http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Hi all
As opening nights often happen mid-week, I've changed my (approximate)
weekly deadline to Fridays.
This week, a wonderful piece of movement theatre at fortyfivedownstairs.
Coming up in the next two weeks: Part 2 of Vicious Fish's ongoing project to
introduce us to the plays of Catalan playwright Sergi Belbel, Sarah
Mainwaring at La Mama and Cyrano de Bergerac at the MTC.
Subclass26A
Subclass26A , directed by Bagryana Popov, performed by Rodney Afif, Ru Atma,
Natalie Cursio, Simon Ellis, Nadja Kostich, Majid Shokor; music by Elissa
Goodrich; design by Anna Tregloan; dramaturgy by Maryanne Lynch.
The vexed question of politics and art is one of the fiercest debates of
modern culture. Broadly the argument rages between two poles. In the blue
corner (or the red, if one is American) are those who contend that art is
above politics, an argument stemming from Matthew Arnold's imperial ideas
about culture. In the opposing corner are the revolutionaries, who claim
that art has a duty towards radical ideologies. Most artists, who are by
nature sceptical of dogma of any kind, can be found slugging it out
somewhere in the middle, arguing on the one hand that all art is inescapably
political, and on the other that its highest duty is to its own imperatives.
It's wholly untrue to assert, as many conservative critics do, that art that
engages with social and political critique compromises an essential artistic
purity. Much of the significant art of the past three centuries - from
Shelley's Masque of Anarchy and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro to the work
of Brecht's Berliner Ensemble or Brazilian theatre activist Augusto Boal -
has been in the tradition of political and social dissent. As well as, it
must be confessed, much of the worst - we've seen agitprop, and we don't
like it.
Art, after all, should do rather more than restate arguments that would be
better expressed in a pamphlet. Subclass26A , a powerful group-devised
movement piece which addresses the question of Australia's brutal treatment
of asylum seekers, demonstrates beautifully how this can be done.
Read more at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
All the best
Alison
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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