A The Revolution, the Theatre Fund and the Independent Theatre: when gesture goes beyond discourse

Abstract

The concept of independent theatre assumes various forms depending on the historical and institutional context under analysis. In Portugal, the significance of the 1974 Revolution in its assertion yields distinct characteristics at the European level. In the ARTHE – Archiving Theatre project, we applied the concept of independent theatre to refer to the “heterogeneous set of non commercial companies that emerged after the Revolution”. But how did this process unfold? In what manner did they grow? With what support and funding? Within what legal framework and institutional relationships? Drawing from historical analysis of documents from various archives, interviews, and legislation, I sought to address these questions from the perspective of neoinstitutional theory (Balme, 2017), engaging in dialogue with the analyses of Manfred Brauneck (2017) and Daria Lavrennikov (2020) regarding independent theatre at the European level. I conclude that the programmatic goal of theatrical and cultural democratization influenced cultural public policy institutions after the Revolution in an ambivalent manner, promoting “independent theatre” and “decentralization” through a change in the balance of power within the Theatre Fund, but never assuming them as a coherent public policy.