Performing revolutionary China: Sergei Tret’iakov’s Roar, China! and the reconfiguration of revolutionary theatre

This article examines Sergei Tret’iakov’s Roar, China!(1926) as a unique case of revolutionary theatre. While contemporary Soviet plays on Chinese themes often collapsed into a blend of exoticism and revolutionary rhetoric, Roar, China! radicalized this established model. Through the capture, observation, and organization of factual details, Tret’iakov penetrated the fabric of everyday life in China, reassembling it into a comprehensive image of the Chinese Revolution. Furthermore, this article argues that by utilizing the ‘montage of attractions’, Tret’iakov structured and mobilized the audience’s sensory experience and bodily response. In doing so, the production established a direct, embodied connection between the Soviet spectator and the Chinese revolutionary cause, effectively reconfiguring the political agency of the theatre in the post-revolutionary era.