Feeling Your Way in the Dark

Abstract

In the previous chapter emotion was considered in terms of its apparent absence. In this chapter, the role of feeling in another apparent absence — that of light — is the subject of discussion. As with the seeming lack of emotion in Maxwell’s plays, in theatrical darkness there is still something left to feel. Given this, we begin by discussing what darkness seems to preclude or obscure — light and sight — the intimacy of which seems so central to theatrical production and reception as to almost go without saying. ‘Seeing’ a play infers understanding as well as perception, and both seem, in this respect, wholly dependent on light.