From reproduction to creativity and the aesthetic: towards an ontological approach to the assessment of devised performance

In this article I attempt to interrogate some of the issues around the assessment of live work. I use a range of theories, particularly Ranciere’s notion of the ‘aesthetic regime’ of art, to suggest a three pronged ontological approach to assessment that seeks to avoid the dangers of Bourdieu’s and Passeron’s concept of reproduction, and which instead values students’ creations. Firstly, I suggest that educators should embrace the ambiguities in moments which allow for the shifting of conceptual boundaries. Secondly, I propose that in such moments a social interaction is created between artwork/student and spectator/assessor that is indicative of both the arts generally and live performance specifically. Finally, I suggest that we require students to explore the frontiers of what can be created, explored, shown and understood through performance. I conclude by using the work of the company Goat Island to offer some practical examples of what this might mean for both live performance and assessment practices.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance on 02 Nov 2010, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13569783.2010.512189