Seminar Series Update*
The Centre for Film, Media, Discourse and Culture at the University of Wolverhampton warmly invites you to the first of a Summer Seminar series
14.45-17.30 Wednesday 1st May 2019
MC232, Millennium City Building
University of Wolverhampton
Ben Halligan (University of Wolverhampton) "This is Father Berrigan Speaking from the Underground": Daniel Berrigan SJ and the Conception of a Radical Theatre
This presentation concerns the positions of the Jesuit priest and poet, Daniel Berrigan SJ (1921-2016), in respect to what was deemed to be “responsible” action at a time of a rapacious North American foreign policy which was formally supported by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Berrigan was tried and sentenced further to draft card burning, but refused to surrender to imprisonment. During this time he wrote the experimental play The Trial of the Catonsville 9 about the trial of himself and his fellow anti-war activists, and contributed to early productions. I argue that Berrigan aspired to a vastly different theatre to the type that typified this moment – he was especially critical of the psychedelic happenings of The Living Theatre – in order to spread the anti-war message, channelling the crisis-inducing voices of those unable to speak. And this was in the context of profound theological upheavals sweeping through the Catholic Church, which would in part culminate in the development of Liberation Theology. Berrigan was writing about his conception of theatre while on the run from the FBI, during which time he also offered himself as chaplain to the Weather Underground. In Berrigan’s work a full problematisation of the idea of responsibility seems to occur: responsibility is intrinsic to the human condition, Berrigan seems to argue – but responsibility to whom, and to what ends, and what action arises from responsibility? Such questions were extremely pointed in terms of theological thought and discussion in 1970, in which the political consensus seemed in direct contradiction to theological imperatives. This presentation will draw on my recently published article in TDR (The Drama Review, MIT Press; 62:1, Summer 2018), “‘This is Father Berrigan Speaking from the Underground’: Daniel Berrigan SJ and the Conception of a Radical Theatre”.
Thomas Wilson (University of Wolverhampton) ‘The Ghoul of Lights Out’: The Anthology Host in Early US Television Horror and the Live Era
For his role on Lights Out (NBC-TV, 1949-1952), Frank Gallop offered an overtly ominous and forbidding façade when presenting standalone horror plays, providing a unique approach and style on US network television during the early ‘live’ era. Drawing on archival research, this paper offers a case-study analysis of Gallop’s reception as a ‘horror host’ and is examined in relation to his semi-fictional persona amongst the written media and viewing public at the time. In combination, it offers analysis of his ghoulish and otherworldly wraparound segments, specifically the associated visual and spoken aspects. Gallop’s guise on Lights Out is here identified as one of the earliest embodiments of a generic tradition on US network television, only two years after the establishment of scheduled programming proper, that was in stark contrast with his friendly and sophisticated personality in other forms of programming as a radio and television announcer. Moreover, this paper explores how Gallop’s weekly horror host guise differed from those of the more ‘conventional’ anthology hosts of the time, who aimed to play down horror material in line with censorship guidelines. The paper draws on a forthcoming peer-reviewed article on Gallop by Wilson, currently under consideration for publication in 2019.
About the speakers:
Dr Benjamin Halligan is Director of the Doctoral College at the University of Wolverhampton, and has authored two monographs and co-edited six books, covering visual media, music and critical theory. His next monograph, Some Views for Sale: British Pornography on Film during the Permissive Age is forthcoming in 2020. [log in to unmask] / www.benjaminhalligan.com
Thomas Wilson is a PhD student at the University of Wolverhampton. His thesis focuses on anthology hosts in television horror, particularly in the context of the early ‘live era’ of US and UK television industries respectively, and addresses the emergence, early development and legacy of this generic tradition. He has previously presented work on television horror at a number of national conferences and currently has work under consideration for publication.
All welcome - please contact Fran Pheasant-Kelly at [log in to unmask] to reserve a place; refreshments provided.
*Please note slightly amended time and title change – apologies for any inconvenience
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