ABSTRACT
Men Asleep is a quietly multifaceted play, concerned with the ripple effects of desire, including its surge, sustenance, and expiration. The concept of ‘self-affection’, which Luce Irigaray develops with specific reference to the work of Lassnig, captures sensuous, mental, and emotional states that speak to the corporeality of Crimp's Men Asleep, especially given the intertextual links between the two works. As Crimp shows us in Men Asleep, and as he has previously shown, especially in The Country, the most transgressive acts between couples are often carried out without express violence. Through its field of action, as well as its intertextual references, Men Asleep emerges as play invested in exploring desire; it delves in what it is that brings the latter to existence; specifically, whether it is a drive to succeed professionally, or to possess a partner that is the most dominant urge.
