Personal and Correspondence Discussion of International Bakhtin Theoretical and Practical Conference “Street Theatre vs. Theatre of the Military Actions”

This work reviews the International Bakhtin Theoretical and Practical Conference “Street theatre vs. the theatre of military actions” held in Moscow in 2019. A review of the collection of articles based on the materials of this conference is given.

El Quijote en la calle: historia de un espectáculo

Don Quijote en la Calle (Don Quixote on the street) is a popular show that takes place in Argamasilla de Alba (Ciudad Real). It is currently performed during the town’s Cervantine Days (April-June). At the moment, around 150 locals take part in this show, bringing the adventures of Don Quixote to life: horses, live music, dances from the Golden Age, fireworks, etc. In doing so, this unusual type of show achieves a unique staging. Heir to Estampas del Quijote (a street theatre that was formerly performed in the town), the Town Council of Argamasilla de Alba has applied to the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha for Don Quijote en la Calle to be declared worthy of ‘Regional Tourist Interest’.

The case of an operetta being banned in Hungary in 1928, viewed in the mirror of contemporary press sources

In May 1928, the Andrássy Street Theatre in Budapest planned to re-stage a one-act operetta play titled The First Kiss is Mine. Its libretto was written by Jenő Heltai, and the music was composed by Albert Szirmai. The new performance started out as a resounding success. But, referring to current laws on public morality, Ministry of Interior department in charge of controlling public and cultural programmes banned the play without delay, on 18 May, and Minister of the Interior, Béla Scitovszky ordered an investigation into the matter. People referred to the event as a scandal, and the press spoke of it as an absurdity, as the theatre enterprise was endangered by the resulting loss in income. After the ban, the actors were only allowed to perform the play for a commission sent from the Ministry of Interior, and finally, on 22 May, Scitovszky permitted the program after all, with some minor changes. In my study, I reconstruct and present the events of these few days with the help of contemporary journalistic sources (reports, interviews, etc.) – Budapesti Hírlap, Esti Kurir, Magyar Hírlap, Magyarország, Pesti Hírlap, Pesti Napló, Újság, 8 Órai Újság –, the circumstances of the prohibition, the protest and opinion of the playwrights, the position of the commission, the performance for the commission, and the background of the permission for the new performance.

Conflictual sociability? A paradoxical approach to politicized street theatre

In Agonistics (2013), Chantal Mouffe highlights sociability and notes its potential for artists in devising agonistic counter-hegemonic performances. However, sociability as an isolated factor is unlikely to produce politicized dissent. Instead, therefore, a politicized form of conflictual sociability is created by applying Mouffe’s notion of a ‘conflictual consensus’ (an agreement between opponents to disagree) to art practice. By applying paradoxical thinking to the performance of dissent in the public realm, the article argues for sociability in service of politicized critique. The potential of conflictual sociability is examined through guerrilla street theatre performances, an artform with the capacity to generate unauthorized and participatory incursions into the urban public realm. Firstly, via autoethnographic reflections upon a practice-based research project, The Wizard of Oz (2015) performed in London, United Kingdom; and secondly, in analysis of Dread Scott’s Money to Burn (2010) performance in Wall Street, New York, United States. Conflictual sociability offers a novel methods-led process of engaging agonistically with passers-by (publics) and transforming them into activated participants. Because it is engaging, conflictual sociability creates spaces of public dialogue that antagonistic conflict potentially shuts down. This reveals an effective pedagogy for facilitating agonistic politicized dissent through performative practices in the public realm.

From stage to street: The #Endsars protest and the prospects of street theatre

Globally, the issues of extrajudicial killings are on the increase. From racial killings in the West to wanton human rights violations in Africa, the pains are the same. Thus, protests has always been a channel employed by many including activists, labour and union leaders among others, to press home grievances and demands against unfavourable policies and social malaise. This paper draws attention to how youths in Nigeria utilised the physical space to spark a protest, in October 2020. Notable actors, musicians, comedians, activists and the international community in their numbers, moved to the street in defiance of security orders to protest against police brutality and harassment. In view of the outcome of the protest, which was later hijacked by hoodlums, the paper examines a non-violent alternative which can be used to address societal issues. It is in this context that the paper examined the role of theatre as a tool for activism, advocacy and communication with specific reference to street theatre, a type of improvised street drama performance that addresses unfavourable socio-political and cultural issues. The data for the study is obtained mainly from the internet, print media, observations, interviews and literary works. For its methodology, the study utilises the popular theatre approach. The study concludes that street theatre has a major role to play in addressing socio- political issues without resorting to violence.

Other Places

The final chapter of Modernist Disguise offers an analysis of the contemporary manifestations of masquerading in daily life, on the stage and in the gallery. In a series of physical sites where face and body masking are overtly displayed, ‘Other Places’ are evaluated for functional and poetic potential as showcase sites. The author argues that place profoundly impacts and determines the nature of a form’s statement and its theatricality, as a mise en scène of the body. Performers and participants in disguising events, like Carnivals, fashion shows, street theatre, circus and dance, produce meaning in an exchange of visual, non-verbal discourse. The photographs documenting these happenings extend the life of identity research. The complex interplay of masked subject, photographer and camera is deeply steeped in meanings and degrees of performativity. Dynamic spaces identified and diagnosed in this chapter include the artist’s studio, the photographer’s studio, scenographic and mediated spaces, formal proscenium stages, arena theatres and the actor-training studio. Nuances of the masked actor in the rehearsal atelier, stimulated by learning methodologies utilised by Jacques Lecoq in the French tradition, present the act of virtually, temporarily inhabiting an ‘Other Place’ through the act of fixed-form mask play and transformative performance.