THEATRE AS COUNTER-HISTORY IN ESTONIA: THE CASE OF “BB AT NIGHT” Cover Image

THEATRE AS COUNTER-HISTORY IN ESTONIA: THE CASE OF “BB AT NIGHT”
THEATRE AS COUNTER-HISTORY IN ESTONIA: THE CASE OF “BB AT NIGHT”

Author(s): Hedi-Liis Toome
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Cultural history, Political history, Evaluation research, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Art
Published by: Latvijas Kultūras akadēmija
Keywords: Brecht; participatory theatre; political theatre; dissensus;

Summary/Abstract: The theatres of Estonia celebrated the centenary of Estonian Republic by staging performances depicting different decades of the country’s history. The article discusses one of these performances “BB at Night” that staged the 1940s. The performance is based on a novel of the same title that tells the story of Berthold Brecht’s journey to Finland during the Second World War. The aim of the article is to show – by describing three particular scenes from the performance and using the theories of Jacques Rancière, more precisely his notion of dissensus to analyse these scenes – how a performance that is not political per se could be received as political. By inviting audience members to participate in certain scenes, the bodies of theatre visitors are politicized, and the performance becomes aesthetically political and politically aesthetical.

  • Issue Year: 14/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 25-36
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: English