THE DECLINE OF THE REPUBLIC. Dramaturgy

We live in the era of the decline of the republic. Great tales of freedom have lost their former power. Authorities have been knocked off pedestals, and new ones are not visible. Specters of radicalism are hovering above our heads, and reality eludes simple diagnoses. These are times of extreme polarization and obsession with ambiguity, in which not only democratic institutions but also the languages with which we have described the world are shaken. Along with them, the formula of political theater, which made unambiguous interventions from the stage, was also exhausted. Has the theatre lost its purpose? Or is a new model of engagement being born today?

THE DECLINE OF THE REPUBLIC. Dramaturgy

The dramaturgic debate “The Decline of the Republic” will try to answer the question of what language the theater needs today. Is contemporary dramaturgy creating new political narratives — and if so, what are they about? How to write stories that do not relinquish responsibility for reality, but do not claim the right to definitive answers, leaving room for interpretation and co-creation of meanings by viewers?

The crisis of community is also a crisis of language. The narratives that until recently put the world in order are disintegrating, and with them the way of writing for the theater also changes. What happens to dramaturgy when great stories end? Can drama continue to be a tool of social intervention? Does the formula of “giving a voice to those who do not have it” still remain alive, or does it require radical rethinking? How do you write about a world that is never clear?

The dramaturgic debate will take place on 24 October at 14:00 in the Krysłowa Restaurant. Admission is free.

The debate is organized in cooperation with the XXIV Festival of Contemporary Dramaturgy “Reality Presented” and the New Theatre in Zabrze.

The motto of this year's INTERPRETATIONS are the words of Konrad Swinarski: “Truth is in between”. Perhaps it is precisely there — between the stage and the audience, between the creator and the receiver, between conflicting experiences — that a new agency of theatre is born today.