Identity work as a response to tensions: A re-narration in opera rehearsals

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Summary

This paper explores identity work in the creative setting of an opera company. We focus on how people account for who they are and what they do as they go through the process of preparing to perform an opera. Identity work can occur as a response to internal tensions and we inquire into the kinds of tension that occur for our research participants. We go on to analyse a dramatic event as a form of re-narration and we consider how the re-narration can occur. As a result we seek to make two related contributions to the literature on identity work in the creative industries. First, we elucidate three kinds of internal tension that can elicit on-going identity work by people in creative organisations. Second, we explicate re-narration as an aspect of the process of identity work. In re-narration, the characters of others become reformed so as to fit with a narrative that holds sway in the social context, and as a result the relationship between self and other is affected.

Introduction

The concept of identity work (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003) treats identity as being in a process of forming and reforming through interaction within social settings of discourse and practice (Watson, 2008). Recently, identity work has been used as a way of studying identity in the creative industries (Brown et al., 2010, Elsbach, 2009). Although the category of creative industries is broad and disputed (Pratt & Jeffcutt, 2009), they include organisations in which there is an explicit intention to use creative or knowledge work, in order to produce outcomes that are to some extent novel and which are explicitly creative (Townley & Beech, 2010). A traditional perspective on identity in the creative industries is that some people are ‘creatives’ whilst others are not. This dichotomised conceptualisation has been referred to as ‘the suits’ and the ‘humdrums’ (Caves, 2002), and it assumes essentialist identities in which a person is one thing or another. The identity work literature is critical of such essentialist conceptualisations, arguing that people have multiple aspects to their identities, which vary in prominence over time and circumstance; identity is viewed as a dynamic process incorporating claims, acceptances, counter-claims and enactments (Watson, 2009, Ybema et al., 2009a, Ybema et al., 2009b). In the identity work tradition, the self is situated in relation to others and our focus is on the relational construction of identity.

Identity work can be heightened in response to tensions that simultaneously pull people in two (or more) directions (Beech, 2011, Ellis and Ybema, 2010). It has been recognised that tensions exist in the creative industries, and that these tensions have an impact on identity, therefore, identity work is an appropriate way of explaining reactions to those pressures. For example Gotsi, Andriopoulos, Lewis, and Ingram (2010) have applied the concept of identity work to creative workers arguing that it is a way of understanding how workers deal with the need to be both creative and commercially successful. Similarly, creative workers can be pulled both towards expressing the self in their work, and producing what sells in the market (Elsbach, 2009). Brown et al. (2010) investigated the production of creative identities in an architectural practice. The study focused on variety of ways professionalism and professional identity are voiced, negotiated and sometimes silenced. The architects’ discourse about their selves, organisation and work was both a subjective construction of their selves as creative professionals, and was disciplined by the discursive practices of the directors, as they espoused the type of architects that they should aspire to become.

Hence, the creative industries are an interesting site of investigation because they entail a number of tensions, for example between the expression of the creative self and the need to serve a market. Identity work can therefore occur when there is a need to balance the tensions. Our aim is to elucidate the tensions that exist in creative settings and to discuss their potential impact on identity work. Specifically our research seeks to extend the application of identity work in the creative industries by asking first, what kinds of tension might elicit identity work and second, what processes responsive identity work might operate through. In response to the first question we contribute a conceptualisation of three kinds of tension that can elicit identity work. Responding to the second question, we seek to add to the understanding of processes of identity work identified in creative workers by Gotsi, Elsbach and others in the field by exploring the significance of identity re-narration.

Our data are drawn from an opera company as they prepare to perform The Marriage of Figaro. In opera the preparation of the leading soloists can start a considerable time before the first performance, but typically there is an intensive period of rehearsals including soloists, chorus, artistic direction, technical staff and orchestra in the run up to opening night. Our study builds on observations and interviews from the six weeks of intensive rehearsals and the first week of performances. As rehearsals progress we identify three identity tensions occurring. We discuss these tensions and the re-narration response. Lastly we suggest some questions that could inform future research on identity work more broadly in the creative industries and beyond.

Identity work can be defined as a process through which people seek to establish an identity in their own estimation and in the eyes of others (Alvesson, Ashcraft, & Thomas, 2008), draw on resources from the social setting in order to make identity claims (Watson, 2009) and weave together a more-or-less coherent narrative of the self over time (Ybema et al., 2009a, Ybema et al., 2009b). Identity work can be undertaken through a range of processes including account-giving, struggle and conflict (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003), distancing the self from certain identity-attributions (Costas & Fleming, 2009), the appropriation of resources through which the self can be labelled (Musson & Duberley, 2007) and reflexive questioning of the self (Cunliffe, 2002). In some cases, identity work appears to be undertaken in order to achieve a sense of consistency and coherence (Sveningsson and Alvesson, 2003, Watson, 2008), whereas in other situations, a hybrid identity is produced which can incorporate contradictory aspects. For example, in Clark et al's study (2009) people construct themselves as moral agents, a desired identity, by incorporating both emotional detachment and strong engagement into their accounts of self.

The creative industries incorporate a broad and debated range of activities (Pratt & Jeffcutt, 2009), some of which have artistic output as their main purpose, such as music and drama, whilst others are commercially focused but involve creative practice for example advertising and architecture (Townley & Beech, 2010). Some researchers in this field take an essentialist perspective on identity, differentiating the ‘creatives’ from the ‘humdrums’ (Caves, 2002). This way of thinking builds upon the ‘creative genius myth’ (Montuori, 2003) in which creativity is attributed to particular identities. However, alternative perspectives have been taken in which creativity is regarded as something that emerges from a community of practitioners (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2006). Such perspectives problematise constructions such as ‘creative’ and ‘humdrum’ identities. For example, Elsbach (2009) and Gotsi et al. (2010) have found much greater ambiguity and dynamism in identities of creative workers than an essentialist approach would account for and so have adopted the concept of identity work. Similarly, Brown et al. (2010) find in their study of architects that there is an on-going negotiation of self-identity in relation to others as people develop an account of the self as a professional creative.

Humphreys, Brown, and Hatch (2003) discuss jazz musicians and identify different identity tensions. There are tensions between playing in the group and displaying individual prowess, between empathising with others and simultaneously competing with them. Like Elsbach's (2009) designers, for Humphreys et al. (2003) the jazz player is also searching for “a uniquely personal ‘voice’ or ‘signature’ that is characteristically theirs and which differentiates them from others engaged in similar work” (2003: 8), but at the same time the social aspect of “playing with others reveals to the musician the sort of musical identity he or she possesses” (2003: 8). Humphrey's et al. view this as a form of relational identity construction; in jazz they argue that the search for the self implies the search for the other. However, there is a tension with people viewing their work as a vehicle for promoting their own talents and personal career objectives (McLeod, O’Donohoe, & Townley, 2009). In an orchestral context, Morotto, Roos, and Victor (2007) discuss how collective identity of the musicians becomes constructed through active relations between the self and the other, not passively listening but co-playing and co-listening such that the feel of the aesthetic experience is something that can draw people together when it works or lead to dis-identification when it fails aesthetically.

The most common identity tension with which this literature is concerned is the concurrent versions of self as creative and as commercial achiever (Townley, Beech, & McKinlay, 2009). Bain's (2005) research on artists revealed aspects of the self that were ‘idealist’, pursuing the personal aesthetic and achievement of creative work, and ‘pragmatist’, meeting the practical needs of satisfying the client or making money. In this case, there was a hierarchical ordering in which the pragmatist self was justified in terms of the need to support the idealist self. Elsbach (2009) observed identity work amongst creative designers as a way of ‘absorbing’ the dilemma of pleasing clients and markets. The designers also made ‘idealist’ identity claims which they evidenced through ‘signature styles’. These were elements of creative expression which were incorporated covertly into commercial designs and enabled the designers to maintain a self-narrative of being creative. Similarly, Gotsi et al. (2010) studied creative workers’ processes of accommodating multiple identities similar to Bain's (2005) idealist/pragmatist construction. In Gotsi et al.’s case, this was achieved by people developing a ‘meta-identity’ as ‘practical artists’ in which they were able to be both idealist and pragmatist. This resonates with Clarke, Brown, and Hope-Hailey (2009) perspective on the incorporation of mutually antagonistic resources in the authoring of the self. Similarly, Hackley and Kover (2007) investigated advertising executives, who displayed an identity whose dual elements of economic utility (where financial return symbolises success) and aesthetic standards (where creativity and excellence symbolises success) often entailed conflict, but the executives did not seek to eliminate this conflict as they identified with both aspects. The embodiment of the tension between art and commerce has been discussed in the literature, but we are interested in asking if other tensions are also in play, and if so, what form they might take. We seek to extend this literature by asking the research question: what kinds of tension might elicit identity work?

As indicated above, various processes of identity work have been discussed in the literature. In many cases they entail interaction through which there is an effort to get others to accept an account of the self and also an effort to develop new accounts of the self (Beech, 2008). One process is that of narration of the self (Sims, 2005). For Sims, the self is formed through an on-going process of ‘writing one's autobiography’ which can include building up a collage of ‘snippets’ from the stories of others (Sims, Huxham, & Beech, 2009), and producing a story of self that adopts classic narrative forms such as the tragic or the epic (Brown & Humphreys, 2006). The narratives of self can form connections between people, but are more commonly regarded as dividing between the character roles that people inhabit (Coupland, 2001). For example, Glynn's (2000) analysis of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra revealed identity conflicts between musicians and administrators based upon differing values of artistic excellence and economic utility. Although the administrators expressed enthusiasm for the quality of music, they also believed that the quality of music alone would not be sufficient to cope with the financial pressures and the conflict came to a head with a musicians strike. At this intensified point in the narrative, the conflict became expressed by each side amplifying a stereotypical identity construction of the other – as caring only about, or not at all about, money.

Identity work processes are a combination of writing one's own story, being written by others and of seeking to write oneself into the stories of others (Sims, 2005). It can also be a process of absorbing and personalising general narrative (Coupland & Brown, 2004) or being constrained by the structure of the lived narrative (Gabriel, 2000). Stories or narratives are key to understanding for example the complexities and processes of change (Brown and Humphreys, 2002, Tsoukas and Hatch, 2001) and identity (Brown et al., 2006, Mallett and Wapshott, 2012). Identity narratives are not static, and nor are they never completed, as multiple versions of reality tend always to exist in tension as for example ‘ordinary’ workers’ self-narratives contest the dominant identity narratives of their superiors (Brown et al., 2006). Identity narratives then are constantly in the process of being reconstructed, refined, embellished, imagined and re-imagined by different actors in different settings, as stories are narrated and re-narrated (Brown et al., 2006).

Identity work through self-narration is relational in that it entails others playing character roles in one's own story. For example, in order for the narration of self as ‘victim’, there needs to be a ‘persecutor,’ and frequently complementary roles such as ‘rescuer’ play a role in such narratives (Payne, 2006). People can become ‘locked-in’ a form of narrative that becomes a norm for them, and hence they can construct an identity of self as, for example, victim, or rescuer. In narrative therapy, personal change can be achieved by retelling stories so that they do not fit in with normal patterns. This process of re-narration can help people break patterns of behaviour and the meanings they associate with it. In the case we explore, the situation is not a one-to-one therapeutic setting, but nonetheless we will argue that a process of re-narration takes place. We see this as a way of understanding the process of identity work in response to the tensions that exist in the social setting.

Therefore, in summary, identity work is a process of claiming, enacting and reacting to identities through language and practice. Identity work may be heightened when there are tensions (e.g. the need to be both creative and commercial). Identity work in response to such tensions can produce a retreat into differentiated roles as has happened, for example, in tense situations in orchestras (Glynn, 2000) in which each ‘side’ defined each other in increasingly extreme characterisations as they constructed their version of the story. Alternatively, small acts of rebellion (such as maintaining a signature style) can enable people to absorb tensions and maintain a self-identity as a creative person. Our study seeks to extend the application of identity work in the creative industries by asking what kinds of tensions might elicit identity work and what processes, such as re-narration, identity work might operate through.

The opera company, which we will refer to as ‘Classic Opera’, has a matrix structure and is run by a board of managers. Employees include singers, chorus, orchestra, staging, concerts and technical staff along with business functions such as marketing and finance. Freelance singers and players are also hired for specific projects. The focus of this study is a production of the Marriage of Figaro. The artistic director has overall responsibility for the direction of the singers, technical staff, stage management and the conductor. The conductor for Figaro, although ‘reporting’ to the artistic director for this project is actually senior to the artistic director within the overall company structure, as he is a member of the Classic Opera board of managers.

The story of Figaro revolves around an ‘upstairs/downstairs’ division. Count Almaviva spends his days pestering the serving girls and has a particular soft spot for Susanna, the girl his servant Figaro hopes to marry that day. Almaviva plans to disrupt the proceedings but Figaro, Susanna and Almaviva's wife conspire to stop him. The key characters for our study are Bella who is playing Susanna, Angus the Artistic Director, Alex who plays Figaro and Simon the Conductor. Our focus is on the intensive six week period of rehearsals leading up to the first performance.

Section snippets

Method

This study explores the dialogic construction of creative worker identities. Our study is therefore based on a relational perspective, which means that we view the social world as consisting primarily of dynamic and unfolding relations (Shotter, 2008). We take a constructionist approach, which focuses on how meanings are created between people in their embodied interactions (Cunliffe, 2002). This process occurs within a social context which includes the practices of preparing for performance

A story from the Opera

In this section we tell a story from the rehearsals of Classic Opera. The soloists were booked well in advance and Bella (who was singing Susanna) had been preparing for the role, whilst undertaking other roles, for nearly twelve months. In the six weeks before opening night, Angus (the Artistic Director) worked with the soloists and the chorus in rehearsals. The production often rehearsed with the Classic Opera orchestra, and so Simon (the Conductor and Board Member) was present in these

Bella's identity and the importance of singing Susanna

Talking to the researcher, Bella said that her ambition was to become a singer with the Metropolitan Opera House (‘The Met’) in New York. Singing at The Met represented, for Bella, the pinnacle of achievement, but a singing career was not simply something she wanted to ‘achieve’, it was also something she felt she needed to do in order to express herself or play out her ‘destiny’. During an interview she expressed it as follows:

‘…if you have a talent like this and you have the abilities and

Angus's identity and moving into a new role as artistic director

Figaro was Angus's first job as an artistic director, and he had an aspiration to being a ‘singer-oriented’ director. Angus had recently stopped being a singer and because of this he felt he was ‘aware of the singers’ personalities and performance abilities’. He thought this knowledge allowed him to get ‘into the heads of the cast’, which would help him to ‘best manage their temperaments to get the best performance out of them’. Thus in the balance between closeness and distance, Angus wanted

Rehearsals in the lead up to the first performance

The first weeks of rehearsals were held in informal rooms away from the performance venue. Within the rehearsals Angus saw himself as ‘more a carrot than a stick man’ and he sought to enable the cast to become comfortable with each other and with the opera. Angus sought a quiet and calm rehearsal space to ‘create a positive atmosphere and improve productivity’ which he tried to achieve quietly: ‘I can control a room without ever having to lift my voice’. In general he let soloists try out ways

The Bella incident

In week four the cast moved from their ‘homely and safe’ rehearsal rooms to the main performance venue. For some moving venue brought with it an unsettled feeling amongst the cast and chorus, which meant that the rehearsals were characterised by one chorus member as having a ‘strange atmosphere’. The singers’ feelings about the new venue and unhappiness over Angus's directorial style culminated at the end of week four into what became known as the ‘Bella Incident’. The researcher observed Angus

Discussion

The purpose of our study was to extend the application of the concept of identity work in the creative industries by focusing on identity tensions that exist for creative workers and enquiring into the processes of responsive identity work. In our case the art-commerce dichotomy was not prominent in the data. We did, however, see other forms of tension including: tensions arising from efforts to enact an aspirational identity; tensions in moving away from a version of the self that was

Conclusion

Identity work can be a response to tensions that pull a person in more than one direction. We have argued that tensions can arise in the enactment of aspirational identities and moving away from dis-identities and hybrid identities can have tensions inherent within them. Such tensions can become self-perpetuating as identity work undertaken in response to them can contribute to their reproduction. We have illustrated one process that identity work in response to tensions can take. This was a

Acknowledgement

The ESRC supported this research through grant RES-331-27-0065.

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