Acceso usuarios
One year after the 2008 financial meltdown ignited the current economic crisis, microteatro was born in an abandoned brothel in Madrid. Spurring the reemergence of popular theatre as a cultural force in Spain, microteatro has transformed the Spanish theatre scene. Despite the dramatic increase in the Value Added Tax on cultural activities levied in 2012 by the Partido Popular, popular theatre has flourished alongside the Spanish democratic revolution, from the 15M to the 2015 municipal elections and beyond. This article highlights how new, non-traditional theatre spaces function as counterhegemonic sites of encounter that share characteristics with the 15M assemblies in terms of their ability to mobilize affect, foster solidarity and encourage the cognitive mapping necessary to contest neoliberalism. Taking Microteatro por dinero and the Teatro del Barrio as examples, I show how popular theatre frequently stages productions critical of dominant Spanish politics and culture, before concluding with an examination of the appropriation of theatre as a symbol of democracy by Podemos.
