metatheatre_handout_baker-white.doc

8/14/2019 Metatheatre_Handout_Baker-White.doc

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Metatheatre Handout Baker-White 1

4 . ROBERT BAKER-WHITE: THE REHEARSAL PLAY

In a way Baker-White's study focuses on a specific case of the play-within-the play, i.e.

the modern rehearsal play. In the course of his analysis, he refers neither to A el, !chmelin" nor

Horn y, nor does he directly deal with the ei"hteenth-century rehearsal play, later analy#ed y$isa %reeman in Character's Theater: Genre and Identity on the Eighteenth-Century English

Stage & ennsyl(ania ) , *++* . !purred y the reliance on theatrical ima"es of representati(e

ei"hteenth century fi"ures like Hume &the theater of the mind and Adam !mith &the impartial

spectator , %reeman (alori#es the ei"hteenth century theatre as a site where an alternati(e, more

interacti(e identity model was for"ed, as opposed to the interiori#ed identity model construed y

the emer"in" no(el. he no(el's increasin" popularity led to the parado ical phenomenon of the

rehearsal play in which the antitheatrical pre/udice was sei#ed upon as a support of plays

defendin" and le"itimi#in" the theatre. Because Baker-White i"nores the ei"hteenth-century

rehearsal play ut riefly refers to Moli0re's 1 2 The Versailles Impromptu &1*-2 , his ook

presents a discontinuous picture, y /umpin" from the 13 th to the *+ th century and irandello.

Baker-White does discuss im erlake Werten aker's Our Country Is Good &1455 , a play ased,

ironically enou"h in li"ht of %reeman's ar"ument a out ei"hteenth century theatre, on a no(el y

homas 6eneally, The Playmaker &1453 . In the no(el and its adaptation some prison inmates

and officers of a penal colony &the time is 1353, the settin" !idney are allowed to rehearse a

production of 7eor"e %ar8uhar's The ecruiting O!!icer &13+ . %ar8uhar's play, which Brecht

already adapted to suit his anti-militaristic a"enda y updatin" it from 9ueen Anne's days to the

American War of Independence, is not a rehearsal play, thou"h, like 7eor"e :illiers's 1 31

urles8ue of heroic drama ; la


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Metatheatre Handout Baker-White *

e cept for ?udd Hu ert's 1441 "etatheater: The E#ample o! Shakespeare . his is ecause

!hakespeare is a source of interte ts for three contemporary plays dealt with@ &1 7rass's The

Ple$eians ehearse the %prising &14 , in which a "roup of ast 7erman theater artists work on

a production of Coriolanus &* Howard Brenton'sThe Churchill Play &143C , which >constantly

interpenetrates> with !hakespeare's "idsummer &ight's ream , a prototypical metadrama to

Brenton &115 and &2 Heiner MDller's (amletmachine &1433 .

In the followin" notes I will present Baker-White's ar"ument, as de(eloped in the first

three theoretical chapters. %or lack of space I will not deal with the practical dramatic e amples

analy#ed in the su se8uent chapters@ the modernist case of irandello's Si# Characters in Search

o! an )uthor &te tual>

insta ility, its potentials for multiple meanin"s. If the pu lic performance stands for ein" then

the rehearsal stands for ecomin".


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o Baker-White the su (ersi(e 8uality of rehearsal plays fore"rounds the su (ersi(eness

of theatrical play in "eneral, what =o ert Weimann with reference to !hakespeare has called its

>unlicensin".> =ehearsal e ists in a dialectical tension etween ima"ination and the constricti(e

practicality, with the fictional ack"round, too, since that is an intermediate sta"e etween pure

ima"ination and the material fore"round, to re(ert to icolai Hartmann's aesthetics. If the

rehearsal mode resem les the author's creati(e mode, then its >unlicensin"> precedes the

constraints of the fiction as well, a fiction which is not yet fully formed, hence not yet

constrictin", like the material concreti#ation of that fiction in actual productions. In the rehearsal

play >the ima"ination of space is not contained within either a fictional or a material perspecti(e

the process of rehearsal forces conflation of these modes, and the dramati#ation of this

conflation of /ust how theater itself operates in its comin"-into- ein"> &Baker-White 1E .

Because of its em edded position, the rehearsal play in(ol(es a su (ersi(e >dis/unction of

form> &Baker-White 1E-1 from within the te t. An alternati(e way of puttin" it, is to say that

the em edded rehearsal represents the per!ormati,e mode within a dramatic te t. =ehearsal plays

>show theater as a dis/uncti(e, fra"mented, incoherent, contradictory, interrupted, and

interrupti le enterprise> &Baker-White 1 . Important in this re"ard is the relation etween the

em edded rehearsal's e#plicit representation of authority and the outer play's implicit enactment

of that authority with re"ard to the audience, ecause the rehearsal play really themati#es

authority in the structural interaction etween the inset and frame. > he presence of rehearsalwithin the codified dramatic te t itself si"nals a dispute o(er the locus of authority in the makin"

of theater.> &Baker-White 13 . A"ainst the e(entual o /ection that all drama is metadramatic y

implicitly callin" attention to its own theatricality, Baker-White retorts that plays containin"

scenes of rehearsal and performance draw e#plicit attention to their theatricality.

!tructurally speakin" JKtLhe will to authority needs the appartus of closure to affect its

power, &Baker-White 13 ut in the theatrical realm this apparatus of closure can e the dramatic

te t or the performance. In other words the performance is not necessarily more open-ended thanthe te t, ut, when opposed to the fluidity of the rehearsal, it is the performance that achie(es

meanin"Ns closure. !imilarly, Jrehearsal oth denies and mo(es towards closure dependin" on

whether it is made to su (ert or ser(e the closure of the performance or that of the te t.

Howe(er, in Baker-WhiteNs dynamic, rehearsal stands for freedom and performance for closure,

ecause he deals with written modernist and contemporary drama in which the performance is


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Metatheatre Handout Baker-White C

made to ser(e the te t, or is at least less open to interpretati(e possi ilities than the preliminary

rehearsal. o make thin"s work in performance, the open-ended rehearsal must ultimately e

closed off, althou"h productions "enerally stri(e for a certain open-endedness in performance to

keep it fresh. pluralistic, fle i le, and e(en self-contradictory> acti(ity &Baker-White *5 . What (alidates

or (alori#es rehearsal is its processual 8uality or non-conclusi(eness, the e ploration, e periment


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Metatheatre Handout Baker-White E

or multiplicity, ut this e ploratory process must e planned and "uided y the director and the

performance as "oal, if only ecause there are deadlines to meet and the colla orati(e nature of

rehearsal seriously complicates the matter. !ome directors presuma ly want to postpone or

suspend interpretation and the rehearsal mode is an appropriate way of doin" this, ecause

rehearsal is a uni8ue, material, interpersonal, heuristic method or way of knowin" and no amount

of a stract plannin" can su stitute for it. rehearse> deri(es from Middle n"lish, >rehercen> and Gld %rench

>rehercer,> i.e. to repeat, ori"inally to harrow a"ain or reak-up the clods of earth &deconstructi(e method.> %or Baker-White the > reakin" up> of the te t in rehearsal

indicates the rele(ance of Brechtian alienation and interruption. %or


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Metatheatre Handout Baker-White

$. To%ard a Th!or& o' R!h!ar a"

Baker-WhiteNs theoretical framework is pro(ided y Bakhtin, Brecht and Barthes. All three

writers share with >a(ant-"arde formal e perimentation> an emphasis on the undecida le and

indeterminate and antiauthoritarian &2*-22 , ut whereas some critics trace this emphasis in

drama and performance work from the second half of the twentieth century, Baker-White traces it

in rehearsal plays from the modernist period onwards and assi"ns to performance a relati(ely

"reater authorial certainty.

Ba(htin )*ia"o+i ,

Bakhtin's concept of dialo"ism, de(eloped in The ialogic Imagination , trans.O ed.

Michael Hol8uist, trans. indispensa le to creation and

transformation &2 . Gnly then is rehearsal marked y a surplus or e cess, as deri(ed from an

openness to particularity@ the sin"ularity of the other and the >e(entness of e(ents> constitutin"the unfinali#a le character of human e perience &Baker-White 2 , the moment of ethical choice,

in(ol(in" risk and responsi ility. he insistence of certain directors upon the pro lem sol(in"

which "o(erns choices demonstrates their attenti(eness to the particularities of performance, ut

whether this can still e called ethical, is somethin" else. !till, Baker-White himself seems to

include that le(el, when pra"matically opposin" Jpreordained PconceptKsLN for production with

Jwhat PworksN &CE . He e(en sees this opposition as one of the metatheatrical themes of (amlet ,

Jwhere theory a uts action, and "enerali#ed notions of identity &'prince,' 'son,' 'a(en"er' a ut the

demands of the particularity &the 'too too solid flesh' of the indi(idual self. &Baker-White CE .

Ironically Bakhtin himself minimali#ed the >dialo"ic> character of drama and ar"ued that

the hetero"lossia of the no(el is far more dialo"ic than the literal con(ersations found in the

theatre. Accordin" to Baker-White, thou"h, rehearsal plays are a pri(ile"ed means of pro(in"

Bakhtin wron", short of ar"uin" the carni(ales8ue materialism of popular comedy and the anti-


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authorial strain of modern theatre, or all dramatic te ts' stri(in" for em odiment, or e(en the

lo"ocentrism of no(els, the way ?ennifer Wise does in >Mar"inali#in" Frama@ Bakhtin's heory

of 7enre,> Essays in Theatre 5.1 & o(. 1454 1E-*1. he colla orati(e rehearsal process of

usherin" a te t into production, says Baker-White, forces irresol(a ility and pluri(ocity upon the

relati(ely monolo"ic drama. he dialo"icity e ists not /ust etween the performers and director,

ut also with the te tual authority.

Br!cht )Int!rru tion

Brecht ties in with A el, in that the Brechtian actor should e >astounded> & /recht on Theatre ,

ed. ?ohn Willett 123, 8td. in Baker-White E1 . his is the attitude of >wonder> which metatheatre

in A el's definition fosters. ?ust so, Brecht ties in with the >stereoscopic> (ision of Horn y, inthat Brecht wants to foster >comple seein"> &Willett CC, 8td. Baker-White E1 . $ike A el's

metatheatre the rehearsal play possesses a transformati(e potential insofar as its own dou le

(ision in(ol(es seein" the thin"'s ori"inal state and its potentially transformed state.

Willettt

1 C this materiali#ation or creati(e process &the "oin" from one state to another is what the

seasoned theater"oer en/oys more than the illusion of the finished product. he alienation

techni8ue Brecht is often identified with is /ust one way of (alori#in" the dynamic process. ut

differently, alienation >interrupts> the fictionali#ation. his >interruption> rin"s out the

etymolo"ical meanin" of rehearsin", to harrow a"ain or reak up the earth. Brechtian alienation

or interruption is a site of ecomin", of ecomin" more knowled"ea le, y considerin" other

ways of seein" thin"s, achie(ed y the "estusNs Jclea(in" of the performance KBaker-White C5-

C4, 8uotin" a(isNs anguages o! the Stage: Essays in the Semiology o! Theatre & A?

u lications, 145* CEL. his interrupti ility and critical or creati(e openness to otherness is

essential to rehearsal. In epic theatre this interrupti ility manifests itself e.". in the scene titles,

which reak up the totality of the sta"e action, or the "ap etween the performer and the role.

Brecht wants >the open-ended ethos of rehearsal to dominate the acti(ity of performance itself>

&Baker-White E1 . Hence also Brecht's re/ection of the Wa"nerian 7esamtkunstwerk or

>inte"rated work of art,> as totali#in", a work in which the different arts >are supposed to e


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'fused' to"ether,> hence >e8ually de"raded> in their specificity, instead of >furtherKin"L the

common task in their different ways,> i.e. >mutual alienation> K /recht on Theatre , ed. and intro.

?ohn Willettt &Hill and Wan", 14 C 23-5, *+C, echoed y Baker-White on E2L. In rehearsal, too,

the different components of a production ha(e not yet een fused or inte"rated, they still possess

a relati(e independence, allowin" them to comment on each other or to preser(e their medium-

specificity. he su /ect, hence character, too, is concei(ed y Brecht as self-contradictory, not

self-coincident, always in the makin". ?ust so, it is the distance etween performer and character

which creates room for critical interruptions of the fiction or story.

Barth! )Su !n ion/ *i tri0ution/ P"ura"it&/ P"a&

he rehearsal 8ualities of Barthes's poetics include the >writerly-ness> KsicL of readin"which allows for >traces of artifice,> the process of the makin", not the product &Baker-White E5,

1- * . And Brecht's epic theatre in Barthes's assessment is close to rehearsal for ein" a

semiotic theatre, less interested in e pressin" reality than showin" how reality is "i(en &new

meanin", how si"nifiers and si"nifieds are &re connected. I.e. the kind of &re wirin" done in

rehearsal ut prolon"ed into the performance ecause the production of meanin" cannot e

stopped once and for all &Baker-White E4 , the more since the spectators produce meanin", too,

not /ust the playwri"ht, or the actors and directors. All participate in the playful indeterminacy or

suspension of meanin". o Barthes, Brechtian alienation pertains to si"nification, the wonder

that certain thin"s recei(e certain meanin"s instead of others. ?ust as the character is distanced y

the performer, so the si"nifier and si"nified are distanced. his is the kind of distance Barthes in

his auto io"raphy also preser(es towards himself y switchin" etween >I> and >He>. But e(en

in his essays, Barthes's writin" has the pro(isional 8uality of /ournals, or the pri(ate 8uality of

rehearsals.

$ike Bakhtin and Brecht, Barthes is interested in the ar itrary detail that makes a

difference, that can redirect a play and what it means. Barthes thus starts from the particular

rather than the "eneral schema or system, ut that particularity always inscri es itself into the

structural whole of relations. 7i(en the deli erate disre"ard for schema and systematicity, ideas

are not de(eloped ut distri uted, disseminated, thus creatin" a new structure of uninte"rated

elements without fi ed positionalities. Barthes desi"nates such structure a >te t> rather than a


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>work,> "i(en the literary work's connotations of concrete, defined and finished o /ect, and the

te t's non-totali#in" sense of playful, e(asi(e, associati(e meanin"s tra(ersin" a >methodolo"ical

field> and recei(ed interpretations &Baker-White *-2 . Both te t and work, howe(er, should e

construed as >modes of literature> or reader's approaches, so that in the rehearsal play, the te tual

mode of the inset rehearsal interferes with the finished >work> mode of the surroundin" dramatic

frame. KBaker-White *- 2, paraphrasin" and 8uotin" from Barthes's essay >%rom Work to

e t,> in Te#tual Strategies: Perspecti,es in Post-Structuralist Criticism , ed. ?osuQ Harari

&


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Metatheatre Handout Baker-White 1+

non-producti(e narcissism of the a(ant-"arde y the installation of difference throu"h critical

self-refle i(ity, as in the distance Brechtian actin" esta lishes y the actorsN reflection upon their

characters. Any &anti- theori#in", therefore, should e careful not to erase difference or

comple ity. his Baker-White tries to do y partial &non-totali#in" analyses of rehearsal plays,

focusin" on the implication of their criti8ues of authority in their metatheatrical self-

representation & 5- 4 .

metatheatre_handout_baker-white.doc

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