Hysteria, Trauma and Melancholia

Hysteria, Trauma and Melancholia

Hysteria, Trauma and Melancholia Performative Maladies in Contemporary Anglophone Drama Christina Wald

* Christina Wald 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-0-230-54712-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36148-9 ISBN 978-0-230-28861-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230288614 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 16 15 14 13 12 11 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 Transferred to Digital Printing 20 II

Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction: Theatrical Performance, Gender Performativity, and the Drama of Performative Malady 1 Hysteria, trauma, and melancholia as cultural tropes 1 Hysteria, trauma, and melancholia as performative maladies 4 Performance and performativity: From termini technici to umbrella terms 10 The theatre metaphor in Butler's performativity theory 13 Can performativity materialise as performance? 17 1 The Drama of Hysteria 27 Hysteria: Theory and theatre 27 Anna Furse: Augustine (Big Hysteria) (1991) 42 Kim Morrissey: Dora: A Case of Hysteria (1993) 60 Terry Johnson: Hysteria or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis (1993) 75 Hysteria as performative malady 89 2 Trauma Drama 93 Trauma concepts, trauma culture 93 Victoria Hardie: Sleeping Nightie (1989) 102 Sarah Daniels: Beside Herself (1990) 114 Phyllis Nagy: Butterfly Kiss (1994) 128 Claire Dowie: Easy Access (for the Boys) (1998) 139 Trauma as performative malady 156 3 The Drama of Melancholia 161 Concepts of melancholia: From black bile to melancholic incarnation 161 David Auburn: Proof (2000) 17l Marina Carr: Portia Coughlan (1996) 184 v

vi Contents Sarah Kane: Cleansed (1998) Melancholia as performative malady Conclusion: The Drama of Performative Malady 198 212 215 Notes Works Cited Index 225 259 283

Acknowledgements Over the years that I have worked on this study, I have received generous help and expert advice from teachers, colleagues, and friends, without whose support and criticism I never could have realised this project. This book is a slightly revised version of a PhD thesis which I completed at the University of Cologne in 2006. My first thanks, therefore, go to my teachers and colleagues at the Englisches Seminar, especially to Beate Neumeier who supervised my thesis and critically shaped my thinking about contemporary drama and gender theory. In the research groups of Hanjo Berressem and Claudia Liebrand, I presented drafts of chapters, and lowe a great deal to the responses of the participants. I am very grateful to Richard Aczel, Stefan Bornchen, Tobias Doring, Bernhard Klein, Martin Middeke and Gottfried Krieger for their thought-provoking comments on earlier versions of my manuscript and for their encouragement. Without the grants of the Cusanuswerk, the German National Academic Foundation, the FAZIT foundation and the Johanna und Fritz Buch Gediichtnis-Stiftung, researching, writing and publishing this book would not have been possible. Most of the ideas of this book have been presented at conferences and seminars, and for their invitations, support and criticism my thanks are particularly due to the participants of the many inspiring workshops of the German National Academic Foundation and the German Association for the Study of Theatre and Drama in English, especially to Werner Huber and Martin Middeke, as well as to the research group of the School of English and Humanities at Birkbeck College. I am grateful to Irmela Schneider and Michael Gassenmeier for their encouragement of the project. Thanks also go to my colleagues at the University of Augsburg for their support during the final stages of preparing this book. I am very grateful to Susanne Roltgen and Tim Jones for the painstaking care they have given to my manuscript, to Paula Kennedy for her interest in this project, and to the anonymous scholar who read my book for Palgrave and provided most helpful comments. I have benefited greatly from many conversations with playwrights and directors, whom I thank for their time, patience, and interest in my work: Claire Dowie, Anna Furse, Terry Johnson, James Macdonald, Kim Morrissey, Phyllis Nagy, Colin Watkeys, and Jules Wright. For the generous permission to use his photograph of Cleansed, I would like to thank Arno Declair. I also owe thanks for their permission to reproduce material from the plays to A&C Black, Faber and Faber, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nick Hem Books, and Routledge: vii

viii Acknowledgements SLEEPING NIGHTIE by Victoria Hardie copyright 1990 Victoria Hardie. Reprinted by permission of the publisher: www.nickhernbooks.co.uk. Amateur performing rights: info@nickhernbooks.demon.co.uk. DORA by Kim Morrissey copyright 1993 Kim Morrissey. Reprinted by permission of the publisher: www.nickhernbooks.co.uk. Amateur performing rights: info@nickhernbooks.demon.co.uk. Excerpts from PROOF by David Auburn. Copyright 2001 by David Auburn. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Inc., an affiliate of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Excerpts from PORTIA COUGHLAN by Marina Carr. Copyright 1996 by Marina Carr. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd. Excerpts from AUGUSTINE (BIG HYSTERIA) by Anna Furse. Copyright 1997 by Anna Furse. Reprinted by permission of Routledge. Excerpts from BESIDE HERSELF by Sarah Daniels. Copyright 1990, 1991 by Sarah Daniels. Reprinted by permission of A&C Black Publishers. Excerpts from EASY ACCESS (FOR THE BOYS) by Claire Dowie. Copyright 1998 by Claire Dowie. Reprinted by permission of A&C Black Publishers. Excerpts from HYSTERIA by Terry Johnson. Copyright 1993, 1994 by Terry Johnson. Reprinted by permission of A&C Black Publishers. Excerpts from BUTIERFLY KISS by Phyllis Nagy. Copyright 1994 by Phyllis Nagy. Reprinted by permission of A&C Black Publishers. Excerpts from CLEANSED by Sarah Kane. Copyright 1998 by Sarah Kane. Reprinted by permission of A&C Black Publishers.