Theatres of Learning Disability Good, Bad, or Plain Ugly [Hardcover]

This is the first scholarly book to focus exclusively on theatre and learning disability as theatre, rather than advocacy or therapy. Hargrave provocatively realigns the - hitherto unvoiced - assumptions that underpin such practice and proposes that learning disabled artists have earned the right to full critical review.Foreword by Tim Wheeler Acknowledgements Prologue: Of moths and methods PART I: THE SURROGATE 1. The end of disability arts: theatre, disability and the social model 2. Pure products go crazy: the aesthetic value of learning disability 3. On quality: disability and aesthetic judgements 4. Genealogies: the cultural faces of learning disability PART II: A PROPER ACTOR 5. Nobody's Perfect: disability identity as masquerade 6. The uncanny return of Boo Radley: disability, dramaturgy and reception Conclusion Envoi: The Bartleby Parallax Sources and bibliography Appendix Notes Index

Theatres of Learning Disability is well-organized, clearly written, and carefully supported by disability theory, performance theory, and detailed evidence from chosen productions, including Hargraves own reactions to the work. & Theatres of Learning Disability is an important advancement in the underdeveloped field of disability and performance, effectively arguing how we can and must critically engage with disability art at the level of craft and aesthetics. (Scott Wallin, The Drama Review, Vol. 61 (1), 2017)

Hargraves book examines the field of theatrical practices involving actors with learning disabilities & . Hargraves aim is to establish a theoretical approach that goes beyond therapeutic or social frameworks and instead conceives of this type of work as a professional art practice. & Hargraves exclusive focus on the aesthetics of theatres of learning disability is still exceptional in the emlÓÎ