Pandemic V-Effect: The Plague as Theatre Criticism

Wth a twisted and long prologue that was ignored by the so-called world leaders for the longest time, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. By the end of the month, most countries in the world had closed their borders and went on lockdown or imposed quasi-lockdown measures. Entire sectors of global economy shut down; global supply chains disrupted; transoceanic maritime trade halted; oil trading ceased. The situation was uncanny to the extent that only comparisons were suitable as a way to fathom the experience. And yet, comparisons failed. The pandemic’s interruption messed with the global plot in unseen ways, and as we live through it and start to forecast where the next scene will take us, it is crucial that we reflect on where we came from and what is the destiny that awaits us. Who owns that future? Who is making it? This piece will consider the current global situation by engaging with Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt (V-Effekt) and epic theatre as a lens to foresee what theatre criticism in the age of social distancing and digital assemblies could mean. What if the pandemic were a Verfremdungseffekt that sheds a new light to a global social crisis that is been going far longer and is rooted somewhere else? What if the cascade of digital performance we have witnessed in the last few months was a musical interlude announcing the greater forces that are coming into play? What if the muted shout of the quarantine is the gestus that the new digital capitalism will afford us?

Citation:
Cervera, Felipe, and Azadeh Sharifi. ''Pandemic V-Effect: The Plague as Theatre Criticism.'' Critical Stages / Scènes Critiques, no. 22, 2020.