Performance and Real Relationships
Family, Kinship and Love in Contemporary Theatre
Performance and Real Relationships
Family, Kinship and Love in Contemporary Theatre
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Description
This book argues that staging real relationships and collaborating with family members has the potential to rupture theatrical representation by producing an effect of authenticity.
Drawing on psychoanalytic theory (Lacan, Kristeva), poststructuralist critique (Derrida), and feminist and queer theory, the author explores how theatre becomes a method of doing family: a set of embodied, affective and performative practices rather than a fixed institution.
The book is richly informed by case studies, supported by production photographs, including the German company SheShePop performing Testament (2010) with their fathers; Liz Clarke performing I Tattooed My Baby (2013) with her infant daughter; Zoo Indigo's Under the Covers (2009) and Blueprint (2012), performed with their children and mothers; Bryony Kimmings performing with her partner in Fake it Till you Make it (2015); and First Trimester by Queer performance maker Krishna Istha performing alongside their partner and extended 'chosen family'.
The chapters include interwoven interviews with theatre practitioners, exploring their experience of performing with family members, and offering fascinating insights into the processes, ethics and methodologies of doing so. The exploration of love and family are enriched by the author's own autobiographical reflections, written in a poetic mode of auto theory.
Ultimately, the book reveals how real relationships on stage can generate empathy, challenge normative kinship structures, and invite audiences to rethink care, love, and the many ways we do family.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Notes on Text
Introduction
(Personal and Political) Kinship in Crisis Familial Performance Structure of the Book Theoretical Frameworks
Chapter 1: Ruptures of the Real – Authenticity and Real People in Performance
Introduction: Real Relationships Beyond 'Non-Professional': Naming the Real Performer The Return to Authenticity Metamodernism and Familial Performance Acting Techniques and Authenticity The Closure of Representation and The Theatre of Cruelty The Real – A Theoretical Framework Conclusion: Familial Theatre as Transformative Practice
Chapter 2: Familial Theatre and Children
Introduction: Parental Performance The Gesture of the Child Infant Presence in Performance: Tragedia Endogonidia The Maternal/Parental Encounter Case Studies
Liz Clarke: I Tattooed my Baby, and I am Bitter about Glitter Zoo Indigo: Under the Covers Conclusion
· Familial Performance as 'Doing Motherhood'
Interview
Grace Surman and Gary Winters with their daughter Hope Winters
Chapter 3: Parental Performance and Metamodern Micro-Narratives
Introduction: Embodied Micro-Narratives in Metamodern Theatre Embodied Family: Kinesthetic Empathy in Familial Performance Affective Labour and Parental Performance Case Studies
Ursula Martinez: A Family Outing (1998) She She Pop: Testament (2010), Rite of Spring (2014) Zoo Indigo: Blueprint (2012) Conclusion
Familial Micro-Narratives Interview
ELOINA on HIGH STEAKS (2023)
Chapter 4: Love, Event and Queer Kinship
Introduction: The Event of Love Love as Theatrical Event Case Study 1
Bryony Kimmings: Fake it Till You Make it (2015)
· Queer Love and Kinship
Case Studies
Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill: The Making of Pinocchio (2022) Krishna Istha: First Trimester (2023) Conclusion
· The Event of Love as Transformative Force
Interview
Demi Nandhra on Life is No Laughing Matter (2019)
Chapter 5: Virtual Family and Familial Others – Theatre in the Pandemic
· Introduction: The Familial in Crisis
The (Inter)Face of the Other: Lockdown and Ethical Responsibility Pandemic Performance of Family Case Studies
Tracy Breathnach: Motherswitch (2020) Tina Hofman: Ananas Is Always Ananas But Pineapple in English (2021) Gob Squad: Show Me a Good Time (2021) Conclusion
· Healing Through Encounter – Performing Pandemic Trauma
· Interview
Daniel Oliver and Frauke Requardt on Dadderrs – the Lockown Telly Show (2020)
Afterword
Familial Performance and Radical Empathy Born Slippy – Fluidity of the Familial Closure
References
Index
Copyright Page
Product details
| Published | Jul 09 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | 9781350448117 |
| Imprint | Methuen Drama |
| Illustrations | 10 b&w |
| Series | Methuen Drama Engage |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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