170622 SE MA 1.3. "Discourses and Methods" (2025W)

To what degree is the Old Continent, indeed, to be seen as "Festung Europa", a xenophobic fortification unsurmountable to many asylum seekers? Or -- if we are to believe another critical narrative -- as some kind of a post-historical supermarket, a strangely dystopian vision of the consumerist paradise we supposedly live in? Perhaps we should, first of all, ask if our concept of Europe take into account only an "old" (as opposed to a "new") Europe, a Western/Northern (as opposed to an Eastern/Southern) one, a rich (as opposed to a poor) one, a centralized (as opposed to a sovereignist) one?
In this course we will examine the imaginings of Europe as manifest in the South Eastern European theatre of the early 2000s. In their transition from Balkan communist dictatorships to independent democratic states and later inclusion (of some of them) in the European Union, the countries of this region went through a series of radical ideological changes. This abrupt transition to market democracy may help shed light on the current state of European identity, and particularly on how it has been deployed as a weapon against the rise of the political far-right across Europe.
On one hand, the plays and theatre productions we will discuss question the ways in which the supra-national European identity enforces both the marginalization of a problematic Other and the acculturation within the Western paradigm. On the other, by artistically tackling Western societies’ democratic fatigue from a semi-outsider’s perspective, these artworks seem to offer insights into forays through which Europe can be reimagined and, consequently, those by which the European Project can potentially be reinvigorated. Finally, we will look into how some working methods originally developed on the performing arts scene of formerly socialist countries have been translated into neo-capitalist contexts.
Case studies examined in the seminar include plays by Goran Stefanovski, Biljana Srbljanovic, Tena Štivicic and Matei Vi?niec, stagings by director Oliver Frljic, as well as performances and conceptual artworks by the three artists Janez Janša.
By the completion of this course, students will be expected to acquire -- through lectures, viewings, discussions, and other in-class activities -- a deeper understanding and appreciation of the contemporary South Eastern European performing arts scene as well as, more globally, insights into the intersection of theatre and migration, examining how these elements coexist and influence each other.