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Bending Gender and Acting Theory - Performing essays by Goethe and Cocteau on the theatrical benefits of cross-dressing

Roesner, David P. (2006) Bending Gender and Acting Theory - Performing essays by Goethe and Cocteau on the theatrical benefits of cross-dressing. Studies in Theatre and Performance, 26 (2). pp. 111-127. ISSN 1468-2761. (doi:10.1386/stap.26.2.111/1) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:30262)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1386/stap.26.2.111/1

Abstract

In this article the author investigates Johann Wolfgang Goethe's and Jean Cocteau's strikingly interrelated essays on acts of female impersonation and the implications on theatre theory that both emphatically point out. In a second step the article seeks to explore how both essays translated into performances that resulted from the author's practice-as-research projects, which used the essays themselves as parts of the performance scripts. In particular, the performances tried to respond to Goethe's and Cocteau's focus on the individual virtuoso travesty with a counter-concept that employed the use of choir and a composition of theatrical means (text, music, images) to achieve a different kind of ‘selfconscious illusion’ (Goethe) – a transparently fabricated play on illusion and disillusion, gender and androgyny, performance and research.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1386/stap.26.2.111/1
Uncontrolled keywords: theatre theory, gender performance, female impersonation, practice as research, Cocteau, Goethe
Subjects: M Music and Books on Music > M Music
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The theatre
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
Depositing User: David Roesner
Date Deposited: 28 Aug 2012 13:05 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:08 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/30262 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Roesner, David P..

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