Negotiating Reality: Sam Shepard’s States of Shock, or “A Vaudeville Nightmare”

Abstract

<jats:p>In the course of a career that spans half a century, from the Vietnam era to the America of Barack Obama, Sam Shepard has often been labelled as a “quintessentially American” playwright. According to Leslie Wade, “[d]rawing from the disparate image banks of rock and roll, detective fiction, B-movies, and Wild West adventure shows,” Shepard’s texts “function as a storehouse of images, icons, and idioms that denote American culture and an American sensibility” (Sam Shepard 2). The article addresses Shepard’s work in the 1990s, when - as suggested by Stephen J. Bottoms - the writer’s prime concern was with depicting “a Faustian nation mired in depravity and corruption” (245). The discussion centres primarily upon a brief anti-war play first presented by the American Place Theatre in New York City on 30 April 1991, States of Shock, whose very title appears to sum up much of the dramatist’s writing to date, aptly describing the disturbing atmospheres generated by his works and the sense of disorientation frequently experienced by both Shepard’s characters and his audiences. The essay seeks to provide an insight into this unsettling one-act play premiered in the wake of the US engagement in the First Gulf War and deploying extravagant, grotesque theatricality to convey a sense of horror and revulsion at American military arrogance and moral myopia. It investigates how Shepard’s haunting text - subtitled “a vaudeville nightmare” and focusing on a confrontation between a peculiar male duo: an ethically crippled, jingoistic Colonel and a wheelchair-using war veteran named Stubbs - revisits familiar Shepard territory, as well as branching out in new directions. It demonstrates how the playwright interrogates American culture and American identity, especially American masculinity, both reviewing the country’s unsavory past and commenting on its complicit present. Special emphasis in the discussion is placed on Shepard’s preoccupation with the aesthetics of performance and the visual elements of his theatre. The essay addresses the artist’s experimental approach, reflecting upon his creative deployment of dramatic conventions and deliberate deconstruction of American realism.</jats:p>

Dismantling Fabricated Reality in Shepard’s State of Shock

“…Various critics say that Shepard's States of Shock continues to approach the question of male identity by repeatedly bringing the concept of the American psyche into a crisis through deliberate confrontation (e.g. Mirowska, 2017;Tekinay, 2019). While the play intends to address the euphoria surrounding national unity following the Gulf War, as well as elucidate the American public's neglect of the Iraq-based conflict's unrestrained destruction, Mirowska (2017) argues that it also offers the perspective of American male identity in a post-Vietnamese perspective, as evidenced by Colonel and Stubbs.…”

“…Mirowska, 2017;Tekinay, 2019). While the play intends to address the euphoria surrounding national unity following the Gulf War, as well as elucidate the American public's neglect of the Iraq-based conflict's unrestrained destruction, Mirowska (2017) argues that it also offers the perspective of American male identity in a post-Vietnamese perspective, as evidenced by Colonel and Stubbs. Colonel's defensive reproach is an attempt to restore America's legacy and strength in the eyes of the world (Bryer & Madachy, 2003).…”

Remediating the culture industry

“…Although most academic output on States of Shock takes up Shepard's own categorization of the play as a vaudevillian piece (cf. Bottoms 1998;Callens 2000;Wade 2002;Skelton 2016;Mirowska 2017), no study to date has thoroughly examined the dramaturgical effect of vaudeville remediation in relation to Shepard's persistent theatricalization of the culture industry. 3 Almost all contributions focus on the play's parodic staging of American heroism and father/son relationships (cf.…”

“…3 Almost all contributions focus on the play's parodic staging of American heroism and father/son relationships (cf. Bottoms 1998;Wade 2002;Skelton 2016;Mirowska 2017). According to Stephen J.…”