On Nov. 20, Gary English, a distinguished professor of dramatic arts at the University of Connecticut, Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute and Art and Human Rights research program affiliate, delivered a talk about his knowledge about the intersection of human rights and theatre. This is following another talk English gave about dialectics, or the philosophical dynamic of opposites, in theatre, as well as the release of his August 2024 book “Theatre and Human Rights: The Politics of Dramatic Form.”
Co-chair of the Art and Human Rights research program Robin Greeley gave a short introduction to English before he began introducing the topic at hand.
English began by talking about Palestinian theatre and how it was used to better contextualize the conflict between Palestine and Israel. He spent a significant amount of time in the West Bank working with Palestinian theatres.
“I found it difficult to know how to talk about this book,” English said. He elaborated that his book “tries to address the different forms and structures that are employed and how these structures have built in the political implications.”
Going back to the topic of Palestine, English was there when two Palestinian actors performed in a play that was inspired by two Black South Africans who were political prisoners. After the performance was over, English reported how Jewish audience members were baffled about how two Palestinians could play to Black people and didn’t know how to process it. “It challenged their beliefs on Palestinian political prisoners,” English said.
English then talked about his philosophical influences, including Martha Nussbaum’s “The Fragility of Goodness.” Taking influence from the works of Plato and Aristotle, Nussbaum values Greek plays highly because they could tackle scenarios not seen elsewhere.
English acknowledged three different books in the past that tackled the concept of human rights and theatre. As emphasized during his talk, “The purpose of human rights and art is to function as reciprocations.”
There are many plays that delve into topics of human rights. English highlighted a few of them, including two works created in a theatre workshop in Ghana about themes pertaining to Ghanaian human rights such as religion, modernity, political economy and access to clean water.
When an actor embodies a character, there is no difference between them.
Gary English, UConn Professor of Dramatic Arts
“When an actor embodies a character, there is no difference between them,” English said. English described the dynamic between the actor and the character to be a “symbiotic relationship” where you couldn’t slip a cigarette paper in.
“There is no way to do a three-dimensional book,” English admitted. Nonetheless, he tried to write his book “Theatre and Human Rights” with multiple audiences in mind and each of the eight chapters could appeal to different demographics. The book is split into two parts: “Aesthetics, Foundations and Methods of Theatre and Human Rights,” which is more grounded in theory, and “Greek Drama, Palestine and South Africa: Tragedy, Conflicting Rights, Resistance and Justice,” which pertains to real-world examples of human rights in theatre.
English then talked about specific plays including “Death of the Maiden,” which is about Paulina and her husband letting a doctor stay with them overnight. Then Paulina holds the doctor hostage because she believes that he was the doctor who tortured her in the past. English noted, “Paulina is left out. Paulina’s suffering is in the margins.” When talking about the impact of the play, English said, “It doesn’t create pathos, it creates thought.” English is against empathy being the main point of performances because people tend to show empathy for those most like them.
English then shifted his focus to a different play, this one heavily researched and about Palestinians locked in a church by Israeli soldiers. “The play is fundamentally about the right to resist,” English said. On the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, English said “This is an intergenerational conflict.”
Another play, Athol Fugard’s “My Children! My Africa!” was about the dialectics of cultural and armed resistance. English said that although weapons may not always prosper in doing damage, “Your words can get inside the head of the people inside the armored car.”
English noted a psychodrama workshop that worked with traumatized Palestinian children from ages 12 to 15 who couldn’t speak due to trauma and expressed themselves with performance. This workshop would culminate in the “Gaza Mono-Logues.”
English preferred to use the term “remedies for dehumanization” over “rehumanization” because “rehumanization” implies that the dehumanized weren’t human at one point and that they’re obligated to “rehumanize” themselves as if it’s their fault in the first place.
The play is fundamentally about the right to resist.
Gary English, UConn Professor of Dramatic Arts
English noted the criticisms of reconciliation in theatre, citing John Kani’s “Nothing but the Truth” as a criticism of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and how it shouldn’t be accepted as actual change and advancement of human rights.
English ended his talk by reading an excerpt from his new book about an analysis of “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus.
There was then a short Q&A session. English gave many insightful responses to audience members’ questions, including how somebody else once said, “Justice, peace, reconciliation: pick two.” Other responses from English included: “The argument for resistance is implicit in the UDHR,” “They can only be rights if they are fought for,” “The commodification of art” as a negative that needs to be circumvented, “What I enjoy about Palestinian theatre is that they escape [the commodification]. The art is in the moment and then they make something else” and “Theatre should be viewed as tactics, not strategy.”
A striking way to informally end the talk after the Q&A session was with a story about how, in a Palestinian theatre, the Israeli military shut off the power, so audience members used their phone flashlights and shone them on the stage so that the actors could finish the play. Resistance and persistence are human qualities that should be embraced.