Soup Opera

Abstract

“Soup Opera” is not the script for a regular theater production, but for an orchestrated improvisational exercise performed by the audience. It begins when someone in the audience starts reading the script hanging from a big arrow on the scene with the text: “start reading this to add drama”. And it unfolds itself through instructions given in the script and played by the audience. The audience takes the place of an imaginary collective and makes an important decision. There are several ways to make this decision and the outcome is always different.

Based on conversations with artistic hub De Koer (BE) and the theater alliance K.A.K. (Koekelbergse Alliantie van Knutselaars, BE), artists Renée Goethijn and Katinka de Jonge developed this exercise. Every time it was executed it was followed by an aftertalk, in which the group was asked to reflect on their experiences while performing and watching, and on questions around power, decision-making and forms of (micro)democracy. ‘Soup Opera’ is an exercise for anyone who wants to experience what it’s like to be part of a collective, or for collectives who want to experience what it’s like to be in another collective than their own