Performing Violence: Limits and Transformative Means in Staged Violence

This book offers an exhaustive approach to all forms of staged violence, and in-depth analysis of their emergence and repercussion (dramaturgically and physically). This study explores instruments to surpass the dichotomic opposition victim-oppressor, to demystify the spell of violence, to get rid of the morbid voyeurism often connected to staged violence and eventually proposes transformative tools to explore empowering experiences through violence. Considering all the aspects of a theater performance engaging with staged violence (the story displaying violence, the actors’ embodiment of violence, the spectators’ experiences of being exposed to violence, the process of performing violence), this book proposes analytical and practical tools to explore the limit and to transform the experience of performing violence. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in theater and performance studies.