Les Mis and Protest: How Rebellion Performs for a Passive Audience

On October 4th 2023, 5 protesters from the climate activist group Just Stop Oil (JSO) disrupted a performance of Les Misérables in London's West End. This was done during the song 'Do You Hear The People Sing?', which is considered to be a rallying cry for people to rise up and has been used in protest movements in the past. But the protest was met with boos and calls for the protesters to "get off the stage" from the audience. It seems the irony is lost on the audience members, who applaud the characters of Les Mis for fighting for a better tomorrow in the June Rebellion of 1832, but in the same breath disparage those who protest new oil and gas licenses that worsen the climate crisis. My thoughts don't turn to ask if this was the right thing for JSO to do or even if what they're protesting is relevant to theatre. This just replicates the unproductive arguments that are had on likes of TalkTV or in the comment section of The Daily Mail. My thoughts instead turn to the audiences reactions and how theatre playing out rebellions and protests pacifies their audiences.

First, let’s establish that the class background of audiences for theatre in general tend to be from the middle class. So already their class interests are up against what the protesters are protesting. This is discussed in Jonathan McGrath's, A Good Night Out, Popular Theatre: Audience, Class, and Form (1996), where he writes ' A middle-class audience can be more speculative, metaphysical, often preferring the subject to be at arm’s length from their daily experience.' (McGrath, 1996; 58). This is exemplified in Les Mis' setting being nearly two centuries from our own and in a different country. So to have issues from our own time "invading" the space that was created breaks that arm's length feeling for the audience.

Secondly, capitalist realism does play a part in the audiences reaction to the protest and the consumption of Les Mis. In Mark Fisher's, Capitalist Realism (2009) he discusses how cinema uses anti-capitalism as he writes ' Far from undermining capitalist realism, this gestural anti-capitalism actually reinforces it.' (Fisher, 2009; 12). This allows audiences to engage in interpassivity, where the film performs anti-capitalism for them and lets them consume with impunity. Although Les Mis isn't in general anti-capitalist, it does engage in interpassivity that allows for the show to perform protest and rebellion without doing it themselves.

With this all in mind, how does theatre playing out rebellions and protests pacify their audiences? I think personally that theatre like Les Mis does pacify its audience, as it stands I don't think "traditional" theatre or musical theatre inspires or even points to action that the audiences can take. Even if those issues can be related to the problems of today. This is because the audience are meant to be passive in taking the shows subject matter, compared to Brecht's, Lehrstücke or Augusto Boal's, Forum Theatre which make the audiences, active spectators. So a possible solution in the coming years as the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis continue, and the conservative government loses what little grip it had on reality. Maybe audiences and artists should stop taking a passive role and become active spectators, whether shows intend them to or not.

Bibliography

Fisher, M. (2009) Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?. Zero Books.

McGrath, J. (1996) A Good Night Out, Popular Theatre: Audience, Class and Form. 2nd edn. London: Nick Hern Books Ltd.