Vers un théâtre intimiste: Le renouvellement du << collectif >> dans les dramaturgies contemporaines du Québec et de la Caraïbe française (Martinique et Guadeloupe)

This dissertation compares intimacy in Quebec and the French Caribbean contemporary drama. The research considers the affect of intimacy as the characters’ desire to elicit a close and empathic relationship from the audience through dramatic expressions of emotional openness such as introspection, the unveiling of secrets, and trust. The dissertation opens with a chapter that examines how theater was used to foster the national imagined community from the 1950s to the 1970s in Quebec and the French Caribbean. The subsequent chapters analyze the shift towards intimacy that occurred in the 1980s. It argues that the affective bonds and inter-subjective relationships portrayed on the stage built community. Through close analysis of drama in a dozen plays published between 1983 and 2012, the study reveals the ways in which theater creates intimacy. For instance, monologue and narration are two techniques that elicit spectator empathy and closeness to the stage. Close readings of textual passages re-contextualize the aesthetic shift towards a “theater of intimacy” within collective discourse.