Milo Rau as Influencer: A New Realism in Theater

Helen Kraft considers director Milo Rau as an influencer. Kraft places Rau within a subcategory of influencer identified by economist and psychologist Robert Cialdini as intellectuals who are “well-connected, create an impact, have active minds, and are trendsetters.” She argues that Rau fills that role in the theater and positions the director in relation to other postmodern thinkers and theater artists. According to Kraft, Rau actively courts controversy with his work as a means of drawing attention to conflict and corruption around the world, but, despite frequent comparisons to Bertolt Brecht, Rau is not an idealogue, exposing inconsistencies rather than promoting any single ideology in his work.