Prefigurative performance in the age of political deception

The most notable forms of activism in recent years, prefigurative interventions and occupations, are comparable to theatrical performance by embodying, situating and interacting hypothetical scenarios. The mutual points of political performance lies in open-ended, horizontal performance practices such as site-sensitive interventions, tactical media, applied theatre and cognate modes of interactive performance. Whilst several examples of such overlapping performance phenomena are given and justified in the article, the political disciplines also face mutual challenges from hegemonic politics and thus share a need to adapt their performative effects into sustainable social movements

Ethology and Theater

In this writing Schechner examines the convergences between human and animal behaviors. Using an ethological point of view, i.e. applying the evolutionary theory to the analysis of behavior and culture, the American scholar identifies common dynamics which at several levels govern both animal and human performances. The full version of this article was originally published in Essays on Performance Theory, 1970-1976 (Drama Book, New York 1977, pp. 157-201)

The Future of Ritual

In an attempt to define what "ritual" is, Schechner denotes in ritual actions, both human and animal, a similarity with those that emerge in the artistic performance field. The American scholar identifies elements such as violence and sexuality in rituals and characterizes the ritual itself as the dynamic capable of dealing with social crises that overturn culturally recognized systems and hierarchies. Furthermore, following Turner – and reviewing ethological and neurological points of view – Schechner recognizes ritual as having a creative property, which not only contains traditional cultural behaviors but is capable of generating new images, ideas and practices. This article has been published in several versions, undergoing several transformations: it appeared firstly as the inaugural essay of the Journal of Ritual Studies 1 (1), 1987, pp. 5-34; other fragments of it appear in Victor Turner's Last Adventure, an essay published both in Anthropologica 27 (1-2), 1985, pp. 190-206 and as introduction for Turner's book The Anthropology of Performance (1986). Another full version of this writing is published in the Schechner's volume which takes up the title of the article itself: The Future of Ritual: Writings on Culture and Performance (Routledge, London and New York 1993, pp. 228-265)

Points of Contact: between Anthropology and Theater, Again

A version of this essay appeared shortly after Victor Turner's death in Schechner's volume Between Theatre and Anthropology, with the title Points of Contact Between Anthropological and Theatrical Thought (Routledge, London and New York 1985, pp. 3-33). In this new version Schechner attempts to broaden Turner's ideas on liminality and does so by adding three more points of contact to the original list of six, a circumstance which allows him to analyze the performative qualities of the Paleolithic caveman, to reinterpret the ancient theory of Sanskrit performance in a contemporary key, to analyze the techniques through which Grotowski stimulates and brings alive the body-memory. In conclusion, referring to his notes detailing the seminar he co-led at the New York University in 1978 (with Turner, Erving Goffman, and Alexander Alland), Schechner shares memories of his collaboration with the Turners. The full version of this essay has been published in Experiential and Performative Anthropology in the Classroom, edited by Pamela R. Frese and Susan Brownell (Routledge, London and New York 2020, pp. 21-37)

Restoration of Behavior

Taking as reference the ethno-anthropological studies given by Erving Goffman and Victor Turner, Schechner analyzes the methods and dynamics of the transition from daily behavior to restored behavior and does so by examining both different ritual traditions and the workshop-rehearsals processes that are triggered in the field of dance and theater. This article, in its full version, appeared for the first time in 1981 in the journal Studies in Visual Communication 7 (3), pp. 2-45

Podemos ser o (novo) Terceiro Mundo?

E stou sentado aqui nesta manhã (não importa qual manhã) tentando ser otimista. Quero escrever sobre como os estudos da performance e as artes performáticas podem salvar o mundo ou, pelo menos, podem ajudar a salvar o mundo. Escrevo este texto enquanto foguetes e bombas estão explodindo em Gaza e Israel; o Egito está em tumulto, a Síria no limiar da guerra civil; os rebeldes do M23 estão fechando sobre o Congo, colocando um milhão de pessoas sob ameaça; bombardeios suicidas e assassinatos são rotina no Iraque e Afeganistão; a guerra civil da Somália continua o seu curso. Sunitas e xiitas têm guerreado uns contra os outros desde o martírio de Hussein ibn Ali, no ano de 680; na Índia, hindus assassinam muçulmanos e vice-versa; o antissemitismo é predominante em muitos lugares; e não há muito tempo católicos e protestantes estavam se matando mutuamente na Irlanda do Norte poucos séculos após a dizimação da Europa pelas guerras religiosas. O Holocausto não é uma história ancestral