Theatre/performance as a medium for transgressing boundaries related to the taboo of sexuality, and male-female relationships for people with intellectual disabilities

As a taboo, silenced and fenced off in the public space by stigmatising (social) attitudes and oppression, the phenomenon of sexuality and male-female relationships of people with ID is making its presence felt and laboriously paving its way to recognition, appearing in the theatre space where it resonates powerfully in performances. The theme of recognition is the phenomenon of sexuality, eroticism, (desire for) relationships between men and women with ID as it is presented in original theatre productions/on stage, which in turn I try to reconstruct from the statements of the directors of the performances themselves, as well as from professionals/experts who comment on the reception of the performances they have seen in theatre reviews. For the purposes of this presentation, the focus will be on (content) analysis and reflection around the research questions of how the phenomenon of sexuality, eroticism and relationships between men and women with ID are presented in theatre performances, how they are conceived and directed by their creators, and how they are perceived by the audience - represented for the purposes of this study by selected excerpts from professional/expert statements. It will also address the question of what the medium of theatre (performance) itself becomes when it communicates a taboo phenomenon that (outside the stage/theatre) is associated with misunderstanding, scepticism, aversion, social oppression and rejection.