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Exploring a wide variety of examples of activist performances, such as David Buckel''s self-immolation, and the January 6th capitol insurrection, this book analyses activist performance through the lens of postdramatic theatre theory. Staging Change poses the provocative question: are activists addicted to drama? Scrimer examines the ways in which the performance and reception of protest is informed by the logic of dramatic theatre, and argues that such performative arrangements are so naturalized that they can limit the ability of activists and their audiences to imagine different ways of precipitating change. By combining performance analysis, interviews with artists and activists, and autoethnographic accounts of the author''s own experiences as an environmental activist, the book illustrates the limitations and alternatives to dramatic representation in activist performance. The last decade has seen an increase in political demonstrations worldwide, particularly following the excitement and disappointments of the Arab Spring uprisings. We have seen several notable movements such as the Occupy movement, the mobilization of Black Lives Matter, and the #MeToo movement. In response, scholars, artists, and activists from diverse disciplines have produced an exciting array of practical and theoretical approaches for talking about and thinking through activism. Utilizing these interdisciplinary approaches, Scrimer offers us a theoretical inquiry into the possible applications of Hans-Thies Lehmann''s postdramatic theatre theory in the context of political activism, and subsequently extends an alternative conceptual model for activist performance beyond the dramatic paradigm.
About the author
Victoria L. Scrimer is an Assistant Professor of Theatre History and Criticism at Millikin University, USA. She has spent a decade working for social and environmental justice organizations including Greenpeace and First Peoples Worldwide.Anja Hartl is Assistant Professor at the Department of English at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. She is the author of Brecht and Post-1990s British Drama: Dialectical Theatre Today and editor of the Methuen Drama Student Edition of The Threepenny Opera. Her research focuses on contemporary British theatre, Victorian fiction and adaptation studies. She co-edits the Methuen Drama Agitations Series.William C. Boles holds the Hugh F. and Jeannette G. McKean Chair of English at Rollins College, USA. He edited Theater in a Post-Truth World: Text, Performance, and Politics and After In-Yer-Face: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution and authored The Argumentative Theatre of Joe Penhall, Understanding David Henry Hwang and Mike Bartlett.
