"PLAYFUL PHOENIX": FEMINIST MANIPULATIONS OF THE GAZE IN CONTEMPORARY SINGAPORE PLAYS

KK Seet

This paper examines recent Singapore plays by women for the dramaturgical and performative strategies adopted in dismantling the gaze and de-essentialising the gender assumptions that underlie theatrical representation. The majority of these strategies involve postmodernist deconstructions of the traditional performance apparatus or disruptions of conventional stage space and scenography. Even the few plays which are couched in the realist mode, and mistakenly assumed to be re-enacting and reifying the male trajectory, are no less subversive in their subtle manoeuvres to ambiguate and de-stabilise spectator positions. The contributions of the theatre director in furthering the feminist agenda of these playwrights will also be considered.

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The following papers were contributions to the Conference on Comparative Music Praxes held at Middlesex University on 20/05/2000

A Roundtable Discussion took place

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PERFORMANCE, PERSONA AND PRESCENCE & PRE-HISTORY: REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS OF MUSICAL PRESENTATION

M Bridger

The focus in this paper is not so much on music itself as on the circumstances and processes involved when performer and listener play their respective roles in a musical event. In order to shed some light on this I look back into prehistory for some clues about why music is so important in human culture, and draw attention to some characteristics of the performer/listener relationship in general and in the differentiated contexts of a range of styles.

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THE INTOXICATION OF MUSICAL HISTORY: A PERFORMER'S DRAUGHT

C Lawson

Case study: Donizetti's Studio Primo (1821) for solo clarinet in B flat, performed on an original 13-keyed instrument, c.1835 by Pierre Piatet of Lyon.

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PROBLEMS WITH AUTHENTICITY AND INNOVATION FOR EUROPEAN PERFORMERS OF LATIN AMERICAN

J Harborne

"The right place at the right time is on-stage!"

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CONSTRUCTING AUTHENTICITY IN ROCK

A Moore

The everlasting debate over 'Authentic' versus 'Commercial'

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THE CHALLENGES TO THE PERFORMING MUSICIAN, AND THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE MUSICOLOGIST, IN THE POST-MODERN AGE

S Cottrell

In this paper I hope to draw together a number of ideas relating to the different kinds of work frequently undertaken by professional musicians in the urban situation, and to consider whether the different contexts from which musicians approach a musical performance needs to be factored into musicological considerations of the performance itself. Let me start by saying that although I have just about the longest title for a paper at this conference, this does not mean it is the most explicit, so perhaps I could begin by explaining what I mean by my rather loose use of the term 'post-modern' in this context.

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