Theater(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society, Volume 1: Theoretical Explorations

Description

Volume 1 of Theater(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society inquires the fundamental contribution that artistic and cultural forms bring to social dynamics and how these can consolidate cohabitation and create meaningfulness, in addition to fulfilling economic and regulatory needs. As symbolic forms of collective social practices, artistic and cultural forms weave the meaning of a territory, a context, and a people, but also of the generations who traverse these same cultures. These forms of meaning interact with the social imagery, mediate marginalization, transform barriers into bridges, and are the indispensable tools for any social coexistence and its continuous rethinking in everyday life. The various epistemic approaches present here, refer to sociology, theatre studies, cultural studies, psychology, economy of culture, and social statistics which observe theatre as a social phenomenon. Contributors are: Maria Shevstova, Ilaria Riccioni, Roberta Paltrinieri, Gerhard Glüher, Raimondo Guarino, Mariselda Tessarolo, Raffaele Federici, Marco Serino, Maria Grazia Turri, Elena Olesina, Elena Polyudova, Marisol Facuse, Vincenzo Del Gaudio, Laura Gemini, Stefano Brilli, Jessica Camargo Molano, Annalisa Cicerchia, Simona Staffieri and Giulia Cavrini. Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface Acknowledgements Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Chapter 1 Artistic Processes and Characteristics: Key Problems of the Sociology of the Theatre: In Dialogue with Pierre Bourdieu Bibliography Chapter 2 The Social and Political Impact of the Theatre in Contemporary Society 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 What Holds Contemporary Society Together? 2.1.2 Art and Society 2.2 Importance of Theatre to the Social Fabric 2.2.1 Theoretical Premises 2.2.2 Theatre and Community Values 2.3 Theatre as a Social Institution 2.4 The Political Force of Performance 2.4.1 Theatre and the Public Sphere 2.4.2 Theatres as a Public Space 2.4.3 Theatre and Action between Social Construction and Deconstruction 2.5 Final Remarks Bibliography Chapter 3 Theatre at University as a Way to Increase the Sense 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Artistic Practices and Imagination Processes 3.3 Perspectives of Cultural Welfare 3.4 Cultural Welfare and Participation Bibliography Chapter 4 Staged Passages between Art and Everyday Life 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Artistic Performance as a Hybrid Medium 4.3 The Mediation of the Ephemeral Bibliography Chapter 5 Urban Environment, Places for Performance: A Groundbreaking Experience: Renato Nicolini and Estate Romana (1976–1985) 5.1 A Performative Turn in Urban History 5.2 From Settings to Settlements: Experiments in Rome 5.3 Towards a Site-Specific Performative Ecology Bibliography Chapter 6 The Theatre as the Stage of an Elusive Further Society 6.1 Foreword 6.2 Theatre as Stage 6.3 The Advent of Technology: Cinema 6.4 Performative Arts 6.5 Serialization and Target Viewers of Works 6.6 Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 7 Paris and Popular Theatre in Robert Michels: La foule and the Audience in the Years of Classical Sociology 7.1 Michels Rediscovered 7.2 Borders and Border Crossings 7.3 Le fait Social of the Popular Theatre Bibliography Chapter 8 The Undone Discipline: A Historical and Critical-Theoretical Account of the Sociology of the Theatre 8.1 Prologue: What about the Sociology of the Theatre? 8.2 Pioneers and Founding Fathers 8.3 Dissemination, Effervescence and Diversification 8.4 Epilogue: Where (and What) Is the Sociology of the Theatre? Bibliography Chapter 9 Theatre as Intersubjective Space for the Mediation of Collective Identity: Outline of a Psychoanalytic Perspective 9.1 Premise: Asking Not Whether, but How Theatre Impacts Society 9.2 The Importance of Emotional Engagement to Theatre’s Social Role 9.3 Emotional Engagement and Its Inherent Unconscious Constituent 9.4 Interlude on Children’s Play 9.5 Unconscious Intersubjectivity and Collective Identity at the Theatre 9.6 Coda: Studying Spectators’ Unconscious Emotional Responses through Empirical Research Bibliography Chapter 10 Historical Reenactment and Theatrical Performance: On New Perspectives of Educational Methods 10.1 The Nature and Definition of Historical Reenactment in Modern Russian Education 10.2 The Current State and Structure of the Method: The Teacher’s Role in the Process of Applying School Content to Interactive Engagement 10.3 Example of Historical Reenactment in a Middle School 10.4 Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 11 Political Theatre in the 20th Century: Elements for Archaeology 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Agitprop Theatre in the ussr 11.3 The Political Theatre of Erwin Piscator 11.4 Intervention Theatre Post-May 1968 in France 11.5 Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 12 Blast Theory between Public Space and Social Space 12.1 Blast Theory space 12.2 Mixed Reality 12.3 Can You See Me Now? 12.4 Rider Spoke and Karen Bibliography Chapter 13 Live/Life Sharing: The Use of Social Media by Contemporary Theatre Companies in Italy 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Theatre and Social Media 13.3 Methods 13.4 Results and Discussion: Social Media beyond Promotion? 13.5 Conclusions Bibliography Sitography Chapter 14 Theatre as a Means of “Interpreting” Lockdown: The Case of Staged 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Theatre without Theatre 14.3 Staged: A Mirror of Britain Fighting Covid-19 14.4 Staged: Theatre as a Mission 14.5 Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 15 Cultural Welfare: Theatre in the Limelight 15.1 Introduction 15.2 On the Notion of Cultural Welfare 15.3 Theatre, Wellbeing, and Health: Evidence and Experiences 15.4 Theatregoers, Cultural Participation, and Life Satisfaction 15.5 Looking Ahead: Theatre Syrup Bibliography Sitography Chapter 16 Measuring Culture – How and Why? 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Measuring Culture Is Possible! 16.3 How Should We Use Cultural Indicators? A Special Focus on Education 16.4 Conclusions Bibliography Index