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What, and mad? A man may see how this world goes with no eyes.
In a number of cases it became clear that theatres and concerts, in fact any performance where there is something to be seen or heard, always stand for parental coitus—listening and watching standing for observation in fact or phantasy—while the falling curtain stands for objects which hinder observations, such as bedclothes, the side of a bed, etc.
Although a half-century vantage point may render these remarks axiomatic and occasion little more than an impatient nod as one turns the page, still it may be asked how cogent they really are. And what would a history of the theatre vis-à-vis the primal scene look like?
The primal scene, the child's witnessing or his fantasies of parental intercourse, was first elaborated in compelling detail by Freud18 and mentioned again as one of three important disturbances, along with adult seduction and castration threats, of childhood development.19 Those factors which emerged from Freud's case history were “A real occurrence—dating from an early period—looking—immobility—sexual problems—castration—his father—something terrible.” Subsequent contributions by Klein,28, 29 Roheim,38 Wilbur,3 Devereux,8 Greenacre,21 Niederland,36 Izner,26 Bradley,4 and Edelheit,9 have greatly enriched our understanding. An impressive variety of figures, symbols, and events have accumulated as primal scene representations, including mythological accounts of creation, monsters and demons, especially composites like the Sphinx and the chimaera, the