Acting Together: The Art of Collective Improvisation in Theatre and Politics Cover Image

Acting Together: The Art of Collective Improvisation in Theatre and Politics
Acting Together: The Art of Collective Improvisation in Theatre and Politics

Author(s): Sonja Vilč
Subject(s): Political Philosophy, History and theory of political science
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: collective improvisation; theatre improvisation; acting; political philosophy; political theory

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the concept of collective improvisation and draws out its potentials for social and political theory. Translating the ideas of collective improvisation from their original context in the theatre into the field of political thought, I argue that they offer a new understanding of political action by reevaluating the concepts of dissensus (Rancière) and community (Nancy), as well as the ways in which politics as a system needs to produce collectively binding decisions (Luhmann). I conclude that the ideas inherent in the practice of collective improvisation, as it has been developed within the tradition of modern theatre improvisation, subvert our intuitive ways of thinking about politics and thereby offer an alternative model of being and acting together.

  • Issue Year: 28/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 32-40
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English