Moving Targets: Political Theatre in a Post-Political Age (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Moving Targets: Political Theatre in a Post-Political Age Adam W. Nixon Moving Targets: Political Theatre in a Post-Political Age. By Ryan Reynolds. Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag, 2008; pp. 212. The essential question posed in Ryan Reynolds's stimulating book Moving Targets: Political Theatre in a Post-political Age is existential: "Is there such a thing as political performance in the post-political age?" Reynolds, an American scholar and theatre artist working in New Zealand, wonders at the utter lack of belief in alternative social structures in our current moment. He writes, with some disappointment, that the grand ideas of the past have been subsumed into the market of late-stage capitalism. Using the postmodern theories of Baudrillard and Jameson as his lens, Reynolds views late-stage capitalism as a "moving target" in the crosshairs of political theatre, which itself must remain a moving target so as to avoid commodification by, and absorption into, the market of late capitalist exchange. Moving Targets is concerned with the efficacy (or lack thereof) of postmodern performance in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Chapter 1 examines the conundrum of being defined by the very postmodern conditions that political artists seek to critique. Chapter 2 examines the work of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, based in New York City. Chapter 3 focuses on Reynolds's own work with Free Theatre Christchurch in New Zealand. Chapter 4 examines Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), an avant-garde performance collective from Toronto. And chapters 5 and 6 return to New Zealand, where Reynolds theorizes his own work in the broader context of political performance in the West. In chapter 1, Reynolds places Fredric Jameson, Augusto Boal, and Baz Kershaw in conversation, finding a method by which political performance can be effective even if its form is pastiche. Reynolds aligns himself with Boal and Kershaw, insisting on the possibility that a performer can, at least momentarily, transcend commodification in the marketplace and achieve political efficacy—even if that efficacy is fleeting. The important question for Reynolds is not how efficacy is achieved (form), but what is achieved (outcome). Parody/pastiche, clothes on, clothes off, gender, sex, sexuality—all is eventually consumed by the marketplace, concedes Reynolds, who nonetheless maintains that if an opening of consciousness is achieved in performance, then the political has been realized within the aesthetic. Chapter 2 offers a detailed analysis of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. As he documents, Reverend Billy appears in full religious costume atop a soap box in Times Square engaging in "mock sermons," organizing store invasions, preaching against mega-retailers, leading his choir in "Stop Starbucks" chants, and calling for the voluntary withdrawal of large corporations from the local economy. Against this backdrop, Reynolds details the myriad ways in which Reverend Billy has ironically commoditized himself: he offers classroom lectures for $500, sells appearances, and organizes events funded by rival retailers. By Reynolds's account—with a nod to Jameson—commodification is the end of the political. He reminds us that punk rock, Laurie Anderson, Robert Wilson, and hippies have all been subsumed and commodified to a significant degree by capitalist culture. He tells us that simply having radical aims or controversial content is insufficient, since the capitalist system is so adept at incorporating opposition into commodity culture. In such a world, is it possible for an aesthetically compelling avant-garde artist to set up a website that sells T-shirts and still remain avant-garde? Of the performers Reynolds profiles, CAE (discussed in chapter 4) is in many ways the most compelling, in that it appears to have best resisted market commodification. It has even provoked severe reactions from government authorities, including the Canadian government's absurdly fabricated charges of terrorism, which led to members' arrest and trial. Even if these charges are dismissed, CAE could face bankruptcy or ruin; if they are upheld, the troupe could face prison terms. According to Reynolds, CAE achieves autonomy from the marketplace by continually transforming its aesthetics. In one type of performance it produces and distributes fake television commercials and newspaper circulars, while in another type of performance it screens audience members genetically...