The gestural body in performance: a practice-based study of the perceptions of physicality and meaning through the invisibly disabled body

This study investigates the concept of the gestural body as a site for communication in performance, using autobiographical practice to examine the influence of invisible disability on the perception of physicality and meaning. It adopts a practice-based methodology, locating me as creative practitioner at the heart of the investigation, enabling me to generate a deeper epistemological understanding as I engage reflexively through the research process (Barrett and Bolt, 2007). My psychosomatic approach means that my performance training and experience of living with ME influence the notion of embodiment, and I investigate how this impacts perception of what is performed (Grosz, 1994; Leder, 1990).

The study explores ways in which shifts in the performance space and time, including the displacement of the embodied space and the experience of chronic time, may influence perception for both the performer and the audience (Morris, 2008). The research also explores the process of coming out as invisibly disabled in performance, and how this contributes to perceptions of the gestural body (Fassett and Morella, 2008). Ultimately, the thesis seeks to establish a foundation of knowledge relevant to the research of embodiment and lived experience, and to those investigating the previously neglected area of invisible disabilities in performance.