In defence of bad acting: a prolegomena for an aesthetics of the amateur actor.

Philip Auslander meets Stephen Leacock in a paper which would aim to discuss the reception of various theatre forms that employ amateur actors. Theoretical articulations of traditional understandings of 'bad' acting would be juxtaposed with what is generally accepted to be 'good' performance. Drawing on Barthes' reading of amateur performances in initial stagings of Brecht and Genet, as well as contemporary theorizing by dramatherapist Renee Emunah and various strains of thinking surrounding popular theatre (Gatti, Prentki and Selman, Kershaw, Van Erven), I would investigate my own work with MarshFire and Teesri Duniya theatre companies. Emphasis on working with 'marginalized' individuals and populations will lead into considerations of how the 'luminescent anger' of the Left (Kushner) and the active attempts at decolonization that informs much popular theatre work can lead to what I am calling an aesthetics of the 'theatre of emergence'. Practical suggestions for achieving with groups of amateur performers what is traditionally called 'beauty' will also be included.