Enacting Law: The Dramaturgy of the Courtroom on the Contemporary Stage

• Main Author: Steff Nellis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cultural Studies Association 2021-06-01
• Series: Lateral
• Subjects: courtroom; courtroom drama; tribunal; theatre; performance; re-enactment; pre-enactment; justice
• Online Access: https://csalateral.org/issue/10-1/enacting-law-dramaturgy-courtroom-contemporary-stage-nellis/

Although historical research into twentieth-century theatrical tribunals is widespread, the recurring theme of justice in contemporary performance practices remains largely unexplored. However, an increasing number of twenty-first-century artists have begun relying on structures of the court. By creating theatrical tribunals, these artists try to create a space for an alternative jurisdiction. However, a clear typology of this tribunal genre in the contemporary performing arts is still lacking. This article therefore aims to characterize theatrical tribunals. In the first section, I describe the setting of the courtroom as a theatrical place in which law gets enacted or performed. Following several scholars that already stated the important spectacular aspects of the legal system, I discuss the dramaturgy of the courtroom as a specific dramatic place with its own scenography, script, and dramatis personae. Next, by analyzing the dramaturgy of the courtroom, I distinguish two categories within the tribunal genre: (1) re-enactments of preeminent lawsuits that heavily rely on twentieth-century documentary practices and (2) performative pre-enactments of futuristic trials that have not yet been held or cannot be held because of systemic shortcomings. Finally I examine how contemporary theatrical tribunals could contribute to the enlargement of public knowledge on historical and contemporary examples of injustice, and whether they could obtain effective changes in our societies.