Dancing with lassitude: a dramaturgy from limbo

Author: Grace, Alicia1

Source: Research in Drama Education, Volume 14, Number 1, February 2009 , pp. 15-29(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

To perform from a state of lassitude is to reside on the edge of action. Like the limbo, the dance of lassitude is a negotiation between confinement and mobility. But edges, middle spaces and absences can be undesirable, stigmatised terrain in performance: the prompter hides the absence of speech whilst cloaked by the proscenium wings, the walk-on players go unpaid, and the in-action of the unemployed actor is euphemised as 'resting'. This paper attempts to uncloak the stigma of the unseen and explores places where resting, slowness and anchorage can provide possibilities for a disability dramaturgy, which pushes beyond a desire for access into mainstream intelligibilities.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/13569780802655731

Affiliations: 1: Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, UK

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