Thesis (MA (Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

The Mask (1908-1929, Florence, Italie, 15 volumes) : le nom seul de ce journal exclusivement dédié à l’Art du Théâtre officia en son temps comme un « mot de passe » auprès des défenseurs de la scène moderne en Europe. Cette thèse, la première en France à être consacrée à cette revue, est une recherche historique enrichie de nombreux documents inédits du fonds Craig du Département des Arts du Spectacle de la BnF. The Mask fut la performance permanente de Craig : tout en même temps le lieu de la théorie, d’une Histoire du Théâtre et un lieu d’expérimentation visuel. Son habileté fut de doter précisément cette revue des qualités d’un laboratoire lui permettant de créer et d’exprimer ses idées sur l’Art du Théâtre. L’aspect physique et concret du périodique lui fournissait une permanence qu’une représentation théâtrale ne pourrait pas lui donner. Dans ce sens ce périodique pourrait être ce substitut du théâtre qu’il ne posséda jamais au sein de la réalité, et le lieu préservé d’un héritage, en vue du théâtre du futur. / The Mask (1908-1929, Florence, Italy, 15 volumes) : in its time, the very name of this newspaper exclusively dedicated to the theatrical Art played the part of a « passeword » among promoters of modern theatre in Europe. This doctoral thesis, the first to be consecrate to this review in France, is an historical research enriched by a lot of documents from the Craig archives of the Departement des Arts du Spectacle, BnF. By the study of this review, we search to understand better Craig’s personality and his conception of the artist. The Mask was Craig’s permanent performance : at once a place for theory, for a history of drama and a place of visual experimentation. He had the talent to endow this review with the very characteristics of a laboratory allowing him to create and express his ideas on Theatrical Art. The actual and physical aspect of the periodical provided a permanence that theatrical performances did not possess. In this way this periodical could be seen as a substitute for the theatre house he never actually owned and a repository for a heritage to be saved in order to create the theatre of the future.

This thesis approaches 'trauma' in theatre and performance from the perspective of communication studies. Since 'trauma' is an unspeakable and unrepresentable inner state, I thus conceptualize the term 'the traumatic/spectrum' to refer to layers of reality, meaning and experience that can be expressed, represented and/or spoken about in relation to a traumatizing encounter. Through practice-led research, I propose a multi-sensorial devising tool for theatre & performance makers primarily, and artists of all disciplines, to facilitate a performance process for individuals who have walked through a traumatic or post-traumatic journey ('journeyers'), and have a desire, need or purpose to communicate to an audience. Based on a syncretism in journalism, ethnography, psychology, and art therapy techniques, this methodology draws out the form and the content through which individuals desire to communicate about their experiences. Conceptualized here as the re-creation process, this methodology tackles different types of communication predicaments or 'distance' between audiences and 'journeyers' when addressing the traumatic, including: disbelief, voyeurism or sensationalism, and the tendency to habituate, fatigue, de-sensitize, avoid, avert and/or alienate from the traumatic and those who journey with this reality. In response, I endorse the interrelation of two aesthetic manifestations that can 'bridge' different types of psychological, emotional, sociocultural and physical 'distance': one is a realm of theatre & performance which renders semantic and somatic forms of expression indivisible, and the other is Magical Realism. These aesthetics are applied as channels and strategies to engage participants in a meaningful, empowering, and pleasurable 'shared' experience beyond the therapeutic. Finally, I propose the term traumagical realism to further identify and explore the parallels between Magical Realism and the traumatic. Traumagical Realism is a liminal territory that can offer a deeper understanding of the traumatic, and catalyze a social, aesthetic and affective force of engagement or 'commun(e)ication' between 'journeyers' and all participants involved in the devising process and culmination of a performance.

Through an experimental theatre play, this thesis explores the development of human-like agency in contemporary “social robot” technology. The entrance point of this study is the gender gap and lack of diversity in contemporary AI/robot development, with an emerging need for interdisciplinary research across robot technology and social sciences. Using feminist technoscience and critical posthumanism as the theoretical framework, this research involves an analysis of a particular social robot case, currently being developed at Furhat Robotics in Stockholm. Inspired by Judy Wajcman (2004), I analyze how socially intelligent machines impact perceptions of human agency, body, gender, and identity within cultural contexts and through interaction. The first part of the empirical research is carried out in the robot-lab. The robot is then, in the second part, invited to perform as an actor in a theatre play. Entangled amidst the other players and audience members, a queered agency starts to reveal itself through human-machine “intra-action” and embodiment (Barad 2003). Human-like agency in machines is shown to be a complex matter, drawing the conclusion that human-beings are vulnerable to a myriad of entanglements and preconceptions that artificial intelligence potentially embodies.

Augusto Boal developed Theatre of the Oppressed as a way of using the symbolic language of the dramatic arts in the examination of power relations in both the personal and social contexts. Boal understood that symbolic realities directly influence empirical reality and that drama, as an art form that employs the narrative and the event, serves as a powerful interface between symbols and actuality. In the dramatic process, the creation and the environment from which it emerges are inevitably transformed in the process of enactment. These transformations manifest in the context of power relations - in the context of the receptors ability to make decisions and to engage in actions, and the communicators ability to influence the receptors opinions and behaviour. This thesis will examine two different practices in which symbolic realities have been utilised in the context of human relations of power. Primarily, this thesis examines the theory and practice of Theatre of the Oppressed as it has developed.