To Act, To Do, To Perform: Drama and the Phenomenology of Action (Theater: Theory/Text/Performance)

To Act, To Do, To Perform ably demonstrates how the field of drama can offer distinctive answers to questions currently being asked in philosophy and literary theory. It is a phenomenological study of action using methods of philosophy, literary study, and dramatic theory. It is interdisciplinary in its approach, using concepts from Aristotle and Kenneth Burke through Heidegger to Lacan and Derrida. The chapters examine four dramatic works: the dimensions of action involving the active/passive position of a subject (in Waiting for Godot), the difference between withdrawal from action and performance (in The Three Sisters), and the visible or "demonic" element of the material act (in Macbeth). The final chapter on Hamlet examines the interplay of these elements as action is found to dismantle itself in performance even as it is being repeated. These analyses demonstrate the processes by which the representation of action intersects with a dismantling of action in a performative present. They indicate how ideas about both subjects and their acts are limited by the language that divides subjects from processes. Together they account for how a fuller sense of action, taken from drama rather than analytic philosophy, might dissolve conventional dichotomies between text and performance, subject and object, fiction and reality. To Act, To Do, To Perform Takes A Line From Hamlet's Gravedigger As A Basis For A Philosophical Inquiry Into How Action Is Constituted By Language, Materiality, And Performance. Drawing On Contemporary Theory From The Fields Of Drama, Aesthetics, Literature, And Cultural Studies, Alice Rayner Uses Dramatic Texts By Shakespeare, Chekhov, And Beckett To Examine Problems Of Action. When An Agent Or Subject Appears To Have Trouble Negotiating Between The Name Of An Act And The Practice Of That Act, A Range Of Difficult Issues In Drama - Such As The Troubled Relationships Between Object And Process, Text And Performance, Structure And Play - Become Apparent. Each Chapter Of This Book Takes On Those Issues Through Examination Of Various Dimensions Of The Phenomenon Of Action, And Each Examines A Possible Position For An Agent Or Subject In Relation To Acts And Action, As That Position Is Revealed By A Grammatical Structure. The Active/passive Position Of A Subject Is Examined In Waiting For Godot, The Difference Between Withdrawal From Action And Performance Is Discussed In Relation To Three Sisters, And The Visible Or Demonic Element Of The Material Act Is Analyzed Through Macbeth. The Final Chapter On Hamlet Examines The Interplay Of All These Elements As Action Is Shown To Dismantle Itself In Performance Even As It Is Being Repeated. These Analyses Demonstrate The Processes By Which Action Intersects With Its Own Dismantling In The Performative Present And Indicate How Ideas About Both Subjects And Their Acts Are Limited By Language That Divides Subject From Processes. To Act, To Do, To Perform Is The First Inclusive Study Of Dramatic Action Since Francis Fergusson's The Idea Of A Theater. This Challenging And Insightful Book Uses Drama To Elucidate Philosophical Questions And Simultaneously Demonstrates How Drama Offers Something Of Its Own To Questions In Literary Theory And Philosophy. The Book Will Interest Specialists As Well As Anyone Intrigued By The Recent Popularity Of Performance As A Critical And Cultural Metaphor. Gravedigger As Theorist -- To Act: Did That Never Happen To You? -- To Do: I'll Do, I'll Do And I'll Do -- To Perform: We Must Work! -- How To Go About It. Alice Rayner. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 157-161) And Index.