A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

The nude is in role. The naked person is like Lear, someone who has been dressed down and stripped of his role. The strip-teaser takes off her clothes in order to put on her audience. On stage she may be nude, but the moment she steps backstage she is naked. The audience is her mask.
“Roles, Masks, and Performances,” New Literary History, Vol. 2, No. 3, Performances in Drama, the Arts, and Society, Spring, 1971
Year: 1971
Chapter: Putting On
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan