ABSTRACT
Showing self-pitying despair and envy of what is identified as unattainable, in current neo-Chekovian theatre, the characters are presented to endorse and gratify the audience’s conformist sense of envious failure. A conviction that the invisible may also be possible, significant and attainable, contrary to all materialistic systems, including neo-Chekovian theatre practice, is essential to drama. A reflection of the rehearsal process (parts 1 and 3) and an analysis of how textual structures of desire lead to desire in the audience (parts 2 and 3), demonstrate the potential of theatre as text and performance which goes beyond the neo-Chekovian paradigm.
