Abstract
This paper advances a Digital Humanities-oriented reading of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (1999), by drawing on its stage adaptation by Deafinitely Theatre (2018). Deeply influenced by her personal experience of depression, Kane’s last play breaks with tradition in many ways: besides being divided into what the playwright herself defines – metatheatrically – “bewildered fragments” (210), the text is characterised by indeterminacy on several levels: there are neither indications about the number/gender of the dramatis personae nor precise stage directions. In this light, the dramatic text cannot be considered as a quasi-defined product – i.e. ready to be staged through minor mediations – since each production has to work extensively on its decodification. In 2018, deaf-led theatre company Deafinitely Theatre provided a bilingual and mixed reality performance of 4.48 Psychosis: the spoken words in English were simultaneously followed by their translation in British Sign Language; moreover, the traditional stage was integrated with technological devices (e.g. projectors) in order to reproduce those same words on the screen, thus enhancing a multiplication of the message(s) they convey. Following the digital – and virtual – turn in theatre, drama, and performance studies, this paper shows how Deafinitely Theatre’s attempt proves to be effective in rendering the multifarious strata of Kane’s text. In so doing, it addresses issues concerning the staging of complex embodiments as well as the renderings of a psychotic mind in the digital age.
Presenters
Giuseppe CapalboPhD Student in Literatures in English, Department of Literary, Philosophical and Art History Studies, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Digital, Kane, Performance, Theatre, Virtual
Digital Media
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