Repertoire at stake. A discourse analysis of the struggle to define repertoire in Flemish theatre from 1945 until today.

This project investigates how the term 'repertoire' (or theatre classics) is used as a political instrument in the texts of and discussions between theatre makers, critics and policymakers in the field of Flemish theatre from 1945 to the present.In the past theatre season the question which repertoire should be played on Flemish stages (or not) was hotly debated. Such debates are symptomatic of canon discussions in other disciplines. They are invariably controversial since they put a nation's cultural identity at issue. The actual debate, however, failed to topicalise identity explicitly. Moreover, repertoire has been the subject of much disagreement in post-war Flemish theatre history, while research on how this term has been instrumental in cultural politics is as yet lacking. Via a quantitative and qualitative discourse analysis the project at hand strives to provide insight into the evolving relations between policymakers and the theatre sector against the backdrop of a cultural communitynegotiating its own canon. On the basis of six digital corpora consisting of journal articles and policy documents between 1945 and today, it will be possible to determine who says what on repertoire and why, which interests support various definitions, and which definitions prove to be decisive.

Keywords:THEATRE SCIENCE

Disciplines:Art studies and sciences, Theatre and performance