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Tactical Performance: The Theory and Practice of Serious Play
Bogad’s latest book, Tactical The Theory and Practice of Serious Play, takes readers to the front lines of contemporary activism, offering both a detailed critical analysis of the field, as well as practical guidance in how to construct effective action. His latest offering draws heavily on case studies stemming from his extensive personal repertoire of tactical he either helped found, wrote for, performed with, trained or advised (or some combination of these roles) many of the groups he discusses. [Bogad’s] first-hand experience and knowledge has translated well, giving the book significant authoritative weight. This close involvement has also allowed Bogad to entertain readers with the kind of amusing observations and anecdotes that can only come from being an insider to events… The book subsequently operates on multiple as a monograph on contemporary activism, a catalogue of successful and unsuccessful tactics, and a practical guide and workbook for would-be activists… Bogad’s text provides a much-needed addition to the literature on activism as an inherently useful text that allows us to rethink effective strategies for engaging with the powerful… What makes Bogad’s contribution to this lineage distinctive is his first-hand experience with the issues he raises… The book could not be more timely. Readers will appreciate not only its sound practical guidance, but also its sense of humour. --Contemporary Theatre Review
- GenresActivism
309 pages, Paperback
First published November 22, 2015
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September 6, 2017
Play and protest seem so different, contradictory almost. One seems to be the earnest effort to change the world… and the other seems to be a frivolous effort to build a new world: so, not quite so different then.
Protest is intensely playful: it is all absorbing; for many activists it becomes their new world; protestors and the protested engage in a constant struggle to outwit each other. It is this dynamic that Larry Bogad sets out to explore in this fabulous insight into the playfulness of protest and to playful protest, into what he calls tactical performance. By this he means performance that disrupts and unsettles the dominant claims and rhetoric of the state and of Power (what he calls the hegemonologue). Just as in play, the key to this kind of protest is some form of a playful disposition; a desire and demand to approach protest playfully, and in doing so to rupture the dominant voices and claims by playing with them.
The book does four things very well. First, it is theoretically sophisticated and theoretically explicit but not ‘heavy’. Bogad draws extensively on work by the Brazilian theatre activist Augusto Boal for his idea of tactical performance. There is some explicit discussion of Boal in the introduction, but it is short and provides a base for subsequent demonstrations by example of both Boal’s approaches and the various ways those ideas are used in the cases discussed. More challenging is the discussion of Rabelais and the idea of carnival, which Bogad develops to tactical carnival. Rabelaisian notions of carnival are widely used in cultural and social analyses, but Bogad is keen to draw a distinction between carnival as a catharsis, and carnival as a threat and disrupter of Power. This approach and style gives the book a theoretical elegance and clarity, principally because the critical discussion of carnival/the carnivalesque is about one way to unsettle Power, while the discussion of Boal gives techniques to achieve that goal. That is, the entire approach is praxis oriented: tactical performance underpinned by sophisticated theoretical bases.
Second, Bogad is not afraid to show when things fail. Most of the cases he explores are events in which he was involved as an organiser, trainer or participant – and often more than one of those roles. As a result he has unusual insight to the planning, intentions and actuality of each action allowing him to unpack the details of the various cases showing successes and failures, what worked and what didn’t. The cases include the Clown Army (the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army – CIRCA) involved in a wide array of protest activities in the early to mid-2000s, Reclaim the Streets/New York, mass action against international conventions – here including satirists and ironists such as Billionaires Against Bush and the Missile Dick Chicks, Yes Men spin off the Oil Enforcement Agency, various prank newspapers, and protest activities at the University of California during its funding crisis in the later 2000s.
The range of organisations, their intent and the forms they took (including the differences between CIRCA and RTS in the UK and NYC) allow him to draw out key organisational points linked to the various contexts. More importantly, it also allows him for be blunt and explicit about when things did not work. This is incredibly rare in participants’ discussions of social movements, yet it is these cases of failure that are crucial in allowing us to learn and adapt. Central to his analysis and a recurring theme is the idea that Power and its opponents are continually learning from each other, and that the dialogue between the two in protest settings is an opportunity to learn about how the other will respond – so repeating the same approach or style risks being self-defeating, but also risks being out-manoeuvred by Power, because it learns and because it is Power it has a long institutional memory. If nothing else, this organisational open-ness makes this one of the most valuable books I know about planning and building activism.
Third, Bogad draws a crucial tactical and strategic distinction between activism that occupies space and that which opens space. He seems to have a preference for the later, but quite properly notes that movements need to have versions of each option in its repertoire able to be invoked depending on the situation and context of the action in question. Opening space is crucial for Bogad because it allows multiple voices to emerge with an opportunity for prefigurative activism, and as such allows for a genuine diversity of tactics, especially in settings where there is open and genuine communication between movement/participant groups. There are several really good examples of this communication in action.
Finally, most chapters have a tidy summary of what can be learned from the cases discussed, in the form of “suggestions: to be tested in practice”. These are organisational and stylistic principles, not ‘rules’ for successful organisation; as such they are open, flexible and adaptable, guiding not determining practice. All of this is held together by an attitude of playfulness, of subversion and disruption, and of, whenever anyone makes a suggestion or initiates an action, a response that is based in the ‘Yes, and’ principle – yes, let’s, and what next: what do we add to that,
On top of this, and because of the form the discussions take, the book is inspiring, with great discussions of the ‘air war’ of spectacle and the ‘ground war’ of mass action as well as explorations of micro and macro interventions and practices – and a call to fluid and flexible action. Performance studies meets activism in productive and exciting ways. Play people will get a lot out of this, but I suspect activists will get more – both should work with it, and in the spirit of ‘yes, and’ see where we finish up.
Protest is intensely playful: it is all absorbing; for many activists it becomes their new world; protestors and the protested engage in a constant struggle to outwit each other. It is this dynamic that Larry Bogad sets out to explore in this fabulous insight into the playfulness of protest and to playful protest, into what he calls tactical performance. By this he means performance that disrupts and unsettles the dominant claims and rhetoric of the state and of Power (what he calls the hegemonologue). Just as in play, the key to this kind of protest is some form of a playful disposition; a desire and demand to approach protest playfully, and in doing so to rupture the dominant voices and claims by playing with them.
The book does four things very well. First, it is theoretically sophisticated and theoretically explicit but not ‘heavy’. Bogad draws extensively on work by the Brazilian theatre activist Augusto Boal for his idea of tactical performance. There is some explicit discussion of Boal in the introduction, but it is short and provides a base for subsequent demonstrations by example of both Boal’s approaches and the various ways those ideas are used in the cases discussed. More challenging is the discussion of Rabelais and the idea of carnival, which Bogad develops to tactical carnival. Rabelaisian notions of carnival are widely used in cultural and social analyses, but Bogad is keen to draw a distinction between carnival as a catharsis, and carnival as a threat and disrupter of Power. This approach and style gives the book a theoretical elegance and clarity, principally because the critical discussion of carnival/the carnivalesque is about one way to unsettle Power, while the discussion of Boal gives techniques to achieve that goal. That is, the entire approach is praxis oriented: tactical performance underpinned by sophisticated theoretical bases.
Second, Bogad is not afraid to show when things fail. Most of the cases he explores are events in which he was involved as an organiser, trainer or participant – and often more than one of those roles. As a result he has unusual insight to the planning, intentions and actuality of each action allowing him to unpack the details of the various cases showing successes and failures, what worked and what didn’t. The cases include the Clown Army (the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army – CIRCA) involved in a wide array of protest activities in the early to mid-2000s, Reclaim the Streets/New York, mass action against international conventions – here including satirists and ironists such as Billionaires Against Bush and the Missile Dick Chicks, Yes Men spin off the Oil Enforcement Agency, various prank newspapers, and protest activities at the University of California during its funding crisis in the later 2000s.
The range of organisations, their intent and the forms they took (including the differences between CIRCA and RTS in the UK and NYC) allow him to draw out key organisational points linked to the various contexts. More importantly, it also allows him for be blunt and explicit about when things did not work. This is incredibly rare in participants’ discussions of social movements, yet it is these cases of failure that are crucial in allowing us to learn and adapt. Central to his analysis and a recurring theme is the idea that Power and its opponents are continually learning from each other, and that the dialogue between the two in protest settings is an opportunity to learn about how the other will respond – so repeating the same approach or style risks being self-defeating, but also risks being out-manoeuvred by Power, because it learns and because it is Power it has a long institutional memory. If nothing else, this organisational open-ness makes this one of the most valuable books I know about planning and building activism.
Third, Bogad draws a crucial tactical and strategic distinction between activism that occupies space and that which opens space. He seems to have a preference for the later, but quite properly notes that movements need to have versions of each option in its repertoire able to be invoked depending on the situation and context of the action in question. Opening space is crucial for Bogad because it allows multiple voices to emerge with an opportunity for prefigurative activism, and as such allows for a genuine diversity of tactics, especially in settings where there is open and genuine communication between movement/participant groups. There are several really good examples of this communication in action.
Finally, most chapters have a tidy summary of what can be learned from the cases discussed, in the form of “suggestions: to be tested in practice”. These are organisational and stylistic principles, not ‘rules’ for successful organisation; as such they are open, flexible and adaptable, guiding not determining practice. All of this is held together by an attitude of playfulness, of subversion and disruption, and of, whenever anyone makes a suggestion or initiates an action, a response that is based in the ‘Yes, and’ principle – yes, let’s, and what next: what do we add to that,
On top of this, and because of the form the discussions take, the book is inspiring, with great discussions of the ‘air war’ of spectacle and the ‘ground war’ of mass action as well as explorations of micro and macro interventions and practices – and a call to fluid and flexible action. Performance studies meets activism in productive and exciting ways. Play people will get a lot out of this, but I suspect activists will get more – both should work with it, and in the spirit of ‘yes, and’ see where we finish up.
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