Dramaturgy of assistance
Performing with dementia or age-related memory loss
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15080654 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julia Henderson (0000-0001-7110-0250, University of British Columbia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 72-89 |
| Publication date | 2019-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Research in Drama Education The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1356-9783 • E-ISSN: 1470-112X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13569783.2018.1548272 |
| OpenAlex | W2911143701 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 10 |
The autobiographical shows The Waiting Room (by John Mann and Morris Panych), and Sonic Elder (by Vancouver’s The Chop Theatre), both featured performers with dementia or marked age-related memory loss who performed rock music live on stage. These professional Canadian productions used a dramaturgical approach (dramaturgy of assistance) that foregrounded relational and embodied selfhoods, thus highlighting the performers’ musicality and relationships. While The Waiting Room partially sought to mask the performer’s need for support to maintain a slick, commercial aesthetic, Sonic Elder’s approach was more transparent about exposing memory challenges, and to a greater extent disrupted traditional loss-based dementia narratives
Aesthetics · Art · Dementia · Dramaturgy · Embodied cognition · Literature · Narrative · Performing arts · Visual arts · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Artistic and Creative Research · Computer Science · Medicine · Psychology · Theatre and Performance Studies
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |