The Choral Turn: Performing the Chorus in the Ruins of Democracy examines the recent resurgence of the chorus—a hallmark of ancient Greek tragedy—across contemporary Western theatre, performance, and activism, arguing that this “choral turn” is inseparable from anxieties about the decline of liberal democracy. Drawing on classical studies, theatre and performance studies, and political philosophy, Holzapfel coins the term “choraperformativity” to describe performances that mobilize the formal and collective conventions of the chorus to contest or reshape dominant political narratives. The Choral Turn uses case studies—plays about war and catastrophe featuring Greek-like choruses, refugee performers theatrically reenacting their own displacement, environmental protesters staging collective mourning for a dying planet—to show how groups use choral performance to demand recognition and assert the need for change. Rather than treating the chorus as inherently progressive, the study asks hard questions about who gets included in these choral communities and who gets left out, offering a nuanced, timely look at collective action on stage and in the streets.

Amy Holzapfel is Frederick Latimer Wells Professor of Theatre at Williams College.