The coronavirus outbreak has demanded unprecedented
economic, social and public health measures to be put in place by governments
across the globe to tackle the spread of the pandemic. But governments
worldwide are alarmingly choosing to implement additional draconian
authoritarian measures under the pretext of the crisis, rather than the
policies needed to protect people. The theatre needs to be clear that our civil
liberties are not up for negotiation and organise in defence of them.
Since March 2020, The Common Air Theatre Company has been curating a virtual rolling theatre festival,
The Peacock Festival of Civil Liberties, as part of wider solidarity against
any such authoritarian creep in the UK and abroad. The name of the festival
derives from the phrase that is used to describe the creep currently occurring
in Hungary under Viktor Orban. As he explains, his Peacock Dance is a
choreographed dance carefully executed which is intended to fool his
negotiating partners. His ‘dance’ posits that after removing 100% of our
freedoms, gaining back 80% of these freedoms will feel like ‘normalcy’ with
scant realisation that the goalpost has moved.
The YouTube page will serve as a rolling repository of
pieces that reflect the theme as and when pieces come in.
For the online festival, we are seeking fully produced new & old work that
addresses this authoritarian creep [no more than 15 minutes in length]. Please
be in touch if you would be interested in being involved in this project -
HAHN@HOTMAIL.CO.UK.
Pieces can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEC9eZYSmM1QNvqTOv-x_5Q
