PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art

Toepfer, Karl Eric, 1948-
Nudity and Textuality in Postmodern Performance
PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art - PAJ 54 (Volume 18, Number 3), September 1996, pp. 76-91

The MIT Press

Karl Eric Toepfer - Nudity and Textuality in Postmodern Performance - Performing Arts Journal 18:3 Performing Arts Journal 54, 18.3 (1996) 76-91 Nudity and Textuality in Postmodern Performance Karl Toepfer Figures When people speak of nudity in theatrical performance, they tend to refer to actions in which actors expose their genital organs to the audience. Even to an entirely female audience, female performers who expose their breasts will appear more "naked" than male performers who expose their bare chests. Nudity in performance refers to the exposure of the most erotically exciting and excitable sexual identifiers of the body, with exposed genitals being the most complete "proof" of the body's vulnerability to desire and the appropriating gaze of the Other. However, this view of nudity entails some difficulties in relation to theatrical practice. For instance, some performers have used flesh-colored body-stockings to simulate nudity, while others have used prosthetic genitals or breasts as part of a costume which in fact conceals the body of the performer. Consider also those theatrical scenes in which the spectator knows the actor is really nude but cannot see this nudity "sufficiently," because clever light and shadow "veil" the body. Another device for "suggesting" nudity is to have the actor stand behind a screen upon which he projects his silhouette while he takes off his costume; when he finishes "stripping," he appears naked to the spectator...