An evident (and rather common) factor is the coexistence of tradition and innovation. In the nineties Italian theatre pointed at a very visual form, giving birth to globally known artists such as Romeo Castellucci and Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, and that lesson is still to be learned: many contemporary groups are sailing in the same direction, clearly updating the toolbox with the most recent discoveries in stage technology. Rather than larger ensembles, the resonating names of established directors that offer open auditions for actors and performers for each production they author are more common. A strong and active legion of young groups and independent artists tour Italy with new editions of classic works or—even more often—completely new material. Compared to other countries, such as Germany or the UK, Italy does not have a proper playwriting avant-garde. Of course there are some influential authors but generally speaking the “new theatre” is not led by a severe tyranny of the written page. See Relevant Examples for an indexed list of highlights from the contemporary scene.
From ‘*Plek’. Photo by courtesy of Marco Davolio & CollectivO CineticO
It is not easy to use the terms “professional” and “criticism” side by side, at least in the field of the performing arts. Due to the decline of this practice in the newspapers (that nowadays normally employ internal editors or lean on regular contributions from established authors and celebrities) and the almost total absence of specific periodicals, it’s hard to get paid for an article. The intense online activity is usually a double-edged sword: on one hand you gain an enormous freedom of speech, on the other, that very speech is going to be read for free. Selling spaces for advertisement is one of the most popular ways to get some income from an online job, but in this specific case it immediately poses an ethical issue: if – for example – an artist or a theatre buys advertisement on a web magazine’s page, can the critic go and review the exact show is being promoted by the ad post? This is only one of many questions a theatre critic not employed by a magazine or a newspaper faces everyday. The online journalism for the performing arts is then generally an unpaid activity, and (apart from some infrequent cases) even getting paid by a printed publication is not enough to make a living out of criticism. This brings the theatre critic to be a flexible and changing figure who continuously crosses the borders between academic territories and other declinations of his role, that go beyond the simple written page (be it printed or digital).
Hand in hand with the blooming of a number of online publications, a constant and lively dialogue has been established between the young critics and the previous generation in the course of the last eight years. Such collaboration proved itself on different fields: critics in their twenties/thirties have shared pages in newspapers and tables at the symposium with colleagues in their fifties/seventies. Among the frequent interactions, one of the most evident is the creation of Rete Critica, an informal network that aims at gathering all the relevant online publications and also assigns an annual prize to a company and a theatrical project of special interest. One of the most prolific processes is the opening of various workshops, within the frame of festivals or universities (for example at the Venice Biennale, under the lead of Andrea Porcheddu, or many others led by Massimo Marino). Yet, this is only one of the many examples of a vivid exchange between generations in the field of theatre criticism.
The printed media (daily and periodical press), both globally and in Italy alike, are in big crisis and a great part of the debate moved to the digital page. It has been proven that online information is preferred by the readers who want to keep up to date on reality. This is true also for cultural communication and thus for criticism. It’s obviously very hard to enumerate the readers of printed publications: as for the generalist press, the number of buyers does not necessarily mirror the number of readers, and fixing an exact number of readers for a specific section of a newspaper is in fact impossible. Particularly for what concerns specialist information and reasoning—and especially since it’s known that the interest in theatre/dance in Italy is minor—the online press represents the new horizon. While the space reserved to reviews and critiques in newspapers is continuously decreasing (the national newspapers seldom offer a preview of what’s on, and usually publish reviews and interviews once a week), and while only one printed periodical is left to take care of the whole performing arts spectrum (after Quaderni del Teatro di Roma, a monthly magazine published by the state theatre in Rome, has been shut down,Hystrio, a three-monthly magazine, gathers dozens of authors who write for free), a high number of online portals opened the gates to theatre lovers in 2008, informing about the seasons, interviewing the artists and intensively reviewing the theatrical scene even on a national scale. To list them all, a dedicated issue would be needed.
The advent of the social media enhanced this diffusion even further, making the news and opinions circulating even too fast. The biggest problem with online criticism is – it goes without saying – the “authority of the authors”: if a newspaper traditionally appoints (or used to appoint) a strongly established critic to furnish itself with a recognizable identity, anybody can write and publish (him/herself) on the Web. As in many other countries, the blogging trend became a model: almost every national newspaper (La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, etc.) has its own online version, that – for specific topics – invites guest bloggers to open a permanent window. Sometimes the writers are members of the newspaper itself, but it’s not rare to find independent bloggers to be hosted by these pages.
On the Web it’s really hard to emancipate one’s discourse from the mass wanting to count on its value and reliability. One measure has been to found real “webzines”, with a proper editorial board and a collective approach that defines a line of work.
Some relevant online publications about theatre and dance (in alphabetical order):
The situation of Italian theatre from the point of view of the artists is determined by their choice (or opportunity) to approach a linear high levelled training or to attempt a more independent ascent to popularity or, at least, to visibility.
