Strategies of Contemporary Political Theatre in Eastern Europe

• Applicant: Dr. Niklas Füllner
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 387906603

The internationally oriented research project analyses the strategies of political theatre in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 21st century. The project starts from the observation that political theatre has experienced both a rebirth and notable changes in most parts of Europe since the first decade of the new millennium. A similar development can be observed also in a societal politicisation at the same time. The research project focuses on Eastern Europe and with that on those countries which have experienced a radical cultural and political transition in the past 25 years after having been under the influence of the Soviet Union for decades. This region has been chosen because it has not been taken into account enough by international theatre researchers due to a perception that often focuses on Western Europe. Additionally, the potential for political theatre is especially high in this region for it has lived through enormous political upheavals and is still determined by societal uncertainties.The research project aims at analysing and critically describing manifestations of today s political theatre in Eastern Europe. The results will not be regarded as representative for a certain nation but as representative for a certain movement of political theatre. The historically and culturally grown differences between the individual national cultures will be taken into account. Yet the aim is not to depict national theatre landscapes neither in parts nor in its entirety. The central and guiding question is: Which dramaturgic, aesthetic and performative strategies is the contemporary political theatre in Eastern Europe following today? This question will be analysed on the basis of case studies of performances by theatre makers from various countries across Eastern Europe. The methods of the performance analysis (according to Fischer-Lichte, Pavis and others) will be the basis of the case studies. In the course of the analysis, on the one hand, the positioning of the individual performances in the social and economic context will be studied (according to Schößler, Bähr, Jennicke and others). On the other hand, the interplay between different theatre traditions and its political potential will be analysed under the aspect of interculturality (according to Pavis, Fischer-Lichte and others). Finally, the study will examine if the strategies of the theatre makers coincide with today s concepts of political theatre (according to Lehmann and others) or set themselves apart from them or rather open new levels of the term. The project aims at describing a wide spectrum of different approaches to political theatre in Eastern Europe and at locating it in the European theatre landscape and tradition. This way, the research project wants to approach today s understanding or understandings of political theatre in Eastern Europe.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants