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This thesis explores representations of the First World War in English theatre, Theatre in Education (TIE), and Living History between 2014 and 2015. By employing an interdisciplinary approach it evaluates these performance genres in relation to responses sought from Key Stage 3 History pupils. The beginning of the centenary created a cultural outpouring and provided opportunities for secondary schools to include field trips and creative learning about the war. Examination of this commemorative period is contextualised by examining pupils’ interaction with cultural works since 1914, showing that the centenary moment stemmed from a tradition of creatively remembering and teaching the conflict. This perspective highlights long-standing complexities in the relationship between creative practitioners, teachers and education authorities. It also confronts the divide that has grown between some creative practitioners and revisionist historians of the First World War. Revisionist historians’ reassessment of the conduct and necessity of the war has led some to harshly judge cultural works, such as performances, for misleading audiences. Yet little research has been conducted into twenty-first century productions about the war and their reception by school audiences. An investigation of these performances problematizes scholarly notions about how and who has the authority to communicate the First World War to the next generation. Whilst the providers, gatekeepers, and critics of learning through performance are of central consideration, this thesis also values the pupil’s voice. Ten Key Stage 3 cohorts are used as case studies, providing a snapshot of the creative activities and field trips employed by schools in 2014 and 2015. Interviews and questionnaires provide pupils’ feedback on what they thought and how they felt about studying history through performance. Observations of History lessons and performances also remove the debate from the hypothetical to the realities of history teaching. They reveal that pupils’ cultural backgrounds, schooling, and exposure to cultural works shaped their responses to performances about the First World War. Pupils also assigned the performances varying degrees of historical authority, some viewed them as merely entertainment, others as educational sources and several as a mixture of the two. Performances brought immediacy and life to the historical topic and provoked an empathetic response from many pupils. Yet some struggled with the symbolism of theatre and others feared the participation that came with TIE and Living History. Consequently, this thesis explores pupil’s critical, personal and emotional engagement with performances, raising questions about what criteria should be used to evaluate the success of such non-formal learning on the war.

Mestrado em Arte Multimédia / Biografia e Autobiografia Universal: para um modelo de análise dos rituais de produção e consumo na arte multimédia trata do estudo e análise de formas alternativas que questionam o modo como criamos a nossa memória cultural colectiva por meio de objectos e rituais. O campo de investigação aqui exposto permanece distinto da História ou Crítica da arte. A abordagem aos rituais é realizada pelo do ponto de vista sócio-cultural, ambicionando reconhecer um modelo de profusão cultural. Inicialmente, é analisado o papel da memória na construção de conteúdos culturais. Com esse intuito, é discutida a validade de dispositivos externos, como a hermenêutica e os rituais nessa construção. Abordando temas gerais como a Memória, Cultura e Linguagem estabelecem-se dicotomias entre Hermenêutica e Rituais, Texto e Imagem, de modo a perceber uma evolução dos rituais tradicionais para rituais contemporâneos em actividades artísticas. É questionado, nos rituais contemporâneos, o seu potencial de, como manifestações performativas, que se centram no indivíduo, constituírem o formato privilegiado para uma linguagem transversal, independente de religiões, nacionalidade, ou grupo. Sendo a investigação desenvolvida no âmbito do Mestrado em Arte Multimédia, avançou-se por uma análise de propostas artísticas que discutem a amplitude dos conceitos de multimédia e performance. A presença do subtítulo Para um modelo de análise dos rituais de produção e consumo na arte multimédia representa um enquadramento da dinâmica presente nos rituais contemporâneos em manifestações de trabalho artístico de tendência biográfica e autobiográfica. A reflexão sobre o modelo de interpretação e análise é realizada perante o corpo de trabalho das artistas: Tracey Emin, Mona Hatoum e Morgan O Hara, procurando indagar se os seus trabalhos têm a capacidade de se caracterizarem como dispositivos de memória. / Universal Biography and Autobiography: for a model of analysis of the rituals of production and consumption in multimedia art regards the study and analysis of alternative forms of questioning how we create our collective cultural memory through objects and rituals. The field of investigation here shown stands apart from areas of History or Art criticism. The approach to rituals is made from the Socio-cultural view point, aspiring to recognize a model of cultural profusion. Foremost, the role of memory in the construction of cultural content is here analyzed. With that intent, the validity between external devices, such as hermeneutics and rituals, is discussed on that construction. Approaching broad themes such as Memory, Culture, Language, dichotomies between Hermeneutics and Rituals, Text and Image are established to understand an evolution from traditional rituals to contemporary ones in artistic activity. It is questioned and suggested that contemporary rituals, with their potential of being performative manifestations that centre on the individual, constitute a privileged format for a transverse language, independent of religion, nationality or group. Being the investigation developed in the scope of the Master in Multimedia Art, an analysis of artistic proposals was followed, that discusses the breadth of the multimedia and performance concepts. The presence of the sub-heading For a model of analysis of the rituals of production and consumption in multimedia art , represents a framing of the dynamic which is present on contemporary rituals in biographical and autobiographical artistic work. Pondering about the model of interpretation and analyses is made in the presence of the body of work of the artist: Tracey Emin, Mona Hatoum and Morgan O Hara, seeking to inquest if their work can be characterized as a memory agent.