"Any collaboration, at any time, is political" - contemporary Dutch theater collectives in a neoliberal landscape

Abstract

[""In the discourse of theater journalism, a recurring claim is that there is a surge in the amount of Dutch theater collectives as a response to neoliberalism in the Dutch theatre landscape. This thesis examines the relationship between a rise in the amount of theater collectives in the Dutch theater landscape and neoliberalism, with the focus on two pillars of neoliberalism: precarity and individualism. This study analyses how the current generation of Dutch theater collectives performs their collectivity as a response to neoliberalism in their work. Using the relational approach of dramaturgical analysis as presented by Sigrid Merx and Liesbeth Groot Nibbelink as a method, this thesis incorporates a dramaturgical analysis of the composition and context of two performances created by contemporary theater collectives: Under pressure by BOG. and Nineties Productions, and Vincent Rietveld gaat voor de Louis d’Or by De Warme Winkel. The neoliberal context that these collectives operate in, is shown to be present in every layer of their practice: in their choice to collaborate collectively, in the way these collectives think about creating and producing theater, in the composition of their work and in the way they address the audience. In both case studies, collectivity can be read as a way to revolt against this system, as well as a strategy to adapt to the system. Using self-reflectivity as a dramaturgical strategy allows this generation of collectives to critically reflect upon a system that both they and the spectator are a part of.""]