This thesis gauges the contemporary landscape of political theatre at a time in which everything, and consequently nothing, is political. That is, almost all theatres today proclaim a politics, and yet there is widespread resignation regarding the inevitability of capitalism. This thesis proposes a theory of political action via the theatre: radical theatre today must employ a strategy of "moving targets". Theatrical actions must be adaptable and mobile to seek out the moving targets of capital and track down target audiences as they move through public space. In addition, political theatre must become a moving target to avoid amalgamation into the capitalist system of exchange. I approached this topic through four case studies. Two of the case studies, Reverend Billy's Church of Stop Shopping and the Critical Art Ensemble, are based in the United States. I studied their work via materials - books, essays, videos, websites, interviews, and more - but not in person. The other two case studies are lifted from my own experience with the Christchurch Free Theatre: an original production of Christmas Shopping and a devised production of Karl Kraus' play The Last Days of Mankind. These latter two case studies served as laboratory experiments through which I was able to test ideas and problematics of political theatre that arose through my research. These case studies led to the determination that creating aesthetic experiences and actions - as opposed to having explicitly political content - can be a strategy or foundation for a radical political theatre that resists, undermines, and at times transcends the seeming inevitability of consumer capitalism. In an age in which any political intervention is seen as senseless disruption, a form of pointless violence, this theatre has adopted the strategies of terrorist actions to have a disruptive effect without positing a specific alternative social structure.

English: In this thesis I examine the concept of satirical silence as the compositional principle of Karl Kraus’s drama Die letzten Tage der Menschheit to demonstrate the ways in which the features of modern satire introduce the recipient to the construction of its critique. In Kraus’s drama, silence manifests itself twofold: as a reaction to the First World War and as the only remaining form of satire in the context of public war-euphoria and the widespread use of the press and war-coverage as propaganda tools. From the interruption of Kraus’s periodical Die Fackel at the beginning of the war to the satirical treatment of the homefront in his drama, Kraus’s silence represents a performance of imposed powerlessness. By approaching Kraus’s drama with Walter Benjamin’s concept of storytelling, I analyze satirical silence as an appropriate aesthetic response to the prevailing social conditions and thus to the changing character of the public sphere in modern society. Benjamin’s concept of storytelling and his description of incommunicability as a characteristic of post-war society are at the center of my analysis of modern satire as a reception-based literary practice. Given that satire is a social conversation practice between satirist and recipient, I argue that Kraus’s use of drama as a medium for reprocessing the First World War is built upon the ability of the dramatic form to show how silence emerges as the result of a break between the conversation partners of satire. German: In dieser Arbeit beschreibe ich das Konzept des satirischen Schweigens als Gestaltungsform von Karl Kraus’ Drama Die letzten Tage der Menschheit, um hierin die Züge der modernen Satire in der Hinwendung zum Rezipienten zur Formulierung der satirischen Kritik zu erweisen. Das Schweigen manifestiert sich in Kraus’ Drama sowohl als Reaktion gegenüber dem Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkrieges, wie auch als die einzig verbleibende Gestaltungsform der Satire angesichts des Verlusts ihres Publikums an den Kriegsenthusiasmus und die propagandistisch gestimmte mediale Berichterstattung. Von der Unterbrechung der Publikation seiner Zeitschrift Die Fackel zu Beginn des Krieges hin zur Dokumentation der Heimatfront in seinem Drama bekundet das Schweigen des Satirikers eine Ausdruckskraft in der erzwungenen Ausdruckslosigkeit. Mit Walter Benjamins Konzept des Erzählens analysiere ich das satirische Schweigen als angemessene ästhetische Reaktion auf die gesellschaftlichen Gegebenheiten und somit veränderten Umstände der öffentlichen Rezeption in der modernen Gesellschaft. Benjamins Konzept des Erzählens sowie seine Beschreibung der Unmitteilbarkeit der Nachkriegsgesellschaft bilden die theoretische Fundierung meiner Analyse der modernen Satire als rezeptionsästhetische Kategorie. Ausgehend von dem Verständnis der Satire als ein soziales Gespräch zwischen Satiriker und Rezipient, sehe ich Kraus’ Zuwendung zum Drama als Medium der Aufarbeitung des Ersten Weltkrieges in dem dramatischen Vermögen begründet, das Schweigen als Bruch der Gesprächsteilnehmer, als Bruch der Beziehung von Satire und Öffentlichkeit zu dialogisieren. / Graduate / 2020-09-25