Moving from Russia to France to Japan, then crossing the Atlantic to Latin America, and having a final stop in Iceland, EJTP issue 7 travels across various geographical regions in a way that reflects the scope and aims of EJTP. For even while this journal is called the European Journal of Theatre and Performance, it is acutely aware of the fact that Europe does not exist in isolation from other parts of the world. The running thread emerging from this issue seems to confirm this condition: in times marked by a deep sense of urgence and crisis, it has become hard, if not impossible, for the performing arts to shy away from the world that surrounds us and to question instead what imaginative alternatives artists might have to offer.
The contributions featuring in this issue’s Essays section were submitted in response to an open call without a predetermined theme. What connects these essays, however, is how they each dive deep into the either explicit or implicit ways in which theatre and performance artists have dealt, or are still dealing, with the distinct political realities making up their world. The topics range from Russian artists living in exile and struggling with the traumatic burden of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; to the representation of war in nineteenth-century puppet theatre; to the strategic overturning of conspiracy theories through experimental radio art.
The Scholar in Focus section provides a curated sample of the writings of Lola Proaño Gómez, an esteemed expert in Latin American theatre and the Associate Scholar of the 2023 EASTAP Conference in Aarhus. Several of her texts appear for the first time in English translation in this issue.
The From the Archives section focuses on the challenges that archivist Sigríður Jónsdóttir has been facing after being appointed as a single staff member to build a new performing arts division within the National and University Library of Iceland.
The issue concludes with the Book Reviews section, featuring five reviews of recent publications that interestingly expand on some of the major topics also addressed throughout other contributions in this issue.
