Performing the uncanny A Proposed Definition of the Contemporary Theatrical Fantastic, Starting from Freud’s Unheimliche

Abstract

Does a fantastic form in exist in experimental theatre? This essay starts from the Freudian concept of Das Unheimliche to analyze the latest considerations suggested by literary critics. The argument derives from a multidisciplinary perspective including not only theatrical studies but also aesthetic ones and psychoanalytical research on the uncanny, aiming to build a critical base that will be a useful landmark for some preliminary considerations about Italian contemporary experimental theatre. The essay therefore proposes an approach linking research about the uncanny with the semiological analysis of the constitutive elements of postdramatic theatre, with the aim of defining what the constitutive elements of a theatrical uncanny-fantastic might be.

Keywords

• Unheimliche
• uncanny
• fantastic
• experimental theatre
• postdramatic theatre
• Italian contemporary theatre