Popular theatre and political utopia in France, 1870-1940 : active citizens /

This book is the first study of popular theater in France from left to right, exploring how theater shapes political acts, ideals and communities in the modern world. As the French found innovative ways of imagining culture and politics in the age of the masses, popular theatre became central to the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wardhaugh, Jessica (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Palgrave Macmillanm, [2017]
Series:Palgrave studies in theatre and performance history.
Subjects:
Description
Summary:This book is the first study of popular theater in France from left to right, exploring how theater shapes political acts, ideals and communities in the modern world. As the French found innovative ways of imagining culture and politics in the age of the masses, popular theatre became central to the republican project of using art to create citizens, using secular spaces for the experience of civic communion. But while state projects often faltered in finding playwrights, locations and audiences, popular theater flourished on the political and geographical peripheries. Drawing on extensive archival research, this book illuminates lost worlds of political conviviality, from anarchist communes and clandestine agit-prop drama to royalist street politics and right-wing mass spectacle. It reveals new connections between French initiatives and their European counterparts, and demonstrates the enduring strength of radical communities in shaping political ideals and engagement.
Physical Description:xvi, 357 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-345) and index.
ISBN:9781137598547
1137598549
9781137598554
1137598557