Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings

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dc.contributor.advisorPather, Jayen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorKeevy, Jonen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-06T11:34:19Z
dc.date.available2014-10-06T11:34:19Z
dc.date.issued2007en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes abstract.en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 30-33).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis explication is focused on the metatheatrical strategies employed in my thesis production: a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings, a triptych of three short plays. The paper pursues a deeper understanding of the nature of an audience's engagement with onstage narratives. The production explores existential dilemmas through stories about runaways and escapees. Jean Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness (first published 1943) can be construed as a map of the territories that the stories explore. I also employ a Sartrean style of argument in the unpacking ofthe strategies applied in the production's staging. A cornerstone of both the narrative and academic inquiry is Sartre's notion of 'bad faith' and the construction of self through it. In order to fully explore the constructedness of self, the production is done in a metatheatrical form. Metatheatre was coined by Lionel Abel to describe plays that consciously drew attention to their own construction. It is an appropriate form to expose the layers of relationships between the real and the performed. In order to better understand the nature of audience engagement the paper considers two relatively unused sources of dramatic theory, Coleridge and Tolkien. Coleridge's writings in Bibliographia Literaria (first published 1817) on disbelief and poetic faith are used to discuss the receptivity of an audience, while Tolkien's concept of the division between the primary and secondary worlds allows the discussion of what the audience perceives. The key distinction between disbelief and poetic faith is the distinction between intellectual objection and emotional ascent to a secondary world. By discussing the tactics of Metatheatre to be used in a Mask. a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings, the benefits and pitfalls of each strategy is revealed. My argument describes the possible effects of these on an audience's consciousness as the results of variations in the relative strengths of their intellectual and emotional perceptions. Metatheatre is a rupture of the secondary world, the object of the audience's poetic faith. Metatheatre can be a powerful tool in the theatremaker's arsenal only by understanding how poetic faith and disbelief function in tension and in harmony with one another.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationKeevy, J. (2007). <i>Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Drama. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8156en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationKeevy, Jon. <i>"Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Drama, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8156en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationKeevy, J. 2007. Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Keevy, Jon AB - This explication is focused on the metatheatrical strategies employed in my thesis production: a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings, a triptych of three short plays. The paper pursues a deeper understanding of the nature of an audience's engagement with onstage narratives. The production explores existential dilemmas through stories about runaways and escapees. Jean Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness (first published 1943) can be construed as a map of the territories that the stories explore. I also employ a Sartrean style of argument in the unpacking ofthe strategies applied in the production's staging. A cornerstone of both the narrative and academic inquiry is Sartre's notion of 'bad faith' and the construction of self through it. In order to fully explore the constructedness of self, the production is done in a metatheatrical form. Metatheatre was coined by Lionel Abel to describe plays that consciously drew attention to their own construction. It is an appropriate form to expose the layers of relationships between the real and the performed. In order to better understand the nature of audience engagement the paper considers two relatively unused sources of dramatic theory, Coleridge and Tolkien. Coleridge's writings in Bibliographia Literaria (first published 1817) on disbelief and poetic faith are used to discuss the receptivity of an audience, while Tolkien's concept of the division between the primary and secondary worlds allows the discussion of what the audience perceives. The key distinction between disbelief and poetic faith is the distinction between intellectual objection and emotional ascent to a secondary world. By discussing the tactics of Metatheatre to be used in a Mask. a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings, the benefits and pitfalls of each strategy is revealed. My argument describes the possible effects of these on an audience's consciousness as the results of variations in the relative strengths of their intellectual and emotional perceptions. Metatheatre is a rupture of the secondary world, the object of the audience's poetic faith. Metatheatre can be a powerful tool in the theatremaker's arsenal only by understanding how poetic faith and disbelief function in tension and in harmony with one another. DA - 2007 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2007 T1 - Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings TI - Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8156 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8156
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationKeevy J. Exploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wings. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Drama, 2007 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8156en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Dramaen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherTheatre and Performanceen_ZA
dc.titleExploring the tension between Coleridge's Poetic Faith and disbelief in the metatheatrical strategies used in a Mask, a Key and a Pair of Broken Wingsen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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