Meeting in the Theatre to Think towards Social and Political Change
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Abstract
In this chapter, Andy Smith outlines a practice that he refers to as ‘dematerialised theatre’. After examining historical influences and antecedents from the realm of conceptual art, he contextualises the practice as emerging in and from what Zygmunt Bauman described as an era of ‘liquid modernity’. Using the solo works all that is solid melts into air (2011) and commonwealth (2012) as illustrations, he then reflects on how the methodological approaches of the practice and the meeting between performance and audience they encourage have provided him with a sound foundation to explore and create work that thinks towards social and political change. The final half of the essay outlines five key characteristics of the practice in an attempt to foster forward movement and wider reflection.