The Invisible Other in Excess: (Dis)placing Europe in Simon Stephens's Three Kingdoms

This article focuses on the politics of invisibility in Simon Stephens's Three Kingdoms. By examining the text, the production, and subsequent critical debate, I wish to problematize the political and ethical implications of representing the displaced, invisible Other - women victims of sex trafficking. I propose that the politics of Stephens's 2011 play work through an aesthetic of appearance in excess, which triggered an excess of critical responses. The article also considers how Stephens's work negotiates another form of invisibility- that of the representation of Europe in British theatre. I argue that Stephens's collaboration with Sebastian Nubling and NO99 moves past imaginaries of 'New Europe' as an invisible Other outside, and instead places the UK inside the maze that contemporary Europe is and the breaks and failures that define it. In this way, Three Kingdoms marks a shift in the politics of imagining Europe in British theatre.