Glory box: Tim Miller's autobiography of the future

Heddon, D. (2003) Glory box: Tim Miller's autobiography of the future. New Theatre Quarterly, 19(3), pp. 243-256. (doi: /10.1017/S0266464X03000149)

Abstract

Performance artist Tim Miller has been making autobiographical work for more than twenty years. Dee Heddon explores Miller's recent show, Glory Box (2001), arguing that, both in his practice and his use of his own life stories, he is attempting not only to connect with but to energize his audiences, transforming them into activist spectators. One tactic Miller employs in Glory Box is futurity – performing an autobiography that he has not yet lived. This future is one that Miller compels us collectively to rewrite, inviting us to change his potential life and life-story in the process. Dee Heddon argues that Miller's commitment to and faith in the transformative potential of live performance enacts a resistance to those pejorative terms too easily thrown at autobiographical performance: Miller may work from his 'self', but his work is far from solipsistic, egotistic, or narcissistic.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Tim Miller, solo performance, autobiographical performance
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Heddon, Professor Deirdre
• Authors: Heddon, D.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
• College/School: College of Arts > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: New Theatre Quarterly
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0266-464X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2003 Cambridge University Press
• First Published: First published in NTQ: New Theatre Quarterly
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.