Lived Experience And Devised Theatre Practice A Study Of Australian And Norwegian Theatre Students Devised Theatrical Practice Cecilie Haagensen by Cecilie Haagensen instant download after payment.

This study explores the influences that young people’s lived experience has on the creative dynamics in devised performance practice. The study consists of three case studies carried out in the context of two theatre education colleges, the Norwegian Theatre Academy in Norway and the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia, and analyzes three performances, one collective devised work and two solo devised works. The creative process in these performances is analyzed using Vygotsky’s theory of the creative circle as framework and the relationship between the subjective experience and the aesthetic expression (form) is analyzed through notions of narrative, space and time, and body-characters.
The study finds that devising is a” life-based” theatrical practice, in that the creative devising process allows human experience to be a primary resource; new experience is developed in the creative process, where feelings, cognition, intuition and intention are activated and expressed through the embodiment and materialization of creative material. Some devising processes, however, do not start with primary experiences; they start with secondary experiences and borrowed/appropriated material. Such processes are described as “self-made” devising, and highlight the inventive aspect of devising. The distinction between “life-based” and “self-made” devising has epistemological implications for all creative processes that start with either primary or borrowed material, and it is crucial for the mediation of lived experience. The study finds intentions to be an essential aspect in the creative dynamics. Devising has both experiential and aesthetical benefits for young people; subjective experience is thought about, developed and created into new theatrical expressions.