“Everywhere is Warmer than the house”: ‘Traumaculture’ in Laura Wade’s Colder Than Here

Abstract

Contemporary British theatre is a crucial avenue for staging trauma as theatre provides both the potential of emotional identification and critical perspective. By making use of the unique possibilities of embodied performance, theatre allows for a safe space in which traumatic suffering can be reconfigured. Drawing on the notion of Roger Luckhurst’s ‘traumaculture,’ this paper interrogates the extent to which contemporary British playwright Laura Wade’s one-act play, Colder Than Here (2005), situates current traumatic experiences within social and cultural contexts. This paper deals with terminal disease increases, familial dysfunction, and ecological degradation as traumatic experiences that permeate daily existence. Therefore, by bringing into the spotlight the contemporary definition of trauma and traumaculture, this paper aims at exploring how Colder Than Here reflects multifaceted engagements with traumatic cultural experiences onstage with a focus on a middle-class English family.