Show and tell ; Vaizdas ir pasakojimas : antikanoniniai diskursai ir suvokimo politika

Abstract

Theatre by its definition is a communal and social institution, representing as well as establishing certain socio-political functions. However, at the end of the 20th century there was a real sense, that "political theatre" as a form was thought to be dying (not to mention the notorious nature of the term political theatre in post-soviet space), and the ambition of theatre as cultural practise that inspires social change or at least some kind of active reflection was corrupt. As contemporary culture aspires to the condition of theatre and "society of spectacle," a lot of differences, especially those between theatre and reality, entertainment or social action, are constantly blurred, the meanings and locations of political need to be retraced and redrawn. When the real live dramas are staged on a daily basis it ofen seems irrelevant, even disrespectful or impossible to engage in the luxury of making theatre. If we agree, however, that personal is the political, we must note that quite a number of theatre artists declare that to engage with theatre today means to take a position which is inherently oppositional or political and doesn't need any further articulation. There is anger and sense of unarticulated frustration underlying many Lithuanian theatre productions, and that it can be read as a statement about the context in which politics and theatre might be currently played out. Therefore, the notion of political should not be so easily rejected as outdated or obsolete. [to full text]