Coming to terms

“Isn't ‘performativity’ the latest thing in ‘English’ theory?”

It was one of those over-determined moments in the life of a theatre academic. I had been asked as a faculty member in an English department to participate on a panel responding to a production of the American Repertory Theatre. The question came from a dramaturg – the in-house academic of the theatre profession – as we ate dinner before the ART's subscriber event. The director of the production also sat at the table, looking slightly amused.

“Yes, it's actually pretty trendy,” I said, picking up my fork and being fairly certain that neither of them really wanted to hear about the trends.

“Perform-a-tivity,” repeated the director, and then once again, “per-form-a-tiv-ity. That's what they call it?”

“Yeah,” said the dramaturg, “I hear it alot.”

“So maybe I should start using that,” the director was laughing, “No, I'm sorry; I'm not a director. I'm a Performativity Coordinator.”

We all laughed. I took another bite of food, hoping that the conversation was finished.

“So what do … what does … they mean … that mean?” the two asked one on top of each other.

I continued chewing. I swallowed.

“Well,” I began, dreading what would follow, “the concept of ‘performativity’ within literary studies is a reworking of the ideas of this guy, J.L. Austin …”