Kinesthetic Spectrality in A Piece of Monologue

Abstract: While scholars have written about movement and non-movement in Samuel Beckett's theatre, relatively little attention has been paid to the kinesthetic, or subjective, dimension of these phenomena. Acknowledging this dimension enables a deeper understanding of the spectator's kinesthetic involvement in Beckett's movement theatre. By aligning its analysis with the insights of neuroscience, linguistics, and cognitive literary studies, this article explores language's contribution as a kinesthetic medium to Beckett's perceptually nuanced dramaturgy. The interaction between language and physical movement manifests itself with increasing complexity in Beckett's late plays. As A Piece of Monologue demonstrates, the more limited actual movement becomes in these plays, the more intricately it manipulates the spectator's kinesthetic investment in what they see and hear onstage. Understanding this dynamic reveals a movement dramaturgy at the boundary of perception, embodiment, and motility—a spectral poetics of imminent and recalled movement, where what we see is animated by what we don't.