‘Why Can’t I Stop Looking?’ A Therapeutic and Performative Debate on the Performance of Trauma

Abstract

Originally constructed as a performance piece, this work invites discussion of the uncomfortable, but nonetheless delightful, differences and similarities of interpretation of the discipline-specific methodologies of performance and therapy. Using three case studies we consider the performance of trauma: as the replication of experience; it’s affect on the maker, the performer and the audience of the work; and questions that touch upon power, perception and interpretation; and, the implication that psychological safety and ethics inherent in the reciprocal sharing of such powerful materials is questionable.