The mind-body problem has perplexed scholars, philosophers and thinkers for centuries if not millennia. This doctoral thesis addresses an epistemology of the body in its regard to subjectivity through an analysis of the drama of Artaud, Beckett and Genet. A fundamental premise in this study is that there is a traumatic and alienating dimension to embodiment which is resistant to expression within representation systems. In particular, the ideas of Jacques Lacan, as they concern language, the body and trauma are applied to considering the representation of the body within the dramatic works. Hence, a fundamental principle in this thesis is that the human being is a divided subject regarding the body. The structure of this thesis is interdisciplinary and creates a dialogue between psychoanalytic studies, theatre studies, disability studies, and the subject of the body in the dramatic works of the three authors. The purpose of this encounter between disciplines is to formulate a mutually augmenting dialectic where the end ‘product’ regarding a knowledge of the body is a synthesis of this work. This approach aims to avoid the limitations of applying a theory to a subject that presumes a knowledge of the body a priori. Through a reading of specific texts and performances, this proposal challenges narratives and simplifications of the relationship between mind and body that permeate sociocultural discourse. The structure of the thesis consists of an overview of the background to the topic of the body and the context of the authors in chapter 1. A Lacanian account of the body and its application to theatre in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4, focus on analyses of specific dramatic works. Finally, in chapter 5, I provide a comparative analysis of the theme of the body in the work of the three authors.