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.
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