The Iraq War triggered a new wave of political theatre in the United States. Yet, many of the hundreds of plays and performances pass almost unnoticed and unrecorded. The United States’ aggressive, unilateral foreign policies and the restrictions of civil liberties in the United States become topic of performances ranging from Bush-Bashing musicals, over text-based theatre to performance art. The rich political theatre landscape in the United< States, culminating in New York City, demands a re-consideration of the (political) function of theatre and of ‘political theatre’ as such.

In the last decades, ‘political theatre’, as a theatre that overtly picks government politics as its subject matter, gradually transformed into a degrading term. Philosophical reflections on the impossibility of representation made every attempt to represent politics on stage appear absurd and pointless. At the same time, the belief in the possible impact of theatre and the arts on society in large became null and void. Furthermore political theatre became stigmatized as boring, didactic and most often rather bad art. A dichotomy between ‘political theatre’ and ‘the political in theatre’ was created. While the first is political in the choice of its subject matter, the second is political via and in its form. It became common practice to devalue ‘political theatre’, but to hype ‘the political in theatre’.

Is the taboo to pick politics as a subject for a performance a form of self-censure? Is the dictum that theatre has lost its political and social functions built on solid ground? Should the philosophical questioning of representation lead to its complete suspension? Do the concepts of ‘political theatre’ and of ‘the political in theatre’ necessarily form an opposition? An overview of the current political theatre landscape in New York City and close analyses, focussing on the (re-)presentation of war, of Quiara Hudes Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue (Culture Project, 45 Below) and Tim Robbins Embedded (Public Theatre) will built the basis for a fair-minded discussion.

Anneka van Kan