Thesis Advisor: Grant Watson

Thesis: Looking for Character 

June 2022

Abstract

The text "Looking For Character" follows the messy trains of thought of its main character Laï. Through numerous memories, testimonies of conversations and theoretical readings she tries to establish a chronological account of her family’s theatrical work’s influence on her psyche, and her own performative practices. Having grown up in a family of six actors, including both her parents, she recalls the constitutive confusion with which she assimilated the ways one becomes oneself, with the way one transforms into a character. She searches for the character’s location, firstly questioning whether physical transformation can be interpreted as the key space of assimilation of the character within one’s body. She then puts this in relation to some fundamental psychoanalytical texts from Melanie Klein, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan with theatrical techniques, in an attempt to uncover identification protocols which occur on and off of the stage. Performances of selves taking place repeatedly, and through each repetition, gaining another component of one’s identity. 

Author: Laura Dubourjal