Performing Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces, in Chekhov's Drama and Stanislavski's TheatreIn Performing Emotions, Peta Tait's central argument is that performing emotions in realism is also performing gender identity. Emotions are phenomena that are performable by bodies, which have cultural identities. In turn, these create cultural spaces of emotions. This study integrates scholarship on realist drama, theatre and approaches to acting, with interdisciplinary theories of emotion, phenomenology and gender theory. With chapters devoted to masculinity and femininity specifically, as well as to emotions generally, it investigates social beliefs about emotions through Chekhov's four major plays in translation, and English language commentaries on Constantin Stanislavski's direction (of the play's first productions) and his approaches to acting, and Olga Knipper's acting of the central women characters. Emotions exists as social relationships; they are imagined and embodied as gendered. Tait demonstrates how theatrical emotions are predicated on social performances and vice versa. In Chekhov's plays, which came to dominate a twentieth century theatre of emotions, characters interpret their emotions intertextually in relation to other theatrical and fictional narratives of emotions. Tait here interrogates these plays as sustained explorations of the inherent theatricality of characters expressing emotions from their phenomenological awareness. A theatrical language of gendered interiority is produced in the acting of emotions in Stanislavski's early realistic theatre. Alternatively, remapping the performances of emotional bodies can destabilise the culturally constructed boundary separating an inner, private self and an outer, social self in culturally produced geographies of emotions. As Tait shows, emotions can be performed as indivisible spatialities. Performing Emotions integrates theories of theatre, gender identity and emotion to investigate how sexual difference impacts on the representations of emotions. The book develops an accumulative analysis of the meanings of emotions in twentieth century realist drama, theatre and acting. |
Contents
Discursive Approaches | 11 |
Theatrical Emotions Hysteria | 21 |
Uncle Vanya 1897 | 36 |
Copyright | |
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Performing Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces, in Chekhov's Drama and ... Peta Tait Limited preview - 2017 |
Performing Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces, in Chekhov's Drama and ... Peta Tait Limited preview - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
acted emotions acting of emotions acting styles actor actress Anton Chekhov approach argues Arkadina Astrov behaviour bodily Brecht Brechtian Cambridge University Press Catherine Lutz character's Chekhov's drama Chekhov's plays Cherry Orchard cultural depiction edited embodied emotional bodies emotional experience emotional expression emotional feelings emotional reactions emotional responses emotionality emotions in theatre enactment experience of emotions explains expression of emotions female characters female performers feminine Feminism feminist fictional Gayev gender identity Helena hysterical ideas imagined inner emotions interpretation Irina Knipper logic London Lopakhin Lutz male characters masculine Masha meaning mood narratives Nina nineteenth century theatre Olga Knipper perceived performance of emotions performer's performing emotions physical actions physicalisation Pitcher produced Ranevskaya realist theatre recognised rehearsal Robert Plutchik Rom Harré Seagull Senelick social performance spaces spectator stage Stanislavski Styan styles of acting suggests theatre text theory Three Sisters Translated Treplev Trigorin twentieth century theatre Uncle Vanya Vershinin women characters writes York