Political theatre in times of crisis. Case Study: Our Grand Circus, a Greek example of epic theatre.

Abstract

This Thesis attempts to classify the play Our Grand Circus, a symbol of the Greek 7 years long dictatorship of the middle of 1970’s. The economic crisis and political oppression that started in Greece in 2010 brought this play again onto the Greek stages after 40 years of absence, reminding the success it had back in the ‘70s. Still, though, the play remains under the vague umbrella of “political theatre”. However, the Grand Circus had a particular impact on the oppressed audience of the ‘70s, something that might have triggered the directors in the beginning of the Greek crisis to restage it again.

The research question of this Thesis is in what way can we consider Our Grand Circus to be a Brechtian play. Furthermore, two sub questions are addressed: which dramaturgical techniques where employed by Kampanellis to contribute to the uprising of the oppressed audience and, knowing the impact the play had, what was the political potential of those techniques.

After examining Brecht’s theories about epic theatre techniques, this Thesis’ argumentation will be that the Grand Circus is an example of epic theatre. A confrontation through a dramaturgical approach between theory and play shows that the Greek playwright used Brecht’s techniques for the same reasons the German dramaturge did: to provide the spectators the necessary tools to make them realise the social and political conditions they live in and subsequently revolt.

Analysing the dramaturgical techniques Kampanellis used in the Grand Circus, with most dominant the V-effect, non – identification, shed light to the reasons the Greek playwright chose to use the Brechtian techniques. The performances of the play in the 1970’s sided, if not contributed to the revolt against the dictatorship of the Colonels. This success cost the play almost half of its text after harsh interventions by censorship.

In the first part of the Thesis, Brecht’s political and epic theatre’s theories are presented, in order to provide a theoretical context for the play. In the second part, are presented the historical and political conditions in which the play was written. Furthermore, the Brechtian techniques used by Kampanellis are detailed. Examples of those techniques from the play are given for a better understanding of how Kampanellis applied the theory in practice.

Concluding, Kampanellis, influenced by Brecht’s dramaturgy and epic theatre’s techniques, tried to contribute through theatre to a social change. He wanted to awaken his audience, as was the initial purpose of political and workers’ theatre in the beginning of the last century. However, the Grand Circus was not a checklist of Brecthian epic theatre techniques, since the particularity of this play was the induction of sentiments, something that Brecht recognised at the end of his life.