Drama Boreale - Åbo Akademi

potential implicit onlooker, there is a potential discussion, thought and debriefing. In all
‘writing’, no matter in which media, there is always a potential reader that may be a
necessity for the art product. The ‘theoros’ exists within the ensemble, within the actor,
and we should remind ourselves that even mimetic practice is a forming, reflective
exercise.(Habermas 1978 p. 302). This is an important epistemological credo not least
for drama education. Moreover, seen from a perspective of for example child psychiatrist
and sociologist Winnicott (1991), the mimetic exercise is not only reflective, but shapes
the abstract thinking ability and the capacity of becoming both a timely player and a
‘theoros’.
In research, theorizing might need a stranger like the old ‘theoros’, but not necessarily.
The theoretical paradigm we need to establish, is the paradigm that holds that the cult is
not blind, not more than everyday practice may be blind, also the practice of reading
books and writing dissertations. Playful practice in all forms was never only blind,
hedonistic and narcissistic. We are just taught to believe so, probably for the sake of
human hierarchy and power relations. Theory as formed knowledge is possibly
generated intentionally in any symbol system. What I am proposing is that any media is
potentially discursive. Theory should therefore not be set and limited to one specific
discursive media, neither to a hierarchy of high or low reflection.
Is then any practice ‘theoretical’? Of course not. The lack of relational understanding,
lack of perspectives and detachment make practice blind and ‘non-theoretical’ to both
artists as well as other researchers. Beyond the institutionalized dualism, we should
direct our attention to important distinctions within stages of cultural media practice. For
example, Allern (2002) directs us to the ‘chaotic’ or ‘orgiastic’ dimension of existence
through another classical concept, which is familiar to theatre and drama education
through the works of Boal and Bolton. ‘Methexis’ is comprehended as the existential
condition of confusion, chaos and multi-perspectives from where we strive to understand
and conceptualize through selections and durable forms. What this means is that a
dynamic, playful “chaos” as well as ‘theorizing’ may exist within the same media
process, within the same producer or community. This is the dynamic link we conceal by
the institutionalized separation of sensuous life and academic reflection. The
contemporary educated, ethical man does not emerge from schooling, but from the
changing practical media experiences of both particular ‘play’ and detached reflections.
People are (or rather could be) educated in the shift between playing and play reflection,
even if we know that our current drama practices tend to favour the one to the detriment
of the other.
Some possible consequences for research training in arts disciplines
My attempt to comprehend theory differently may have some implications for research
training in arts disciplines. First, I think we need to limit the scope of research theory to
new research students. By trying to cover the whole research chronology, all designs and
possible methods, we tend to be exhausted by the time we reach logical positivism,
without ever dealing with the highly relevant late modern conceptions of research,
theory, meaning and knowledge. Secondly, we may build specific research production
designs where reflection, interpretation and knowledge are shown on different levels of
the playful work. This means that the artwork is not the only or final ‘theoretical’
product to consider, furthermore that documented reflections within the arts practice
have no lesser value than the literary interpretation of the practice. Instead of defending
the classical hierarchy of higher and lower quality of understanding, we may encourage
an epistemological paradigm that bridges the bodily, sensuous participation and the
detached contemplation. This bridge is not well provided in any case of western
education, research training included, and this is also why we need to develop a renewed
78