From Gypsyland With Love

Review of the Theater Play Roma Armee

Abstract

My review of the 2017 theater piece, Roma Armee, focuses on its attempt to decolonize the stage and denounce the complicity of cultural institutions – in this case, the theater, with its typical fetishization of Roma as exotic nomads and the simultaneous perpetuation of racist stereotypes of Roma as criminals and undesirables. I focus on storytelling as a methodology that has the power to elevate the voices of underprivileged groups, and claim
that Roma Armee, with its unapologetic Roma-ness, undeniable coolness, and overall brilliance, is much more than an elegant j’accuse directed at skewering antigypsyism. Rather, it provides a timely addition to current debates about the social responsibility of art and the possibilities for the effective decolonization of the regimes of representation that govern art institutions and, as such, should be seen as a unique contribution to the ongoing process of radical self-rebranding exercised by Roma activists and cultural producers.