Political Dramaturgies and Theatre Spectatorship

Political Dramaturgies and Theatre Spectatorship
Author: Liz Tomlin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2019-06-13
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1474295614

Download Political Dramaturgies and Theatre Spectatorship Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

What do we mean when we describe theatre as political today? How might theatre-makers' provocations for change need to be differently designed when addressing the precarious spectator-subject of twenty- first century neoliberalism? In this important study Liz Tomlin interrogates the influential theories of Jacques Rancière to propose a new framework of analysis through which contemporary political dramaturgies can be investigated. Drawing, in particular, on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Lilie Chouliaraki and Judith Butler, Tomlin argues that the capacities of the contemporary and future spectator to be 'effected' or 'affected' by politically-engaged theatre need to be urgently re-evaluated. Central to this study is Tomlin's theorized figuration of the neoliberal spectator-subject as precarious, individualized and ironic, with a reduced capacity for empathy, agency and the ability to imagine better futures. This, in turn, leads to a predilection for a response to injustice that is driven by a concern for the feelings of the subject-self, rather than concern for the suffering other. These characteristics are argued to shape even those spectator-subjects towards the left of the political spectrum, thus necessitating a careful reconsideration of new and long-standing dramaturgies of political provocation. Dramaturgies examined include the ironic invitations of Made in China and Martin Crimp, the exploration of affect in Kieran Hurley's Heads Up, the new sincerity that characterizes the work of Andy Smith, the turn to the staging of the spectators' 'other' in Developing Artists' Queens of Syria and Chris Thorpe and Rachel Chavkin's Confirmation, and the community activism of Common Wealth's The Deal Versus the People.


Political Dramaturgies and Theatre Spectatorship
Language: en
Pages: 215
Authors: Liz Tomlin
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-06-13 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

GET EBOOK

What do we mean when we describe theatre as political today? How might theatre-makers' provocations for change need to be differently designed when addressing t
Spectators in the Field of Politics
Language: en
Pages: 228
Authors: Sandey Fitzgerald
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-04-30 - Publisher: Springer

GET EBOOK

The book uses the long-standing theatre metaphor to bring political spectators out into the open, finding that they can be politically powerful. Filling out the
The Contemporary Political Play
Language: en
Pages: 259
Authors: Sarah Grochala
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-03-23 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

GET EBOOK

What does it mean for a play to be political in the 21st century? Does it require explicit engagement with events and situations with the aim of bringing about
Dramaturgy of the Spectator
Language: en
Pages: 274
Authors: Tatiana Korneeva
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-05-24 - Publisher: University of Toronto Press

GET EBOOK

The Dramaturgy of the Spectator explores how Italian theatre consciously adjusted to the emergence of a new kind of spectator who became central to society, pol
Theatre, activism, subjectivity
Language: en
Pages: 452
Authors: Bishnupriya Dutt
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-07-09 - Publisher: Manchester University Press

GET EBOOK

Through the lens of performance and politics, this collection zooms in on the context-specific dimensions, analogies, and micro-histories of the Left to better