Andrea Tompa – Silencing: Soft and Self-Censorship. The Case of Hungarian Performing Arts

Abstract

The article deals with the theoretical and pragmatic questions of soft censorship and self-censorship in contemporary Hungarian performing arts, i.e. the less visible forms of indirect censorship. The article focuses on practices of artistic directors, theater leadership, and the different intimidating gestures of the state representatives and media, from denunciatory articles, to hearings of artistic directors and other forms of control. The article analyzes forms of ideological pressure (through grant applications). The lack of a direct critical language in theater is put into both historical and contemporary light as part of soft censorship. The Hungarian metoo movement is being also silenced as part of the complex phenomena of soft censorship, as the privatization of Hungarian Theater and Film Academy.