Jan Suk | University of Hradec Králové (original) (raw)
Papers by Jan Suk
Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipi... more Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipient - the actor and the audience, or the teacher and the student. Both performance and pedagogy have the significant potential to transform as well as to fail. This very weakness of theatre as well as pedagogy is also its grease strength: its authentic possibility to fail. The vulnerability, fragility of both theatre and learning highlights its human nature creating thereby a sympathetic bond with the audience. These moments, so-called “invitations” (or performative proximity) can be via performance theory applied on teaching, most notably in case of critical thinking. My major interest is the issue of virtual proximity, immersion, the transformativity of in-between, simulation and immanence. Similarly I believe theatre as well as pedagogy are both transformative, life illuminating experience.
A letter to Tim Etchells; full of love, admiraton, provocation and cheekiness.
The present paper examines the osmotic presence of Shakespeare in English contemporary theatre. T... more The present paper examines the osmotic presence of Shakespeare in English contemporary theatre. The Shakespeare's position in the centre of the Western canon is irrevocable, yet the influence operates rather as a cultural residue: a ghost or echo. The aim of this paper is to highlight the notion of ghosting, a term coined by Marvin Carlson, as the process of using memory (both individual and cultural) to understand and interpret the new. Thus Shakespeare's presence in contemporary culture need not be seen as what Colin Teevan calls the theatrical equivalent of muesli; on the contrary, the theatre of Shakespeare, according to Hans Lehmann, resembles postdramatic theatre. Thereby this paper suggests a link between Shakespeare and Forced Entertainment, a leading British experimental theatre, and attempts to illustrate this by revisiting the company's workshop called Five Day Lear, the only direct fabrication of Shakespeare in Forced Entertainment's oeuvre, a marginal video Mark Does Lear made by Tim Etchells, the company's artistic director; additionally the project highlights the ghosts of Shakespeare's presence in Spectacular and The Thrill of it All – two Forced Entertainment's recent performances. The paper further accentuates a glocal rather than global reading of Shakespeare so as to justify current needs for spin-off translations of Shakespeare into English (such as the NoFearShakespeare project).
Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipi... more Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipient: the actor and the audience, the teacher and the student. Both performance and pedagogy have the potential to transform as well as to fail. We will explore to what extent performance means a becoming – a liminal experience both for the performers and the audience by exploring the proximity triggering elements. This paper will isolate these invitations that stem from the performance practice of the distinguished British experimental theatre troupe Forced Entertainment in engaging the audience. These moments of " summoning the presence in the absence " are allocated and applied into pedagogic principles to show how the common denominators of performance and pedagogy – liveness, fleetingness and irritability are intertwined. Rather than examining physical immersion we will explore how the virtual proximity, the " between and betwixt " , actor and spectator, between teacher and student, is achieved (or not) and how it contributes to mutually immanent, life illuminating experience. In the final part of the paper a practical application of conceptual findings from the theoretical part will be applied in English lessons to demonstrate whether these immanent invitations are easily executable or not.
This paper maps the performative and performance-influenced book Endland Stories, written by Tim ... more This paper maps the performative and performance-influenced book Endland Stories, written by Tim Etchells, the director of Forced Entertainment. It primarily examines the performativity embedded in the book and the implication to Deleuzoguattarian philosophy. The performative nature of the writing of Etchells, similarly to those of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, is achieved via their provocative and organically-devised structure abounding with vitalistic connections. The reading of both Deleuze's philosophy and Etchells's texts produces an organic, lifelike , immanent quality.
Prague Journal of English Studies, 2013
Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipi... more Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipient - the actor and the audience, or the teacher and the student. Both performance and pedagogy have the significant potential to transform as well as to fail. This very weakness of theatre as well as pedagogy is also its grease strength: its authentic possibility to fail. The vulnerability, fragility of both theatre and learning highlights its human nature creating thereby a sympathetic bond with the audience. These moments, so-called “invitations” (or performative proximity) can be via performance theory applied on teaching, most notably in case of critical thinking. My major interest is the issue of virtual proximity, immersion, the transformativity of in-between, simulation and immanence. Similarly I believe theatre as well as pedagogy are both transformative, life illuminating experience.
A letter to Tim Etchells; full of love, admiraton, provocation and cheekiness.
The present paper examines the osmotic presence of Shakespeare in English contemporary theatre. T... more The present paper examines the osmotic presence of Shakespeare in English contemporary theatre. The Shakespeare's position in the centre of the Western canon is irrevocable, yet the influence operates rather as a cultural residue: a ghost or echo. The aim of this paper is to highlight the notion of ghosting, a term coined by Marvin Carlson, as the process of using memory (both individual and cultural) to understand and interpret the new. Thus Shakespeare's presence in contemporary culture need not be seen as what Colin Teevan calls the theatrical equivalent of muesli; on the contrary, the theatre of Shakespeare, according to Hans Lehmann, resembles postdramatic theatre. Thereby this paper suggests a link between Shakespeare and Forced Entertainment, a leading British experimental theatre, and attempts to illustrate this by revisiting the company's workshop called Five Day Lear, the only direct fabrication of Shakespeare in Forced Entertainment's oeuvre, a marginal video Mark Does Lear made by Tim Etchells, the company's artistic director; additionally the project highlights the ghosts of Shakespeare's presence in Spectacular and The Thrill of it All – two Forced Entertainment's recent performances. The paper further accentuates a glocal rather than global reading of Shakespeare so as to justify current needs for spin-off translations of Shakespeare into English (such as the NoFearShakespeare project).
Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipi... more Both performance and pedagogy operate on a two–way communication between the agent and the recipient: the actor and the audience, the teacher and the student. Both performance and pedagogy have the potential to transform as well as to fail. We will explore to what extent performance means a becoming – a liminal experience both for the performers and the audience by exploring the proximity triggering elements. This paper will isolate these invitations that stem from the performance practice of the distinguished British experimental theatre troupe Forced Entertainment in engaging the audience. These moments of " summoning the presence in the absence " are allocated and applied into pedagogic principles to show how the common denominators of performance and pedagogy – liveness, fleetingness and irritability are intertwined. Rather than examining physical immersion we will explore how the virtual proximity, the " between and betwixt " , actor and spectator, between teacher and student, is achieved (or not) and how it contributes to mutually immanent, life illuminating experience. In the final part of the paper a practical application of conceptual findings from the theoretical part will be applied in English lessons to demonstrate whether these immanent invitations are easily executable or not.
This paper maps the performative and performance-influenced book Endland Stories, written by Tim ... more This paper maps the performative and performance-influenced book Endland Stories, written by Tim Etchells, the director of Forced Entertainment. It primarily examines the performativity embedded in the book and the implication to Deleuzoguattarian philosophy. The performative nature of the writing of Etchells, similarly to those of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, is achieved via their provocative and organically-devised structure abounding with vitalistic connections. The reading of both Deleuze's philosophy and Etchells's texts produces an organic, lifelike , immanent quality.
Prague Journal of English Studies, 2013