Let’s take the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC) as an example. At a first glance, some members are in fact employed by the universities as lecturers: it then appears fairly evident how in many countries the field of academic studies and the field of journalism share some wide areas. At least in the terms of the possibilities for a theatre critic to lecture at the university or for a lecturer to write articles on a newspaper or a magazine. This is quiet unusual in Italy: at the present time, professors and researchers generally don’t contribute to newspapers and magazines, except for the ones that explicitly have an academic angle. Conversely, very seldom a journalist is invited as a teacher at the university. However, many theatre and dance academies invite professionals (rather than university lecturers) to lead theatre/dance criticism workshops and this model might be imported also in the more conventional academic learning programs. Occasional playgrounds belonging to a professor and a theatre critic still can be symposia or special events such as commemorations or national meetings.
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):
More than any other country in Europe, Italy can boast a number of events that turn the whole national territory into a lively place to keep the stage arts alive off-season. From Sicily to the border with Austria, from late May to early September a passionate spectator can enjoy previews, premières and special projects that are going on, especially in small villages.
In cities, especially big cities such as Rome, Milan or Bologna, there are many venues that check the vital signs of contemporary theatre in Italy. Rome functions as a vivid example of how complex the situation of private theatres can be: out of almost 90 venues, only a dozen are totally or partly subsidized by the state, the remainder is administrated by private producers. Only a minority also owns the walls, the great part rents them. An unpopular measure to face the operating costs is most likely to ask the guest companies for a minimum sum. Few are the producers that choose to share the takings with the artists (usually leaving 70% of the profit to them) without getting any guaranteed minimum duty. This means that – in those theatres that in fact cash in the rent from the companies without following any curatorial line on the programming – anyone able to pay a sum (which is generally about 500-700 Euro per day) gets the opportunity to offer a performance, despite any selection, no matter the level.
Such a system deeply affects the overall quality and identity of the artistic offer and can confuse the audience, who is no longer able to tell apart a playhouse with a real season— through which a programmer works together with the artists in order to present a specific product—from a square of walls regulated by a “landlord-tenant” relationship.
Private theatres can still apply for local municipality funds, which are basically used to support specific projects, such as showcases and festivals.
At the time of writing, the state support system for the Italian theatre was undergoing a crucial change. The FUS (Fondo Unico per lo Spettacolo), operated by the Ministry of Culture, is the national fund that feeds both stage arts and cinema. In February 2015, a new set of rules has been established to regulate the state support given to companies, ensembles, playhouses and festivals. Until this moment, Italy has not had a National Theatre system: the theatres were divided into Teatri Stabili (totally supported by public money through the local administrations), Teatri Privati a Partecipazione Pubblica (partly financed by the state, partly sponsored by private and Teatri Privati (private enterprises that made a living out of the box office). The new norm defines three different models of theatres: the National Theatres, the TRIC (Theatres with Relevant Cultural Interest) and Production Centres. Making use of two committees (one appointed to evaluate the quality of the artistic proposal, the other to monitor the observance of strict numerical parameters) for the period 2015-2017 the Ministry of Culture nominated seven National Theatres, located in as many regions, twelve TRIC and is currently still selecting a number of Production Centres. Depending on the features of such redefinitions, each venue—obviously not all the applications were successful—will be asked to organize different activities, focused partly on groups of resident artists, partly on the hosting of companies and productions from other cities, and partly on the launch of residencies programmes.
This news concerns the venues, and yet the new FUS order also disciplines the funding of the companies, whose application for public money is evaluated on the basis of very strictly defined quantitative parameters. These are tied to the number of documented working days of the members and of the runs registered for each performance within one year. Such rigid criteria might be responsible for the dictatorship (in terms of visibility) of the richer and better established enterprises whose numbers can overcome the artistic level.
At the end of the day, this still needs to be proven as meliorative.
It certainly is a long and complex issue, but what can be affirmed in this work is that the role of the theatre in Italy is no longer what it used to be. If it’s a known fact that cinema and television have redefined it in the course of the twentieth century, in many countries (in Europe and abroad) two factors – or the combination of the two – the theatre’s role in the definition of a national identity: tradition and innovation.
Indeed, the current situation in Italy presents both of these factors, but the first has undergone a sort of a gradual “data logging” that addressed it to a very specific audience (the elderly that continue attending an old-fashioned and more traditional theatre); the second, on the other hand, is generally not finding an efficient way to promote its activities and to communicate how the contemporary language could be suitable for a younger audience. In this line of reasoning, a note must be made about the children’s theatre system; their establishment and development is crucial to feed a new generation of spectators. Among the numerous companies that work for the young audience, only a few are really committed in this important task, while the majority orbits in a closed circle in which the primary and secondary schools (often pursuing not really daring scopes) mainly limit themselves to the usual fairy tale reinventions and cheap staging. This is obviously a rough generalization, there are some very virtuous examples that try to invert this trend.
Even though the recent advent of musicals (which is by the way an exclusively metropolitan phenomenon) has been pulling spectators in and pushing the taking up, at a wider look – also but not only due to a general economical shifting – the role of theatre is certainly not prominent in contemporary Italian society. And yet, even if marginal, a lively community is moving around.
