On Authenticity and the True Self

Who are we really and can we ever be who we really are? In this social media age, we risk disappearing behind the image that others have of us. But the urge or authenticity is not new. Since Rousseau’s desire for the natural, we have become increasingly alienated from ourselves. Through labour and capital (Marx) or in the way in which we live (Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault). Can we be ourselves… and do we need to be? Can theatre and literature help us as we struggle with these gripping questions?