Although there are some useful edited collections on (auto)biography and performance around, Heddon's book is a much-needed sustained discussion of the subject. While it makes no claim to be a definitive study, the book offers a useful contextual overview and is informed by a wide range of theoretical material, addressing key questions and concerns surrounding the topic.
Heddon challenges the stereotype of autobiography as ‘egotistical, solipsistic and narcissistic’ (p. 4), and writes passionately as an unashamed ‘advocate’, although, she emphasizes, not a ‘naive’ one (p. 7). Central to her argument is the concept of autobiography as a liminal space where identity can be playfully explored and interrogated in what she calls ‘performance(s) of possibility’ (p. 2). Her interest lies in work which is ‘politically aspirational’ and which has ‘transformational objectives’ (p. 6). Whilst autobiography is generally associated with solo modes of performance, Heddon moves beyond this to explore a wide range of work and includes durational and site-specific performance as well as verbatim theatre, locating autobiography in the broader context of contemporary performance practice.
The book is divided into four sections: on politics, history, place, and ethics, and it explores issues concerning the self, identity, memory, truth and representation in performance. There are some well-known names here (Mike Pearson, Tim Miller, Lisa Kron, Spalding Gray and Bobby Baker), but there are also some less-known practitioners and companies contributing to a wide range of examples. The case studies are confined to the UK and the USA, which Heddon acknowledges as ‘a serious limitation, since the study of other cultural renderings of autobiographical performance might expose the very extent to which the idea of “identity” and its practice in daily life is a Western rather than universal concept’ (p. 12). Indeed, one of the strengths of the book is the range of examples, which include community-based performance work as well as the names we might expect to encounter in a book of this kind.
Acknowledging the paradox that her writing is – and is not – (auto)biographical, Heddon's account is interspersed with her own experiences, reminiscences and reflections. For the most part, this works well, although there are a few places where the personal perspective risks the charge of self-indulgence; this is a risk worth taking, as it contributes to a direct, honest, lively and engaging style of writing which invites and stimulates dialogue and debate.
