Abstract
The paper investigates the present role of theatre in society; in particular, it seeks to identify theatre as a peculiar, complex commons, with a precise spatial, relational and cultural syntax outlined in the first section with relevant examples. The stratification of meanings, archetypes and formats of such commons and the cultural value it has generated in different times and for different societies are described in the second section. Theatre is analysed through the commons analytical framework in the third section, identifying its characteristics of a semantic commons. The policy and strategic implications of the conceptualisation of theatre as a commons are expressed in the fourth section: in particular, its features of publicity and togetherness testify for its power to catalyse powerful instances such as the right to the city and the claim for the resurgence of the public sphere. Examples of policies and practices from the international context are provided that illustrate the emerging map of actions going towards such objectives.
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Notes
- 1.
Folletto (2017).
- 2.
Ricci (2018).
- 3.
De Matteis (2018).
- 4.
Francesco Reggiani was interviewed by the author on July 31, 2018.
- 5.
During a workshop conducted in 2019 and 2020 by SITDA, the Italian Society of Architectural Technology, Tor Bella Monaca was chosen as the core topic; a series of unstructured interviews conducted throughout the workshop demonstrated the poor results of the regeneration interventions, and how the area is still perceived as largely abandoned and unsafe—regardless of the presence of the theatre.
- 6.
For an introduction to Greek theatre and citizenship, see Barker (2008), Tragedy and citizenship: conflict, reconciliation and democracy from Haemon to Hegel, New York: State University of New York Press; Cartledge (1997).
- 7.
The Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Miracle Play, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 6th February, 2019, https://www.britannica.com/art/miracle-play, Accessed 30th April, 2020.
The Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Miracle Play, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 30th April, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/art/mystery-play, Accessed 30th April, 2020.
- 8.
For a more detailed account see Craveri (2001).
- 9.
The impact of theatrical practices and language on the formation of the modern political sphere is well documented by Sorba (2015).
- 10.
Not much literature exists in academia regarding behavioural norms of exclusion in theatres; yet, more generally, more subtle and indirect forms of exclusion from the public space and the public sphere, which can relate to theatre as long as it is a publicly accessible space, can be found in Carmona (2010), Fraser, N. (1995), Culture, politics and the public sphere: towards a postmodern conception, in in Nicholson, L. & Seidman, S. (1995), Social postmodernism: beyond identity politics, 287–312, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- 11.
Julia, 2019
- 12.
Opéra Pagaï, https://www.operapagai.com/, accessed Sept. 7th, 2019.
- 13.
The affinities between flash mobs and theatrical semantics testify the liveliness and the present relevance of theatrical dynamics; and yet, concerns arise over the “theatricalisation” of politics, which has turned from powerful instance of dissent into a harmless act of mimesis. See Ventura (2019).
- 14.
Hughes (2017).
- 15.
Specifically, the debate on the so called “deficit model”, which places an emphasis on artistic outcomes rather than on the democratisation and accessibility of the cultural modes of production and consumption. For an exhaustive account see Gross and Wilson (2018). For an account on the uses of the deficit model in the performing arts policy framework see Walmsley (2018).
- 16.
The Mahogany Opera Group, Stretching the boundaries of what opera can be and who it is for, https://www.mahoganyopera.co.uk/about-us/, accessed Sept. 8th, 2019.
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Sabatini, F. (2020). Commoning the Stage: The Complex Semantics of the Theatre Commons. In: Macrì, E., Morea, V., Trimarchi, M. (eds) Cultural Commons and Urban Dynamics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54418-8_5
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