A Phenomenology of Absence in Theatre

The Absence of the Figure as a Precondition for the Presence of Actors

Michael Seibel

Abstract

This article examines theatre from a phenomenological perspective as a site of paradoxical relations of presence and absence. It takes as its starting point the observation that theatrical figures such as Othello or Antigone are experienced as present, although they are factually absent. From this observation, the article develops the central thesis that the absence of the figure is not a deficiency of theatre, but its fundamental condition of possibility.

Presence is not understood as mere physical attendance, but as a bodily-affective and relational event that unfolds in the moment of performance between performers and spectators. In dialogue with theories of representation, the article argues that theatrical representation does not aim at depiction or resemblance, but at rendering absence productive and enabling presence to occur.

Drawing on the New Phenomenology of Hermann Schmitz, Gernot Böhme’s theory of atmospheres, and Gene Gendlin’s concept of the felt sense, theatre is described as an atmospheric in-between in which affective involvement constitutes the basis of aesthetic experience. In critical engagement with Antonin Artaud and Jacques Derrida, the article finally argues that presence in theatre cannot be represented, but only enabled. Absence thus emerges as a productive principle that makes theatrical presence possible.

1 February 2026 16:00