Analysis Of Colette Conroy's Theatre And The Body

Colette Conroy, senior lecturer of drama at University of Hull, in her work Theatre and the Body, discusses how the body is used within performance. Conroy focuses on four fundamental issues: bodies and meaning, bodies and power, bodies and mind, and bodies and culture. This paper will discuss bodies and meaning, power and culture in association with The Nether, Lysistrata, and Disgraced respectively. Conroy employs the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Judith Baker, and many others to help discuss the purpose of human bodies within theatre.

Conroy first discusses bodies and meaning, describing it as "conventions of presenting and viewing bodies on stage" (4). She asserts that there is a difference between real bodies and

Instead of simply submitting to their husbands and their “needs,” the women of Athens manipulate their husbands by withholding from sex. They also taunt and toy with their husbands by embracing their sexuality and exploiting their desires. Reclaiming the power of sexuality gives the women power over there husbands and over their government. Although, it should be noted that the women in Lysistrata are also shown as unable to compete with their urges. For example, one woman pretends she is pregnant so that she can rendezvous with her husband (Aristophanes 171). Toward the end of the play, Lysistrata gives a grand speech for peace that is ignored due to Reconciliation. Reconciliation is a naked woman who is supposed to help keep the peace. Her sexuality is used to get the men to comply with Lysistrata’s terms- even though they are too distracted to listen to her wise words. This is a problematic ending to females using their bodies to grab the upper hand, but it is still a relevant example of how woman have used their bodies to gain power within the theatre. Bodies can give power and take power on the stage, in Lysistrata, the women use their bodies to find