7-8 September, Theatre, globalisation and illiberal regimes after 1989

The war in the Ukraine has highlighted the globalising propensities of non-democratic states such as Russia, China and Iran. There is a strong sense that illiberal, global interconnections are being (re)forged. These alternative globalisations are reflected in the dynamics of specific theatre cultures and are rooted in the trans-continental links established during the Cold War.

Patterns developed since the 1970s have carried over into the post-1989 period. Western-guided globalisation has hardly been ‘the only game in town’ in recent decades. The workshop therefore raises the fundamental question of how to approach theatre history and non-Western-centric interconnectedness after 1989.

Practioners and scholars will gather to discuss the relationship between global trajectories of illiberal regimes and their theatre cultures following the Cold War. The workshop engages with a variety of cases from the illiberal spectrum – from one-party states to theocracies and various forms of authoritarianism (competitive or one-person rule). The proceedings will focus on genealogies, commonalities and differences among various global engagements. We explore the role of theatre in the international configuration of illiberalisms in the post-Cold War world.