The interaction of verbal and non-verbal elements in Eugene Grishkovets’ solo performances as a way to overcome the postmodern tradition

Abstract

The article analyzes the interaction of verbal and non-verbal elements in Grishkovets’ solo performances. The material for analysis is official video recordings of performances. Performances by Grishkovets and the play texts he published afterwards are interconnected but are different works — with differing content, motif systems, and differently placed semantic accents. It is the non-verbal elements (spatial movements, gestures, interaction with props and decorations, etc.) that Grishkovets uses to play with the boundaries between the fictional world and external reality, involve the viewers in what is happening and give them an opportunity to relate to the narrator. One of the most important motifs of Grishkovets’ drama is the issue of unreliability or insufficiency of human speech. It seems that it is no coincidence that one can find many features of postmodernism in the works of Grishkovets (playful intertextuality, unreliable narrator, blurring of the boundaries of narrative instances, and boundaries between text and reality, etc.). However, the author only pretends to be guided by the postmodern tradition in order to, after verbally emphasizing the problematic nature of communication between people (due to the unreliability of the language), establish communication between the narrator and the audience using primarily non-verbal means. Such a complexly built interaction of verbal and non-verbal elements, literary and theatrical principles allows Grishkovets to outline and overcome the main problem of postmodern culture — the communication problem.