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Applying Popper: An evolutionary approach to performance’

Brief Description

This book draws on the work of the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) working group, Theatre, Performance and Philosophy. The working group has met at TaPRA conferences since 2005, as well as holding interim events between conferences. This chapter is in the second book published by the working group.

http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Ethical-Encounters--Boundaries-of-Theatre--Performance-and-Philosophy1-4438-1695-7.htm

The book has been cited in Róisín O'Gorman & Margaret Werry (2012): On Failure (On Pedagogy): Editorial Introduction, Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts, 17:1, 1-8.

Research Rationale

The chapter applies the ideas of philosopher of science Karl Popper to theatre and performance. The chapter examines how Popper’s ideas of falsification and the evolution of knowledge can be applied to performance, and how they can be used to determine boundary conditions for performance at a particular historical moment. Whilst Popper’s ideas have been extremely influential in terms of philosophy of science, and in a number of other disciplines, they have not been applied in any significant way to performance.

Strategies Undertaken

The chapter develops the application of Popper’s ideas to performance, and then explores them through a case study of the Living Theatre’s performance experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. These deliberately experimental and seminal performances allow an exploration of how the idea of performance evolves.