Moving Words Move Bodies: Kinetic Textuality in New Skin

Abstract

This article is structured around an in-depth analysis of the interplay between text and movement in Hannah De Meyer’s new skin (2018). The use of language in this performance is approached as an example of what this article calls ‘kinetic textuality’, which refers to the contemporary tendency to use text in relation to — and as a locus of — movement. Kinetic textuality in general, and new skin specifically, allow for the reassessment of the text-performance debate in Theatre and Performance Studies. Whilst many contemporary scholars have switched the focus from the irreconcilable differences between text and performance to their productive interaction, less attention has been devoted to text’s physical or kinetic dimension in theatre. This analysis of new skin sets off from a close examination of the network between text, movement, rhythm, body, and sound. Not only does this article look into how these formal elements interact, it also approaches this interaction as a narrative strategy.