Time in Another Culture and in the Theatre: Phenomenologies of Difference and Similarity

Abstract: This paper explores the performance and phenomenology of time, both on and off the stage. In the paper I contrast phenomenological differences of time experienced as a US immigrant living in Ireland, drawing on theories from Edmund Husserl, Edward Hall, and others who articulate why I experience time as difference interrelated to culture and consciousness. The paper then explains that once at the theatre, I instead experience time’s similarity because of theatre’s own phenomenologies and particularities regarding time. The paper posits that because of these phenomenologies of similarity, time and consciousness experienced in the theatre may supersede the experience of time and difference that exist outside the theatre doors.