Performing History: Theatrical Representations of the Past in Contemporary Theatre

Collective identities grow from a sense of the past, and the theatre very forcefully participates in the ongoing representations of and debates about the past, sometimes by contesting them and sometimes by reinforcing them. In his examination of the ways in which the theatre after World War II has presented different aspects of the French Revolution and the Holocaust, Freddie Rokem shows us that by “performing history” actors—as witnesses for the departed witnesses—bring the historical past and the theatrical present together.
Rokem analyzes the signiÞcance of stage representations of the French Revolution and the Holocaust in different national contexts: the United States and Europe for performances about the French Revolution and Israel for performances about the Holocaust. By pointing out both the great diversity and the common features of these performances, he draws attention to the complex collective efforts and the creativity of playwrights, directors, designers, and actors as they connect their theatrical energies to a speciÞc historical past. He also focuses on the ways in which audiences in different cultures have been affected by and even had an inßuence on the ideological debates embedded in these performances.
Rokem looks at plays and performances by Yehoshua Sobol, Dudu Ma'ayan, and Hanoch Levin in Israel; Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine, and Ingmar Bergman in Europe; and Orson Welles, Herbert Blau, and Robert Wilson in the United States. Drawing upon these and upon his own life in Europe, Israel, and the United States, Rokem makes us aware of the critical interaction between the failures of history and the efforts to create viable and meaningful works of art.