On June 22, Stefano Boselli (Theatre) presented the paper “Invisible Assemblages Made Visible: Hostile Actors and Dis-Connected Shows in Paris, 1970-1993" at the PSi Performance Studies international Conference #29 “Assemble! in London, UK. French theorists Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari describe the assemblage as follows: “a multiplicity which is made up of many heterogeneous terms […], the assemblage’s only unity is that of a co-functioning: it is a symbiosis, a ‘sympathy’” (Deleuze and Parnet, Dialogues II). In theatre, this co-functioning is often self-evident but other times partially or completely hidden from the spectators’ eyes. In his paper Boselli applies assemblage theory to theatre and uncovers two types of surprising assemblages: the first between ostensibly independent shows – Argentine playwright Copi’s Eva Perón (1970) and Michael McClure’s The Beard – which were in fact sharing the same performer at different times of the same evening; the second between theatre producers of diametrically opposed political views, converging but also fighting about the quality and future tours of Copi’s Cachafaz (1993). These practical alliances and their motives could only be fully appreciated once hostile actors intervened to sever certain connections and reveal the assemblages’ distinct components.
