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THEATRICAL APPROACHES TO MYSTERY: “KENOSIS” IN VALERE NOVARINA S WORKS
In Novarina’s theatre, the actor’s body is the temple and a vessel of the soul,
while the ego ofthe actor is a curtain and barrier to be transcended through
an act of self-emptying through the language offered to the space and the
audience. This act helps him or her burn out the body by respiring (see “esprit”),
like in some saintly practices in Far Eastern cultures or psychological and
spiritual trainings. Novarina refers to the self-emptying of Christ as follows:
“Personne. C’est ce que vient faire le Christ. (Mashia’h: le messie); la figure
humaine, il l’apporte vide. Il vient non seulement faire l’homme avec nous
mais aussi poser le divin vide sur notre face.””’
” The text translates as “[n]obody. That’s what Christ does. (Mashia’h: the messiah); the human
figure, he empties it. He comes not only to do the man with us but also to put the divine
emptiness on our face.” “C’est par ce double mouvement d’incarnation et d’évidement — de
kénose et de matérialisation charnelle — qu’il est en nous le principe qui renverse, palpite,
pense, respire: en négatif-positif. En réversibilité, comme est offerte devant nous l’image
double et négative d’un corps x sur le suaire de Turin.” (V. Novarina, “Les Cendres”, in idem,
L'Envers de l'esprit, Paris, P.O.L., 2009, 168-169.)
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