Uncanny Autofiction on Stage. About Rimini Protokoll's Uncanny Valley
Abstract
This paper investigates Rimini Protokoll’s interpretation of the Gothic genre in the 2018 play, Uncanny Valley. In this work, the German-speaking theater collective refers to Mashairo Mori’s research on the human reception of humanoid robots to reflect upon human nature and social norms. The play features a naturalistic cyborg resembling the writer Thomas Melle, a co-author of the play. This article will analyze the group’s deployment of the Gothic and uncover the significance of the genre’s entanglement with autofictional narrative in the play. The paper will illustrate the image of Gothic that emerges from the play and investigate its contribution to Rimini Protokoll’s theatre research.
Downloads
Riferimenti bibliografici
Beville, Maria, Gothic-postmodernism. Voicing the Terrors of Postmodernity, Amsterdam - New York, Rodopi, 2009.
Dreysse, Miriam - Malzacher, Florian (Eds), Rimini Protokoll. Experts of the Everyday. The Theatre of Rimini Protokoll, Berlin, Alexander Verlag, 2008.
Edwards, Justin D. (ed.), Technologies of the Gothic in Literature. Technogotics, New York, Routledge, 2015.
Effe, Alexandra - Lawlor, Hannie, (eds.), The Autofictional. Approaches, Affordances, Forms, London, Palgrave, 2022.
Haug, Helgard - Kaegi, Stefan - Wetzel, Daniel, Rimini Protokoll ABCD. Saarbrücker Poetikdozentur für Dramatik, Berlin, Theater der Zeit, 2012.
Hogle, Jerrold E. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
The Cambridge Companion to the Modern Gothic, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Kristeva, Julia, Powers of Horror. An Essay on Abjection, New York, Columbia University Press, 2024.
Le Roy Frederik, “Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality”, Bastard or Playmate? Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and the Contemporary Performing Arts, Ed. Vanderbeeken Robrecht - Stalpaert Christel - Sepestel David - Decackere Boris, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2012: 153-160.
Müller, Tobi, “Spectator Reincarnated”, Joined Forces: Audience Participation in Theatre, Ed. Burzynska Anna R., Berlin, Alexander Verlag, 2016: 120‑133
Schipper, Imanuel (ed.), Rimini Protokoll 2000-2020, Köln, Walther und Franz König, 2021.
Wagner-Egelhaaf, Martina (ed.), Handbook of Autobiography/Autofiction, Boston -Berlin, De Gruyter, 2018.
Wahl, Christine (ed.), Rimini Protokoll. Welt proben, Berlin, Alexander Verlag, 2021.
Weinstock, Jeffrey A., Gothic Things. Dark Enchantment and Anthropocene Anxiety, New York, Fordham University Press, 2023.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dora Rusciano

Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale.
Informazioni sul copyright
Questa licenza permette a terzi di riprodurre, distribuire, comunicare al pubblico, esporre in pubblico, rappresentare, eseguire, recitare e modificare quest'opera, purché vengano citati l'autore e la rivista. Questa è la più ampia tra le licenze Creative Commons, rispetto alle libertà concesse a terzi sulle opere licenziate sotto Attribuzione.






