Workshop: Political Theatre in the Age of Parallel Publics

Associated events in collaboration with the Cultural Programme, Schwarzman Centre:

18 November 2026, 7pm: Artist Talk 'Microecologies as Institutions of the Future?' by Milo Rau
19 November 2026, 7pm: Screening of The New Gospel, followed by a Q&A

Date: 19 November 2026
Location: Lincoln College (Oxford), Langford Room
Organisers: Dr Sophia Buck (Oxford), Dr Lily Climenhaga (Ghent)

09:15–09:45 Arrival, coffee, registration

09:45–10:00 Welcome & Introduction

10:00–11:30 Panel 1 — The Trial as Democratic Form

Andy Lavender (Guildhall School of Music & Drama)
The triple time of tribunal theatre: (Re)mediating event, trial and performance
Cristina Delgado-Garcia (University of Glasgow)
Trials and tribulations: democratic practices on the contemporary British stage
Kfir Lapid-Mashall (University of Glasgow)
A Perverse Penal Performance: SHOW.TRIAL. and Milo Rau’s tribunals

11:30–12:00 Coffee break

12:00–13:30 Panel 2 — Performing Antagonism

Théo Aoilfi (Université Bourgogne Europe)
Breaking the Fourth Wall of Democracy: Populism, Transgressive Aesthetics and
Performances of Agonism
Katy Brown (University of Manchester)
Mainstreaming and Talking About the Far Right
Joseph Dunn-Howrie (Rose Bruford College)
Staging Free Speech: Theatrical Censorship, Terrorism, and Prevent

13:30–15:00 Lunch

15:00–16:30 Panel 3 — Institutions of the Future

Naomi Boyce (Freie Universität Berlin)
Experiences of Urgency: Infrastructures of theatrical responsivity
Chokri Ben Chikha (Action Zoo Humain)
Staging Truth, Challenging Power: Theatre as a Temporary Democratic Institution?: From Human Zoos to DiGNiTy
Paula Serafini (Queen Mary University London)
Between Artwork and Institution: Boundaries and Productivity

16:30–16:45 Coffee break

16:45–17:30 Response – Joint Discussion: Agonistic Pluralism in 2026