‘What a Carve up!’ The Eclectic Aesthetics of Postmodernism and the Politics of Diversity in some Examples of Contemporary British Verbatim Theatre

Abstract

Verbatim performances like DV8’s To be Straight with You (2007), Tamasha Theatre’s The Trouble with Asian Men (2005) and Nadia Fall’s Home (2013) use a fragmented postmodernist aesthetic (i.e. a mixture of verbatim material, elaborate digital technology, dance, music and reflexive modes of performance that create hybrids of performative ontologies) to transmit a ‘political’ message, if we can indeed accept that the personal is political. The nature of this political message is linked to tolerance and diversity within the ‘state’ of late capitalism currently obtaining within the UK, which, in effect, is a state of latent war, or at least, struggle... This would seem to indicate that a postmodern aesthetic is not incompatible with politics, contrary to what some have repeatedly claimed; Terry Eagleton, the well-known British Marxist-materialist thinker, is a case in point. To what extent, however, are cultural diversity and identity politics in danger of being recuperated by the market as specific niches, separate from more general political aims? Is the idea of unity in diversity, and the multicultural ideal a valid/realistic one or a mere utopia which plays into the hands of divisive trends in contemporary UK politics (Respect, Ukip), especially after the events of 7/7? In a society where the arts are no longer thought of as public property for the public good, but as an ‘industry’ where creativity is bought and sold, what are the consequences for this same artistic creativity and innovation in the domain of drama and how do the aesthetic modes of expression used in some examples of contemporary verbatim theatre reflect the current state of Britain?

Keywords

• aesthetics
• Britain
• contemporary practice
• diversity
• late capitalism
• minorities