Jagiellonian University

English abstract: In this article, I analyse Legislative Theatre from a socio-legal perspective, for the first time in reflections on this topic. By analysing the context of participatory processes, I outline the background for Legislative Theatre, where participation or its manifestations play a significant role. In the article, I both present the origins of Legislative Theatre – as a process used to generate ideas for legal amendments or their implementation – and compare the original assumptions with contemporary challenges or contexts important for legal scholarship. The article focuses on an analysis of the original assumptions of Legislative Theatre, confronting and comparing them, where necessary, with the contemporary approach. At the same time, I claim that Legislative Theatre, despite its name, should be understood in terms of participation, rather than legislation, in particular the ambition to influence the legislative process (initiative). These considerations are one of the first attempts to look at Legislative Theatre as a potentially important theme for both academics and practitioners, for both actors and audiences (if any) of legal systems. At the same time, they are an attempt to embed Legislative Theatre as a theme for a wider reflection of legal scholars, including Polish ones.

Key words: socially engaged theatre, participation, Legislative Theatre, legislation, law

Language: polish

Published: Number 1(46)/2026, pp. 77–95.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2026.1.77

Number of downloads: 54

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.