The essay “Bausch’s theatre of dejection” written by Arlene Croce is a negative review of Bausch’s work with the Wuppertal Theatre. The essay’ argues that Bausch unnecessarily “window dresses” the dance theatre, body shames her company, and uses her pretentious, desperate repetition to give herself pity and validation in her Theatre of Dejection.

Croce starts her essay by bashing Bausch for being “pretentious enough to portray a pathetic, low-life creep”. She says her works reflects the pornography of pain; by using repetition to the blandest extent and including too much violence and tragedy onstage. Croce says “Men brutalize women and women humiliate men in [Pina Bausch’s] theatre.” Croce says Bausch paints this picture of tragedy to fool audiences to think that it’s raw emotion that they’re seeing.

Croce says Bausch “transforms”  overdone shows such as Marat/Sade in the only way she knows how: by stripping her cast and putting the women in lingerie. Croce goes on record to call Bausch a “theatre terrorist” and bashes her storytelling which consists of no dramatic weight, nor even a mildly interesting ensemble. Croce once even states in the essay “And why is it that everyone seems to have had a sad childhood?”

Croce states that, in addition to Bausch exploiting her female dancers, Bausch shames her female cast by “sad sacking” their naked bodies and by having the men onstage not even bat an eye of interest. Croce ends the essay with one final blow to Bausch, saying “Having made women look worse on the stage than any misogynist ever has, she is under no obligation to men.”

-Cameron P.