Bisociated Identities and Playful Joking Relationships: Some Observations Regarding Performer-Audience Interactions in Mumming, Murder Mysteries, and Lucha Libre
Abstract
Based upon my experience both as a mummer and a performer in participatory murder mysteries, the paper will discuss how bisociation of identity (i.e. the ability of audience members to recognize the actor as a familiar person outside of his or her character role) increases audience participation in a folk context. Focusing on the context of reception, the paper will identify some of the basic variables that render events interactive, allowing audience members and performers to play and joke with one another. These include: A. The presence of bisociated identities (i.e. actors wearing silly costumes that reveal their 'true' identities as local people). B. The availability of open meta-communicative channels which facilitate interpersonal dialogue between actors and audience members. C. The folk context of reception itself into which performers are received and treated as recognizable local people and fellow folk members. D. The willingness of audience members to simply play along with the fictive situation, taking on the role of the "naive spectator" and casting themselves within the drama.
About the author
Mark Gowers enjoys mumming and acting in professional theatre. Research interests include traditional drama and interactive performances. Last year he obtained his PhD in Theatre Studies from Royal Holloway University; an institution founded by a man selling fake ointments "curing" everything from palsy, to gout, scalds, rheumatism, ulcers and scrofula. He aims to follow in that tradition.
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