5 12-0 (Volurne 1)

The territoriaJ passage

27

ARNOI.D VAN G ENNlJl'

2 Nature alld significance of playas a cultura l phenomenon

36

,JOIl AN I I UI Z JN(j A

3 Search fo r a great traditioll in cultural performances

57

M JLT O 'J SI NGliR

4 Ritual drama as "hub"

72

K E NNI' III BUR K '

5 Lcdurc I in ¡¡'m'

tII

Do rIJ¡"gs w;tll

Word.~

91

J. 1.. AUS rl N

I'ublisber's Note

Refere nces wilhin cach chaple r a re as l he)' appe¡¡r in th e

o r iginal wmp lelc wo rk,

6 Injrtldudlc,.. in TI,e HRVINI; (/l II, j Mi\N

Pr(' .~e"t(Jt;oll

,)fSelfin Everydoy Life

97

( '(IN

/ 2 f)( ji/li I ;01/.\',

, ' l i N 'I '.';

, ' IIN I ' EN I' S

cli.l'/ ilu " ¡(II/.I , (l/ul cldlC/((',I'

11)

Pud ry's urol

sll l ~e

338

I' VII{\( M IDI>I 1', I ON

7 Performance as mem phor

108

BE RT O . STA T ES

20 The inCegrily of musical performance

371

S' j AN ( am I oV l'n 11

8 AplJrOachcs lo "performance": an analysis of terms

138

GRA l lAM E F. TIIOMI)SON

9 Thc politics of discourse: pcrformativity meets theatricalily

153

VOUJME 11

JANEL L E RE INEI.T

10 VirtuaJ reality: performance, immersion, aud lhe lhaw

A ck nOll'ledgel1lenls

168

ix

10N MC K ENZf E

PA R... 1

1. 3 Disciplinary aclio/1.s 11

Blurred genrcs: Ihe refiguratioD of social lhought

189

Rcpresentation

1

21 The t:heater of cruelty and the closure of represcutation

3

JACQ U ES D ER R IDA

C I.IFFORO GEERTZ

U

Life as theater: some Dotes on the dramat urgic approach to social reality

Z2 The toOtJl, Che paJm

SIIE LOON 1.. MESSI N(.iER W ITlI II ARO LD SAM PSO N

25

JEAN -m A N

;;

Chronological Ta ble continued AlIthor

1985

i987

Theatrical performance: illustration, translation, fulfillment, or supplement'J Dwight Conquergood Performing as a moral étct: ethical dimensions of the ethnography ol" performance From science to theatre: dramas o f G autam Dasgnpta speculative thought Presence a nd the revenge ol" writing: Elinor Fuchs re-thinking theatre after D errida Approaches to "performance": an Grahame F. analysis 01' terms Thompson The dynamics of desire: sexuality and JiU D o lan gender in pornography and performance Dramaturgy of the spectator Marco De Marinis

1987

Anthony Kubi ak

1987 1988

Ronald J. Pelias and James VanOosting Judith Butler

1988

Elin Diam ond

198 8

Jeanle F orte

1988

Barbara Freedman

198 5

1985 :985 1985

'"'"

1987

9

M arvin Carlson

D~ICh.io

1990

Roger Copeland

1990

Jon Erickson

1990

R ichard A Hilbert

1990

Michal ¡vI. y[cCall and Ho\Vard S. Becker A nd rew.\1urphie

c.1990

.... '"

Tille

Dale

1992

Avanthi Meduri

1993

Elizabeth Bell

1993

Robert P. Crease

Disappearance as history: the stages of terror A paradigm for performance tudies

Vol.

Theatre JournaI3 7( 1): 5- 11.

II

-)

Literature in Pe¡Jórmance 5(2): 1- 13.

m

51

Perforll1ing Arts JoumaI9(2 -3): 237- 246.

III

45

Perionning Ar!s Jou/"lla/9(2-3): 163 - 173.

Il

27

l ute r.:ultunw m . p lIDodemi 1m. plurali sm The presence oC mediation The body as the object of modern perfmmance The efficacy of perfo rmance science: comment on McCall and Becker Performa nce science , ego tia ting presence: performance and new techn ologies Western feminist theory, Asian lndian performance. and a no ti on o f agency Performance studies as women 's work: historienl sigh ts/si tes/ci ta tions fro m the marg1l1 Performance and production: the relation between science as inquiry and science as cul tural practice

Jan e C. Desmond

1993

Peggy Phela n

The ontol ogy of performance: representatio n without reproduction

1993

Alice R ayner

1994

Nick Ka ye

The au di.ence : subjectivity, community and the ethics of listening British li ve art

Embodying difference: iss ues in dance and cultural studies The integrity of musical performance

llap. )­

-. ;:::

­-

Z

Scref'll 26( 5): 78 - 90.

~

:;

:::

Theatre JournaI39(2): 156 - 174.

IJ

24

Translated by Paul Dwye r. TDR: Jourf/al ofPel!or/llance Studies 31(2): 100 - 114. Th eatre JouJ"/1aI39( 1): 78-88.

Ir

]4

'"

1II

"

;.,.

Quarterly Joumal oi Speecf¡ 73(2): 219 - 231. Theatre JoumaI40(4): 519 - 531.

1

L

~

Performative acts and gender constitution: an essay in phenomenology

and feminist theory

Brechtian the o ry/feminist theory: toward TDR: The Joumal o(' Pcrforman ce Srudies 32(1): 82-94. a gestic feminist criticism Women's perfotmance art: feminism and Thealre JournaI40(2 ): 217- 235. postmodernism F rame-up: feminism , psychoanalysis. Th ealre Journa! 40(3): 375 - 397. theatre

¡ 993 -1994 1993

Stan Godlovitch

SOllrce

Peljurmmg A ,r, Jlunuu 11131/ L ll J: 163-1 75. TDR: JOllrnal (Ji Per(ónllw¡ce SllIdies 34(4): 28- 44. Journal ofDram(/tic Theory and Critici.\ m 5( 1): 231-245. Social Prnblel/1s 37(1): 133 - 135.

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,

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31

III

53

Social Prohlems 37(1): 117- 132 .

JII

52

Philip Hayward (ed.), ClIlture. Techl/ology & Creativily, Lond o n: Joh n Libbey, pp. 209-226. Womell alld PCI!orm[{l/ ce 5(2): 90-103.

IV

6

;;

11

4:

Tex! [(mi Pel/om/(/nce Quarterly 13(4 ): 350 - 374 .

Robert P. Crease, The Play oj' alure: Experimentatio/1 as Per/ónnallce, Bloomington: Indiana U niversit y Pres , pp. 158- 177. CLI/wral Critique 26: 33 - 63. JOllrnal (~r Aest{¡etics and Ar! CriticislIl 51(4): 573-587. Pegg Phela n, Uf/lI1arked: r /¡e Politics of Pel:/órll1ance, L ond on: R Ol! tledge, pp . 146- 166. Joumal of Dralllatic Th eory and riticisl/7 7(2): 3-24. ' L ive Art: D efinition & D ocumentation', onlemporary Tlteatre Review 2(2): 1- 7.

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IlJ

46

.,

=

11

41 20

III

62

II

36

IV

78

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ChronologicaJ Ta ble con tinued

DU/e

Author

Title

19 1}~

]on i\'lcKen zie

Virtual reality: performance. irnrr. and the tha\\' R hythm ami the performance of or"anization T:ins separated at birt h:! \h:l .\ fri vernaclIlar and Westem avant garde performativity in theory and practi Performing lesbian in the _pace of technology: part 1 "There must be a lot of fish in lha! lak .. toward an ecological theater Making motions: the embodi m"'nt 01' law in gesture S N~AP! Culture: a diffcrent kin d o l' "reading" Spectato rial theory in the age o fmedia culture D oing difference

199~

1994

Richard A. Rogers C nthia Ward

1995

Sue-Ellen Case

1995

Cna Chaudhuri

1995

Bernard J. Hibbitts

1995

E. Patrick ]ohn50n

1995

Elizabeth Klaver

1995 1996

Candace West and usan Fenstermaker M ichal Kobialka

1996 1996

A ndrew Parker Vivian M. Patraka

1996 1996 1997

Bert . Sta tes Pe ta Tait Philip Auslander

Vol.

Historical cvents and the historiography of tourism Praxis and performativity Spectacles of sDlffering: performing presence, absence, and historical memory at US holocaust museums Performance as metaphor Feminine free Cal!: a fantas)' of l'reedom Legally live

?e-

...;

Ir•

perfruman -e .99 -

Tbecodore Grac~.k

19'r

D a \Í ó Gra\er

199 ~

Baz Ke.shaw

199-

Da\Íd Z. Saltz

199

,., -

n n Cooper Albright

199

Susan Leigh F oster

1998

Leonard C. Hawes

o

1998

l iranda Joseph

1998 1998

Joseph Roach W. B. Worthen

1999 1999

Ric AlIsop Matthew Causey

1999

Frances Harding

1999

Peter Middleton

Listen ing: lO music: performances and rec o rding, The actor's bodies Fighting in the streets: dramaturgies of popular protest , 1968-1989 The art 01' interaction: interactivity , performativit)' and computers Strategic abilitie,: negotiating the disabled body in dance Choreographies of gender Beco ming other-wise: conversational performance and the politics oC experience The performance of production and consumption The future that worked D rama. performativity, and performance Performance writing The sereen test 01' the double: the uneanny performer in the space of technology Presenting and re-presenting the self: from not-acting to acting in African performance P oe try's oral stage

!O

_ Drama RI!\1ie\\": Jou/"I1al o/ Pcrfórmal1ce

'd :

-t

(4 ): 83-106. Tt'xl 011.1 Performance Quarterly 14(3):

Oh/p.

II!

65

II

42

Tlreatre J ournaI47(1): 1- 18.

TV

74

n reater 25( 1): 23- 31.

1Il

60

Ji/l/mal o/ Contemporary Legal lssues 6: 51-8 !. Tex! alld Performance Quar/erly 15(2): 122- 142. .Vell· Thcatre Quart erly II (44): 309-321.

TI

29

II!

54

II

38

Celliler alUl Society 9( 1): 8-37.

1

70

JOl/mal o/ Theatre ({/UI Drama 2: 153- 174.

IJI

56

Women Alld Pel:fornwnce 8(2): 265- 273. Elin Diamond (ed.), Perfimnal/ce alld Cultural Polilics, London: R outledge, pp. 89 ·- 107. Th ealrr¡ Journal48( 1): 1- 26. T/¡ealre ./ollrnaI48(1): 27-34. Thr¡ Drama R e view: ./oumal of Pe/j(¡rmance Sludies 41(2) : 9- 29.

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X1 md PerJimnance Quar/erly 14(4):

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per'form·aoce 0 1 1- él presentation of an artisÜ c wo rk to an a udjence for examplc. a pl ay

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uhjcct arca ~ and intellectllal orientations represented 111 Ihl! c!-;say~ gathcn;d lIl!rc w(}u lJ ineluJ e: Media Theory, C ommunications, (' lIllu rn l St luJil!s , h :m inisl Theory. Ecol ogy, Ma rxism, Structuralism. Post­ strll~·tll n¡)is l1l " umJ Puslln odcm ism . As Jon McKenzi e (1994, 2001) has dem­ onslra tcu l!onvincíngly, inleresl in perfo rmance began to concentrate in a rangl! ofdisdplines in North America afler World War 11. McKenzie believes th a l lhe continuing devclopment ofthat discourse indicates that performance is the primary episteme 01" the twenty-first ccntury. As McKenzic also sug­ gests, mu1tiple paradigmatic lInderstandings 01" performance have emerged fro11l this welter 01" Jisciplines, lInderstandings that are as orten mutually con­ tradictory as harmoniolls. I have tried, therefore, to strll~ture this collection dialogically by ineluding essays that respond directly or indirectly to other writings also inelllded here to give a sense 01' both the consensus and the Jebates that have arisen among the thinkers who find the exploration of performance to be a compelling intelle~tual pursuit. Richard Sche~hner (2002: 30- 35) has made the valuable sllggestion that the study of performance revolves around two basic categories whose simple yet profound difference is expressed in the little words "is" and "as" . One can study phenomena that self-evidently are performances in the usual , aesthetic sense ofthat term oThe types 01" aesthetic performances discussed in the essays assembled here inelude: lheatre, dance, music.. perfo rmance art, circus acts , puppelry, poet ry read ings, and fil 11l . (These are obvi o u.sly broad categories wi thin ench of wh ich arc m ultiple subca tegories; many 01' the cssays incJw..led here implicit ly give u Sl!l1se 01" the rangc ~l r SlIch é,,~ 1 il iccd lIgajn .

or

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I )J \ UI N I t rll NoS SIIIIIC I II Il CS CVCII Ihe " llIl ll Wt! " t ll llc '>pa n wa~ IIPI 1III 1II c d I.!lhHl g\¡: I Wa s accustomeu I~ l si Uing lhmugh U {'our-IHlur nwv i,,", ;¡ play ur dCV\llional gUl hering lha t lasled all night, or a rcaúi ng lhal ttHlk lilh,'C n days. Bul il COIl­ soled mc lO observe lhat t he local aud iellces did nol sit lhrough these stretches 01' time eilher; they \Vould doze, lalk , wa lk a ro unu, go homc and comc back , and tlnd o ther resourccs for diverting their attention. Yct, despite such quaJi­ fications, wheneve r I looked l'or the ultimate lUl its ol' d irect obscrvation , it \vas to these c ultural performances tha t 1 turned.

" nd Illlt

Analysis of cultural perfonnances Once the units 01' o bservatíon had been idcntifIed, rn y in lercst in the con­ ceptual ordering amI interpretation 01' the observed revived. How were lh e cultural pcrformances interrelated so as to constitute " a culture"? And were there a mong them persistent patterns and structu res 01' organization, perhaps di verse patterns ol' cultural tradition, which werc related as Little Traditi on and Great Tradilion? Two types of ordered pa tterns suggested themsel ves almost at once as bei ng particularly obvious and natural. One grauping in­ c1uded the cultural perfonnances that marked amI celebrated the successi ve stages of the individual lite cycle from birth to death (the riles de passage) , and the other marked nature's cycle 01' seasons, phases of the moon, and the like. I was somewhat surprised to find , however, that neither grouping had a ny special prominence in the minds ofmy friends and acquaintances. In fact, 1 do not recall a single instance when anyone identified a particular cultural performance as belonging to one or the other of these two groups . In formal discussions of the ii.í:rama system and in discussions 01' a Brahman 's duties , the individual Jife cyele is used as an ordering principie. But this Llsage is highly abstract and conventionaJized and rarely takes account of the pre­ vailing local rites and customs. When l fOllnd that the ordering of cultural perform a nces by these distinct principIes was not in the forefront of consci­ ousness of the participants and did not in any case indude a11 01' the cultural performances 1 had observed, I ceased to regard these principIes as compel­ lingly "natura\." It occurred to me lhen that the cultural performances may be susceptible to a number of different types of pauerning, va.rying in explic it­ ness and dcgree 01' signi fica nee for cultural analysis. 1 therefore re-exa mined my materi als to see what some of these alternative patterns might be.

Tire cultural stage O nc ty pc al' 1tnalysis migh t study the place where the cul tural perfo rmance ¡,;c urs, Thc home, rn r cXtl mple, is Ihe ccntcr for a fi xcd cydc 01' ri les, cercmon­ ics, ami fcs li vals (incluu in g hoth Ihe lilc-cyele an d Il ULl II'C-¡,;ydt.: lite:, ). a nll lhe 1I.!llIpk is 11 cenlcr ror ano lh c-r sel 01' uaily riles :l l1d púliod il.' I-':s tivals. This tl ivi,Í(\t) is eunscl PLlslv Icc(l1.!lIi/.cd and tl len.: .1I~' Iwn IJ II II\' t1 lsli ll('\ seis ~)r

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(jIU 1\ I IltAlllllllN IN C' I11 '1 IRAI

1'1 ; IUORMAN( ',," S

,illla l f'lIllclillllaric. pCL:­ talo r (which ca n, in ::iome cases, relcr to LIJe pcrfo rnler) . Imkl'd.. one mi ghl d uim that the statcmcnt, " Perfo rmanl:e's onl y Ji re is in the present.")(' is another talltology, sin ce any "Jife" a pe!1()rmance achicvcs ca n only OCCllr in the presen to and thcTe is no such thing as a prescnt unless there is a "spectator" (or a consciollsness) there to experience i.t. In oth er words, th e !lame logic appJies a s well to la ughter, dreaming, reading, a dinner party, 01' any durationaJ experience which, having passed , ceases heing itself and assumcs the ontolo­ gical status 01' memory. So the criterion of presen tness doesn't real1 y disti nguish per formance (not to men tion perform ance art) fro m o ther form s of cxperience, and I assume Phelan wOlllt1 have to agree. The real q uestion wOIJld be: under wha t con­ ditions is presence bro ught about? She goes on to say that " Performance cann ot be sa ved. recorded , docllmented, or otherwi se participate in the cir­ culation 01' representations o/ representatio ns: once it does so, it become!\ something other than performanco." Any atlempt to save a performance wi th a " documenting camera [can only be] a spur to memory, an encouragemenl ofmemor)rto become present. " " Here a difficulty emerges, for me, though it may rest on a n improper unJ erstanding 01' what Phelan mcans by "rcpres­ entations (~/ representations" or words !ike "saved " or "doeumented." 1 can see how attcmpts to document theatre or " Iive" performances (on film or written accoun ts) catch only a "memory ," rather than the performance itsel!'. I am less convinced that performance enlirely disappears in such cases. But the idea becomes highly problematieal in other kiods 01' performance ami performance art-e.g., painting, seul pture and photography whieh don '1 have the same temporal ami ontologieal " !ife" as theatrical performance. For instancc , elsewhere in the book Phelan treats Mapplethorpe's and Cindy Sherman's photographs as examples 01' performance art. Her disclIs­ sions are "documented" by photographs which appear in the book. A t wha l point, if any , do these photos become "something other than performance" since whe!] something " turns into that document- a photograph, a stagc design, a video tape--[it] ceases to be performance art"?3~ Sherma n's own perform ance seems then to be redllced to a reproduction from which Phela n c1aims only the memory 01' a performance can possibly arise. But where did (or does) the original performance occur? Might it have been in the photo­ grapher's act of photographing the slIbject? 1t is len lInc1ear. Stil1 , Phelan presumably experienced a Sberman performance precisely by interactin g with the photos that are only evidenees of a performative "moment" ; otherwisc, how could she have wri tten abo Ll l Sherman's perform ance? Yet her d isl,;ll:-;­ sion of the nature 01' Sherrnan 's performance is q uite con vincing. 1 rcad hl.'l text on Shernlan. check il agai nst th e photos and 1 can see the ['lcrfo rmnt iw q uali ty. lhis maniplIltllion 01' I'cminine '"tlisgulses" lu :ll·I..'rt ai ll ~nd . An o 1 (':i.l ll dose lhe I)~)~)k . pul il 011 l11 y shdl'. tome h;l Ck lo 1I lul['I, IIlld Ihcrc is t hi~ 111.

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rcrl'ol'llla live 'lu aIi ty k aki ng uul "r llll: plwlos again. In LICt. the mure times 1 Sl' C thé photographs the bellcr l unJ erstanJ thcm and what Phclan 11 a poor pla y is its " llnrcalistic" depictio of its conflict: il poses either weak extremes (breaehes), convenient developments to the crisis , or easy solutions---that is, solutions that in rea l social lite \\fauld scaree\y occur. given th e odds. T he sud den unexpected arri va l 01' a rich unde might be a good example, though under somc cireumstanecs the rieh uncle is part 01' the fOfm (sentimental d rama), hence part of what we expect. 20 R ichard Schechner would probabl y disagree with this ·'one-way" judgment. For

example, referring to Turner' s social drama he says: "A rtistie action creates th e

rhetor ical and/o r symbolic possibilities for social drama to ' find itself,' and the

events of ordinary life provide the raw stuff and conflicts reconstructed in art

works" (Be/ween T/¡e(1/er anrl Anlhropology (Philadelphia: Pe nnsylvania U nive r­

sit y Press, 19851. 116, 1I n.). A nd in his previous book , Essay.l' in Perfiml1ollc(, The­ ory: 19 70 76 (N ew Yo rk: D rama Book Specialists, 1977), he applies Tumer's social

drama theory to the 1975 imbroglio of Presidenl G erald Ford's dismissal of thc cabinet rncmbeTs and then to Shakespeare's tragedy R omeo ond Julie/ (140-44) , finding that both follow Turne r's social drama pattern pcrfectl y.F,i rst, I don't disag \Vith Schcchner's sense ofa two-way street in the least. It is quite truc that ree social action uses the rhctorica\ and symbolic language of artistie works (not to mention the rhetoric of religion, military strategy, and perhaps eve n scienee and domestic li fe ): but this is far from a structural adaptation. Second, my point is Ihat social drama came first; it invariably follo\lls th e sa me pattern (as Schechner sa ys, "it has always becn this \Vay in politics, from thc village level on up" (143]). and dram a modcled itsclf directly on this pattcrn. There was simply no ol her choice , a nd 1 would be s urprised if the "dramatic contlicts" that take place iR the ps ych­ icaJ, physical, and animal \Vorlds, if\Vc cut thcrn at the rightjoints, didn't foll o\V a similar pattern. Partieularly enlightening on this subject is Rudolf Amheim ' s discussion o fthe struggl e between the catabolic and the anabolie rorces in the field 01' entropy (he calls this "the st ructural theme") in En/rojJY and Ar/: AIl Essay 017 arder a/1(1 Dis(mla ( Berkcley: Un iversity of Califo rn ia Press, 1974). 21 See Zenon W . Pyl ysh yn , "Metaphorical Imprecision and the 'Top-Down' Re­ search Strategy." in Me/aph or a/UI Tlr ouglrl , ed. Andrew O rton y (Cambrid ge: arnbridge University Press , 1986), 429 . 22 Presen/a/io/1 o/Sei( 254. 23 Ibid .. 106. 24 Ibid ._80- S 1. 25 On Ihis rnatter of the Ihcatrc Illctaphor as interpretative too1. see M ár ia ¡vlinich Brewer. '-Thcatre provides, on the one han d , a vast integrative referencc for interp retatioll and. on the other, it narrO\VS the fidd to the place of thc desiring subject within those interprctive framcs" (" Pcrforming Thcory," Thea/re .Iournol ~7[19 S 5J, 17). 2(, Pbilip A uslandcr discusscs the beginnings 01' performance art in Presel7ce alld

Rc:si,I/I1I/I'i': Poslmodemisl1l alld Culnwal Po li/ics in ConlempO/'(lr y American

Per­

(/\nn A rbor: Uni ve rsity 01' Michiga n Press, 1992), 35 - 55. See a\so M id lal!\ Va ildcn I-Ieuvel, P erjiJ/'I/linK Dramal Dramal i:illg Perjórl1l a/1ce: Altern­ a/il'/ ' 'IlW{//('/' IIl1 d /h (' O rOl1la/i(' rex/ (A nl1 ÁrbOL U ni ve rsity 01' Michigan Press.

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Performative

B

The performer goes from the "ord inary wo r/d " to the " performa tive world," from one time/space reference to another. from one personality reference to one or mo re otbers. lle plays a character, battlcs dcmons. goes into trance, traveJs to the sky o r under the sea or carth: he is tra nsfo rmed, enabled to do things "in performance" he cannot do ordinarily. But when the performance is over, or even as a fi nal pilase of thc performance, he returns to where he started . O therwise he is 1eft hanging- as some movie actors, not all ha ppi ly. have found out. If John Wayne was satisfied in becoming (like Narad) wha t he portrayed , Bela Lugosi was not. I do want to point out that if a change occurs within the performer, o r in his status, it happens only over a long series of performances, each 01' which moves the performer slightly.

e

e

((0J8) ~

_o

A series 01 transporlations results in a translormation

This is what happened to Narad and John Wayne. Thus each separate perform ance is a transportation , ending about where it bcgan, whilc a series of transportation performances can achieve a transformation . l1's not m)' task here to describe the \vays the ordinary world is different from the performativc world. In some kinds of performances- trance dancing, for example-extreme care is exercised in bringing the performer out 0 1' trance. This is so beca use trance exhibits both a quality 01' personality change and involuntariness: the trancer c1early needs help "coming back," while the character actor appears to be in control 01' himself. We might even say that there are two kinds of transportations- the voluntary and the in vol un tary­ and that character acting belongs to the first category and trance to the second. However, in watching trance- and seeing many films depicting it- I suspect that the difference between these k inds of transportations bave been overemphasized . The charadcr actor is self-sta rting (al Icast if he has orth o­ dox EuroÁmerican tra in ing), blll once w,lnn eu -lIp and in the now of lhin gs be is qu it e deeply involved in whal Kea ts céllb.ll hc " f1 cga[iw ca pa bil ily" anJ wha t f"ve schemcu u ul as 1he " nol Inc no! [Jo l 11 11.': ." Tlll' d lLl racler ud or in nnw is no L h i lll ~clr bll l he is nnl no l himscll nI 1111' SlIll l(,' tilllC. Also, lralll:C

'/0

1 1(¡\N Sl'lI l{ !' A ,,' l nN "1'11 11 I R ¡\ N'iHII~M¡\ n ON

rcrformers a re fn::qucll lly ver)' CI I Il~ci ~lIlS uf Ihci r actions eV\! 11 while p~r­ forming thcm; and thcy l\>l' umlc rgo training and wa rm-up. The dilTcrencc betwcen these ki nds 01' performallce may be 1110re in labeling and cultural expcctations than in their performance p roccsses. T ransformation performances are dearly evidenced in initiatioll rites. whosc very purpose it is to transform peorle from one status 01' social identity to another. An initiation not on ly ma rks a change but is itsclf lhe mea ns by whic.:h persons achieve their ncw selves: no performance. no change. Kenneth E R ead tells how a Papua- New GUlnea boy, A semo, was ta kcn from his mother's home, seduded in the bus h for several weeks, put t hrough with his age-mates initiatory ordeals and trai ning, and finally brought back lo his village (al ong with his age-mates) lran sfon ned into aman. Read lets us know th at the under­ lying action of the initiation is performative. To give but two ex amples , afler two weeks of sedusi on the boys are brought back to Susuroka , their vill age: The noise and movement were overwhelming. Behind us, the shrill voices of women rose in keening, ritual , stylizcd cries informed by genuine emoÜon that were like él sha rp jm;trument stabbing into the din around me. T he ululating notes of mate voiees locked with thumping shouts, deep drumbeats expelled from distended chests counterpointed the crash of bare feet on the ground , and , rising JO aboye it all, came the cries of the Hutes. Asemo and his age-mates were somewhere in the middle orthe throng, almost certainly blinded by the dust, carried along by the press of stronger bodies.. .. Other youths had told me, laughing, 01' their panie during these opening minutes of their day-Iong ordeal . " This ordeal included fo rced vomltrng and nosebJeeding. Rcad describes how Asemo and the other boys were Usadly bedraggled" und "dejected" and "limp. " Literally exhausted , the boys were carried, dragged , and pushed into run ning a gauntlet where GaJllIku women attacked the mcn and boys with "stones and lethal pieccs 01' wood , an occasional a xe, and even a few bows and arrows. " The men pickcd the boys up and put them on their shouldcrs and together they mn through no-man's-land. The Illen had bunched togcthcr as thcy ran , so c10sely packed that they struck each other with their legs and arms . In the center 01' the thron g the initiates, rid ing the shoulders of tlleir escorts. swayed p recari o u~ l y rrom sidc l() liide. Iheir fingers dutching the feathe red hair 01" the hca d bclwcén lhcir legs. 12 Reau snys " Ihel e WIIS 1111 1I 11 ~ 1: 1~ inl ' 111..' vcn()111 in Ihe ass ld ' /

') Grc.:cll hlall . Ihld I

10 Mich,I('I(i\llduhlll 111/ I¡lt, / ' \ I I I "'llt llll" Til lJ '(/n/ll1!"''''' I' O( n mma, NcwY ork: I'h.: Vlklll j.'. l'l l"'.. " ,-"

'0(1

,"17

1'11 1\11 N 1,-; ANII ( 11« I I I'vISI /\Ni ' I; S "1 ' 1'ljI(l llI{MANC '1

11 G o ldmall , ¡hid .; 7.

12 Gold rnall . ¡bid. ; 2~ 24.

13 I lc rbcrt Blau, TIJe Eye (~( I'rey: Suhl'ersiIJl/s u( l/le I'lIsllllllt/('rn . Blool11ington:

Indi a na U niversily P rcss , 198 7; 165. 14 Herbe rt Blau, To Al! Appeaf('//ces: lde%gy and P eljórrnG/l1ce, Ncw York and London: R o utledge, 1992; 56. 15 Patrice Pav is, The;llre allhe Crossroads o/ C ullure. T rans. La ren Krugcr. London and Ne w York : R outledge, 1992; 39. [6 E ri ka F ischer- Li chte, T he S emiolics ol Tltealer , T ran s. Jeremy Ga ines and Do ris . Jones. Bloomington: fndiana U n iversity Press, 1992: 182. 17 Q uoted by Fischer-Lichte , ibid. ; 183.

18 Fischer-Lichte, ibid.: 183,

19 Fischer-Lichte, ibid .: 185.

20 Richard Sc hechner, BellVeen Th ea l f l! and Anlhrop%gy . Phi ladelp hia : U ni versity

of Pen nsylvania Press, 1985; 124.

2 I Schechner. ibid.: 119,

22 Schechner, ibid. : 124.

23 E ugenio Barba , Tite S ecrel ArlO/ lhe Peljórmer: A .Dictionary o/ Thealre A l1lhro­ p% gy . London: Routled ge, 199 1; 54. 24 Barba, ibid.; 54. 25 Barba . ibid .; 57. 26 Peter B rook , Tite Emply Space. New Y ork : Athen e um, 1982; 57, 27 Pe ter Brook , ' A ny Event Stems from C omb ustio n: Actors. Audiences an d Theatrical Energy' ( Inte rview with Jea n Ka lman). N eVo' T hemre Quarler/y , vnr, May 1992; 107. 28 Brook, 1992, ibid.; 108. 29 Brook , 1982, ibid. ; 11 7. 30 Frcddie Roke m, 'A Wa lkin g A ngel : On the Perfonnati ve F unctions of the H um an Bad y' . Assaph: S Iudies in Ihe T he(! Ire, 8, 1992; 113 - 126. 31 In W al ter Benjarnin, lIIuminaliol1s , Trans. Harry Z ohn. New Y ork: Schocke n Books, 1969; 255, 32 Benj amin, ibid. ; 257- 8. 33 Benjamin , ibid .; 255 . 34 F reddie Rokem, '1'0 hold as 'twere a mirror up to the spcctatar: " Kal/wrsis" - A Performance Pe rspect ive'. Assaph: SIl/die.\' in Tlteatre, 12, 1996; 101 - 109,

17

ON AC TI NG A NO NOT-ACT I NG Michael Kirhy So urce: 1111' Drama RellielV 16(1) ( 1972): 3 15.

Acti ng rneans to fe ign, to simulate. to represent, to im personate. As Happen­ ings demonstrateu . no t alJ perfonning is acting. Altho ugh acti ng was some­ times used , the performers in Ifappen ings generalJy tenued to " be" nobod y or noth ing other Lhan themsel ves; nor did they represent, or p retend to be in, a time or place d ifferent than that of the spectator. They walk ed, ran , said words, sang, washed dishes , swept, operated machines and stage devices, and so fort h, but they did not feign or impcrso natc. In most cases, acting a nd not·acting are relatively easy to recognize and identiry. In a perform ance, we usualI y know when a person is acting and when he is DOt. But there is a scale or continuum of behavior invol ved , ami the difTerences be tween acting and not-acting may be quite smalI. In such cases categorization may not be easy. Perha ps some would say it is unimportant, but, in ract , it is preciseIy thcse borderline cases that can provide insights into acting theory ami into the nature of the art. Let us examine acting by tracing the acting/not-acting continullm from one extreme to the other. W e \ViII bcgin at the not-acting end of the scale, where the performer does nothing to fe ign , simula te, impersonate and so fo rth. a nd movc to the opposite positjon , where behavior 01' the type th a t defines acting appears in abllndance. ol' course, when we speak 01' " acting" we are referring not to any one style but to alJ styles. We are not concerned , fo r example. witb the dcgree of "reality" but with what we can call, for now. the amoullt of acting .

ACTING

NOT -ACT ING

T hc rc am numcro us pcrfo rmances tbat do nolll.se acting. Many, but by no mca ns all, UtlllU! riCUl's wO ll ld lÜ into this catcgory. Severa! Far Eastern lhcatrcs ma kc \I ~l' \lt' ~lIU ~!C all cmJan ts su ch as lhe KurOlnho anu Kjjken 01' Kabuk i. l'hc'\\' ,, 11 \' lId ,11 11 '. 1I 11 1\1l' props ¡nto positi on anu remove them. h elp wi l h tlJl -Sla l'l' 1 ,-,,,1111 111' \ " 1I 1\ l! i~ . ,llI d ~'VI' II se r ve ICpcctaLo r ign on.: s lhell1 as people, ho\Vevcr, they are not invisible. Thcy d o not ad, and ycl lhcy are parl or lhe visual prcscntation . As \Ve will see when we get to that point on t he continuu m, "acling" is activc- it refers to feign ing, simulalion and so forth that is dime by a performer. But represenlation . si muJa tion and o ther 01' the qual ities tha t defi ne acting may also be applied lo lhe perf011l1er. T he \Vay ln whieh a cost ume creates a "character" is one ex a mple of this . Let us fo rsake perfor mance for a moment and con sider how the "cost ume conti n uum " fu nclions in daily life. If a person Wears cowboy boots on the slreet, as man y peo ple do, we do not identi fy him as a eowboy. 11' he also wears a wide tooled-leather belt a nd even a Western hat, we do not see this as a costume- even in a nort hem city. It is merely a choice of c1othin g. As more and more items o fWestern c1othing- a bandan a, chaps, sp urs and so forth­ are added, ho wever, we reach the point w here we eit her see a cowboy or a person dressed as (impersonating) a cowboy. T he exact point on the con­ tinllllm at which this kind of ~;pecific identifica tion occurs depends upon several factors , the most importan l o f which is place or physical context, and it undoubtedly varies quite a bit from person to persono The effect of c10thing on stage functions io exactly the same way. but it is more pronounced. A perfo rmer weari ng only blaek leota rds and Western boots might easily be identified as a "eowboy." T his, 01' course, ind icates the symbolic power of costume in performance. It is importan t, bowever, to notice the degree to which the external symboli zat ion is supported and reinforced (or eootradieted) by the performer's behavior. If the performer moves (aets) like a cowboy, the identifieation is made much more readily. If he is merely himself, the identification might not be made at aJ!. At this stage on our acting/not-acting continuum we are conccrned with those pcrformers who do not do anything to reinforce lhe information or idcnti­ fication. When the performer, like the stage attcndants of Kabuki and Noh , is merely himself and is not imbedded, as it were, in matrices 01' pretended or represented character, situation. place and ti me, 1 refer to him as being " non­ matrixed. " As we move toward acting fram this extreme not-acting position on our continuum, we come to that coodition in whieh the performer does not aet and yel his costu me represents something or somcone. We could ca l1 this state "non-matrixed representation" or "non-matrixed symbolizat ion ."

/IN ,\1.' IINI; ,\1'1 1) NIl l

.\ ( I'LNfi

awarc 01'11)(' lit l,' ,,1 tllt "In e .11 11''''111(' sl Ol'y or O L'dirus , we l11 ighl a.s,.,umc t ha t this Iwr rollllc l I Cpl , '!'oC II!'; Ocdipus. I le does Il ot prctcnd lo Li mp, how­ cver. ¡\ slick h u~ bcc nlied "lo his right lcg undcrncath his pants in sllch a \Vay that ha wi ll be foread lo lill1p. " Whcn thc "main pcrformer" operates a tape recorder. as he docs frcqllcntly during the presenlation , we do not think that lhis is a rcprcsenlation of O edipus running a machi ne. It is a non- matrixed pcrformer d oing something. T he lighting of ineense and the easting of a reading from the I ChinK can be seen as a reference to the Delphje O rade: the three Iines of tape that the " Olain performer" plaees on the floor so tha t they converge in the eenter of the area ean be seen as rep resent ing th e place where, at lhe intersection oflhree roads. Ocdipus kil1ed his father , aud lhe limp (and lhe sunglasses thal the " mai n perfo rmer" wears th roughout the pieee) can be conside red to stand for as peets of Oediplls. The performer. however. never behaves as ¡f he were anyone othe[ than himself. He never represents elemen ts of character. He merely carries ou t eertain aetions. rn " no n-matrixed representatio n" [Jle referen tial clements are applied to the performer and are not acted by him . A nd just as Weslem boots do not neeessarily establish "a cowboy," a li m p ma y convey information wí thout establishing a performer as "Oedipus." W hen . as in Oedipll.~, a Ne w WOJ'k, the character and place matrices are weak, intermittent or non-ex.isten t. we see a person , not a n actor. As " received " references ¡nerease. however. it is di [fic ult to say tha t the performer is not aeting even t hough be is doinK nothing lhat we could defin e as acting. In a New York lll ucheo nette before C hristmas \Ve might see " a man in a Santa Claus suit" d rin king cofree; if exaetly the s,une action were carríed out on stage in a setting representing a rustie interior, we might see " Santa Claus drinking cotTee in his home at the North Pole." W hen the ma.trices are strong, persistent and reinforce each other. wc see an actor. no matter how ordinary lhe behavior. T his condition , the next step closer to true acting on om conlinuul11 , we may refer to as " received aCling." NOT-ACTINC Non-Matrixed Non-M atrixed Representation Performing

ACTINC "Received" Acting

In Oediplu, a Nell' Work (see T -5 1) by Jolm Pen-ea ull. the " main performcr, " as Perrealll l relc rs to hi m r.lt her lhan callin g hi m an actor. li mp!-i. Ir we are

Extras , who do nothing but walk and stand in coslume, are seen as "actors." Anyone merely walking aeross a stage eontaining a real istic setting might come to represent a person in that plaee- a nd, perhaps, time- without doing anything we could distinguish as actin g. There is the story of the critie who hea ded baekstage t o congratulate el friend and eould be seen by the alldience as he passed ou lside the windows 0.1' the on-stage ho use; ir was an opportune momenl in lhe :-.lmy, howcver. a no he was accepted as part 01' the play . Nor dile... tll~ lw lt avi\)r in " rcccivcd éH::ting" neccssarily need to be simple. Soml! ti mc ,Ipl! 1 tl l\ll'1I1Iwl rClldi ll !!- abolll él play in which Jo ho Garfield I'm bitly '! \l I ~'1I \\ I li t i1 ll hl1l1~'1 1 I lit' hl llgcr know lhe tille of Lhe play was

110

\ 11

NOT-ACT ING

ACTlNG

Non-Matrixcd

Noo-Matrixed

P errorJIÚng

Representation

• r - ~--I--W'_"" ' :J

"'1-:r-1~ 1\ · ~

II MAN,' I'

ex tr.L J> lIn u g \;ad l pI.! I I\H l il a 11 IX: he plaYl.'d l.'ry is inconl­ plete, let us imagine a setting n:prescnting a bar. In on e o rl he upstage bOOlhs, severa l men play ca rds throughoLlt the act. Let LIS say that none 01' them has lines in the play; they do no t rcact in an y way 10 the cha ra~ters in the story we are observing. Tbese men do no t acL T hey merely play cards. And yet we als o see them as cb aracters , however mi no r, in the story, and we say that they, too, are acti ng. We d o not d istinguish them fro m the o ther acto rs. If, as r would like to do. we define acting as som et hjng tha t is done by a perfom1Cr rather Ihan somet hing tha t is done fOl' o r to him, we have not yet arrived at tme acting on our scal e. "Recejved actor" is onl y an ho no rary titlc, so to speak . A lt hough the performer seems to be acting, he actuall y is not. N on-matrixed perform ing. non-m atrixed representation and " received " acting are stages on the co ntinuum that m ove from not-acting to acting. T he amoun! 01' simul a tion, representation , impersonation and so forth has increased as \Ve have m oved along the scale, but, so far, none of this was created by the perfomler in a special way \Ve could designa te as ·'acting." While actiog in its most complete form offers no problem of definit ion, our task in constructing a continuum is to design ate those tnmsi tional areas in which acting " begins. " What are the sj mplest characteristics that define acting? ¡UI

NOT-ACTl NG Non-Matrixed Non-Matrixed Peñ orming Representation

ACrfNG " Received" Acting

Simple Acting

They may be either physical or emoti onal. Ifthe performer does something to simulate, represent, impersonate and so forth , he is acting.lt does not matter what style he uses or whether the action is part 01' a complete characterization or informational presentation. No emotion needs to be in volved. The defini­ tion can depend solely on Ihe character ofwhat is done. (Valuejudgments, of course. are not invol ved. Acting is acting whether o r not it is done " \Vell " or accurately.) Thus a person who, as in the garue 01' charades, pretends to pul on a jacket tha l does not exist 01' feigns being ill is acting. Acting can be said to exist in lhe smallest amI simplest action that involves pretense . Acting also exists in emotiona I rather than strictly physical terms, however. Let us say, for example, that we are at a presentation by the Living Thea tre o f pOJ'adi se NQ",. It is that well-known section in which the performers, wo rking individually, walk through th e a uditorium speaking directly to the spectators. " I'm not allowed to trave! witho ut a passport, " they sayo "J'm no ! a llowed to smoke marijuan a! " ''/'m not allowed to ta ke my c10thes off!" T hey secl1l si ncere, disturbed ami angry. Are tbey acting? T he performers are themsclves; they are not portraying ch a raclers. Thcy are in the theatre. not in sorne imagin ary or rcpresen led place. Whal lhey say

11­

NO I

IIN

, l' IN (.

IS l'cr Ull lll y II \I ~' 11t,·\ ,IIl' 111 11 :rl lo\Vcd to Ilaw l al leasl bcl wcen eert a in l:nlll1ll;CS wilh u lI l a 1'11:-:-'1'"11 , the pllssessiol1 01' marijuana is uga inst the la w. AmI r Ih illk \Ve will .tll gralll lhal the pcrformers rea lly believe wha t they are saying- thal llrey rcally red these rules and regulations are unjust. Acting exisls only in their emotional presentation. At times in " reallire " we meet a perso n Ihat we feel is acting. This does nol mean that he is Iying, dishonest, living in an unreal wo rld , or tha t he is neces­ sarily giving a fa b e imp ressi on o f bis character a nd perso nali ty. l t means that he seems to be awa rc of an a udience-to be " on stage"- and thaL he reacts to this situation by energeticaJly projecting ideas, emo Lions and elements of his personality for the sa ke of the audience. Tha t is what the perfonners in Paradíse No ", were doing. They were acting their OWIl emotions and belief-s. Let us phrase this pro blem in a slightly different way . P ublic speaking, wbether it is extempo raneous or ma kes use of a script, may involve emoti on, but it does not nccessaril y in vo lve acting. Yet sOll1e speakcrs . while retaini ng their own characlcrs and remaiui_ng si ncere, seell1 to be acting. A t what point docs acting ap pea r? At the point at which the emotio ns are " pushed" for lhe sak e ofthe spectators. T tti s does not mean that the spea ker is fa lse or does not believe wha t he is sayi ng. It merely mcans that he is selecting and projecting an elemen t 01' character- i.e., ell1otion- to the audience . In other words, it does 110t matter whether an em otion is created to fi t an acting situati on o r whether it is simply amplified . One prin ¡hid.. r . l.

\IJ~

PO I II(Y'S O R Al

l 'I JUfilllt M¡\N('I ':

. n W a ugh , " Againsl

STACiE

A rbilrarincss," p. 7'5 . 4S Dc n ise Levertov, ""n Approadl lo Pu blic I>oelry I. is!cnings," U gJI/ Uf! /,,(' ( '01'1 ' (New York, N cw D i rec lioll ~, 1981), p. 49. 49 Sleve McCaffcry, " Sou nd Poc!ry," L =A =N~ G =IJ=A ;G=E 7, March 1979. no page no. 50 W illiam Fi!zgerald a rg ues th a \. a m usica l concert is beset by a tcnsion be! wecn cogniti ve a nd bodily responses in a m a nner whieh so unds similar to the cornplex­ it ies of th e poctry readiog. T he conent may aim at a "spiritua lized musing," hut " parad o xica lly, it m ay be that the institut io n of the co ncert ma kes possi ble th e very experience that it wo uld repress. O nce the él udience neith er déU1ces nor talks d uring the Illu sic, but sib, watches a mi lislens, it delegates its corpo reality to Lile stage, combi ning th e pl ayin g/feeling bodies of t he performcTS a nd t he so und ing/responsive bod ics of th e instruments into él new corporeality. T he de­ corporealiza tion of !he concert listener is a n unstable condition which ma y lead either to a spiritualized musing or to inco rpo rati on in the a utoerotic bod y of Illusical ' feeling. '" W illiarn F itzge rald, .. ' M usic is Feeling, then, not Sound': Wll llace Stcvens and the Body 01' M usi e," S uhS/lJl7ce, vol. 21/1 n o . 67 (1992), p . 47. 51 A n drew Bo wie. A es/he/ies a/l(1 S uhjec/i vily: Fro/JJ Kanl /0 N ie /zsche (Ma nchesler, M anch ester tJ nive rsit y Press, 1990), p. 1n. 52 Louis Z ukofsky, " A - 12," A (Berkeley . University 01' California Press, 1978), p.l27. 53 Suzanne Langer, Plti!o.\'ophy in a N ew Key: A S /udy i/1 lhe S y mbo!ism 01 !{eo,l'ol1 , Rile. (me! Ar/ (Ox fo rd , O xford U niversity Press, 1951 ), p. 244. 54 Ben Kn ig hls, Fro/11 Rellcler lo Reluler: 7heory. T ex l anri Prac/ice in lhl' 8l1idr C roup (I lemel Hernpstead , Harvester W heatsheaf, 1992), p. 8. 55 In Freud a/1d Philo,l'ophy, Ricoe ur argues th a t " lhe regressi ve ge nesi s 01' our dcsires does nol replace a progressive gcnesis eo ncerned \Vith meanin gs, values, sym bols. That is why Freud speaks of 'transformations 01' instinet. ' Bul a dynamics 01' atTcctive cathexes célnnot account for lhe innovatíon or advallcement ofmeaning that is illherent in !his tran sfo rmatíon ." Paul Ricoc u r, Fl'eud (lf/(} Phi!o.\'ophy: An Essaj' 011 In/erpre/a /ion , tran so Den,Ís Savage (New Haven , Ya le U ni versit y P ress , 1970), p . 512. 56 David i"lichael Levin , The Lislening Se/l Perso/1a! GrOlv/h, Socilll Change (/ml/he C!osure uI Ml'raphysics (London, Ro utlcd ge, 1989), p . 7. 57 lhid. , p. 17. 58 Patsy Rode nberg, The Ne ed jiJr W ord.l': Voice (lnd /h e T ex/ (London, Methuen Drama , R eed Publishing, 1993), p. 3. 59 Donald Davidson. " The Metho d ofTruth in M e lap hysics," in Inquiries in/o Tru/h I/l1d In/ erpre{(/tiol1 (Ox ford Uníversi! y P ress, 1984) , p. 199. 60 Th omas Nagel , The Viewji'om Nowhere (Oxford Universit y Press, 1986). 61 J urgen H abermas, The Theory o/ CO/'l'/l1'11/11ica /il'e A c/ion, Vol 2, Li(eworlcl and S y s/l'l11. A Cri/iqlle oI FUI1C1iona!ist Reasol1. tra nso Thornas McCa rth y (Oxford, Polity Prcss, 1987), p . 93. 62 Derrida , O/ GrwJ1Ina/o!ogy, p. 12. 63 Sec Talbot J. Taylor and Deborah Came roll, Ana!ysing CO/1 versalÍo/1: Rules and Ullils il1 the Suuc/ure ol Ta!k (Oxfo rd , Pe rga mon Press, 1987). 64 R o y I-larris, Readi/1g SlIussure ( Lo ndon: D uck wo rt h . 1987), pp. 230- 35. 65 See in particular Talbot Taylor. M u/ual M i,l'l/n de r,~ /(fndinf!.: Scep/icisl1/ (iI1d /he Th eorbng ojLal1guage (//l(llnl erIJre/a/io/1 (London , R outledge , 1992); R o y H arris, Tire L{/n glloge ,Wy lll (I.o ndon , D uckworth, 198 1); Jo hn McC umber, P(}(: ric 'n /('/'­ l/('/iO/l ,' 1,I//I~II({ge. Freedolll , Rell,l'o/1 (C hicago: Un ivc rsi! y of C h icagli Press, 19S9) . T;ry lr ll :11 1 C' I I{ l' UMSI' ANC ES 0 1;

PEI~Y () H.MA NCI :

alld kit Iland parls 01' cach bar were separated ami then randomly reorgan­ i,fcd : ' T lll~se re-shufllings are not performances of the original "classics " even ir alllll e same notes are present. It is another question whether a pe rfo rmance \,1' a ral100 llJ shuffling of meas ures 01' the Bach work wh ich happcneo to yielcl a vers ipl1 idcntical in seq ue nce to tll e o rig ina l Bach counlS as a performance Ihe Ba ch as \VeU as a performance of the Hobbs piecc. Nole, what is generally temporally unacceptable with perfo rmances d oes Ih,1 exlend to all types 01' playing. R ehearsals can an d a ften do suffer both inl,;qmplete prese ntation, temporal discontinuity, and violalions of order, C. g ., playi ng the e nd befo re lhe middlc counlless t imes . (e) A performance m usl also be presented by !he same perfo rmer t hro ugh­ (HII . C o nsider a standard solo keybo ard sonata. Player # I starts playing, plays 1() rnellsu rcs . un d l hen SIOpS. Player # 2 res umes o n ene exaclly at measure 11 alld li lJishes the piece . T his is aberrant. We require in any con ve nti onal pelform an ce thal a solo work be played completely, in ord er, in olJe con linu­ OIlS cpisode, by one pcrforrner. 5 Some local ized exceptions exist, e.g ., the praetice ol' hocketing in sorne IIH:dieva l polyphony and sorne seventeen tb cen tury catches. But tbese pieces r\!quire s uch alteration. One may tolerate as novelty girnmick emiemble n:lld ilions 01' standard solo pieces where one pi aye r hands over the rest of a piece lo an o ther. T hc players may even tl'ade back and fort h every measure as in a hoc ket. F urther. o ne may excuse unplanned coo perative hero ism. The co nsum ptive soloist co11apses midway du ring the concerto, but the show is saveJ by the plucky youn g concert master w ho picks up the to rch , not miss­ ill g a beat. lIere, we ch a rita bly extcn d the staffing fr am ework o f perform­ a nce; howevcr, none of these instanccs offers acceptable routine options ror presenta lion . These tlrree eontinuity reqllirements--of the work , the episode, and the age nt- · together constilute t he minimal Primary In tegrity C ondition s fo r Ill~rfnrmance. An y pl a ying episode is a single complete performance on ly ¡f it IIICl'tS sllch conJ itions.

111 1' I N L' lltiIU TY 0 1' MUS I C A/. PI ' IU'ORMAN(' L

Ilrer Icss obvious factors affecting integri ty are importan t. T hcse include L'o ntinui ly regard ing (d) the Jisle ners, (e) the sen sory envi ro nm cnl . amI (1') t he performance interpreta tio ll. Iterc, th e em phasis is strongly upon the