In the plays of Judith Thompson, boundaries of self/other, subject/object,
inside/outside are constantly interrogated, indicating identities in flux.
This “identity panic,” as Thompson has called it, can be considered a space
of ambivalence as the subject is involved in an ongoing process of constantly
remaking itself. Using Judith Butler’s The Psychic Life of Power, this
paper explores how an identity of ambivalence is related to negotiations
between social and psychic space, and is intimately connected to fluctuating
relations of power. This discussion will focus on one of Thompson’s most
recent plays, Perfect Pie, and analyze narrative, character, and production
choices as they inform an identity of ambivalence.
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