Include me out: theatre as sites of resistance to right-wing populism in Estonia, the Czech Republic and Hungary

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper lifts the curtain on the cross-fertilization of political resistance and theatre performance in three post-socialist countries – Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary – by focusing on how theatre can function as sites of resistance to right-wing populism from a cross-cultural perspective. The argument is that theatre performance can function as a critical platform that engages strategies from popular culture to reveal the voices of those who are silenced by populist institutions and actors. Although resistance to populism through critical cultural production is very seldom addressed in academic studies dedicated to Central and Eastern Europe, we claim that theatre can illuminate fresh modes of political action and critical knowledge about world politics. The impetus for this study is Angela Marino’s claim that ‘populism is inseparable from the embodied, relational, and material aesthetics of performance.’ Thus, this paper focuses on contemporary theatrical performances that are put to the opposite end, namely to resist the cultural essentialism put forth by the right-wing populist entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe.