Theatre, Activism, Subjectivity
Searching for the Left in a Fragmented World
Bishnupriya Dutt editor Silvija Jestrovic editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Manchester University Press
Publishing:20th Jan '26
£30.00
This title is due to be published on 20th January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Through the lens of performance and politics, this collection zooms in on the context-specific dimensions, analogies, and micro-histories of the Left to better understand the larger picture. It proposes a search for the Left not from totalising Leftist ideological positions and partisan politics but from ethical dimensions through smaller-scale Left-leaning struggles; not from the political to the aesthetic, but from the potentiality of art to offer new political imagination and critique; not from the individual subordinated to the collective, but from the dialectics of subjectivity and collectivity. This is not an attempt at a sweeping global overview of Leftist cultures either, but a collection that brings together culture-specific and comparative perspectives. This book searches for fragments of and on the Left, past and present, through which to rethink and patch a fragmented world.
‘This book is simply terrific, offering astute transnational perspectives on the predicaments confronting contemporary progressive political theatres – an essential resource for those looking for unity in a fragmented world!’
—Professor Tony Fisher, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
‘It is in the domain of culture that we imagine our futures and struggle over our values. On the stage, in our songs, and in the way we move our bodies, we tell each other that this or that need not be the way things should be, and that the other thing, that thing that we imagine and do, is possible. That’s the point of the essays in Theatre, activism, subjectivity. We stand ‘Stage Left’ and cry, Not This. Not This. Never Just This. We Want More. And that is when the real drama begins.’
—Vijay Prashad, Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
ISBN: 9781526195500
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
320 pages