session 7: theatre and politics
To what extent are politics scripted, staged, and set to elicit a specific response from the masses? The theatricality of politics aside, the shared conceptions and significance of audience, space, critical distance, and aesthetic judgment shed light on the kinship between presentation and representation.
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Reading:
David Apter, “Politics as theatre: an alternative view of the rationalities of power”, in Jeffrey Alexander et al. (eds.), Social Performance: Symbolic Action, Cultural Pragmatics, and Ritual (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Excursion: Opening gala performance of the Peking Opera Festival 2013 in The Netherlands @ Lucent Dans Theater, The Hague. |
student reflection
Click image for video"Politics as Performance and Performance as Politics"
By Rosalind Lowe
BA (Hons) Liberal Arts and Sciences: Human Interaction, Leiden University College The Hague
Presentation is vital in politics. As David E. Apter suggests in his article “Politics as Theatre: an Alternative View of the Rationalities of Power”: “a good deal depends not only on the talents and abilities of the politician/actor, but an ability to mobilize the power of voice, gesture as well as idea.” A politician must play a role, though this role may be self-constructed, allowing the politician write his own script. Ultimately, a politician must be convincing and appear benevolent. He must present something that we know, in such a way that it brings along something new. A politician cannot, however, set the stage for his performance, nor can he select his audience. Politics does not come with a synopsis, and people cannot avoid a performance if they do not like its topic.
Just as politics can to some extent be described as theatre, so can theatre sometimes be described as politics. Several plays can convey strong political messages through referrals to grievances and events. These plays can persuade their audience by portraying favoured political ideas and transform them into superior insights. Apter describes that theatre can thus “provide a rationale for political exceptionalism, imposing a claim on citizen loyalties even against their better judgement.” Yet to some extent, limiting the political force of theatre solely to their direct political message also appears to somewhat undermine theatre’s potential. Theatre as culture can also be of great importance, and thus even those performances without a clear political message, can as a reflection of society and culture carry political significance.
The Peking Opera is an excellent example of the force of performance. Opera, which in Italy and Germany has been characterized through a distinct style of singing, takes on a new form: physical expression. Through perfectly orchestrated moves, the actors were able to amaze the
audience. Though the actors, dressed in elaborate robes and with a thick layer of makeup, clearly were not wearing their usual attire, the development of this very distinct form of opera in Peking is fascinating. Within a nation, such distinct performances can become an important means of ideologically reproducing a sense of nationalism. This, in contemporary societies which are characterized through nation-states has substantial consequences to the way in which people respond to and interact with politics.
By Rosalind Lowe
BA (Hons) Liberal Arts and Sciences: Human Interaction, Leiden University College The Hague
Presentation is vital in politics. As David E. Apter suggests in his article “Politics as Theatre: an Alternative View of the Rationalities of Power”: “a good deal depends not only on the talents and abilities of the politician/actor, but an ability to mobilize the power of voice, gesture as well as idea.” A politician must play a role, though this role may be self-constructed, allowing the politician write his own script. Ultimately, a politician must be convincing and appear benevolent. He must present something that we know, in such a way that it brings along something new. A politician cannot, however, set the stage for his performance, nor can he select his audience. Politics does not come with a synopsis, and people cannot avoid a performance if they do not like its topic.
Just as politics can to some extent be described as theatre, so can theatre sometimes be described as politics. Several plays can convey strong political messages through referrals to grievances and events. These plays can persuade their audience by portraying favoured political ideas and transform them into superior insights. Apter describes that theatre can thus “provide a rationale for political exceptionalism, imposing a claim on citizen loyalties even against their better judgement.” Yet to some extent, limiting the political force of theatre solely to their direct political message also appears to somewhat undermine theatre’s potential. Theatre as culture can also be of great importance, and thus even those performances without a clear political message, can as a reflection of society and culture carry political significance.
The Peking Opera is an excellent example of the force of performance. Opera, which in Italy and Germany has been characterized through a distinct style of singing, takes on a new form: physical expression. Through perfectly orchestrated moves, the actors were able to amaze the
audience. Though the actors, dressed in elaborate robes and with a thick layer of makeup, clearly were not wearing their usual attire, the development of this very distinct form of opera in Peking is fascinating. Within a nation, such distinct performances can become an important means of ideologically reproducing a sense of nationalism. This, in contemporary societies which are characterized through nation-states has substantial consequences to the way in which people respond to and interact with politics.