Ethics and Spectatorship in debbie tucker green’s stoning mary (2005) and Caryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children (2009)

Abstract

[eng] This work considers how theatre works with spectators in order to create an ethical response, taking as case studies debbie tucker green’s stoning mary (2005) and Caryl Churchills’ Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza (2009), drawing on Levinas’s notion of the Other and Butler’s rereading of it, which serve as a tool to examine how both plays pose ethical questions on the audience. The paper also uses Lehmann’s notion of ‘response-ability’ and Rancière’s ‘emancipated spectator’ as theoretical lenses for spectatorship, so as to examine the role of the audience and their ability to respond to the suffering bodies on stage that are normally silenced by the media. In stoning mary, through the staging of human suffering embodied by a white casting tucker green makes visible issues that are not normally considered and explores the audience’s ability to respond to such suffering. In Seven Jewish Children, Churchill allows its audience to perceive different bodies suffering throughout history so as to invite them to reconsider the lack of responsibility that only leads to an ongoing precariousness.

[cat] Aquest treball considera com el teatre, juntament amb els espectadors, pot arribar a crear una resposta ètica, prenent com a cas d’estudi l’obra stoning mary de debbie tucker green (2005) i Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza (2009) de Caryl Churchill, fent servir la noció de l'altre de Levinas i la relectura de Butler com a eina per examinar com ambdues obres presenten qüestions ètiques als espectadors. L’estudi també considera la teoria de Lehmann de la ‘responsabilitat’ de l’espectador i la teoria de ‘l’espectador emancipat’ de Rancière per tal d'examinar el paper del públic i la seva capacitat de respondre als cossos precaris de l'escenari, els quals són generalment silenciats als mitjans de comunicació. A stoning mary, tucker green explora la capacitat de respondre dels espectadors a través d’un càsting blanc per tal de fer més visibles els problemes que normalment no són considerats. A Seven Jewish Children, Churchill exposa el patiment de diferents cossos durant la història a fi de convidar al públic a reconsiderar la manca de responsabilitat que només condueix a una continuïtat de la precarietat.