Description: "Exploring a wide variety of examples of activist performances, such as David Buckel's self-immolation, and the January 6th capitol insurrection, this book analyses activist performance through the lens of post-dramatic theatre theory. In response to an increase in political demonstrations world-wide, scholars, artists and activists from diverse disciplines have produced an exciting array of practical and theoretical approaches for thinking through activism. Utilizing these interdisciplinary approaches, Scrimer offers a theoretical inquiry into the possible applications of postdramatic theatre theory in the context of political activism, and subsequently extends an alternative conceptual model for activist performance beyond the dramatic paradigm"--
Brief description: Anja Hartl is Assistant Professor at the Department of English at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. She is the author of Brecht and Post-1990s British Drama: Dialectical Theatre Today and editor of the Methuen Drama Student Edition of The Threepenny Opera. Her research focuses on contemporary British theatre, Victorian fiction and adaptation studies. She co-edits the Methuen Drama Agitations Series.
Review Quotes:
"This provocative study forces readers to confront the uncomfortable truth that contemporary American culture seems reliant on dramatic conventions to understand and engage with current events ... Highly recommended [for] graduate students through faculty." --CHOICE
"Staging Change: Toward a Theatrical Theory of Activist Performance makes a noteworthy contribution to the intersection of political activism and performance studies by foregrounding the ways in which political struggle is mounted, shaped, haunted, and sometimes inhibited by theatrical form." --Critical Stages/Scènes critiques