Performing the Self

Abstract

A distinction between the identity of an actor, with his or her own personal experience and history, and the role or the character taken on by that actor, with its own experiences and history within the fictive world of the drama seems fundamental to the operations of the theatre. Among the various minimalist definitions of theatre that have from time to time been advanced, one of my favorites is from Eric Bentley's The Life of the Drama: "A impersonates B while C looks on." Simple as this formulation is, it connects two of the functions normally considered fundamental to the theatre experience, the taking on of a fictive "other" persona by the actor and the necessity of an audience. In recent years, however, a type of performance has gained prominence which seems to challenge this basic formula by collapsing into a unity two of its three terms. This is autobiographical performance — where instead of creating a character or assuming a role in a dramatic structure, the actor presents or seems to present personal reminiscence, anecdote or opinion. Here, it appears, "A impersonates A while C looks on." Such performance often challenges traditional assumptions about the relationship in theatre between the conventional concepts of character, role, and identity.

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