Theatre, Performance and Commemoration

How does the act of performance speak to the concept of commemoration? How and why does commemorative theatre and performance operate as a conceptual, historical and political site from which to interrogate ideas of nationalism and nationhood? This volume explores how theatre and performance creates a vital stage for acts and displays of commemoration. It considers the concept of nationhood and crises of hate, nationalism, migration crises, and political, racial and religious bigotry, pertinent to cultural and social political life across the globe. Case studies featured are drawn from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The book's four parts each explore commemoration through a different theoretical lens and present a new set of dramaturgies for research and study. While Section 1 offers a critical survey of 20th and 21st-century discourses, Section 2 uncovers the commemorative practices underpinning contemporary dramaturgy and applies these practices to plays and performance works by Martin Lynch, Frank McGuinness, Sanja Mitrovic, Theater RAST, Les SlovaKs Dance Collective, Estela Golovchenko, Wajdi Mouawad, Aine Stapleton, CoisCeim, ANU Productions, Aubrey Sekhabi, and Indian and African dance practices. The final sections investigate how individual and collective memory and performances of commemoration can become tools for propaganda and political agendas.