Cultures of the Left feature the new monograph by Elaine Aston 'Staging Feminism':

Prof. Elaine Aston was in conversation with Prof. Janelle Reinelt

Chaired by: Prof. Bishnuprya Dutt

- What happens to political dimensions of theatre (and to political theatre as such) in this circumstances?
- Can theatre/ performance be political when theatres are shut and the audience can’t congregate in the ‘here and now’? And if so, in what form?

- Is this situation forcing artists to think about new forms of theatre making and/or theatre curating? What is the socio-political role of theatre in this moment?

- Can we perhaps envisage what/how a post-pandemic theatre might be?

These are some of the questions our illustrious panel of speakers have addressed (in order of appearance):

Janelle Reinelt - Emeritus Professor of Theatre and Performance, Warwick University (UK/USA)

Moloyashree Hashmi - performer, co-founder of the renown theatre company Janam (India)

Duska Radosavljevic - dramaturge, theatre critic, scholar, Central School of Speech and Drama (London, UK)

Maya Krishna Rao - theatre maker, educator, artistic director of Vismayah theatre company (India)

Mark Fleishman - theatre director, scholar, artistic director of Magnet Theatre, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

For this session we've read: :https://medium.com/@nicholasberger/the-forgotten-art-of-assembly-a94e164edf0f

For this session we've viewed: Maya Rao's 'Lockdown Stories'

watch

This is the first in our series of conversations under the working title "Cultures of the Left in the time of the Pandemic". This first session held on May 1st, The International Workers' Day included our JNU partners Bishnupriya Dutt and Ameet Parameswaram joining us from New Delhi, Emine Fisek from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Olivera Jokic form CUNY, New York, Igor Stiks from the Faculty of Media and Communication in Belgrade, and Milija Gluhovic and Silvija Jestrovic of SCAPVC tuning in from Birmingham and Leamington Spa, respectively. The following three articles were our point of departure:

Judith Butler

https://contactos.tome.press/human-traces-on-the-surfaces-of-the-world/

Slavoj Zizek

ttps://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article206829259/Slavoj-Zizek-on-Corona-Barbarism-with-a-Human-Face.html

Arundhati Roy

https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca