Introduction. Performing Cultural Trauma in Theatre and Film. Between Representation and Experience

Abstract

No description, no picture can restore their true dimension [of the reality of the concentration camps]: endless, uninterrupted fear … Of this brick dormitory, of these threatened sleepers, we can only show you the shell, the shadow.Cultural trauma triggers a 'crisis of representation' in the sense that it disturbs the shared imaginations and representations upon which collective identities are based, while at the same time the trauma itself is undeniably an important part