Presence and representation of mental disability on the French contemporary stage ; Présence et représentation du handicap mental sur la scène contemporaine française

Abstract

Disability is nowadays increasingly present in the art world. This phenomenon is usually analyzed in the context of art therapy, in which theater is used as a way to improve the patient's health. This dissertation adopts a very different perspective: inspired by disability studies, in which disability is considered a social and cultural phenomenon, it focuses on the visibility of mental disability through an aesthetic and political lens. The first part is an historical contextualization of abnormality in general. It studies how the freaks and the pathological cases gained visibility between the 16th and the 20th century, in Europe and in the United States. It stresses that what is nowadays called Ôdisability' was always represented rather than merely exhibited. The second part focuses on contemporary theater and examines how mental disability can be heard, through the analysis of three performances created in the 2010's : The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time directed by par P. Adrien, I am the Emperor directed by V. Poirier et Meet me at East Train Station directed by par G. Vincent. Played by able actors and actresses, these performances take disability as a theme and show it as a sharing of experience. Disability is portrayed as a deviation from social norms, which it enables to question. The third part is devoted to performances entirely played by actors and actresses with mental disabilities, in which disability becomes an aesthetic resource regarding dramaturgy, playing and staging. Creations by La Compagnie de l'Oiseau-Mouche, Atelier Catalyse and the Theater HORA, as well as the discourse about these companies, are analyzed and compared to each other. ; Le handicap est aujourd'hui de plus en plus présent dans le monde de l'art. Ce phénomène est le plus souvent analysé dans la perspective de l'Art thérapie, dans laquelle le théâtre est envisagé comme un outil thérapeutique au service du patient.Cette thèse s'ancre dans une perspective très différente : elle étudie la question de la visibilité ...