Download Political Theatre

Political Theatre: Achievement Standard 90610 (External)
Features of Feminist/Political Theatre
How can theatre be entertaining and instructive at the same time? How can
it be taken out of the hands of intellectual drug traffic and become a place
of offering real experiences rather than illusions? How can the unliberated
and unknowing man of our century with his thirst for knowledge and
freedom, the tortured and heroic, misused and inventive man of our terrible
and great century, himself changeable and yet unable to change the world,
 can he be given a theatre which will help him be master of his world?
how
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(Bertold
Brecht)
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The aim of political theatre is to bring about change
in society
Political plays express dissatisfaction with current
social and political conditions in any given context
Political plays aim to hold up a mirror to society
The mirror that is held up to society is supposed to
focus society’s attention on what is wrong with
society
The further aims of political theatre are to: criticise,
condemn, illustrate, accuse, alienate…
Political theatre is seen as a force which can bring
about change
Political theatre does not necessarily have to
“entertain” in the traditional sense of the word, but it
has to provoke feeling, thought and introspection, it
has to force the viewer to examine his/her own
prejudice, as well as the prejudices of society
Political theatre is broadly speaking left-wing theatre
Political theatre is critical of the capitalist system
Political theatre expresses the need for radical
change
The first organised political theatre group in England
was the Workers’ Theatre Movement (1928 - 1938)
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1968 marked the upsurge of Alternative Theatre and
the formation of several socialist theatre groups
Political theatre is often directly agitational, often
rejects theatrical conventions completely and often
embraces class struggle
An agit-prop technique (a form of political theatre)
was to take theatre to non-theatrical venues, such as
halls (Scout Hall in “Revenge of the Amazons”),
clubs, pubs, community centres, places of work and
out into the street
An important feature of political theatre:
Development of the physical skills of the actor
An important feature of political theatre: The script
uses “common speech” (everyday spoken English,
including the “harsh” bits).
An important feature of political theatre: Group
work (political plays are often workshopped…)
An important feature of political theatre: These plays
are often very mobile, requiring very little in terms of
set and technologies – “have play, can travel…”
Political theatre sets out to identify, in its work, with
the lives and language of the industrial working class.
It is very important to note, however, that the great
theatre of ALL TIMES have been popular theatres
which reflected the dreams and struggles of the
PEOPLE. (The theatre of Aeschylus and Sophocles, of
Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, of the Commedia
dell’Arte and Moliere derived their inspiration, their
language, their art, from the PEOPLE.)
Political theatre COMMENTS on society FEARLESSLY.
Thought: The capacity for theatre to stimulate man’s critical
awareness and to question tenets of our society makes it a danger
to conforminism.
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Feminist Theatre (A form of political theatre)
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Towards the end of the 1980s theatre had reached a
stale-mate in England.
There is a sense of “diminished theatrical vitality”
This diminished theatricality is characterised by the
absence of new playwrights
The one major factor that offsets this bleak picture is
the emergence of women dramatists
Contemporary women playwrights have consciously
explored areas of experience that the stage
traditionally ignored, and are developing styles
designed as a radical contrast to the standard
dramatic forms.
The term/category “woman-writer” defines a species
of creativity that challenges the dominant image.
(The dominant image being the MALE writer.)
Writing as a woman OBVIOUSLY introduces new
concepts of subject matter as it offers a FEMALE
perspective.
Feature of Feminist Theatre: Plays written BY women
about women
Another feature: Conventional plot structures (such
as sequential scenes) are often rejected
Another feature: Conventional conflict (a dual
between equals) is rejected
The idea that individuals can dominate their social
context is rejected – in feminist theatre, it is often the
individual who is the VICTIM of an uncompromising
social context
Not all feminist plays are equally radical or extreme
The more radical feminist plays/theatre groups
prohibited male participation
In most feminist plays, male characters are typically
presented as repugnant and evil or insignificant
There is a tendency among some of the more
extreme feminists to dismiss any negative
commentary as “misogynist”, thus EXCEMPTING the
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work from criticism. (Unfortunately, this marginalizes
their dramas.)
Feature: Communal script creation (refer to the
Fallopian Thespians) (Collaborative working
methods replaced the hierarchy of dramatist –
director – actors.)
Feminist theatre often uses the ensemble principle,
with its requirement of equal parts for all - this often
rules out the creation of large central roles whom the
audience can follow.
It is important to realise that the above brought
about certain theatrical limitations (What are these
limitations?)
The emotional charge of working collectively and
the discovery of shared ideas CAN be highly
creative.
“My attitude to myself, my work and others had been basically and
permanently changed…”
Caryl Churchill
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Caryl Churchill and Pam Gems are the two major
women writers whose work has become an
important and influential part of feminist theatre, but
they have distanced themselves from the radical
and the more subjective side of the feminist
movement
“… what I feel is quite strongly a feminist position and that inevitably comes
in to what I write. However, that’s quite different from somebody who is a
feminist using writing to advance that position.”
Caryl Churchill
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In feminist theatre the tension between received
ideas of the past, and the very different feminist
perspective, contributes to thematic complexity.
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