Memory as Resistance in Documentary Drama The Laramie Project and The Exonerated

Year 2019, Volume: 36 Issue: 1, 99 - 109, 17.06.2019

Sinan Gul

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.435820

Cited By: 2

Abstract

Focusing on major differences between nostalgic and documentary memory in contemporary plays, this paper argues
how The Laramie Project (2001) by Moises Kaufmann and The Exonerated (2002) by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen
reinvigorate the concept of memory as an alternative political stand on stage. Memory plays use historical
documentation as a forerunner of their dramatic material. In this respect, The Exonerated tells the story of six
wrongfully convicted death row inmates through testimonies of the freed convicts, court recordings, and other
documents. The Laramie Project belongs to another category of verbatim plays, which is still centered on edited
interviews and testimonies but it is characterized by the elimination of the protagonist. It reconstructs and rewrites the
story of brutally murdered Matthew Shepard to question this tragedy and disclose the reasons for his murder, but
Shepard himself is not represented as a character on stage. The Laramie Project is similar to The Exonerated, but their
methodology and construction have fundamentally different incentives and elements. Their emphasis on identity
politics and insistence upon a more extended public discussion of politics and social issues separates them from other
genres and trends. The way memory is stripped of its nostalgic layers in these documentary plays aims to foster a new
understanding of dramatic constructions while challenging mainstream accounts and shifting to side of the silenced
figures. Although there is little overlap between the contents and messages of the plays, a key point in both of these
works is their emphasis on current issues through a variety of memory forms. Their accent on harsh realities of history
is especially pronounced when audience members are invited to witness the flaws of our society. It might be a
wrongfully convicted person, a screened and scrutinized life of a transvestite, or a brutally murdered homosexual, but
in the end, documentary drama shows us the urgent need to look back to understand the present. Our mistakes are all
buried in the magical box of the past. They can be our guides for tomorrow as long as we do not glorify them. 

Keywords

Documentary Theatre, The Exonerated, The Laramie Project, Memory Studies, Memory Studies

Belgesel Tiyatroda Karşı Duruş olarak Bellek The Laramie Project ve The Exonerated

Abstract

Çağdaş oyunlardaki nostaljik ve belgesel bellek farklılıkları üzerine yoğunlaşan bu makale, Moises Kaufmann’ın The
Laramie Project (2001) ve Jessica Blank ile Eric Jensen’ın The Exonerated (2002) adlı oyunlarının belleği nasıl bir
alternatif politik duruş haline getirdiğini incelemektedir. Bellek oyunları olarak adlandırılan bu metinler tarihsel
dökümantasyonu dramatik malzemelerinin öncüsü olarak kullanırlar. The Exonerated, örneğin hatalı yargılama
sonucunda ölüm cezasına çarptırılmış altı mahkumun hikayesini mahkumların tanıklıklarından, mahkeme
kayıtlarından ve diğer belgelerden elde edilen malzemelerle anlatır. The Laramie Project, belgesel oyunların yine
temelini kurgulanmış röportajlardan ve tanıklıklardan alan bir başka kategorisinde yer alır ancak bir baş kahramanın
metinde olmaması bu oyunu tamamen farklı kılmaktadır. The Laramie Project, Matthem Shepard’ın hunharca
öldürülüşünün hikayesini bu trajediyi sorgulamak ve cinayetin sebeplerini bulmak için yeniden kurgulanmış ancak
bunu Shepard karakteri olmaksızın yapmıştır. The Laramie Project, The Exonorated oyununu andırsa da her iki oyunun
da metodolojisi ve kurulumu birbirinden farklı sebep ve malzemelere sahiptir. Ancak kimlik politikalarına yaptıkları
vurgu ve politik ve sosyal meselelerin daha geniş bir kamusal tartışması üzerine ısrarları onları diğer türler ve akımlardan farklı kılmaktadır. Bu belgesel oyunlardaki bellek, nostaljik taraflarından sıyrılıp ana akım versiyonlarını
karşısına alırken, sessiz yığınların lehine kullanılmıştır. Tarihin acımasız gerçeklerine yaptıkları vurgu, izleyicilerin de
bu haksızlıklara tanıklık etmeleri istendiğinde artmaktadır. Haksızlığa maruz kalan yanlışlıkla hapse atılan bir kişi veya
acımasızca öldürülen bir eşcinsel olabilir ama belgesel tiyatro bizlere bugünü anlamak için geçmişe bakmamızın
yaşamsal aciliyetini gösterir. Bizim yanlışlarımız mazinin sihirli kutusunda gömülüdür. Yanlışlarımız bizim gelecek
için rehberimiz olabilir tabii, onları yüceltmediğimiz sürece.  

Keywords

Belgesel Tiyatro, The Exonerated, The Laramie Project, Bellek Çalışmaları

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