Of training, tokenism and productive misinterpretation: reflections on the After China project

Abstract

The theatrical adaptation of Brian Castro's novel, After China, was a substantial performance-as-research project undertaken at the Centre for Innnovation in the Arts, Queensland University of Technology, in 1997 and 1998. Over that period the script, devised by Peter Copeman, went through a total of seven drafts with dramaturgical input from Rod Wissler. The development process included in-house workshops, a showcase reading at the 1997 conference of Australasian Drama Studies Association, and a studio production involving staff and undergraduate students of the QUT Academy of the Arts. From this developed a professional production, directed by Rod Wissler, which toured to Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney in August 1998. Research activities associated with the professional production included a focus-group feedback session with the cast of seven concerning processes of cross cultural collaboration in the project and how these had impacted on, and been affected by, the individual and collective subjectivities of the cast members.