The Affective Public Sphere: Romeo Castellucci’s On the Concept of the Face Regarding the Son of God

Abstract

In this paper I want to look at the theatrical public sphere as a realm
of extreme affective arousal. The theatre today, at least in its Western
manifestations, is largely an autonomous sphere of aesthetic experience,
which only on special occasions finds topics of interest to the larger public
sphere. The relationship between the public sphere and the theatre is, in
my understanding of the term, a relationship between inside and outside,
between the internal dynamics of exchange between stage and auditorium,
performer and spectator, and the more difficult interconnections between
the generally closed realm of performance and the wider dynamics
of political and social debate. A theatrical performance is something that
normally takes place between spectators and performers who enter into
an artistic contract, which is therefore outside and beyond state control
and moral censure. I shall look at a recent example where this functioning
contract was exploded. The production On the concept of the face, regarding
the Son of God, created by Italian director Romeo Castellucci and his
theatre Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio has led to violent protests in France and
Italy coordinated by Catholic groups who have been joined on occasions
by right-wing and Islamist groups as well. I shall examine the production
and the public protests surrounding it in an effort to understand how the
theatrical public sphere functions in a mediatized society.