Theatrical Aspects of the Czechoslovak May Day Celebration in 1948
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Current Challenges in Doctoral Theatre Research |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | cultural performance; theatricality; performativity; May Day; communist celebrations |
| Description | Research into public cultural performances may help us perceive theatre and theatrical aspects in a wider socio-political context. Communist celebrations in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s – namely the 1st of May – may serve as a proper example to show one of the specific methodological approaches in theatre research. The author focuses on the individual theatrical aspects of these cultural performances while using interdisciplinary methods: sociology and social anthropology (mainly tools introduced by Jeffrey Alexander). The festivities in question were of high importance after 1948 and helped to strengthen the power of the state as well as the legitimacy of the totalitarian regime. Boris Groys perceives the period of Stalinism in the USSR as a synthetic work of art; the first period of Communist Party rule in Czechoslovakia after 1948 can be also viewed as such. |
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