Censorship limits freedom of expression and the power of persuasion, and the both are true everyday of life and in any artistic practice, such as theater. Through a few examples that I will cite, you will have a non-exhaustive list of historical facts related to art and connected to this theme. What imperatives are invoked? Politics, religion, morality, financial interests? Whether it is, individual, a didactorship, a society, or a sect, the arguments are the hallmark of dogmatism and obscurantism.
During Antiquity, when theater was quite free, Plato advocated for so-called preventive censorship in his work, The Republic, and this was taken into account until the rise of Emperor Augustus.
From 1606 to 1706, Quebec was colonized, and theatre was often condemned by the Church. This was also the case during the British conquest from 1763 to 1830. The clerical authorities opposed the representation of social mores in theatre; for example, the play by Adrienne Le Couvreur, performed by Sarah Bernhardt, was banned, as were other plays, for reasons of “mortal sin.”
The institutions’ initial response was prohibition, followed by a form of assimilation through the creation of Christian theatre companies to control the venues, which in itself constituted a clear form of censorship.
In Great Britain, Walpole’s Act was repealed in 1843. It had been one of the instruments of censorship, as a license was required by the government before any performance. Theaters are required to submit plays in advance to ensure they conform to public morals, decorum, and public order. Strong reactions from authors, including letters sent in 1907, arose in response to the banning of Ibsen’s play *Ghosts*, among others.
During the Soviet era, Russia also experienced widespread censorship of its theater, and I would cite Pushkin as one of the targets of this censorship. The reactions were strong and continued for many years; in 1928, several plays denounced the regime. The Soviet period was not the only instance of this phenomenon, and it had repercussions for all other geopolitically connected countries. In 2022, Esther Bol’s plays were removed from the repertoire, as governments often follow a pattern of banning authors and erasing their works. Protection programs exist to support artists, and this also applies to researchers.
In South America, several coups d’état established dictatorships. In Brazil in 1964, the military seized power, restricting citizens’ rights. Torture and arbitrary arrests became commonplace. Regarding theaters, censorship took the form of performance bans. For example, Roda Viva, C. Buarque’s play in 1968, became the target of extremists who vandalized the theater. The group had gone hunting for communists, and Marília Pera was assaulted by members of the authorities. Protests grew stronger, and texts continued to be written until the end of the dictatorship in the mid-1980s.
In Chile, a national theater developed within a context of institutional stability. The 1973 coup had a decisive impact.
Censorship, which has been rampant throughout the world, has not spared the African continent, whether in Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, or Benin. In 1976, Yulisa Amadu was exiled for writing her play Big Benin in Krio, an unofficial language, which allowed her to convey a message of rebellion. Lesser-known languages have often served as tools in the fight against censorship, and this remains true today. In 1977, the reign of Idi Amin led to totalitarian and criminal behavior. The author John Male was assassinated following an accusation of lèse-majesté stemming from his writing of The Empty Office.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s capture of Kabul resulted in a surge of artistic creation in exile starting in 2021. This involves viewing art as a systematic opposition to dogma, whether religious or political. Let’s take, for example, the work of Guilda Chaverdi.
The re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S.A. also reinforced a broader movement of rising extremism, which continued to wield power and used censorship, including in the cultural sphere. In 2003, the children’s book *The Family Book* was removed from the school curriculum in Illinois because of its depiction of same-sex families. Examples abound.
Whether preventative or repressive, censorship has been exercised in many countries. This deprivation of liberty has occurred repeatedly in the past and has taken many forms; unfortunately, it is still a current issue.
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