Radical poetry

David Gothard

pp. 207-209

in: Scott T. Cummings, Erica Stevens Abbitt (eds), The theatre of Naomi Wallace, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

To me as a director, teacher, and facilitator of contemporary art and performance, the poetical space is a political space—and this space can make theatre revolutionary. One hundred years ago, W. B. Yeats founded the Abbey Theatre, now the National Theatre of Ireland, in revolution. He was motivated by a nation needing poetic drama at its heart to survive and to show its true nature. To my mind, this is what Naomi Wallace does for the American stage, brilliantly bridging a universe from small town to global power and destruction. Theatre cannot be strictly controlled. It needs mistakes and interference. The theatre has a history of embracing its intelligentsia and audience, which it is in danger of losing in an over-commercialized world. The important theatre writer confronts that.