Bodies as profit centres: Susie Orbach’s work in the context of performance and activism

Susie Orbach’s approach to the anxiety, discomfort and shame that many of us experience in relation to our bodies, is two-fold. On the one hand she offers astute observations, reflections and approaches for how each of us as individuals might work through this discomfort, and does so by encouraging greater trust in our bodies and listening to the signals of our appetites and needs — whether these be emotional or physical (Orbach, 2006; 2002). On the other hand, she has always, from Fat is a Feminist Issue (1978) onward, situated our discomfort with our bodies in a social context, knowing that a neoliberal narrative of individual self-improvement will not resolve the inequalities and exploitations that feed so fundamentally into body anxiety.

In this Chapter I will trace through the various ways in which I perceive Susie Orbach’s work to be in dialogue with the world of performance and performers’ bodies. I will begin by drawing a link between performance as a space predicated on the ability to act and Orbach’s central impulse towards action, which will allow me to share and document the role of body activism in her work. I will then discuss aspects of Orbach’s work in relation to actors’ bodies specifically, and finally will bring both strands together to reflect on the future, examining key challenges presented by the notion of self-care as it is currently traded in performance and activism.