The Monstrosity of Acting

Who is the actor–and why are we drawn to her?

In this presentation I place the idea of an otherworldly “spectre”, within a grotesque genealogy of acting that reveals a surprising assimilation of that which is play-acting with that which is monstrous. Here, the  grotesque “spectre,” is  intimately tied to the mask as both material object which transforms the actor’s body but more importantly as the experiential method wherein the actor simulates the distance between herself and the character.

Josephine Gray is co-artistic director of Iraqi Bodies. Trained at École Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq in Paris, she holds two post-graduate degrees in Philosophy (KU Leuven) and English Literature (University of Sheffield). The anthology Second Nature: Comic Performance and Philosophy  co-edited together with Dr. Lisa Trahair is forthcoming  December 2022 with Rowman & Littlefield, London, UK.

This public forum is intended as a meeting-point where citizens, artists and scholars can re-examine the practice of theatre as radical–rooted in the abundance of human expression.