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The Performative: Life-Changing Moments in Autobiographical Performance

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Abstract

The performative is that moment in performance in which a transformation takes place in the experience of performer and audience members (Austin, 2007). These intersubjective, one-time and spontaneous moments are by no means guaranteed; they cannot be willed, do not always happen in the same instance or for the same duration, nor do they always arouse the same affective experience. This chapter delineates a three-phase structure that supports the emergence of performative moments in Autobiographical Performances: (1) an individual and introspective preliminary phase; (2) a preparatory process, wherein performatives occur between the director and performer; and (3) a performance phase, in which performatives take place between performer and audience.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Norman Issa, the director of ‘Pshuta’, was not interviewed for the study.

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Correspondence to Gideon Zehavi MA, RDT-BCT .

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Zehavi, G. (2016). The Performative: Life-Changing Moments in Autobiographical Performance. In: Pendzik, S., Emunah, R., Read Johnson, D. (eds) The Self in Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53593-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53593-1_11

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54153-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53593-1

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