French Literature Reviews - 2026
Theatre, the People, and Passion.
Theatre and Performance
B. Stiegler
J.-C. Bailly
D. Guénoun
Theatre, the People, and Passion
Three lecture-debates
from the "Mettre en Scène" Festival (Rennes, Nov. 2005)
Éditions les Solitaires Intempestifs, 2006
What is at stake in the relationship between theatre, the people, and passion?
How does this historical relationship—which we know dates back to the ancient Greeks—continue to be articulated today?
In what ways does an audience constitute itself as a people through the medium of theatre?
Bernard Stiegler invited Jean-Christophe Bailly and Denis Guénoun to examine, write, and debate these issues—which have never been more pressing in an era when theatre and artistic creation are being called into question—as part of the Rennes dialogues in November 2005. This is an era that too often reduces the public to mere broadcast ratings. Their inquiry focuses in particular on the evolving relationship between the theatrical stage and the political sphere.
The relationship between the stage and the public has been a central concern of Western drama since antiquity, reflecting broader questions about the role of performance in democratic life. By exploring how an audience might coalesce into a collective body, the authors engage with a long-standing tradition of political philosophy that views the theatre as a site for civic formation. This volume situates these concerns within the contemporary landscape, where the influence of mass media and broadcast metrics often challenges the traditional understanding of the theatrical event as a space for shared experience and critical reflection.
The discussions recorded in Theatre, the People, and Passion address the tension between artistic creation and the political sphere, examining the connections between passion and the assembly. The text documents a series of exchanges from the 2005 Rennes dialogues regarding the capacity of the stage to articulate the nature of the people and their engagement with the arts. Readers interested in the intersection of performance studies and political theory may find these dialogues relevant to their own inquiries.