Rowe, Cami (2024) Improvisation, Applied Theatre and Digital Populism. In: The Performativity of Politics in Digital Media, Arts and Culture :. University of the Arts, Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This paper examines the role of creative improvisation in digitally-mediated political performance. Through a discussion of notable features of populist political interaction, the paper outlines the centrality of unscripted and spontaneous improvisations to the formation and sustenance of populist movements. The author critically examines the ways that improvisational interaction alter when populism is enacted via social media. This is followed by an argument for the relevance of Applied Theatre scholarship to the study of political interaction. To demonstrate this relevance, the paper explores key themes of Applied Improvisational performance and compares their traditional use in workshop contexts to their manifestations in digital populist contexts. Specifically, the paper addresses issues of spontaneity, unpredictability and interpersonal attentiveness. This analysis provides insights into the ways that improvisation is altered in online interactions, and it suggests that Applied Theatre practice could be especially useful in the development of future technologies that facilitate digitally-mediated political interaction.