Community and Manipulation in the “Parallel Worlds” of Tim Crouch

Abstract

This article closely examines two recent works for the stage by British conceptualist theatre-maker Tim Crouch, Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation (2019) and Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel (2022), discussing in particular the manipulative aspects of community formation accentuated in the former and the slight shift in emphasis towards the collective experience of live theatre apparent in the latter, his first play to be staged after the COVID-19 pandemic. The essay argues that by presenting “parallel worlds” to be measured against the present world of crisis, Crouch’s complex metatheatrical work may be seen to explore in practice the ideas of emancipated spectatorship theorised by Jacques Rancière on the one hand and to engage with the influential ideas on community elaborated by Jean-Luc Nancy on the other. Crouch’s recent work thus highlights the essential link of community to finitude while maintaining a strong emphasis on imagination being exercised by the individual.