Two Italian publishers issue books that contextualize the work of the company. On the one hand, Roberto Fratini portrays a world where participation has become an obligation in Liturgie dell’impazienza. On the other hand, Carmen Pedullà in Il teatro partecipativo. Paradigmi ed esperienze, analyzes the work of Rimini Protokoll and Roger Bernat/ FFF to trace the genealogy and the characteristics of a certain way of relating to the spectator.
The synopses of the two publishers:
Liturgie….: Turned into an idol of politics, marketing and poetics, participation has become a synonym of culture. Rethinking the meaning of both (the cultures of participation and culture as participatory action) is equivalent to defibrillating democracy at a time when its frustrated application has the sole objective of demobilizing the political instincts that had allowed its establishment. A collectivity that claims its “public becoming” as a poetic fiction will not accept to “leave the stage”, not even in the name of the new immunological authoritarianism and all the spectacular thaumaturgies aimed at eliminating the ethical, social, political and poetic dramaturgies that make up the common space. This book deals with these thaumaturgies and dramaturgies: art as an antidote to Culture; theater as a clandestine fabrication of truth, in the basement of the total spectacle; the spectator as the new Hamlet.
Il teatro partecipativo...: What does it mean to speak of the participation of the spectator in contemporary theater? The notion of participatory theater is particularly insidious today, due to the increasing proliferation of experiences and the fragmentary nature of studies on the subject. This book investigates the phenomenon by explaining its characteristics and peculiarities. Starting from the analysis of contemporary performances, the study focuses on concrete experiences that question and redefine the role of the spectator. From immersive traveling creations that define the spectator as a traveler, to performances that rethink the spectator’s function by renaming him or her as a spect-actor, to experiences that involve the spectator as a player or participant in shared creative processes. Through the study of the theoretical foundations on the spectator and the mapping of the different modes of theatrical interaction, the book proposes the definition of participatory paradigms, from precursor to contemporary experiences. Two focuses are dedicated to the emblematic cases of Roger Bernat/ FFF (Catalonia) and Rimini Protokoll (Germany).