Third Theatre
The temple bell is silent but
the sound continues
to flow out from the flowers,
Matsuo Basho
In 2022, I had the pleasure of coordinating in Italy the project “Third Theatre and Group Theatre” promoted by Fondazione Barba Varley, Fondazione Fo Rame and Teatro Nucleo. The project was funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture and aimed to formulate an initial survey of theatre groups in Italy, trying to understand what the current situation was.
The need to realise this project arose from questions that we had been wondering about for some time: What is there outside the bubble of scholars and practitioners? What is the perception that the young generations have of this artistic and cultural political movement that we call Third Theatre? Around which artistic or political principles are young groups formed today? How do they survive?
Starting from these questions, we launched an open, anarchic invitation at a national level: all those who felt they belonged to the values and ideas of group theatre and Third Theatre were invited to participate in the three meetings that would be organised in Lecce, Ferrara and Gubbio.
120 groups responded to the invitation. A heterogeneous quantity and extremely different in terms of geographical origin, organisational structure, production methods and poetic direction. At the end of the three meetings, two data were prominent in this survey: The first one is linked to the low participation of young people, both in active terms, that is, theatre groups of young people who joined the project; and in terms of use of the project, few young people interested in our proposal.
The other common denominator was the lack of money; many of these groups did not have the resources to come to the meetings that we organised. The vast majority did not have their own space where they could realise their work and initiatives. The performances that these groups produced with enormous efforts and personal investment did not have a target audience, a market.
This last aspect, especially with regard to the Italian situation, is a constant in the history of theatre groups. The causes are partly inherent in the live entertainment system, which swallows up resources, spaces and audiences, implementing ruthless competition among independent groups and companies; on the other hand, the groups often pay for the radical position they assume. In any case, the low attendance of young people at the three meetings made us reflect a lot. We asked <ourselves: did we spread our invitation wrongly? Was our proposal not clear? Or was it not interesting for the new generations?
The Colombian Patrizia Ariza, in the speech that preceded me, said that today it seems that everything is done in order that Theatre cannot be done. A radical statement with which I very much agree, and which gives me a sort of answer. Much of the work that theatre groups do is invisible, hidden, and I dare say democratically censored. They are denied resources, spaces and audiences; groups are forced into suffocating regulations that in no way contemplate artistic research and the development of cultural experimentation capable of influencing society. Just think of the minimum requirements requested in Italy by the Ministry of Culture to be recognised under the National Fund for Live Entertainment. Many groups succumb to a society Darwinianly tied to producing appearance.
It is necessary to build a system that effectively makes transmission possible, enabling practices and methodologies, theories and strategies that have been developed by hundreds of groups in the most disparate corners of the world in the last century to truly become a tradition. If it is true that this tradition represents a cornerstone of world theatre, and that its principles, poetics and political instances contain questions that are still necessary and represent a defence against a consumerism of art and a rampant commodification of the artist, then we have the duty to take responsibility for its care and diffusion.
Not as you protect a museum or a monument, but as you take care of a living being. And what does this multifaceted being called Third Theatre need in order to survive? What is its water, its oxygen? The spectators. This tradition needs to flow in the hearts and muscles of girls and boys, perhaps the only ones today who can grasp its continuous revolutionary drive, its constant transformative process, its deeply questioning soul and stubborn dialectical spirit. In this process, universities have a central role.
Scholars must use their intellectual and political spaces to stimulate interest in the work of groups and create opportunities for performance. What is most lacking in group theatre is the possibility of showing their performances. Without the prospect of meeting spectators, the entire process risks losing momentum and motivation, thus withering and disappearing. And if the workshops no longer produce, tradition dies.
Marco Luciano
A.R.T.I.
Independent Theatre Research Area
Ferrara, Italy
[email protected]
