Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013)
Abstract Canadian contemporary theatre is defined by a preponderance of previously marginalised discourses such as Feminist drama, First Nations drama, or Queer drama. The centre to periphery dispersal that has driven the Canadian cultural scene since the Massey Commission’s final report (1951) has...
Published in: | Journal of Contemporary Drama in English |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jcde.2017.5.issue-2/jcde-2017-0030/jcde-2017-0030.xml http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jcde.2017.5.issue-2/jcde-2017-0030/jcde-2017-0030.pdf |
id |
crdegruyter:10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crdegruyter:10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 2023-05-15T16:16:41+02:00 Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) Schallegger, René Reinhold 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jcde.2017.5.issue-2/jcde-2017-0030/jcde-2017-0030.xml http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jcde.2017.5.issue-2/jcde-2017-0030/jcde-2017-0030.pdf unknown Walter de Gruyter GmbH Journal of Contemporary Drama in English volume 5, issue 2 ISSN 2195-0164 2195-0156 Literature and Literary Theory Visual Arts and Performing Arts journal-article 2017 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 2022-04-14T05:04:11Z Abstract Canadian contemporary theatre is defined by a preponderance of previously marginalised discourses such as Feminist drama, First Nations drama, or Queer drama. The centre to periphery dispersal that has driven the Canadian cultural scene since the Massey Commission’s final report (1951) has favoured the rise of these traditions into public awareness. At the same time, the voice of disabled persons is hardly ever heard on Canadian stages. This paper takes a closer look at two recent texts, Kevin Kerr’s After a concise review of critical texts on disability studies, disability theatre, and disability aesthetics in order to establish an appropriate theoretical framework and terminology, the two plays are analysed for how they represent disability and disabled people. Kerr chooses to elide the different physicalities of his abled and disabled actors, establishing a transformative disability aesthetics. Fraser, in line with his usual modus operandi, opts for a more confrontational hypervisibility of his disabled characters and maximum emotional impact. Both authors are fully abled, however, so while their texts can be considered successful contributions to the representation of disabled persons on the contemporary Canadian stage, with diametrically opposed representational strategies, the question of an appropriation of voice remains pertinent. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations De Gruyter (via Crossref) Kerr ENVELOPE(65.633,65.633,-70.433,-70.433) Journal of Contemporary Drama in English 5 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
De Gruyter (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crdegruyter |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Literature and Literary Theory Visual Arts and Performing Arts |
spellingShingle |
Literature and Literary Theory Visual Arts and Performing Arts Schallegger, René Reinhold Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) |
topic_facet |
Literature and Literary Theory Visual Arts and Performing Arts |
description |
Abstract Canadian contemporary theatre is defined by a preponderance of previously marginalised discourses such as Feminist drama, First Nations drama, or Queer drama. The centre to periphery dispersal that has driven the Canadian cultural scene since the Massey Commission’s final report (1951) has favoured the rise of these traditions into public awareness. At the same time, the voice of disabled persons is hardly ever heard on Canadian stages. This paper takes a closer look at two recent texts, Kevin Kerr’s After a concise review of critical texts on disability studies, disability theatre, and disability aesthetics in order to establish an appropriate theoretical framework and terminology, the two plays are analysed for how they represent disability and disabled people. Kerr chooses to elide the different physicalities of his abled and disabled actors, establishing a transformative disability aesthetics. Fraser, in line with his usual modus operandi, opts for a more confrontational hypervisibility of his disabled characters and maximum emotional impact. Both authors are fully abled, however, so while their texts can be considered successful contributions to the representation of disabled persons on the contemporary Canadian stage, with diametrically opposed representational strategies, the question of an appropriation of voice remains pertinent. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schallegger, René Reinhold |
author_facet |
Schallegger, René Reinhold |
author_sort |
Schallegger, René Reinhold |
title |
Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) |
title_short |
Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) |
title_full |
Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) |
title_fullStr |
Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Flying? Falling? – Conflicting Representations of Disability in Kevin Kerr’s Skydive (2007) and Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now (2013) |
title_sort |
flying? falling? – conflicting representations of disability in kevin kerr’s skydive (2007) and brad fraser’s kill me now (2013) |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jcde.2017.5.issue-2/jcde-2017-0030/jcde-2017-0030.xml http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jcde.2017.5.issue-2/jcde-2017-0030/jcde-2017-0030.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(65.633,65.633,-70.433,-70.433) |
geographic |
Kerr |
geographic_facet |
Kerr |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Journal of Contemporary Drama in English volume 5, issue 2 ISSN 2195-0164 2195-0156 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2017-0030 |
container_title |
Journal of Contemporary Drama in English |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
2 |
_version_ |
1766002534362644480 |