Claudio Magris on theatre as a basis for coexistence

Cinemas, theatres and concert halls all over Italy stayed closed on Monday in protest at the austerity measures of the country's centre-right government in the culture sector. Claudio Magris defends in the conservative daily Corriere della Sera the social role of theatre: "Of course we can live without theatre and there are goods that are more essential and indispensable. ... But for thousands of years theatre has played a key role not only in the arts, but also in the social life of our polity, and therefore also in politics. It is an art in which the unique and irreplaceable creativity of the individual becomes one with the community around it without demeaning it, and which makes the work transcend the individual to become both a personal and collective ... form of expression. It enters a dialogue not just with each individual but also with the society and culture out of which it is born and which interprets it, praising or criticising it. From its ritual and religious origins ... to Wagner's full body of work and Brecht's epic form ... theatre is a public event and a cornerstone of civil coexistence."

» full article (external link, Italian)
More from the press review on the subject » Stage, » Cultural Policy, » Culture, » Italy
All available articles from » Claudio Magris

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, November 23, 2010