Acting together: the art of collective improvisation in theatre and politics: pages: 32-40

Sonja Vilč

doi:10.2298/FID1701032V

Authors

Sonja Vilč Kolektiv Narobov, Ljubljana, Slovenia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1701032V

Keywords:

collective improvisation, theatre improvisation, acting, political philosophy, political theory

Abstract

The paper analyzes the concept of collective improvisation and draws out its potentials for social and political theory. Translating the ideas of collective improvisation from their original context in the theatre into the field of political thought, I argue that they offer a new understanding of political action by reevaluating the concepts of dissensus (Rancière) and community (Nancy), as well as the ways in which politics as a system needs to produce collectively binding decisions (Luhmann). I conclude that the ideas inherent in the practice of collective improvisation, as it has been developed within the tradition of modern theatre improvisation, subvert our intuitive ways of thinking about politics and thereby offer an alternative model of being and acting together.

References

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Nancy, Jean-Luc (1991), The Inoperative Community, University of Minnesota Press.

Rancière, Jacques (2000), Le partage du sensible: Ésthetique et politique, Paris: La Fabrique-Éditions.

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Sweet, Jeffrey (1994), Something Wonderful Right Away: An Oral History of The Second City and The Compass Players, Limelight Editions.

Vilč, Sonja (2015), Collective Improvisation: From Theatre to Film and Beyond, Ljubljana: Maska, Kolektiv Narobov, Zavod Federacija.

Zaporah, Ruth (1995), Action Theater: The Improvisation of Presence, Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.