Being primate on stage: How do the actor’s hands think, communicate and touch?

Abstract

This article discusses the functions, uses and meanings of the hands in acting, inves-tigating how primate manual dexterity can be understood in the context of acting and theatre. It examines how the actor thinks, communicates, touches and acts by means of their hands and how acting might be understood as an act of care. The article begins with a passage in which the two themes – the hands and being primate – are introduced. The discussion continues by weaving these themes together with examples taken from the performance AntiG – traaginen painirunoelma yhdelle naisruumiille (“AntiG – a tragic wrestling poem for a female body”), a theatrical piece initiated, dramatised, directed and co-composed by the author of the article. AntiG is played by the actor Hanna Raiskinmäki and the musicians Sami Nieminen and Onni Pirkola, and it premiered at Teatteri Takomo (Helsinki, Finland) in September 2025. The performance combines texts from Sophocles’s Antigone and Marguerite Yourcenar’s Antigone ou le choix with selected text commentaries on the myth. It draws its musical influence from African American popular music and its choreographic inspiration from the aesthetics of professional wrestling or lucha libre. While AntiG constitutes the field of artistic study, the article serves as a reflective discussion of observations about the making and performance of the piece.