What can we learn from the relationship between speech and desire in the modern or contemporary theater? This is a question that analysts rarely ask, yet is of great importance to our work. For Lacan, the idea that psychoanalysis has something to learn from the theater – rather than the other way around – was, of course, critical to his view of speech and desire. Iconic characters like Hamlet or Antigone, in particular, were central to this effort, and contributed to what Lacan called our “precise” goal – to “give meaning to the function of desire in analysis and analytic interpretation”. Yet when Lacan turned his attention to modern or post-modern playwrights and plays, his success in building upon and extending his use of the ancients and their analytic functions seemed far less us...Read More