Szabolcs Musca
University of Bristol, Drama: Theatre, Film, Television, Department Member
- University of Lisbon, Centre for Theatre Research (CET)), Faculty Memberadd
- Translation Studies, Theatre Studies, Dramaturgy, Adaptation, European Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, and 39 moreContemporary European Performance, East European Theatre, Postdramatic theatre, Theatre Translation, Minority Theatre, Translation and Identity, Directing, Cultural Studies, French Theatre, Translation and Theatre, Translation theory, Theatre History, Theatre History (European Theatre, Representations of Migration In Contemporary Theatre, Translation and Performance, Cultural Approaches to Translation, Literary translation, Theatre Festivals, Socially Engaged Theatre, Contemporary Theatre, Transnationalism, Adaptation Studies, Community theatre, Theatre Directing, Cultural Translation, Dramaturgy In Participatory Theatre, Italian Theatre, Contemporary Italian Theatre, Theatre and Migration, Drama, Intertextuality, Transcultural Studies, French and Francophone Theatre, écriture Migrante, Multiculturalism, Post-Colonialism, Postcolonial Studies, Dramaturgy and Scriptwriting, and Théâtre exil migrantsedit
- * Please note, that I no longer use/ update this site! You can follow my work and get in touch via my ResearchGate ac... more* Please note, that I no longer use/ update this site! You can follow my work and get in touch via my ResearchGate account at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Szabolcs-Muscaedit
This journal issue looks at ethical positions and qualities in artistic processes and aesthetic modalities of migrant representation in contemporary theatre and performance in Europe and beyond. The journal issue is informed by the work... more
This journal issue looks at ethical positions and qualities in artistic processes and aesthetic modalities of migrant representation in contemporary theatre and performance in Europe and beyond. The journal issue is informed by the work of Migrant Dramaturgies Network, an international research network that explores emerging dramaturgies of theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. MDNetwork aims to map new theatrical forms of migrant representation and identify their impacts on national theatre cultures in shaping the perception of non-European migrants and migrant cultures.
https://www.intellectbooks.com/performing-ethos-international-journal-of-ethics-in-theatre-performance
https://www.intellectbooks.com/performing-ethos-international-journal-of-ethics-in-theatre-performance
Research Interests:
Redefining Theatre Communities explores the interplay between contemporary theatre and communities. It considers the aesthetic, social, and cultural aspects of community-conscious theatre-making. While doing so, the volume reflects on... more
Redefining Theatre Communities explores the interplay between contemporary theatre and communities. It considers the aesthetic, social, and cultural aspects of community-conscious theatre-making. While doing so, the volume reflects on recent transformations in structural, textual, and theatrical conventions and traditions, and explores the changing modes of production and spectatorship in relation to theatre communities. The essays edited by Marco Galea and Szabolcs Musca present an array of emerging perspectives on the politics, ethics, and practices of community representation on the contemporary international theatre landscape. An international, interdisciplinary collection featuring work by theatre scholars, theatre-makers, and artistic directors from across Europe and beyond, Redefining Theatre Communities will appeal to those interested in the diverse forms of socially engaged theatre and performance.
https://www.intellectbooks.com/redefining-theatre-communities
https://www.intellectbooks.com/redefining-theatre-communities
Research Interests:
Drawing on the recent UK-based theatre project Migrations: Harbour Europe, the chapter examines migrant theatre initiatives that practice resistance, political responsiveness and solidarity while resisting established narratives and... more
Drawing on the recent UK-based theatre project Migrations: Harbour Europe, the chapter examines migrant theatre initiatives that practice resistance, political responsiveness and solidarity while resisting established narratives and fostering new aesthetics of migration and refugeedom. Migrations: Harbour Europe project was developed by the migrant theatre collective Legal Aliens Theatre in collaboration with Migrant Dramaturgies Network. Musca argues that Migrations: Harbour Europe functions as a site for public discourse, positioning migrant identities and experiences firmly in the socio-political realm and advocating a rethinking of contemporary societies as migration societies in which asylum-seeking and refugeedom are structural issues rather than temporary ‘crises’.
Research Interests:
This article looks at dramaturgical practices within a recent visual and immersive migrant theatre and refugee performance initiative that questions both the politics and representations of memory. Drawing on Caroline Williams and Reem... more
This article looks at dramaturgical practices within a recent visual and immersive migrant theatre and refugee performance initiative that questions both the politics and representations of memory. Drawing on Caroline Williams and Reem Karssli’s recent performance work Now Is The Time to Say Nothing (2018), I examine emerging dramaturgical models that deal directly with both lived and witnessed memories of war and refugeedom today. The article maps new aesthetics created through visual and immersive dramaturgical practices and explore the ways in which such aesthetics might challenge and shape existing testimonial narratives of migration. This production is an important work among a growing number of visual and participatory initiatives that build on activist aesthetics. I will argue that such explorations are increasingly important as they challenge dominant media portrayals and foster a re-evaluation of complex identities and ideologies amidst recent shifts in global politics and economics.
Research Interests:
In the summer of 2017, Szabolcs Musca and Graça P. Corrêa followed the production process of Passajar, an immersive participatory theatre project collaboratively created by four theatre-makers and refugees from Congo, Iran, Iraq, Syria... more
In the summer of 2017, Szabolcs Musca and Graça P. Corrêa followed the production process of Passajar, an immersive participatory theatre project collaboratively created by four theatre-makers and refugees from Congo, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Zimbabwe. Developed under the curatorship of Portuguese choreographer Madalena Victorino for Festival Todos in Lisbon, this multilingual experimental work focused on representing migrant experiences through a postdramatic artistic gaze. The production refused the forms of testimonial theatre and with it the contradictory role of facilitators, opting instead for a multidimensional fictional aesthetics practice. In this article the authors explore how Passajar performance and dramaturgical processes address difference in actual creative practice; and what are the ‘refugeedom’ aesthetics and ethical affects being generated by working with refugee participants. Similar to a growing number of non-verbatim migrant theatre initiatives, Passajar switched from the real to the fictitious via non-realistic representations and processes of abstraction. Arguably, this practice went against victimhood narratives, but does suspending traditional means of identification and empathy help develop new understandings on migration, or, on the contrary create detachment in audiences? What are the ethical consequences to audiences and refugee participants alike? Drawing upon philosophical concepts by Henri Bergson, Baruch Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze, the article examines how they critically contribute towards a discussion of the dramaturgies of alterity and empathy that were deployed in Passajar. By reflecting on both rehearsal process and final production, it reveals the ethical affects of Passajar, as well as transformative alternatives for migrant representation beyond the stage.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article is concerned with the European public theatre system’s relationship with migration. Focusing on the Portuguese theatre landscape and especially Lisbon, the essay will map some of the major issues regarding theatre and... more
This article is concerned with the European public theatre system’s relationship with migration. Focusing on the Portuguese theatre landscape and especially Lisbon, the essay will map some of the major issues regarding theatre and migration today, identifying both systemic failures and structural and aesthetic shifts in the public theatres’ engagement with migrant communities. Contemporary performative approaches will be surveyed with a special emphasis on initiatives that go against crisis narratives and position migration as a structural component of society rather than a temporary challenge. The article proposes a shift from aesthesized theatre practices towards activist aesthetics, a politically responsive, participatory and durational practice that would not only introduce counter narratives on migration, but it would be instrumental in re-thinking our national cultural, literary and theatrical canons.
Research Interests:
This conversation traces the creation of Todos Festival, one of the most important international socially engaged multi-arts festivals in Southern Europe. In dialogue with artistic director, Madalena Victorino, the festival will be... more
This conversation traces the creation of Todos Festival, one of the most important international socially engaged multi-arts festivals in Southern Europe. In dialogue with artistic director, Madalena Victorino, the festival will be portrayed as a space for encounter and performative exploration of difference, linking marginalised migrant and minority communities to Lisbon’s theatre scape and cultural ecology. We discuss modalities of transfiguring difficult (local) realities into performance on the interface between centres and peripheries.
Research Interests:
This chapter discusses the role of translating communities in the context of international theatre festivals and cross-national theatre collaborations. Drawing on a wide range of examples, these international platforms are presented as... more
This chapter discusses the role of translating communities in the context of international theatre festivals and cross-national theatre collaborations. Drawing on a wide range of examples, these international platforms are presented as shared cultural spaces where national and cultural differences are negotiated and where cultural value systems interact and being exchanged. Both international festivals and partnerships establish translocal and transnational identities by encouraging artistic and cultural exchanges. Consequently, they have a development function on artistic, local and national levels resulting in new artistic methodologies, urban re-generation and national cultural branding. All these outcomes nevertheless, raise concerns and tensions between local and global values and communities. I will reflect on these aspects of theatrical exchange arguing towards the importance of a hybrid (European) theatrical space and theatrical community acknowledging translation (theatrical and cultural) as one of the most important channels of negotiations, exchange and collaboration.
Research Interests:
Interview with Mark Deputter, Artistic Director of Teatro Maria Matos, Lisbon (Portugal)
Research Interests: Theatre Studies, Performance Studies, Glocalization, Performance Art, Audience and Reception Studies, and 13 morePerformance, Political theatre, Curatorial Studies and Practice, Curatorial Practice (Art), European Theatre, Intercultural Theatre, Contemporary European Performance, Community theatre, International Theatre, Glocal, Artistic Programming, Curatorial Practices In Live Art and Media Arts, and Portuguese theatre
Research Interests:
In her book Theatre and Migration, Emma Cox observes how ‘migration is, at its heart, about encounters with foreignness—with foreign people, and with foreign places’ (Cox 2014: 3). Consequently, ‘theatre of migration pays attention to... more
In her book Theatre and Migration, Emma Cox observes how ‘migration is, at its heart, about encounters with foreignness—with foreign people, and with foreign places’ (Cox 2014: 3). Consequently, ‘theatre of migration pays attention to imagining the contact zone between those who arrive and those who lay claim to ownership or custodianship over a territory. But who does the imagining?’ (2014:4-5). Moreover, what are the ethics of such encounters and the dramaturgical politics of such imagining? This lecture wishes to map the interferences between ethical and creative/ aesthetic practices of staging and performing migration, refugeedom and asylum in a contemporary context. I will look at ethical positions and qualities in artistic processes and aesthetic modalities of migrant representation in contemporary theatre and performance in Europe and beyond.
Research Interests:
Monday,17 April 2017 ¦ 19h• workshop ¦ 21h• public debate Rua das Gaivotas 6, Lisbon, Portugal This event explores emerging theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. We... more
Monday,17 April 2017 ¦ 19h• workshop ¦ 21h• public debate
Rua das Gaivotas 6, Lisbon, Portugal
This event explores emerging theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. We aim to survey new theatrical forms of migrant representation and to talk about possible impacts on national theatre cultures in shaping the perception of non-European migrants and migrant cultures. The event will bring together academic and practitioners’ perspectives and is designed to look at migrant perspectives on the grounds of theatre making, creating a platform where creative practices as well as cultural, theoretical and policy perspectives can meet and be debated.
[workshop]
Led by Fadi Skeiker, Syrian theatre practitioner and scholar (Visiting Associate Professor of Theatre, University of Minho), this practice-led, participatory workshop will use applied theatre techniques to approach topics of exile, refugedom and asylum in performance. The workshop will use textual and physical elements in an experimental way.
Participants are asked to read the following two articles in advance and to bring a printed copy to the workshop:
workshop reading 1: https://newtidesplatform.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/interview-theatre-topics.pdf
workshop reading 2: https://newtidesplatform.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/dreams-of-young-syrian-refugees-imagined-_-south-writ-large.pdf
¦ Important information¦
Registration via email: ruadasgaivotas@teatropraga.com
Tickets: €10
Duration: 2 hrs
[public debate]
This panel discussion will focus on modalities of migrant representation in current theatre productions, cultural initiatives, multi-arts projects and editorial practices. The discussion will be opened up to the public in an extended Q&A session as part of the debate.
Speakers:
Fadi Skeiker (University of Minho)
André Amálio (Hotel Europa Theatre)
Ana Bigotte Vieira (IFILNOVA/ IHC /CET, Buala.org)
Szabolcs Musca (University of Lisbon/ New Tides Platform, UK)
[organisers and partners]
The event is jointly organised by New Tides Platform, Rua das Gaivotas 6 and CET- Centro de Estudos de Teatro (University of Lisbon)
Partners: BUALA Cultural Association/ Buala.org and Hotel Europa Theatre
WEB: https://newtidesplatform.org/2017/03/23/theatre-and-migration/
Rua das Gaivotas 6, Lisbon, Portugal
This event explores emerging theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. We aim to survey new theatrical forms of migrant representation and to talk about possible impacts on national theatre cultures in shaping the perception of non-European migrants and migrant cultures. The event will bring together academic and practitioners’ perspectives and is designed to look at migrant perspectives on the grounds of theatre making, creating a platform where creative practices as well as cultural, theoretical and policy perspectives can meet and be debated.
[workshop]
Led by Fadi Skeiker, Syrian theatre practitioner and scholar (Visiting Associate Professor of Theatre, University of Minho), this practice-led, participatory workshop will use applied theatre techniques to approach topics of exile, refugedom and asylum in performance. The workshop will use textual and physical elements in an experimental way.
Participants are asked to read the following two articles in advance and to bring a printed copy to the workshop:
workshop reading 1: https://newtidesplatform.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/interview-theatre-topics.pdf
workshop reading 2: https://newtidesplatform.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/dreams-of-young-syrian-refugees-imagined-_-south-writ-large.pdf
¦ Important information¦
Registration via email: ruadasgaivotas@teatropraga.com
Tickets: €10
Duration: 2 hrs
[public debate]
This panel discussion will focus on modalities of migrant representation in current theatre productions, cultural initiatives, multi-arts projects and editorial practices. The discussion will be opened up to the public in an extended Q&A session as part of the debate.
Speakers:
Fadi Skeiker (University of Minho)
André Amálio (Hotel Europa Theatre)
Ana Bigotte Vieira (IFILNOVA/ IHC /CET, Buala.org)
Szabolcs Musca (University of Lisbon/ New Tides Platform, UK)
[organisers and partners]
The event is jointly organised by New Tides Platform, Rua das Gaivotas 6 and CET- Centro de Estudos de Teatro (University of Lisbon)
Partners: BUALA Cultural Association/ Buala.org and Hotel Europa Theatre
WEB: https://newtidesplatform.org/2017/03/23/theatre-and-migration/
Research Interests: Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Portuguese Studies, Performance Studies, Refugee Studies, and 11 moreMigration, Applied Theatre, Exile, Migration Studies, Transnational migration, Asylum seekers, Portugal, Lisbon (Portugal), Socially Engaged Art, Modern European Drama and Theatre, and Representations of Migration In Contemporary Theatre
Migrant Dramaturgies Network is an international research network developed in partnership with New Tides Platform (UK) and the Centre for Theatre Research at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. It is a platform for exchange and... more
Migrant Dramaturgies Network is an international research network developed in partnership with New Tides Platform (UK) and the Centre for Theatre Research at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
It is a platform for exchange and knowledge sharing between academics, theatre-makers and organisations involved in migrant theatre on various levels of artistic and cultural creation and development.
We aim to explore emerging dramaturgies of theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. We wish to map new theatrical forms of migrant representation and identify their impacts on national theatre cultures in shaping the perception of non-European migrants and migrant cultures.
As a collaborative venture, we are planning to facilitate research meetings, workshops and various outreach programmes together with international partner organisations and theatre-makers in order to bring together academic and practitioners’ perspectives and expand understanding on migration and theatre.
https://migrantdramaturgies.tumblr.com/
It is a platform for exchange and knowledge sharing between academics, theatre-makers and organisations involved in migrant theatre on various levels of artistic and cultural creation and development.
We aim to explore emerging dramaturgies of theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. We wish to map new theatrical forms of migrant representation and identify their impacts on national theatre cultures in shaping the perception of non-European migrants and migrant cultures.
As a collaborative venture, we are planning to facilitate research meetings, workshops and various outreach programmes together with international partner organisations and theatre-makers in order to bring together academic and practitioners’ perspectives and expand understanding on migration and theatre.
https://migrantdramaturgies.tumblr.com/
Research Interests:
This PhD dissertation is concerned with the interplays between translation and theatre, bringing together an array of creative practices rarely discussed together in previous scholarship. As this thesis shows, the process of theatre... more
This PhD dissertation is concerned with the interplays between translation and theatre, bringing together an array of creative practices rarely discussed together in previous scholarship.
As this thesis shows, the process of theatre translation incorporates a multitude of creative practices that contribute to the linguistic, theatrical and cultural transfers between foreign texts and target theatrical contexts. Throughout the dissertation, overlaps and interactions between translation, adaptation and dramaturgy will be discussed reconsidering the borders of such practices. The dissertation introduces dramaturgy to the debate as a synthesising process through which translation and adaptive strategies generate meaning on- and off-stage.
The thesis presents a holistic approach, one that acknowledges theatre translation as a continuum of creative practices (e.g. translation, adaptation, dramaturgy, devising) – both textual and performative – that shape and are shaped by theatre practices, theatrical systems and traditions, hence also directly contributing to the expansion of literary, theatrical and cultural canons. The dissertation wishes to facilitate and contribute to a theatrical turn in the discourse, by establishing translation within theatre.
The dissertation situate itself in a cross-disciplinary space drawing on a variety of perspectives from Translation Studies, translation and identity, Theatre Studies, theatre histories, performance analysis, dramaturgy, minority theatre, sociological approaches to theatre, Adaptation Studies, Cultural Studies and the emerging field of Festival Studies. Crossing thematic, disciplinary, cultural, theoretical as well as physical/geographical borders is an important feature of the dissertation and reflects both the multifacetedness of contemporary theatre (and theatrical activities) and the interdisciplinary nature of present-day scholarly discourses. The issues presented in this dissertation will be supported by a diversity of examples featuring theatre productions from a multitude of social, cultural and national contexts using a variety of approaches to theatre making.
As this thesis shows, the process of theatre translation incorporates a multitude of creative practices that contribute to the linguistic, theatrical and cultural transfers between foreign texts and target theatrical contexts. Throughout the dissertation, overlaps and interactions between translation, adaptation and dramaturgy will be discussed reconsidering the borders of such practices. The dissertation introduces dramaturgy to the debate as a synthesising process through which translation and adaptive strategies generate meaning on- and off-stage.
The thesis presents a holistic approach, one that acknowledges theatre translation as a continuum of creative practices (e.g. translation, adaptation, dramaturgy, devising) – both textual and performative – that shape and are shaped by theatre practices, theatrical systems and traditions, hence also directly contributing to the expansion of literary, theatrical and cultural canons. The dissertation wishes to facilitate and contribute to a theatrical turn in the discourse, by establishing translation within theatre.
The dissertation situate itself in a cross-disciplinary space drawing on a variety of perspectives from Translation Studies, translation and identity, Theatre Studies, theatre histories, performance analysis, dramaturgy, minority theatre, sociological approaches to theatre, Adaptation Studies, Cultural Studies and the emerging field of Festival Studies. Crossing thematic, disciplinary, cultural, theoretical as well as physical/geographical borders is an important feature of the dissertation and reflects both the multifacetedness of contemporary theatre (and theatrical activities) and the interdisciplinary nature of present-day scholarly discourses. The issues presented in this dissertation will be supported by a diversity of examples featuring theatre productions from a multitude of social, cultural and national contexts using a variety of approaches to theatre making.