HowlRound Theatre Commons: Neuro-theatre has been an obsession of mine since 2006, when I organized a festival of performances about neurological conditions called NEUROfest. I was brought up in a family that combined science and art in their careers and hobbies. My mother is a visual artist and a PhD psychologist, my father studied chemistry and English literature before moving on to law, and my grandfather became famous for co-discovering the Rh factor—the blood protein notated as positive or negative in all blood types—but was almost equally enthusiastic about his amateur songwriting.
3 comments:
I thought this article was really interesting. I never thought that neuroscience would be a basis for a play but, thinking more about it, it makes a lot of sense. Part of why I realize that these works are important is that I think these conditions that the playwrights are writing about are really important and should be talked about more. Another part of it is that neurology is so inherently human and the ability or inability to understand language and sounds is something that I think everything could either relate to or imagine. These plays could be a really interesting and fascinating exploration into how the human mind works and what happens when it does not work as it should. These plays would attract people who identify with the characters that are being portrayed, who will be the kinds of people that haven’t gotten that much theatrical attention as of yet. I also think that, even if you don’t see someone like you in these plays, you can still understand the basic human experience.
I once saw a show about the history of lobotomies that was staged and written to make you feel a bit like you were going crazy. It was bizarre and confusing and so so interesting. It made you really think about what it was trying to show you which led you to thinking about the subject itself and the brain. Science has been for quite a while a source of great creative inspiration. Typically the topic with the most potential for artistic exploration is the one with the most unknown yet the one people are diving into the most. For a while this was outer space, more recently it has become the brain. It makes sense that the mind with all its mysteries and complexities would be an incredible source for exploration and study through artistic expression and representation. There is so much potential for unique theatrical experiences; I’d be really interested in seeing some neuro-theater myself.
This article was completely fascinating-- I had no idea that the world of neurotheatre existed, nor could I have imagined that it is as expansive in its efforts as the author of the article describes. I think what the author says is absolutely true: theatre is all about humans dealing with extremes, and it’s important to acknowledge that people with different conditions experience extremes in different ways. Despite the fascinating potential for new work, however, I am more concerned with the respect with which these conditions are discussed and presented to audiences with a range of background understanding of neurological conditions. The pieces that are meant to inform audiences about conditions and what people living with them may experience in order to inspire more empathy are very different from those who use the condition as a trait to flatten that character to a disability rather than a complicated, dynamic, real person that we can identify with.
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