5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Theatre today is potentially a place for the reconstruction of sociability and civic sense, of belonging and collective celebration. Theatrical action is also collective for two different types of issue: on the one hand, in the concrete terms of putting together and realizing a show, the result of work shared between set designer, costume designer, director, technicians, actors, organization and marketing, press releases, up to box offices and masks, and so on and so forth; on the other hand, it means belonging to a group, with knowledge of it and the ability to read and interpret a cultural, political, value cross-section.
Theatres understood as a public space have an implicit relationship with politics understood as the art of organizing public reality. The very condition of realization of both consists in a public practice. According to Badiou’s philosophical approach, theatre is “a State affair” which at the same time reveals the state of society, of its significant intertwining but also the continual changes of meanings and social priorities. On the other hand, Milo Rau's committed approach to theater is "not conceived as an aesthetic production, but as a way of re-enacting history in the present. Rau's reasons for turning to theater include its "liveliness," the opportunity to tell stories, the synergy of a collaborative work between different creative people, and the establishment of a sense of community with the audience." (Mango, 2019). This session welcomes contributions on the collective and community sense that theatre can still create in contemporary societies.