Empathy as Dialogue in Theatre and Performance

Empathy has provoked equal measures of excitementand controversy in recent years. For some, empathy is crucial to understandingothers, helping us bridge social and cultural differences. For others, empathyis nothing but a misguided assumption of access to the minds of others. In this book, Cummings argues thatempathy comes in many forms, some helpful to understanding others and somedetrimental. Tracing empathy’sgenealogy through aesthetic theory, philosophy, psychology, and performancetheory, Cummings illustrates how theatre artists and scholars have oftenoverlooked the dynamic potential of empathy by focusing on its more“monologic” forms, in which spectators either project their point of view ontocharacters or passively identify with them. This book therefore explores how empathy is most effective when itfunctions as a dialogue, along with how theatre and performance can utilisethe live, emergent exchange between bodies in space to encourage more dynamic,dialogic encounters between performers and audience.