So, there wasn't really a question as such today but I am to talk about Political Theatre and the clip of Bread and Puppet Show that we watched.
Political theatre (no, stop it Chrome, I'm in Australia, theatre is spelled 're') is essentially what is implied by the name - theatre with a political subtext (or just plain supertext). It often makes extensive use of theatre techniques, particularly metaphor, to discuss important and controversial issues without directly talking about the issue and instead letting the performance remain primarily entertaining.
Bread and Puppet Show is either a group that has been creating political theatre since the Vietnam War, or a performance by that group.
Okay, I looked it up. It is indeed the group. That's what I thought.
So we watched a small segment of a performance by this group, discussing war, politicians' responses and tactics and the consequences of this. A primary feature of Bread and Puppet is also their use of masks, something that was not missing in this performance (albeit full papier-mache [paper-mache?] helmets rather than simple face-masks). The politician, in particular, was portrayed as having a very big head, something that I imagine was intended as quite symbolic.
The politician kept coming up with "clever" ideas and tactics for the war (indicated by another masked/headed person holding up a sign saying "Intelligence"), which then resulted (indicated by the same person holding up a sign reading "Result") in people dying, more each time, eventually revealing statistics on the current deaths in the war (which war it was, I can't recall). While the deaths of the actors were largely symbolic, it was still quite confronting. To lighten the mood, the politician was then executed in a rather hyperbolic manner, having his "head" chopped off and then proceeding to run around like a chicken would under the same circumstances, while the other performers held up his head and declared joyously, "What's inside? NOTHING!"
The clever part here is that while this is quite silly and a little entertaining, once the performance is finished all the audience is really left with are the confronting facts and figures, and the tragedy of war and the detachment of politicians from it. This is exactly what political theatre tries to do. It presents and entertains the audience with humour and an entertaining performance, but contains a deeper political meaning that stays with the audience long after the show has finished.
I'm thinking I may include a picture signature at the end of each entry. I haven't got a good one yet, though, so I'll include a different placeholder image each entry.
Bread and Puppet Show is either a group that has been creating political theatre since the Vietnam War, or a performance by that group.
Okay, I looked it up. It is indeed the group. That's what I thought.
So we watched a small segment of a performance by this group, discussing war, politicians' responses and tactics and the consequences of this. A primary feature of Bread and Puppet is also their use of masks, something that was not missing in this performance (albeit full papier-mache [paper-mache?] helmets rather than simple face-masks). The politician, in particular, was portrayed as having a very big head, something that I imagine was intended as quite symbolic.
The politician kept coming up with "clever" ideas and tactics for the war (indicated by another masked/headed person holding up a sign saying "Intelligence"), which then resulted (indicated by the same person holding up a sign reading "Result") in people dying, more each time, eventually revealing statistics on the current deaths in the war (which war it was, I can't recall). While the deaths of the actors were largely symbolic, it was still quite confronting. To lighten the mood, the politician was then executed in a rather hyperbolic manner, having his "head" chopped off and then proceeding to run around like a chicken would under the same circumstances, while the other performers held up his head and declared joyously, "What's inside? NOTHING!"
The clever part here is that while this is quite silly and a little entertaining, once the performance is finished all the audience is really left with are the confronting facts and figures, and the tragedy of war and the detachment of politicians from it. This is exactly what political theatre tries to do. It presents and entertains the audience with humour and an entertaining performance, but contains a deeper political meaning that stays with the audience long after the show has finished.
I'm thinking I may include a picture signature at the end of each entry. I haven't got a good one yet, though, so I'll include a different placeholder image each entry.
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