Powerlessness as Potential

Abstract

In this interview piece, the theorist, practitioner and curator Gigi Argyropoulou discusses current forms of political theatre in public spaces that she’s been involved with. She focuses particularly on her work with Eight (Το Οχτώ), the Green Park and the Embros Theatre, all of which are theatre projects situated in central Athens, in Greece. She analyses the dynamics of creating work collectively as a group of practitioners that share similar political and artistic objectives. The interview took place during the Covid pandemic which Argyropoulou discusses in relation to how it has affected her practice and the practice of performance projects she was currently running. Her analysis of the problematics and aspirations of a collective aesthetic in performance-making, discussed in relation to the occupy movement and the future of political performance in public spaces, offers us a sobering yet optimistic view of theatre in times of crisis as well as of the potential of theatre-making in future radical projects of protest, collectivity, and resistance.