Gestus The Play

Elin Diamond defines "Gestus" as "a moment in performance that makes visible the contradictory interactions of text, theater apparatus, and contemporary social struggle." (Diamond 519) Gestus makes it clear that the apparatus is doing something else entirely. "The term "apparatus" draws together several related aspects in theater production: the hierarchy of economic control, the material features of machinery and properties, and, more elusively, the social and psychological interplay between stage and audience." (Diamond521) Society works in certain ways to try and tell us what is normal. In this theoretical essay, Diamond suggests that there is a contradiction within the play that portrays women as having free choice, which in this time,

women most certainly did not, (still don't in a lot of cases). Restoration comedy makes a mockery of marriage. It tells us that women and men ought to have a choice whom they have sex with. A ridiculous concept is made fun of on stage, and thanks to Diamond's research, I was able to recognize the hidden messages within plays.

Although so easily forgotten, Diamond reminds us of how plays during this time were generally written by upper-class white men, meaning, what they wanted society to see was what was going to be portrayed on stage. It was inevitably a brainwashing that was taking place. Instead of merely interpreting the play, Diamond takes a feminist stance, exclaiming the outrage she feels towards this façade theatre tends to play. She intends to express how the theatre "sells" women. Many of Diamond's journal publications include essays on seventeenth and twentieth century drama and Brechtian and feminist theory. Her work is always exploring the connection between performance and feminism, using texts from early modernism through postmodern art. I never thought about using my research and studies gained in my schooling to further examine, and deeply identify with the different plays I read. In the play, she realizes how female "desire" is staged, considering women in reality have no actual power, it's a masquerade. It's sort of like Gestus, in that it's untrue, yet is still used to portray a fake

normality. As an education minor, I intend to teach theatre to all ages. I now see how important it is to fully examine what it is we're reading. I've discovered that in some way this prepared me to be a better critic of everything I read henceforth. In understanding how to better examine and research the articles, books, journals, and essays I read, like Diamond, I can use my passions to better critic and establish deeper meanings of the texts.