f The Sleeping Spectator in Her/His Body-Home: Some Reflections on the Public Performance of Private Dreams

The performer who sleeps on stage is in a state of inverting theatre from the outside of the body towards the inside. While dreaming during the sleeping performance, the performer periodically transforms his or her own phenomenal body into the inner stage for him/her self, reducing the outer semiotic body and communication with the spectators to a minimum. The sleeping art performance thus contests several theatre and art performance elements: (1) it places under question the range of communication between the performer and the spectator, (2) by accepting sleep as a unique form of performance, it contests the traditional understanding of the theatre role and the performing body, and finally, (3) by placing the stage within the performer’s body-home, it contests the conventional concept of the stage and the existence of the theatre community.