Archive and Performance; Madness and Revolution

Abstract

What I want to do is to speak (firstly) on documentary theatre, but in a particular way, in a specific way, which is to look at the problem of documenting through the theatre but also representing the documents in theatre of such events in history which in themselves are problematic events. So in that sense, the problem of documenting a problem and the problem here means problems in history. So I am going to name two problems: one is a problem of revolution and the other is a problem of madness. It’s all there in the title of this chapter. So I want to look at how madness and revolution have featured in a certain tradition of documentary theatre, specifically in Germany and in the history of modern western theatre. I am also going to take a look at certain questions in Indian social history and culture. I will do that at the very end, very briefly.