Performance in Place of War

James Thompson, Jenny Hughes and Michael Balfour, Performance in Place of War (London and New York: Seagull, 2009) How and why do theatre-makers create work in places of conflict? What kinds of practices are prevalent in war zones and what are their ethical implications? And can theatre and performance resist or provide alternatives to war? These are just some of the pertinent questions that are addressed by the recent publication Performance in Place of War. The book discusses a variety of recent performance projects emerging in places of conflict and explores the potential role that theatre and performance can play in ameliorating the devastating effect of war on people's lives. However, this 'preventive, protective and rehabilitative' role that performance can play is not presented uncritically (2). Rather, the various chapters present a series of theatre case studies that are framed by important and penetrating critical considerations about the efficacy of performance and the extent that theatre can be disentangled from regimes of power that might have vested interests in the continuation of conflict. This critical framing of the inquiry is epitomised by the provocation included in the introduction. Following Carl von Clausewitz, the authors suggest that if 'war is the continuation of politics by other means', then perhaps 'performance may well be a continuation of war and politics by other means' (2). The book is presented in five main chapters organised in response to the complex spatial and temporal reconfigurations that war affects. Chapter One, 'In Place', begins with theatre events created in the place and at the time of war. It includes a discussion of the art project Butterfly Peace Garden in Sri Lanka, that attempted to provide a place of safety and beauty for young people, and Laughter under the Bombs, a theatre production developed during the most recent Israeli bombardment of Beirut in 2006. This latter production was devised from workshops conducted with young people at the Madina Theatre, with rehearsals at times limited to the use of half the stage space while the other half was used to accommodate the several families who had been forced to take refuge in the theatre building (39). Despite Adorno's pronouncement that 'all culture after Auschwitz is barbaric' (28), and in contrast to suspicions of theatre as pretention that is incapable of doing justice to the gravity of war, the examples cited in this chapter highlight how theatre and performance can work to counteract the numbing effects that the trauma of war can precipitate. In opposition to the anaesthetising of war, theatre's aesthetics can facilitate feelings of hope, engender senses of beauty and play, and restore much-needed normalcy at a time of intense disruption and upheaval. Chapter Two, 'Displaced', explores theatre practices generated with, by and for displaced communities. It includes discussion of the work Exodus by refugee communities in Manchester, UK, the Israeli-Palestinian co-production Longing presented by the Arab-Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa, as well as work by artists in a Sudanese displaced people's camp in Khartoum. The discussion and the examples presented serve to question the privileging of liminality in Performance Studies, where notions of transition, transience and mobility are often celebrated. In dealing with displacement caused by war, the chapter emphasises that liminality is often experienced as debilitating and damaging (83). Chapter Three, 'In Between War and Peace', explores theatre emerging in the precarious space between full-scale conflict and peaceful resolution. Among the numerous examples of work presented here are three important case studies emerging from Sri Lanka. These include an account of the revival of traditional dance drama, Kooththu; the work of a mobile touring company of young actors, Jana Karaliya (theatre of the people); and the massspectacles of grief and anger in the north of the country, called Pongu Thamil (137). …