Why Theatre?

For two years now, the Belgian theatre NTGent and the Berlin based Verbrecher Verlag have been publishing the series The Golden Books: Books on the theory and practice of contemporary performance art, on individual plays and general social questions. For the 5th volume, after months of cultural lockdown, when live arts were in a state of emergency and the whole institution rethought their priorities, NTGent asked more than 100 of the most influential artists and intellectuals in the world the question: Why theatre? Why is this art form so unique, so beautiful, so indispensable? From classical theatre to performance art and dance, from activism to political theatre and the performativity of everyday life, authors of all continents and generations delivered short essays, memories, manifestos, letters. Moments of aesthetic epiphany meet strong emotion, critical insights into the problems of representation and populism compete with utopian texts about the theatre of the future: more than 100 voices about the state of performing arts 2020. With contributions from Mohammad Al Attar, Lola Arias, Hector Aristizábal, Back to Back Theatre, Yael Bartana, Vincent Baudriller, Jérôme Bel, Chokri Ben Chikha (Action Zoo Humain), Bread and Puppet Theatre, Tania Bruguera, Luanda Casella, Nora Chipaumire, Benny Claessens, Colectivo LASTESIS, Kelly Copper (Nature Theatre of Oklahoma), Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Mihaela Drgan, Radha D'Souza, Tania El Khoury, Nicoleta Esinencu, Douglas Estevam (MST), Tim Etchells (Forced Entertainment), Cibele Forjaz, Oliver Frlji, Gob Squad, Julien Gosselin, Sébastien Hendrickx, Florentina Holzinger, Hsin-Chien Huang, Isabelle Huppert, Manuela Infante, Christiane Jatahy, Jojo& Joyee (House of Muchness), John Jordan, Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll), Alexander Karschnia (andcompany&Co.), Susanne Kennedy, William Kentridge, Amir Reza Koohestani, Aino Laberenz, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Ursina Lardi, Jan Lauwers (Needcompany), Marco Layera, James Leadbitter (The Vacuum Cleaner), Frie Leysen, Angélica Liddell, Matthias Lilienthal, Édouard Louis, Florian Malzacher, Katie Mitchell, Sanja Mitrovi, Ariane Mnouchkine, Ermanna Montanari& Marco Martinelli (Teatro Delle Albe), Maia Morgenstern, Chantal Mouffe, Yolanda Mpelé, Rabih Mroué, Kornel Mundruzcó, Ogutu Muraya, Nganji Mutiri, Jeton Neziraj, Daniela Nicolò& Enrico Casagrande (MOTUS), Boris Nikitin, Mamela Nyamza, Markus Öhrn, Toshiki Okada, Suzanne Osten, Thomas Ostermeier, Bouchra Ouizguen, Lies Pauwels, Luk Perceval, Alain Platel, René Pollesch, Philippe Quesne, Mokhallad Rasem, Milo Rau, Falk Richter, Tiago Rodrigues, Kathrin Röggla, Pia Maria Roll& Hanan Benammar, Didier Ruiz, Amir Sabra (Stereo48), Farah Saleh, Fabian Scheidler, Dennis Seidel, Kirill Serebrennikov, She She Pop, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Mårten Spångberg, Veit Sprenger (Showcase Beat Le Mot), Lara& Jonas Staal, Botho Strauß, Tea Tupaji, Carole Umulinga Karemera, Igor Vamos (Yes Men), Ivo van Hove, Gisèle Vienne, Dmitry Vilensky (Chto Delat), Marc-Antoine Vumilia, Sasha Waltz, Miet Warlop, Joanna Warsza, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Zentrum für politische Schönheit, Dominique Ziegler

Kaatje de Geest, Carmen Hornbostel and Milo Rau work for NTGent.