Reviewed by:

• Occupying the Stage: The Theater of May '68 by Kate Bredeson
• Alícia Hernàndez Grande

Kate Bredeson's Occupying the Stage: The Theater of May '68 is not only an excellent history of the often overlooked French theatre companies that engaged in [End Page 225] the worker and student protests of 1968 but also remains topical in light of the worldwide protests seen since the book's publication in 2018. In four succinct chapters, Bredeson discusses the occupation of the Odéon Théâtre in Paris, the development of a new working style by the Théâtre du Soleil and the Théâtre de l'Aquarium, the creation and legacies of the non-Parisian theatres Théâtre Universitaire de Nancy and the Nouvelle Compagnie d'Avignon, and censorship of Théâtre du Chêne Noir and the Living Theatre as local French authorities began reacting to the revolutionary fervor of 1968. In so doing, Bredeson lays out a history of French theatre, and the theatremakers within it, from 1959 to 1971 that, she argues, forms a "stand-alone paradigm called 'The Theater of May '68'" (3). Occupying the Stage considers "how offstage production practices—in combination with plays, onstage performances, and their reception—contribute to upholding or dismantling present worlds" (5), providing a thorough analysis of how theatre companies and theatremakers used theatrical performance to join and change the 1968 protest movement across France. Through these different case studies, Bredeson follows how the revolutionary feeling of the 1968 protests led to a move away from the postwar Absurdist theatre and traditional theatre organization toward experiments with collective creation, with theatre productions that engaged with social and political issues, and with theatre spaces to engage workers, students, and non-elites.

Bredeson's first chapter focuses on the more well-known 1968 occupation of the Odéon Théâtre in central Paris, analyzing the Odéon as part of a "genealogy of occupations" (22) where "theatre buildings can be resources in ongoing political and social movements" (61). She considers how the theatre building itself was a site for assembly, speeches, housing, and other needs while also being frank about how the occupation reinforced certain hierarchies as it attempted to dismantle others. Bredeson's analysis of the theatrical assemblies held within the Odéon emphasizes the labor and purpose of large, durational gatherings of protestors, utilizing speeches and open microphone techniques and other such strategies often seen in other protest movements worldwide and beyond 1968. Unfortunately, the limitations of the Odéon occupation are replicated throughout Bredeson's book. As Bredeson acknowledges in her introduction, the 1968 movement was entrenched in white patriarchy. Although Bredeson engages the work of some women, especially that of Ariane Mnouchkine, Occupying the Stage is limited by the movement's own shortcomings and the omission of womxn and BIPOC perspectives from the archives.

In the second chapter, Bredeson provides a close analysis of the Théâtre du Soleil and the Théâtre de l'Aquarium, clarifying how these theatre companies sought to combine their theatrical skills with the demands of the workers' [End Page 226] movement and explore new ways to make theatre. The time spent detailing how these two theatre companies moved away from entrenched theatremaking into working with audiences, developing lived experiences, and exploring new ways to self-organize is rewarding. Any reader interested in the development of collective creation, revolutionary and protest theatre, and street theatre will find this chapter illuminating. Particularly fascinating and inspiring are Bredeson's play analyses, notably that of the Soleil's 1967 La Cuisine (or The Kitchen), which beautifully interrelates the political aims of the production with the political ramifications of the 1968 movement, racial justice, the French class system, and more.

In Occupying the Stage's third chapter, Bredeson considers two non-Parisian theatres, the Théâtre Universitaire de Nancy and the Nouvelle Compagnie d'Avignon, tracing the creative impulses and successful development of these theatres from the 1960s in general and 1968 in particular to their long-lasting legacies within French theatre...

审核人：

• 占据舞台： Kate Bredeson 的 68 年5 月剧院
• 艾丽西亚·埃尔南德斯·格兰德

凯特·布雷德森 (Kate Bredeson) 的《占领舞台：68 年 5 月的剧院》不仅是一部讲述经常被忽视的法国剧院公司的精彩历史，这些剧院公司从事[End Page 225]1968 年的工人和学生抗议活动，但鉴于自 2018 年该书出版以来出现的全球抗议活动，布雷德森仍然是热门话题。在四个简洁的章节中，布雷德森讨论了对巴黎 Odéon 剧院的占领，以及新工作方式的发展。 Théâtre du Soleil 和 Théâtre de l'Aquarium，非巴黎剧院 Théâtre Universitaire de Nancy 和 Nouvelle Compagnie d'Avignon 的创建和遗产，以及随着法国地方当局开始作出反应，对 Théâtre du Chêne Noir 和 Living Theatre 进行审查到 1968 年的革命热情。布雷德森在这样做的过程中展示了从 1959 年到 1971 年法国戏剧的历史，以及其中的戏剧制作人，她认为，这形成了一个“独立的范式，称为‘68 年五月的剧院’ '”（3）。占领舞台考虑了“舞台下的制作实践——结合戏剧、舞台表演和他们的接受——如何有助于维护或拆除现在的世界”（5），对剧院公司和剧院制作人如何利用戏剧表演来加入和改变 1968法国各地的抗议运动。通过这些不同的案例研究，布雷德森追踪了 1968 年抗议活动的革命感如何导致从战后的荒诞派戏剧和传统戏剧组织转向集体创作的实验、涉及社会和政治问题的戏剧作品以及戏剧吸引工人、学生和非精英人士的空间。

Bredeson 的第一章重点关注 1968 年对巴黎市中心 Odéon 剧院的更为著名的占领，将 Odéon 分析为“职业谱系”（22）的一部分，其中“剧院建筑可以成为正在进行的政治和社会运动的资源”（ 61)。她考虑了剧院建筑本身是如何成为集会、演讲、住房和其他需求的场所，同时也坦率地说，该职业在试图拆除其他人时如何加强了某些等级制度。Bredeson 对 Odéon 内举行的戏剧集会的分析强调了抗议者大规模、持续性集会的劳动和目的，利用演讲和开放式麦克风技术以及 1968 年以后世界其他抗议运动中常见的其他此类策略。不幸的是，奥德翁职业的局限性在布雷德森的书中得到了复制。正如布雷德森在她的介绍中所承认的那样，1968 年的运动在白人父权制中根深蒂固。尽管 Bredeson 参与了一些女性的工作，尤其是 Ariane Mnouchkine 的工作，占据舞台受限于运动自身的缺点以及档案中遗漏了 womxn 和 BIPOC 的观点。

在第二章中，布雷德森对太阳剧院和水族馆进行了深入分析，阐明了这些剧院公司如何寻求将其戏剧技巧与工人[完 226]运动的需求相结合，并探索新的制作戏剧的方法。花时间详细说明这两家剧院公司如何从根深蒂固的戏剧制作转变为与观众合作、发展现场体验和探索自我组织的新方法是有益的。任何对集体创作、革命和抗议戏剧以及街头戏剧的发展感兴趣的读者都会发现这一章很有启发性。Bredeson 的戏剧分析尤其引人入胜和鼓舞人心，尤其是 Soleil 1967 年的La Cuisine（或厨房），它将生产的政治目标与 1968 年运动的政治后果、种族正义、法国阶级制度等完美地联系起来。

在Occupying the Stage的第三章中，布雷德森考虑了两个非巴黎剧院，即南希大学剧院和新阿维尼翁公司，追溯了这些剧院从 1960 年代和特别是 1968 年到他们在法国剧院中的长期遗产......