De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane

Dramatic experiments with the voice in the theatres of Martin Crimp (Attempts on Her Life, 1997; Fewer Emergencies, 2005) and Sarah Kane (Crave, 1998; 4.48 Psychosis, 2000) fall within the scope of a post-Beckettian quest for new formal constraints for the text and the stage. While the dramatic spac...

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Main Author: Solange Ayache
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2013-07-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2963
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author Solange Ayache
author_facet Solange Ayache
author_sort Solange Ayache
collection DOAJ
description Dramatic experiments with the voice in the theatres of Martin Crimp (Attempts on Her Life, 1997; Fewer Emergencies, 2005) and Sarah Kane (Crave, 1998; 4.48 Psychosis, 2000) fall within the scope of a post-Beckettian quest for new formal constraints for the text and the stage. While the dramatic space, for both Crimp and Kane, is no longer a physical space but has become, to use Crimp’s words, “a mental space”, it appears that the scenic space has transformed into a sheer vocal space. This article looks at the importance of the voice in Crimp’s and Kane’s texts, focusing on the intervocal and transdramatic space created between their plays around the voice of a woman both central and spectral. No longer a conventional character, the female subject, whose voice is either heard as a broken embodied token of a disturbed mind, or is silenced and replaced by the alienating narratives of others, is but a mere shadow, vestige or vocal image of herself. Polyonymous in Attempts on Her Life, anonymous in 4.48 Psychosis, “Anne”, as I will argue, is eclipsed in a post-traumatic silence in Crimp’s play, then restored on the front of a sacrificial stage in Kane’s, regaining her own power of speech in a poetic language made of echoes. Her voice, fully expanding in the space although pierced with blanks and holes, is the ultimate dramatic event. In these two plays as well as in Kane’s Crave and Crimp’s Fewer Emergencies, the voice thus appears at the core of what could be called a “psychopoetics” of the stage.
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spelling doaj-art-bf0b4bdefa634912a5604ee58f0c4efc2025-01-30T13:46:48ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022013-07-011610.4000/sillagescritiques.2963De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah KaneSolange AyacheDramatic experiments with the voice in the theatres of Martin Crimp (Attempts on Her Life, 1997; Fewer Emergencies, 2005) and Sarah Kane (Crave, 1998; 4.48 Psychosis, 2000) fall within the scope of a post-Beckettian quest for new formal constraints for the text and the stage. While the dramatic space, for both Crimp and Kane, is no longer a physical space but has become, to use Crimp’s words, “a mental space”, it appears that the scenic space has transformed into a sheer vocal space. This article looks at the importance of the voice in Crimp’s and Kane’s texts, focusing on the intervocal and transdramatic space created between their plays around the voice of a woman both central and spectral. No longer a conventional character, the female subject, whose voice is either heard as a broken embodied token of a disturbed mind, or is silenced and replaced by the alienating narratives of others, is but a mere shadow, vestige or vocal image of herself. Polyonymous in Attempts on Her Life, anonymous in 4.48 Psychosis, “Anne”, as I will argue, is eclipsed in a post-traumatic silence in Crimp’s play, then restored on the front of a sacrificial stage in Kane’s, regaining her own power of speech in a poetic language made of echoes. Her voice, fully expanding in the space although pierced with blanks and holes, is the ultimate dramatic event. In these two plays as well as in Kane’s Crave and Crimp’s Fewer Emergencies, the voice thus appears at the core of what could be called a “psychopoetics” of the stage.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2963Martin CrimpSarah KaneAttempts on Her Life4.48 Psychosispsychopoeticsmental space
spellingShingle Solange Ayache
De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane
Sillages Critiques
Martin Crimp
Sarah Kane
Attempts on Her Life
4.48 Psychosis
psychopoetics
mental space
title De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane
title_full De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane
title_fullStr De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane
title_full_unstemmed De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane
title_short De la mise au silence à la prise de parole : la voix féminine de Martin Crimp à Sarah Kane
title_sort de la mise au silence a la prise de parole la voix feminine de martin crimp a sarah kane
topic Martin Crimp
Sarah Kane
Attempts on Her Life
4.48 Psychosis
psychopoetics
mental space
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2963
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