The Exploration of Age Exchange Center's Aesthetic Strategies in British Reminiscence Theatre

英國老人劇場的劇場美學策略探究：以歲月流轉中心爲例

王婉容(Wan-Jung Wang)

口述歷史 ； 大眾通俗劇場 ； 反省作用 ； 老人回憶劇場 ； 移情作用 ； empathy ； oral history ； popular theatre ； reflexivity ； reminiscence theatre

藝術教育研究

16期（2008 / 12 / 01）

109 - 136

英文

此篇論文探討英國的老人劇場歲月流轉中心的劇場美學策略及美學意涵。首先分析最明顯的美學策略，引用Gilles Deleuze的美學理論來佐證轉化記憶中的感官符號成爲藝術的符號的策略，並論證此手法如何能使觀眾產生移情和共鳴。再引用敘事理論與口述歷史的理論來闡釋其建立社會集體認同的意義和反省歷史的功能。接著，引用John McGrath大眾劇場的理論，來闡釋歲月流轉中心所用的其他美學策略及政治意涵。最後再引用英國當代劇場史家Baz Kershaw的論證，闡釋歲月流轉中心的老人劇場由於其鮮明的社會特殊族群性格，及以老人口述歷史重新詮釋英國現代歷史的柔性社會批判特色，實屬於英國1980年代另類劇場運動中十分獨特的一支社區劇場派別。

This paper aims to analyze the aesthetic strategies in British Reminiscence Theatre. I intend to explore how and why Age Exchange Center develops its aesthetic strategies in the devising process and applies them to performance. Firstly I analyze how it establishes its two manifest aesthetic strategies-using theatre exercises to reconstruct signs of art and employing the elders' personal narratives drawn from storytelling. Citing from Gilles Deleuze's (2002) aesthetic theory, I decipher how Age Exchange uses theatre exercises to distill signs of art and how they evoke empathy from audience. I also use narrative and oral history theories to explain the significance of personal narratives. Reflexivity evoked in rehearsals and performance of Age Exchange is demonstrated accordingly. Secondly, John McGrath's (1996) theory of popular theatre is applied to illustrate other aesthetic strategies of Age Exchange and their political implications. Thirdly, I shall explicate how Age Exchange incorporates these three aesthetic strategies and weave them into a unified style of its own. Finally, I argue Age Exchange's works pose reinterpretation and reflection of the past in the present and is considered as an important part of British Alternative Theatre Movement in 1980s according to Baz Kershaw's (1992) argument. Age Exchange's aesthetic strategies explored here hope to inspire community theatre worldwide.

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