Theatre and Humanism in Today’s World of Violence
At a time when human life is becoming more and more devalued and human beings
more and more disposable, the XXIII Congress of the International Association
of Theatre Critics proposes to look at violence in the theatre, and the
critic’s response to it.
What makes violence on stage today so sexy? Until quite recently, violence for
its own sake was the prerogative of B-feature films and junk mystery novels.
What made theatre follow suit? What is the impact of the theatre of violence on
the audience? Doesn't it actually make them conformists?
Is there still a place for humanism among all the post-modern “isms”, including
post-human or meta-human theatre? What is the relationship between violence and
the aesthetics of ugliness? How does theatre stand against the right of might
(and the ensuing violence) which has become a norm today on the stage of the
world? And how can theatre and theatre critics help preserve humanistic values
on and off stage? Should they even try?
We invite papers dealing with these and like questions, with examples from the
theatre of your own country or of the world.
