Where’s the passion? Or, feelings are facts, and forms

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the framework of performance, affects have largely been invoked to explain embodied visceral responses to texts. What I propose here instead is to introduce the dimension of affect as a matter of form (Brinkema [2014]. The Forms of the Affects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press). In other words, the formal composition of performance is itself the result of the work of affects. To demonstrate this claim, I will introduce a close reading of Yvonne Rainer’s iconic work Trio A (1966) as a formal expression of the mechanisms of shame (Sedgwick [2003]. Touching Feeling. Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press). Paradoxically, this applied affective structure can be mobilised beside itself and ‘towards an aesthetics of care’ (Thompson [2015]. “Towards an Aesthetics of Care.” Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 20 (4): 430–441).