The aim of this project is the development of a representational theory of rest. Both theater and performance art are central places/spaces for the negotiation of social challenges in the face of the acceleration and limitation of personal time. As such, theater and performance art offer representations of rest and unrest, and it is through their analysis that I shall develop my theory. It has to be considered that in the European tradition rest and subsequently unrest are interwoven with ideas of the female, and are therefore gendered. The seemingly paradoxical connection of the female with unrest, traumatization, and hysteria, existing in and produced by theater and performance art, is a red thread through the complex net of discourse surrounding rest and unrest. A clear theoretical understanding of theater's and performance's possibilities of representing rest might be a considerable contribution not only to theater and performance theory but also to cultural studies in general.
Posttraumatic Theater. A Concept in Progress on the Performativity of Un/Rest.
JVF Conference Papers
