Character as a Zombie Concept

In this chapter, I engage with the actor’s direct connection to the performance—the concept of character. As will become apparent in what follows, the concept of character is as contested as the concepts of self-identity and creativity, previously considered as the grounds of dramatic performances. But even in its more vestigial post-dramatic equivalents, character remains the fundamental point of entry into acting as labour process. As such, it is—as Ulrich Beck said about social class—a zombie concept, neither alive nor dead (Beck, 2001). It is capable through its very ambiguous status of posing a puzzle of identity that exerts pressure on the practices of performance. In this chapter, the status of character, which in the absence of larger frameworks must function as a self-sufficient particular, is explored.