Subjects of Struggle: theatre as space of political economy

This article studies political theatre as a space of political economy. When conceptualising theatre as a space of political economy, it is important to maintain distinctions between three formulations of the relationship between culture and development: that capitalism is cultural, that cultural labour is a space of political economy, and that culture is capital today. While agreeing with the first two formulations, this article suggests an amendment to the third formulation, as put forward by critical scholarship on the culturalisms of neoliberal governmentality, particularly in George Yudice's influential book The Expediency of Culture. Rather than subsume culture completely within histories of state and capital while evacuating struggle and hope, the author draws on political activism and critical play by two theatre groups in India to theorise everyday political economy as grounded in multiple histories of power, producing complex subjects of struggle.