Austerity and the Public Role of Drama [electronic resource] : Performing Lives-in-Common /
Merriman, Victor.author.
This book asks what, if any, public role drama might play under Project Austerity – an intensification phase of contemporary liberal political economy. It investigates the erosion of public life in liberal democracies, and critiques the attention economy of deficit culture, by which austerity erodes life-in-common in favour of narcissistic performances of life-in-public. It argues for a social order committed to human flourishing and deliberative democracy, as a counterweight to the political economy of austerity. It demonstrates, using examples from England, Ireland, Italy, and the USA, that drama and the academy pursue shared humane concerns; the one, a critical art form, the other, a social enabler of critical thought and progressive ideas. A need for dialogue with emergent forms of collective consciousness, new democratic practices and institutions, shapes a manifesto for critical performance, which invites universities and cultural workers to join other social actors in imagining and enabling ethical lives-in-common.
Includes index.
Part I Neo-liberalism’s Political and Moral Economic Project: The End of Public Life? -- 1. Introduction: Austerity and Drama’s Public Role -- 2. The Public World: an idea under pressure -- 3. Drama in Public Worlds. -Part II Performance, the Academy, and the Politics of Austerity -- 4. Drama Worlds As Public Worlds -- 5. Confronting Corporate Neo-liberalism in Jim Nolan’s Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye (2016) -- 6. (Re)Public Worlds: Drama as Ethical Encounter -- 7. Beyond Deficit Culture: Conceptualising Collectives -- 8. Beyond Repair: A Critical Performance Manifesto. .
This book asks what, if any, public role drama might play under Project Austerity – an intensification phase of contemporary liberal political economy. It investigates the erosion of public life in liberal democracies, and critiques the attention economy of deficit culture, by which austerity erodes life-in-common in favour of narcissistic performances of life-in-public. It argues for a social order committed to human flourishing and deliberative democracy, as a counterweight to the political economy of austerity. It demonstrates, using examples from England, Ireland, Italy, and the USA, that drama and the academy pursue shared humane concerns; the one, a critical art form, the other, a social enabler of critical thought and progressive ideas. A need for dialogue with emergent forms of collective consciousness, new democratic practices and institutions, shapes a manifesto for critical performance, which invites universities and cultural workers to join other social actors in imagining and enabling ethical lives-in-common.
Theater.
Performing arts.
Contemporary Theatre.
National/Regional Theatre and Performance.
Performing Arts.