Stimulation and connection: science and theatrical experience in Complicite’s Mnemonic

ABSTRACT

First produced in 1999, Complicite’s Mnemonic is one of the best examples of plays to use the potential of the stage to convey complex scientific ideas. Complicite’s creative utilization of dramaturgical strategies and theatrical techniques enables the company to artistically enact the complex mechanism of simulation and connection on which the act of remembrance is based. However, performativity is not the only means by which Complicite transfers science from the laboratory to stage. The complex science behind the act of remembrance is also enacted on the stage via the play’s narrative structure and the internationalism that it advocates. The present study provides an in-depth analysis of the ways in which science is presented in the play, by detecting and discussing the mnemonic devices that not only hold the play's narrative elements together but also expand the proscenium arch to involve the audience, via shared images of exile, immigration, and displacement.

KEYWORDS:

• Science
• theatre
• narrative
• internationalism
• displacement
• immigration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Seyedeh Anahit Kazzazi graduated with a PhD degree in English Literature from the University of Sussex in 2017. She is particularly interested in literature which examines the intersection between science, literature, philosophy, and theatre. She is also interested in comparative studies between Contemporary British/American and Persian theatre and drama.

ORCID

Seyedeh Anahit Kazzazi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5077-4309

Notes

1 During the last decade the number of devised and cross-disciplinary productions dealing with science has radically increased, and new companies have emerged which only produce science-based performances. The works of Menagerie Theatre Company, Fuel Theatre, and Unlimited Theatre are only a few examples.

2 See Shepherd-Barr (2006), Campos (2007), Casado-Gual (2012), Wiśniewski (2016).

3 Mnemonic’s 1999 performance was followed by two more revivals in 2001 and 2003 around Europe and in New York. In 2017 also, Colin Hovde, the artistic director of the Alliance Theatre, staged its version of the play in Anacostia Playhouse (Washington, DC). Each of these productions was accompanied by a different printed version with some textual variants. The version of Mnemonic discussed here was published by Methuen in 2001.

4 See Freshwater (2001), Reinelt (2001), Knapper (2004), Harvie (2005).

5 A wider discussion of the intertexuality of memory within the context of theatre and performance and with reference to books such as Mary Orr’s Intertexuality: Debates and Contexts (2003) is of particular interest. This book, however, came to the author’s attention too late to make use of in the context of the current discussion.