How to Represent the Unrepresentable
In the most recent edition of the PMLA, Sharon Marcus reaffirmed that "scholars often study nineteenth- century dramatic texts and performance culture in isolation from each other" (999). I have often wondered why that is because Shakespearean scholars, for example, are seemingly equally invested in the performance history of the text as well as the play text itself.
In an attempt to bridge this disconnect, I have been looking at the performance history of Bell and Robins's play Alan's Wife as I am studying the text. Alan's Wife is a play which reinforces the complexity of representation. All of the main actions that help build to the climax of the play are seemingly positioned off-stage which means they are outside of the visual field of the spectators, thus modifying interpretation.
However, even more complex than that is the final scene of play where the main character Jean, is questioned in her prison cell and all of her responses are given with the stage direction " (silent)".
How to perform on stage that which is simply suggested as a thought in the play text is difficult to conceptualize. Yes and no responses can be given with ease, with head nods and gestures. However, what about something more complex as " (silent) I shall not die unforgiven" ?
None of the critical or historical sources to the text explain how these parts of the scene were performed specifically. Most of the discussion revolves around what was in fact represented vs the horrors that the audience thought they saw due to the nature of the play.
Alan's Wife centres around Jean Creyke who is left a widow and then births a deformed child who mimics his father's deformity in death. Jean commits infanticide in order to "free" her son of what she forsees as a painful life of mockery. Yet, all of the death, all of the referential frame is left off stage, purposely.
What are we left with in a play that refuses to represent? In fact what we are left with is a representation of the unrepresentable. Textual or performative silences or voids speak just as loudly as textual presence. The same holds true for tactility. To not touch is just as indicative as to touch. In fact the ellipses in action in words are their own discourse which signify just as strongly.
For those of you who may be interested to read Alan's Wife (it is a quick and interesting read) it can be found here.
Over the next week or so my blog will be equally balanced with edtech/pedagogy posts along with 19th cent lit posts. For though most people would see these two topics as mutually exclusive, there is a significant amount of overlap, especially in relation to performance, ethics, and tactility.
In fact the representative void in Alan's Wife has a larger importance to the creation of a collaborative space in pedagogy. Beyond the fact that Alan's Wife is a collaboratively written text, the playing with representation can echo pedagogical practice when a concept/idea/project/ thought becomes unrepresentable. We are often invested in finding the tools to effectively and ethically represent these concepts. What happens when the ethical way to represent is by creating and maintaining a void? This is not a practical impossibility for we often theorize cyber-bullying in this context. It is important for instructors to keep the idea of representation in the fore when we are designing and implementing our course for exactly that reason.
In an attempt to bridge this disconnect, I have been looking at the performance history of Bell and Robins's play Alan's Wife as I am studying the text. Alan's Wife is a play which reinforces the complexity of representation. All of the main actions that help build to the climax of the play are seemingly positioned off-stage which means they are outside of the visual field of the spectators, thus modifying interpretation.
However, even more complex than that is the final scene of play where the main character Jean, is questioned in her prison cell and all of her responses are given with the stage direction " (silent)".
How to perform on stage that which is simply suggested as a thought in the play text is difficult to conceptualize. Yes and no responses can be given with ease, with head nods and gestures. However, what about something more complex as " (silent) I shall not die unforgiven" ?
None of the critical or historical sources to the text explain how these parts of the scene were performed specifically. Most of the discussion revolves around what was in fact represented vs the horrors that the audience thought they saw due to the nature of the play.
Alan's Wife centres around Jean Creyke who is left a widow and then births a deformed child who mimics his father's deformity in death. Jean commits infanticide in order to "free" her son of what she forsees as a painful life of mockery. Yet, all of the death, all of the referential frame is left off stage, purposely.
What are we left with in a play that refuses to represent? In fact what we are left with is a representation of the unrepresentable. Textual or performative silences or voids speak just as loudly as textual presence. The same holds true for tactility. To not touch is just as indicative as to touch. In fact the ellipses in action in words are their own discourse which signify just as strongly.
For those of you who may be interested to read Alan's Wife (it is a quick and interesting read) it can be found here.
Over the next week or so my blog will be equally balanced with edtech/pedagogy posts along with 19th cent lit posts. For though most people would see these two topics as mutually exclusive, there is a significant amount of overlap, especially in relation to performance, ethics, and tactility.
In fact the representative void in Alan's Wife has a larger importance to the creation of a collaborative space in pedagogy. Beyond the fact that Alan's Wife is a collaboratively written text, the playing with representation can echo pedagogical practice when a concept/idea/project/ thought becomes unrepresentable. We are often invested in finding the tools to effectively and ethically represent these concepts. What happens when the ethical way to represent is by creating and maintaining a void? This is not a practical impossibility for we often theorize cyber-bullying in this context. It is important for instructors to keep the idea of representation in the fore when we are designing and implementing our course for exactly that reason.
Work Cited
Marcus, Sharon. "Salome! Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, and the Drama of Celebrity." PMLA 126.4 (2011): 999-1021. Print.
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