Social Theatre. Brief Phenomenology of a Plural, Polycentric and Participatory Performativity

“Social theatre” might sound like a tautology, since all “theatre” is “social” insofar as it is the art of bodies entering into a space-time relationship. The fact that the expression social theatre has been present in Italy since the end of the 1990s and been given a new meaning shows that the word theatre alone was perceived as insufficient to identify that set of participatory performance experiences, which, since the 1970s, had become increasingly widespread not only in practice, but also in national and international studies and awards, fully inscribing social theatre within the broader framework of applied performance. The essay aims to give an overall picture of the situation of the social theatre in Italy, highlighting the complexity and resources within a plural, polycentric and participatory scenario.