We are in the Army Now: a queer, mediatized, Covid-era theater show

Abstract

Abstract In April 2021, amidst the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Elias Adam’s We are in the Army Now was presented as part of the online theatre festival FUTURE N.O.W., hosted by Onassis Foundation-Stegi, one of the most well-known theatre venues and cultural institutions in Greece. Indeed, the proliferation of this hybrid kind of digital theatre which was imposed by the pandemic has triggered new discussions among theatre practitioners and theorists on the boundaries of traditional theatre, the (new?) relationship of performers and spectators, the (redefined?) concepts of space, time and liveness. Even though the current digitalization of theatre has often been seen as an imposed situation for artistic and/or financial survival, it still, however, has offered the space for the transgression of theatrical and personal boundaries, creating new trajectories of artistic and political expression. In this article, it will be argued that Elias Adam’s mise en scène constitutes a brilliant example of queer, digital theatre, which has managed to creatively integrate the unprecedented conditions of the pandemic, making some strong political points in a highly aesthetic form with pop and social media references.