When we approach the situation in which the theatre found itself as a result of the global pandemic through the lens of the “political” in the theatre, we immediately recognise several essential problems. Can the theatre continue to be subversive if it is confined to the easily controlled and censored virtual space? How can we transfer the interaction between what is presented onstage and the immediate reaction to it into the unidirectional online space? Can we find alternative ways of theatre production which would circumvent the drawbacks of the lack of direct contact in such situations? Following up on the topic of the conference, this performative lecture offered insight into the working process of Counting Sheep, a specific theatre performance produced in a non-theatre space, utilising multimedia technology to dismantle the boundaries between virtual and real and to approach an audience which is not very enthusiastic about the theatre in general. This ‘technological cabaret’, aimed at a teenage audience and inspired by them and their experiences during the lockdown – such as online studying, lack of public space in which they could gather, etc. – combined elements of contemporary dance, live music, live and pre-recorded video projections, and puppetry. In the performance, the virtual directly affected the perception of the real, and the live action was juxtaposed to the virtual reality and, at the same time, went hand-in-hand with it to achieve a multi-layered experience, a theatrical equivalent of the contemporary mind-set of younger generations. In the lecture and through showcasing the working process and the results of this performance, we could find answers or possible ways of re-thinking the political, the engaged and the subversive in the theatre under precarious circumstances, like the one we were experiencing.
Attila Antal is a theatre and film director, composer, author, and performer. He earned his first MA in multimedia (theatre, film, TV, and radio) directing at the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad (2008) and a second MA in theatre theories at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade (2010). In 2015 he began his doctoral studies at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, working on a thesis titled The Political in Post-Dramatic Theatre: Theatres from Hungary and the Former Yugoslavian Region – A Comparative Study. He is currently in the PhD programme of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Attila is a freelance theatre and film director, composer, and author, working on plays of different genres: post-dramatic theatre, drama, theatre for children and young audiences, puppet and multimedia theatre, experimental theatre, and contemporary dance. From 2008 to 2015 he was a regular collaborator with the Kosztolányi Dezső Theatre in Subotica, where he worked as a director, composer, dramaturgist and performer. He was the author, director, and composer in a series of performances and short films in Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, and Croatia. He received several awards for directing and composing at various national and international festivals. He has also held courses for international students at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest from 2018 to 2021 and led several theatre and film workshops in Hungary, Czech Republic, and Serbia.