History and Theory of the Theatre

Da C. Vicentini, La teoria del teatro politico (Firenze, Sansoni, pp. 83-124)

Sommario: 1 La formula del teatro politico. 2 Teatro e trasformazione storica. 3 Epoca storica e modello teatrale. 4 Unicità e molteplicità del modello. 5 Connotazioni delle tecniche teatrali. 6 Liquidazione e ricupero dell'estetica.  7 Carattere politico del teatro. 8 Connotazioni politiche delle tecniche teatrali. 9 Brecht e la formula del teatro politico

The contemporary Central European and Slovene theatre of the last decades of the 20th century can therefore, probably very justifiably, be interpreted through several theoretical concepts. That is, Jacques Derrida’s and Philip Auslander’s concepts of detheologization of the stage, Bonnie Marranca and her concept of the theatre of images and Richard Schechner’s anthropological theory of performance, and simultaneously to Lehmann’s concept of postdramatic, often overlapping with Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of the theatre of energy. The interview abords these questions focusing on Mladinsko and independent theatre productions of the last four decades.

Due to the ephemeral nature of performance, material evidence for the content, context, and intention behind ancient Egyptian dramatic texts is extremely limited. What remains are the texts themselves (often in pieces) and iconographic evidence such as that found on the walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu. There, illustrations of dramatic scenes appear in relief alongside the text of what translator H. W. Fairman entitled “The Triumph of Horus: An Ancient Egyptian Sacred Drama.” Inscribed sometime during the second century BCE, the Edfu text refers to a dramatic reenactment of the battle between Horus and Seth for the Egyptian throne, a performance tradition attested more than fifteen hundred years earlier on the stelae of Ikhernofret and the pharaoh Neferhotep I. For this reason, Fairman and others have referred to “The Triumph of Horus” as the oldest play in the world, suggesting its potential as a significant contribution to the early theatre history canon. In December of 2019, theatre students at the University of Maryland performed a staging of “The Triumph of Horus” as well as another important dramatic text from the Late Period, “The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys,” as translated by R. O. Faulkner. The intention of this production was to determine if embodied practice could reveal new ways of understanding and transmitting knowledge about ancient Egyptian dramatic performance. This paper will discuss the development, rehearsal process, and outcome of this unique production, incorporating research methodology from the fields of theatre historiography and performance studies.

Le vicende de "I carabinieri", testo teatrale dell’autore siciliano Beniamino Joppolo, rappresentano il filo conduttore per l’indagine trasversale portata avanti in questo volume.
Scritto nel 1945, il testo viene pubblicato in Italia solo molti anni dopo, nella rivista «Filmcritica» (1959), poi ancora in «Sipario» (1969). Nel 1962 Roberto Rossellini ne cura la messinscena per il Festival di Spoleto. Nel 1963 esce nelle sale francesi il film di Jean-Luc Godard: Les carabiniers. Una storia che si dipana lungo vent’anni cruciali per la cultura italiana ed europea.
Inseguendo I carabinieri il volume indaga i processi culturali in atto durante gli anni del regime, della resistenza e del dopoguerra, ricostruendo attentamente non solo le invenzioni formali e artistiche di Joppolo ma tutto il complesso insieme di relazioni ed eventi che innescano.

World theatre is nowadays taken for granted, but its post-War pioneer was the remarkable Peter Daubeny. This blog post reflects on Daubeny's achievement, particularly his World Theatre Seasons at the Aldwych Theatre.

My tour Peter Daubeny's World of Theatre celebrates this achievement with readings from his memoirs 'My World of Theatre' given at some of the theatres he used, including the one where it all started in 1951.

http://charnowalks.co.uk/peter-daubeny-world-of-theatre/

Dans Hamlet, la réaction de Claudius face à la pantomime et à la représentation théâtrale auxquelles il assiste est ambiguë. Dans cet article, il s’agit de réfléchir à une manière dont elle pourrait être exploitée par des lecteurs — qui sont par ailleurs spectateurs et dont certains ont été, ou pourraient être metteurs en scène (Edward Gordon Craig, Constantin Stanislavski, Nicolas Evreinov, vous, moi) — afin d’en faire œuvre, en l’occurrence dans la direction du fantastique tel que le définit Tzvetan Todorov. Cet article, qui a pour cadre la lecture du texte dramatique et la « manière de lire » impliquée par le fantastique, confronte le fantastique et le théâtre à travers le prisme de la notion d’indécidable. Après une rapide mise au point théorique, il présente ce qui se révélerait être le lieu du fantastique au théâtre : l’hésitation du spectateur, qui porte en l’occurrence sur le point de vue, compris ici comme relevant de la représentation dramatique (rapport du drame et de l’action) et scénique (rapport de la mise en scène et de la fable). En prenant appui sur Hamlet, sur la mise en scène qu’en propose Craig à Moscou et sur l’Introduction au monodrame d’Evreinov, il propose alors de réfléchir sur les modalités d’existence d’effets de focalisation interne et de fantastique au théâtre.

Hartigan offers an alternate reading of playwright-avant garde artist Alfred Jarry's "overly performative public conduct," placing it within the context of fin-de-siècle Parisian Symbolism, focusing on performance, artifice, authenticity, and self. He discusses the premiere of "Ubu Roi" as well as Symbolist "self-as-performance."

Con questo articolo si intende porre attenzione sulla situazione del teatro in Calabria. Il termine “contemporaneo” fissa non solo un dato cronologico, quanto un preciso ambito artistico che inquadra il teatro calabrese più giovane. L’indagine si muove sull’attività di gruppi che portano avanti, ciascuno con la propria specificità, un percorso di creazione e ricerca. Come si vedrà tali realtà riescono, in alcuni casi, a porre in relazione i linguaggi della scena contemporanea con temi e condizioni tipicamente locali, superando le maglie del folklore e del genius loci, affermandosi anche a livello nazionale.

Claudio Vicentini, La teoria della recitazione. Il distacco dell’attore dal
personaggio
The article (in reference to a previous work, Per un’ecologia delle nozioni di
lavoro. L’identificazione dell’attore con il personaggio, «Acting Archive
Review», n. 7, May 2014) explores two notions: «distacco» (detachment: to
express the character’s feelings the actor must make no recourse to his own
feelings), and «dislocazione» (dislocation: the actor’s presence remains
visible beside the performed character). The two notions, mostly confused
and related to Brecht’s alienation-effect, were actually independently born
in the late XVIIIth and early XIXth centuries, well before Brecht’s a-effect
theory was conceived. They were both developed to answer a key question
of the theory of acting of the time: how to perform on stage a character that
is hardly representable (a tragic character whose powerful expressions,
acts, attitude cannot be performed with the actor’s simple human means; or
an evil character whose wickedness is unbearable to the audience moral
delicacy). The «distacco» was firstly introduced by Antoine-François
Riccoboni in 1750, and then developed by Diderot in his Paradoxe sur le
comédien, the «dislocazione» was described by Charls Lamb who in his
article Imperfect Dramatic Illusion (1825) put in question two effects usually
required to the acting: the «dramatic illusion» (the spectator must to some
degree feel like real what happens on stage), and the «fourth walls» (the
actor performing the character must look totally unconscious of the
audience presence).

This chapter tells the history of what have come to be called ‘stage directions’: short, practical performance or reader-oriented instructions, often in pigeon Latin, of unclear authorship, that typically start, end and intersperse a printed play. It is in three parts, beginning in the eighteenth century when the phrase ‘stage direction’ was co-invented by Alexander Pope and Lewis Theobald as a term for non-authorial directives in Shakespeare. It then turns to medieval and early modern plays, asking what a ‘stage direction’ was before it had a title, where it was situated on the page, what language it employed, who may have written it and for whom, and whether indeed it was ‘it’ before two words defined it as one entity. Finally, the essay considers the ‘stage direction’ after the term became established, asking how the rise of the theatre’s ‘stage director’ affected what ‘stage directions’ were on page and stage. Throughout, then, the chapter tells two different and only partially-connected stories: one is the story of the term ‘stage direction’, and the other the story of the thing(s) ‘stage direction’.

Μελετάται η φαντασματική μορφή στο θέατρο. Tο φάντασμα δεν αντιπροσωπεύει μιαν ουσία, ούτε βεβαίως μίαν ύπαρξη. Η υπόστασή του είναι μετέωρη και δανεική. Του τη δανείζει η φιλοσοφία, η λογοτεχνία, η λαϊκή δοξασία, το θέατρο, κάθε φορά που η σκέψη ή το συναίσθημα προσπαθούν να συλλάβουν αυτό που δεν μπορεί να παρασταθεί, αυτό που παρεισδύει ανάμεσα στο είναι και το μη-είναι. Ως αντινομική έννοια, η φαντασματική παρουσία στη σκηνή, (παρουσία μιας απουσίας), ελκύει ιδιαίτερα την ερμηνεία. Το φάντασμα είναι μια μεταιχμιακή οντότητα, μια μορφή-κατώφλι ή ένα πέρασμα ανάμεσα σε δύο ριζικά αντίθετους κόσμους. Με την έννοια αυτήν, κάθε εμφάνισή του ισοδυναμεί με τη δημιουργία μίας γέφυρας προς τον κόσμο των νεκρών και των αόρατων δυνάμεων. Με άλλους όρους, το φάντασμα είναι μια τομή που εισάγει τόσο τη διαφορά, όσο και την ετερότητα, μια τομή ζοφερή που προσκαλεί, όπως ακριβώς ο Δον Ζουάν, τον ξένο στην καρδιά του οίκου και του οικείου. Ακριβέστερα, προσκαλεί την ετερότητα να αναδυθεί ως προϋπάρχουσα μέσα στο οικείο, ως το άλλο του οικείου, που το αμφισβητεί και το καταφάσκει ταυτόχρονα.
Τα φαντάσματα επιστρέφουν  συνεχώς στη σκηνή για να συμβολίσουν ριζικές μορφές ξενότητας, (τον θάνατο, τον έρωτα), να υπαινιχθούν το άρρητο, να υποδηλώσουν το αόρατο, να υποτονθορύσουν σιωπηλές γνώσεις από τον άλλον κόσμο και κυρίως μια γνώση, μια σύλληψη που επιτελείται πάντα με επώδυνο τρόπο: ότι στη θεατρική σχέση, (όπως και στη ζωή), τίποτα δεν είναι απολύτως οικείο και τίποτα απολύτως ξένο στη συνείδηση, αφού δεν είμαστε ποτέ εντελώς αυτό που είμαστε και δεν υπάρχει ένας κόσμος στον οποίο να νοιώθουμε απόλυτη οικειότητα, ότι δεν υπάρχουν παγιωμένες ταυτότητες, απροϋπόθετες βεβαιότητες και αμετάβλητες οντότητες και ότι ο άλλος βρίσκεται εν σπέρματι ήδη μέσα μου.
Ως case studies χρησιμοποιούνται έργα όπως το Περιμένοντας τον Μπέκετ του Μιχάλη Φακίνου, όπου παλιοί θεατρικοί ρόλοι στοιχειώνουν ως φαντάσματα τη σκηνή ή την πολιτική διάσταση που εισάγει η τρίτη σκηνή του Η τιμή της ανταρσίας στη μαύρη αγορά του Δημήτρη Δημητριάδη, το Τυφλό σημείο του Γιάννη Μαυριτσάκη, ο Δείπνος του Καμπανέλλη, το Φάντασμα του κυρίου Ραμόν Νοβάρο και το Προς Ελευσίνα του Παύλου Μάτεσι. Τα σκηνικά αυτά φαντάσματα δεν είναι ά-τοπα, αφού η σκηνή τους προσφέρει μια προσωρινή, φαντασιακή διαμονή. Αλλά πρέπει να παραδεχθούμε ότι αυτή η κατοικία τίθεται ανάμεσα σε ένα εύθραυστο κάπου και ένα πουθενά: η σκηνική τους διαμονή δεν είναι σταθερή και μόνιμη, ούτε ανήκει σε κάποιο εννοιολογικό ή ουτοπικό όλο, αλλά υπάρχει στον βαθμό που εμείς οι αναγνώστες και θεατές αποκρινόμαστε στην έκκληση των φαντασμάτων.

The European Journal of Theatre and Performance (EJTP) is pleased to announce that the Journal will be moving from publishing one to two issues per year. This move marks an important step in the growth of EJTP and is inspired by the Journal's intention to offer authors the possibility to submit high-quality scholarly articles on a continual basis. Thus, from the fifth issue onwards, EJTP will start to alternate between a general Essays Section, for which contributions can be submitted freely, and a themed Essays Section, for which a Call for Papers on a specific theme will be issued, as EJTP has done so far.

This dissertation examines musical affective economies surrounding the Wars of Religion in Lyon. Expanding on affect theory that considers how emotions stick to and slide from subjects and objects, this research asks how musical affect also sank into bodies and ontologies, serving to both bond and break the community of Lyon. I consider how the boundaries of community were delimited through musical theatre in the early sixteenth century, demonstrating how techniques of communitas were essential to performing this community. I explore how the principal of Lyon’s Collège de la Trinité made use of these techniques, both in his pedagogical theatre, and in an elite musical print aimed at religious reconciliation.
From here, I examine how these techniques began to be used towards divisive ends, as Protestants confronted Catholics with psalms and “spiritual songs.” A group of martyr songs, disseminated amongst both elite and more popular audiences, activated the Protestant habitus through such genres, putting the visceral experiences of five young martyrs of Lyon into oral circulation. The subversiveness of such “spiritual songs” within orthodox martyrological practices underscores the musicality of how the theatre of martyrdom was memorialized. Polemic was especially propagated through the inflamed populace in the guise of “chansons nouvelles,” contrafacta songs that were “sung to the tune of” extant popular tunes. Exploring how this genre engaged with contemporary notions and concerns about anger, I demonstrate how the timbres (song bases) of these “chansons nouvelles” accumulated affect across the Wars of Religion as they were adhered to violent Catholic invective.
Finally, I turn to Lyon’s proto-social welfare project, permanently established in 1534, the Aumône Générale. Interrogating how the institution subjected the city’s impoverished residents to a Catholic economy of faith, I focus on how the hyper-marking of the forced musical processions of the poor would serve to facilitate their eventual confinement in the seventeenth century. Positioned within the emergent subfield of music and conflict studies, this dissertation argues that, because of its very ephemeral and emotional qualities, music was a vital force in cultivating both solidarity and animosity during the tumult of the Wars of Religion.

Cовременное искусство всегда находилось в авангарде тех художественных практик, которые пытались заменить эстетический нарратив социальным активизмом. Однако в этом тексте нас будет интересовать, каким образом отказ от собственных эстетических методов и языков выражения во имя «прямой» демократии осуществлялся в театре и к каким социально-политическим и художественным эффектам привели эти эксперименты. Оказалось ли пресловутое жертвование драматизацией (т.е. собственной театральной эпистемой) в постдраматических театральных практиках эффективным политически и радикальным эстетически?

Пытаясь заимствовать практики contemporary art,  cовременный театр, быть может, идет по ложному пути. В тексте пост-драматическим практикам противопоставляется "театр театра", в котором парадоксальным образом концептуализация и саморефлексия ведут к усилению драматизации.

This paper is written under the guidance of Prof. Tutun Mukherjee, University of Hyderabad (as Principal Investigator) for Comparative Literature: Drama in India | UGC MHRD e Pathshala.

The paper includes rumination on "Theatre: Architecture, Apparatus, Acting; Censorship and Spectatorship; Translations and Adaptations"

Summary: The Theatre Controversy.  The Horizons of Oratory.  Oratory and Recitation: the Mysterious Difference.  The New Treatises.    Andrea Perrucci.    Recitation, Oratory and Comedy by Improvisation.  Experience, Rules and the Insufficiency of Actio.    Grimarest.    Gildon. Theory og Acting 

First published in "Acting Archives Essays" (www.actingarchives.it) April 2011, later included in Theory of Acting. From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century (chapter 4), Napoli: Marsilio & Acting Archives, December 2012 (download: www.academia.edu).

Επιχειρείται μια επισκόπηση της μπαχτινικής σκέψης για το καρναβάλι και, στη συνέχεια, μια ευσύνοπτη ανάγνωση του Χάση του Δημητρίου Γουζέλη υπό το πρίσμα των καρναβαλικών στοιχείων.
Η γραφή του Χάση διατηρεί ένα επίπεδο πηγαίας έκφρασης και αυθορμητισμού. Από τη μια μεριά είναι η γραφή που αναδεικνύει την κουλτούρα της καυχησιάς και της πονηριάς, απ΄ όπου αναδύεται η εδραία μορφή του αλαζόνα, του κατεργάρη και του κομπορρήμονα. Από την άλλη μεριά όμως είναι μία γραφή-προσωπείο του ζωντανού εκφωνήματος, αυτού που η κριτική θα αποκαλούσε χυμώδη και λαϊκότροπη γλώσσα, βωμολόχο αποστροφή, άσεμνη χειρονομία κρυμμένη στη χυδαιολογία ή φάρσα με φιλοπαίγμονα διάθεση, που γεννιέται από τους ρυθμούς της αγοράς και τον παλμό της πλατείας, που είναι έτοιμη να ενσαρκωθεί και εκδηλώνεται μέσα από την ελευθεριότητα και την εορταστικότητα του πειράγματος, του χλευασμού, του μυκτηρισμού, της ελεεινολογίας και του σαρκασμού, της ιλαρής επίθεσης και του καυστικού χωρατού.

A problem seems to undermine the research on history of acting: the scholar cannot get in touch with what he is supposed to study. The actor’s work disappears as soon as the performance ends: according to a famous dictum, the actor «is  forever carving a statue of snow» (Barrett, Matthews 1914, Duerr 1962, Cole and Chinoy 1970). That happens however not only in the history of acting. In any research  concerning the past (the life of Napoleon, the tea trade in England at the end of the XVIII century) the scholar does not face the «real thing», but only documents that allow him to build up a mind-image of his subject-matter (Vicentini 1988, Fazio 2006, Pietrini 2009). The point is then the amount and the quality of the information the documents can offer in any research field.
As far as the actor’s art, the subject- matter of the study is obviously what the actors do on stage. But the books on the history of acting mostly dwell on something else: the social and economic condition of the actor’s  life, the job contracts, the companies organization, and above all the scholars tend to reduce the history of acting to the history of the theory of acting (see by example Duerr 1962, Allegri 2005, Benedetti 2007). The reason is simple. Usually  the documents we dispose of,  give us a scanty information on what the actors do on stage, and we cannot build up a certain and detailed image of their acting. The scholars are then tempted to study not what they should, but what they can, and they eventually offer to the reader a kind of «surrogate history» of acting.
The amount of information we can get on the actual acting, however, changes according the period of time we are considering. Until the XVIII  century (when a well aware and quite sophisticated critique of acting began) the information is quite rhapsodic  and undetailed. From the XVIII century on we dispose of a very large number of articles, essays, letters, that offer detailed descriptions and analysis of the performances of the most important actors of the time. Then technology in the XX century opened the way to record the actors’ performances on tapes and more sophisticated multimedia. That sets the standards of any possible history of acting: uncertain and undetailed so far antiquity, middle ages, renaissance and baroque acting are concerned;  more and more analytic and specific through the XVIII and XIX centuries. Eventually, when we will actually master the new recording techniques and develop the methods of analysis of the actor’s art they allow, a new era of acting studies will open.

Caryl Churchill's plays thematically embody elements of many-isms such as feminism, sexism, capitalism, and socialism, labeling her dramaturgy as an eclectic combination of social philosophies and political ideologies. Although genuinely creative and original in her writing and theatrical practices, Caryl Churchill does not refrain from making use of preceding European theatrical theory, practice, and culture. In this sense, she is a playwright who benefits considerably from the thematic and technical aspects of the Brechtian epic theatre, which can be observed in her Mad Forest. Sarah Kane, on the other hand, with her experimental dramaturgy that stretches and twists features of realism and naturalism into new post-dramatic forms, is no less different from her predecessor Caryl Churchill in terms of embracing challenging, confrontational ideas and reflecting them in her plays. Notwithstanding with her openness to novel dramatic styles, Sarah Kane, too, acknowledges earlier dramatic aesthetics as seen in her Phaedra's Love, which is an adaptation of the classical Roman playwright Seneca's Phaedra. Likewise, it can be observed that Sarah Kane utilizes certain features of the Brechtian epic theater in her Cleansed. Considering these, this article studies how and to what extent Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane maintain the Brechtian dramatic elements in their Mad Forest and Cleansed, respectively. By examining this tripartite interaction among Bertolt Brecht, Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane, the study also tries to reinterpret the dramatic relations among these seemingly distant playwrights of different generations.

Θεατρολογικό μελέτημα για τους όρους και τα όρια της κριτικής του Θεάτρου. Διακρίνεται αρχικώς η κριτική θεάτρου από τη γενική θεωρία περί θεάτρου. Σημειώνεται πως ο θεωρητικός του θεάτρου εξετάζει είτε τα εφικτά στο θέατρο σημειακά συστήματα είτε και τις πραγματοποιημένες θεατρικές μορφές, οι οποίες, υπακούοντας σε κοινά αισθητικά κριτήρια ή σε κοινές ιδεολογικές επιταγές, συγκροτούν μια κοινή νόρμα και εγγράφονται στον ίδιο ειδολογικό, κοινωνικό και πολιτισμικό ορίζοντα. Aντιθέτως, ο κριτικός του θεάτρου ενδιαφέρεται πρωτίστως για τη μεμονωμένη παράσταση ενός έργου, αποτιμώντας όλες τις παραμέτρους της (κείμενο, σκηνική ερμηνεία, κοινωνικό περιβάλλον). Eννοείται βεβαίως πως ούτε ο θεωρητικός μπορεί να επιτύχει στο έργο του χωρίς το πλούσιο εμπειρικό υλικό των μεμονωμένων παραστάσεων, αλλά ούτε και ο κριτικός μπορεί να προβαίνει σε ασφαλείς και έγκυρε αποτιμήσεις εάν δε διαθέτει πλήρη θεωρητική κατάρτιση περί της ουσίας και της ιστορίας του θεάτρου. H αλληλεπίδραση αυτή μεταξύ θεωρίας και κριτικής έχει ιδιαίτερη σημασία για τη δεύτερη, ως προς τον προσδιορισμό τού ερμηνευτικού της χαρακτήρα και την εγγραφή της στα πλαίσια μιας επικοινωνιακής δράσης. Στη συνέχεια υπογραμμίζεται η διφυία της θεατρικής τέχνης, στην οποία αναφέρεται η κριτική. Mια θεατρική παράσταση δεν είναι ένα θέαμα με σταθερή δομή και τυποποιημένη μορφή, αλλά αποτελεί μια ιδιαίτερη μορφή τέχνης που ενσαρκώνει επί σκηνής ένα δραματικό κείμενο• με άλλους λόγους, είναι η σκηνική εκπλήρωση του κειμένου αυτού. Aπό την άλλη μεριά, το δραματικό κείμενο δεν είναι απλώς ένα λογοτεχνικό κείμενο, προορισμένο να αναγνωστεί• είναι ένα κείμενο που έχει γραφτεί προκειμένου να «παιχτεί» επί σκηνής. H δυναμική αυτή σχέση κειμένου και παράστασης συνεπάγεται ότι, αφ’ ενός το κείμενο εκκρεμεί συνεχώς προς τις επικείμενες σκηνικές εκπληρώσεις του και, αφ’ ετέρου η παράσταση δεν μπορεί να εννοηθεί αποκομμένη και ανεξάρτητη από το κείμενο. Στην προοπτική αυτή, ο σύγχρονος κριτικός οφείλει πριν απ’ όλα να εντοπίσει και να αξιολογήσει τον σύνδεσμο κειμένου και παράστασης. Mεταξύ κειμένου και παράστασης ο κριτικός επωμίζεται να συλλάβει τους παλμούς του παρόντος μέσα από τα ζωτικά στοιχεία του παρελθόντος• επωμίζεται όμως να ανιχνεύσει και μια βαθύτερη συμβολική σχέση που συνδέει τα δύο επίπεδα της παράστασης που κρίνει: οφείλει να συλλάβει αφ’ ενός το κείμενο ως μια εν σπέρματι παράσταση ενός φαντασιακού κόσμου και, αφ’ ετέρου, την παράσταση ως μια δυνατή ενσαρκωμένη ανάπτυξη και μετουσίωση της αρχικής αυτής παράστασης. Aκολούθως προσεγγίζεται το μεθοδολογικό πρόβλημα της εξήγησης και της κατανόησης. Kαι οι δύο αυτές έννοιες εκλαμβάνονται ως δύο διακεκριμένες συμπληρωματικές λειτουργίες του ίδιου ερμηνευτικού εγχειρήματος. H εξήγηση θεωρείται ως ο πόλος της εκλογίκευσης, της πειθούς και της γενικευτικής αναγωγής μέσα στο ερμηνευτικό εγχείρημα• η κατανόηση αντιθέτως εστιάζεται στην ειδική συνθήκη και ερείδεται στη βιωματική σύλληψη του εκάστοτε αντικειμένου. H συλλειτουργία εξήγησης και κατανόησης τείνει να εντάξει το προς μελέτη αντικείμενο σε τύπους και κατηγορίες της επιστημονικής παράδοσης και της ιστορίας χωρίς να απολέσει την αυτοτέλειά του και, παράλληλα, να προσδιορίσει τους όρους της ιδιαιτερότητάς του με τη βοήθεια γενικών αρχών. Tο γένος και το είδος, η συνομοταξία και η ανεξάρτητη εκδοχή, η αντικειμενική αξίωση του κειμένου ως τέτοιου και η υποκειμενική συνθήκη της πρόσληψής του συνιστούν εδώ τους όρους μιας αμοιβαίας σύγκλισης, ενός αμφίπλευρου συσχετισμού, κοντολογίς μιας διαλεκτικής σχέσης, που ονομάζουμε ερμηνεία και την οποία ο κριτικός πρέπει να διατηρεί πάντα ζωντανή στη σκέψη του. Aφού μελετηθούν στη συνέχεια η δημοσιογραφική και η ερευνητική κριτική, επιχειρείται ο προσδιορισμός του κριτικού λόγου ως επικοινωνιακής δράσης ―  όπως περίπου τον οριοθετεί ο Habermas ―  δηλαδή ενός λόγου αυτοκριτικού που αποβλέπει στην κοινωνικοποίηση των αισθητικών προβλημάτων, στην άμεση συνειδητοποίηση του κοινωνικού και ιστορικού ρόλου της θεατρικής τέχνης για μια κοινότητα ανθρώπων, στη συνέχιση πολιτιστικών παραδόσεων και στη μέσω αυτών δημιουργία νέων αυθεντικών καλλιτεχνικών μορφωμάτων. Yπογραμμίζεται πως ο κριτικός λόγος ως επικοινωνιακή δράση δεν εκλαμβάνει την επικοινωνία ως απλή ενημέρωση και μετάδοση πληροφοριών, αλλά ως μια βαθύτερη διαπροσωπική σχέση, κατά την οποία το σκεπτόμενο υποκείμενο μπορεί να αναφέρεται στον εαυτό του ως φορέα του λόγου, ως συμμετέχοντα σε μια διάδραση από τη σκοπιά του άλλου και ως άλλον  από τη σκοπιά ενός τρίτου για τον οποίον ή χάρη στον οποίο τελείται η διάδραση. Στην περίπτωσή μας, οι τρεις όροι της επικοινωνιακής σχέσης είναι ο δημιουργός του έργου (συγγραφέας και σκηνικοί συντελεστές), ο κριτικός και ο εκάστοτε αναγνώστης-θεατής. Aυτοί οι τρεις εισέρχονται σε μια διαδικασία συνεννόησης, η οποία συντονίζει και τη μεταξύ τους δράση. O κριτικός δε «μεταφράζει» απλώς τον λόγο του ενός προς τον άλλον, αλλά εκφέρει και ο ίδιος τον δικό του λόγο, που είναι απορητικός, ελεγκτικός, καταφατικός, απαιτητικός. H διαδικασία αυτή είναι η προέκταση του ερμηνευτικού κύκλου στο επίπεδο της διάδρασης όσων συμμετέχουν σ’ ένα θεατρικό γεγονός. Σύμφωνα με αυτήν, ένα νέο θεατρικό έργο δημιουργεί, και με τη μεσολάβηση του κριτικού,  μια νέα συνείδηση, έναν νέο κόσμο στον θεατή, που σημαίνει ότι ο θεατής δεν είναι πλέον ο ίδιος• είναι ένας νέος θεατής που παροτρύνεται από τον κριτικό να γίνει κι ένας νέος ηθοποιός στο μεγάλο θέατρο του κοινωνικού βίου μόλις πέσει η αυλαία.

What happened to Italian theatre and Italian acting traditions during the fascist period? As the regime progressively aged, symptoms of impatience, and even disillusionment may be noted in the theatre. This was rather unexpected, given Mussolini’s personal interest. Prose theatre becomes increasingly anaemic. The article explores the reasons for this; they were due more to a lack of respect and acknowledgement of values, rather than to actual changes or pressure enforced by the regime. The acting traditions, which had survived well into the twentieth century, fell apart without leaving any trace, any seed or heritage. The article is followed by two short reports, the first concerning three books that are fundamental for the memory of this period (Silvio d’Amico, Il teatro non deve morire; Sergio Tofano, Il teatro all’antica italiana, Lucio Ridenti, Teatro italiano tra le due guerre); the second on the implicit, unrecognised but important relationship between ‘mainstream’ theatre (prose theatre) and ‘secondary’ theatre (variety shows, cafés chantants, reviews, and even theatre in dialect).

Aksiyon kavramı 20. yüzyıldan itibaren Batılı tiyatro kuramları içinde oyuncunun sanatı üzerine geliştirilen düşünceler içinde önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. Farklı tiyatro uygulamacıları/kuramcılarının bu kavrama getirdiği yeni yorumlar onlara ait kendine özgü tiyatro ve oyunculuk anlayışlarına biçim vermiştir. Bu makale oyuncunun sanatının her şeyden önce aksiyon(lar) yaratmak olduğu fikrini temel alarak, 20. yüzyılda yaşamış üç önemli tiyatro insanı olan Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht ve Jerzy Grotowski’nin aksiyon kavramına yaklaşımlarının ne olduğunu karşılaştırmalı olarak incelemektedir. Amaç bu üç sanatçının her birine ait özgün oyunculuk anlayışının daha derinlikli bir şekilde kavranmasını sağlamaktır. Bu bağlamda Stanislavski’nin geliştirdiği fiziksel aksiyon, Brecht’in karakterin aksiyonuna eklenmesini istediği oyuncu aksiyonu ve Grotowski’nin savunduğu literal aksiyon kavramlarına yakından bakılarak aralarındaki benzerlik ve farklılıklar tartışılmıştır. Sonuçta bu üç yaklaşımın hepsinde oyuncunun sanatının itkilerin keşfi aracılığıyla aksiyonlar yaratmak olarak kabul edildiği ortaya konmuştur. Bununla birlikte, Stanislavski karakterin itkilerinin keşfi aracılığıyla oyuncunun fiziksel aksiyon çizgisinin oluşturmasına odaklanmakta, Brecht karakterin itkileri yanında oyuncunun karakterin aksiyonlarına karşı geliştireceği tavrın da keşfedilmesi gereğini savunmakta, Grotowski ise oyuncuyu gündelik yaşamın dışına taşıyan ve ona bir insan olarak gelişiminde yol gösteren özel aksiyonların ortaya çıkmasına yol açacak itkilerin peşine düşmektedir.

In Western theatre theories starting from the 20th century, the concept of action has occupied an important place within the thoughts that have been developed on the actor’s art. New interpretations of this concept by different theatre practitioners/theorists have shaped their distinctive understandings of theatre and acting. Based on the idea that the actor’s art is primarily creating action(s), this article investigates comparatively how Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht and Jerzy Grotowski, three important theatre people of the 20th century, have approached the concept of action. The purpose is to provide a deeper comprehension of the specific understandings of acting that belong to these three artists. In this context, the article explores the concepts of physical action as developed by Stanislavski, actor’s action that Brecht wished to add to the character’s action, and the concept of literal action as argued by Grotowski, while it discusses the similarities and differences between them. In conclusion, the article puts forward that in all these three approaches, the actor’s art has been considered as creating actions by discovering impulses. Nevertheless, Stanislavski focuses on the formation of the series of physical actions through discovering character’s impulses, Brecht defends the necessity to discover the attitude of the actor towards the actions of the character besides the impulses of the character, and Grotowski pursues impulses, which would lead to the emergence of special actions that take the actor out of everyday life and guide them as a vehicle in the way of being cultivated as a human being.

What are the devices regulating the representation of pain? What is the relationship between sight and reality? What is the difference between the show of pain and the theatre of piety? Christian theory of representation gives us an interesting perspective. Through patristic sources, this essay seeks to highlight the foundamental cornerstones of the visual culture of christian Middle Ages, underling those elements that make the theatre of the Passion of Christ a very empathetic scene, completely different than the detached show of pain.

The essay critically discusses the graduation report of Roderigo Lopez, a Portuguese student proclaimed artium et medicinae doctor at the Paduan Studium in 1559. The meticulous analysis of the document and the reconstruction of the social, political, scientific and academic context of the time, allows us to recognize a celebrity of the 16th century in the Lusitanian student Roger Lopez (1517/1525-1594). He was personal physician of Elizabeth I of England and an important intermediary between the last court of the Tudors, Portugal and Spain of Philip II; he was finally sentenced to death by quartering. Shakespearean scholars believe that the poet was inspired by Lopez personal tragedy to outline the figure of Shylock, the Jew of the Merchant of Venice (about 1596-1598). The article proposes the thesis according to which the Paduan student is the future Elizabethan doctor, as many biographical information and some aspects of the English literary masterpiece seem to confirm. This would finally explain what prompted the Portuguese to move to England, how he was able to make such a prestigious career and to enjoy such a vast credit at court, and why he was executed. That was a complex story in which Francis Walsingham’s stay in Padua and Lopez’s real adherence to Judaism could have played a decisive role. The true archetype of Shylock could therefore have been a «Paduan» doctor.

Keywords: Jews – William Shakespeare – Portugal – Elisabeth I – Francis Walsingham

Des éléments science-fictionnels sont présents sur les scènes occidentales des XXe et XXIe siècles : la science-fiction y prend plusieurs formes et y assume diverses fonctions. Afin d’en faciliter l’étude, ces pages ont pour objectif d’éclaircir les données du problème (encore rarement affronté) en proposant des repères historiques, historiographiques et théoriques. De nombreux exemples de spectacles sont présentés – ressortissant au théâtre, à la danse, à l’opéra et à la performance –, de manière à essayer de saisir le phénomène dans sa complexité. Ce texte introduit le dossier intitulé « Le théâtre de science-fiction : premiers éléments de cartographie ».
= Science-fictional elements are present on the western stages of the 20th and 21st centuries: science-fiction takes several forms and assumes various functions. To facilitate its study, these pages aim at clarifying the data of the problem (still rarely faced) by proposing historical, historiographical, and theoretical references. Numerous examples of shows are presented - from theater, dance, opera, and performance - in order to try to grasp the phenomenon in its complexity. This paper introduces the issue entitled “Le théâtre de science-fiction : premiers éléments de cartographie”.

Rețeaua festivalieră din România, construcție complexă, motivată atât de interesul față de producția locală, fațPoate că niciodată sentimentul de familie-de familie mare, zgomotoasă în bucuria de a se regăsi împreună, în orgoliul ei de a-și celebra eroii (de un an, de o viață...) generoasă în intenția ei mărturisită de a-și răsplăti cu demnitate fruntașii-poate niciodată, zic, acest spirit de satisfacție comună și (ușoară) exaltare festivă nu se degajă atât de profund, de contaminant în manifestările asociației noastre, ca în ziua-devenită tradițională, la început de primăvară-decernării premiilor ATM." 1 Tristețea dramatică ce se ascunde în rândurile de mai sus e, desigur, greu de perceput pentru un cititor care nu a traversat deșertul anilor 1980. Premiile acordate de ATM în 1985 au, aici, mai puțină importanță. Ceea ce transpare, de sub aparentul entuziasm al lui Dinu Kivu e regretul și nostalgia în urma împuținării festivalurilor și colocviilor de teatru, gestionate până cu câțiva ani în urmă, de secția de critică a Asociației oamenilor de teatru și muzică.

This chapter reflects on Wilde’s shifting preoccupations from c. 1880-1895 in the context of the radical changes in the concept of theatre during this period. It investigates the connection between his excitement about the archaeological objectivity of early Greek play performance, and his later satiric use of classical models in his society plays, especially The Importance of Being Earnest. I show how Wilde in this 1895 play successfully channels audience-centered dramaturgical models from ancient tragedy and comedy to a new literary dramatic purpose. Overall, the chapter offers an angle, via Wilde’s engagement with Greek drama and Shakespeare, on the key but often overlooked role played by the first performances of historic authentic dramatic texts in creating the conditions for the establishment of modern literary drama.

What I propose is a portrait: a group photo of the Teatro Due Mondi taken,
as we shall see, at a particular and difficult time in their history. It is also
an attempt to study theater from a point of view that is close to my heart, but that is unusual, a point of view from which everyday life, internal and external relations, shared experiences and values, artistic and non-artistic working methods are all an integral part, in equal measure and on an equal footing with the performances, of what we call "theatre".


Quello che propongo è un ritratto: una foto di gruppo del Teatro Due Mondi pre-so, come vedremo, in un momento particolare e difficile della loro storia. È anche un tentativo di studiare il teatro da un punto di vista che mi sta a cuore, ma che è inusuale, un punto di vista dal quale quotidianità, relazioni interne ed esterne, esperienze e valori condivisi, modalità di lavoro artistico e non artistico sono tutte parte integrante, in egual misura e a pari diritto, di quel che chiamiamo "te-atro". E non perché anche gli aspetti definiti "extra-spettacolari" sono interes-santi, ma perché lo studio del teatro dovrebbe rispecchiare la stessa mancanza di soluzione di continuità tra arte e vita che caratterizza tanta parte del teatro agito. E che ha sicuramente caratterizzato il teatro di gruppo, quello che è spesso chiamato Terzo Teatro 1. Sulla base di questo pensiero, un paio di anni fa ho progettato una ricerca, che ho battezzato "viaggio antropologico": una ricerca che riguarda in primo luogo relazioni, abitudini, modi di vivere, modi di lavorare, modalità di creazione, di allenamento, di spettacolo, e valori interni a una compagnia con stabilità nel tempo. Per far questo, volevo incontrare persone e gruppi di teatro. Il Teatro Due Mondi, che già conoscevo, è stata la tappa zero. Per me, è una ricerca essenzia-le, è la ricerca di un modo di studiare il teatro che si interessa al teatrante anche in quanto parte di un gruppo di individui, di una comunità, con cui intrattiene relazioni sia artistiche che di altro genere: affettive, intellettuali, politiche, di valore e anche, naturalmente, sentimentali e sessuali-e da quest'ultimo punto di vista il Teatro Due Mondi è un caso particolarmente interessante, essendo prevalentemente endogamico, cosa che però qui non ho trattato, per rispettare 1. Molti anni fa, nel mio Il crocevia del ponte d'era. Storie e voci da una generazione teatrale. 1974-1995 (Roma, Bulzoni, 1996), ho ricostruito attraverso le voci delle persone dell'allora Pontedera/ teatro la storia del loro gruppo. La testimonianza di queste persone, attori, regista, organizzatori, a tutti gli effetti coautori del libro, ha fatto affiorare un tessuto fondamentale del quale fa parte tanto il senso che il teatro ha avuto per i singoli individui e per l'intera generazione quanto le complicate relazioni personali che turbano, o forse arricchiscono, la vita di un gruppo teatrale e insieme la sua opera. Poiché non me ne sento l'unico autore, posso dire che ne è risultato un libro nel bene e nel male unico. Mentre lo scrivevo, la sua peculiarità rendeva scettici i miei colleghi e maestri negli studi, che temevano di vedermi seppellita tra pettegolezzi privati e in-terminabili colloqui. Tanto più mi è stato prezioso l'appoggio di Eugenio Barba, che ha intuito e chiarito la mia confusa linea di ricerca, e mi ha appoggiato, fin dagli inizi.

»Das Theater an der Ruhr war wie eine Explosion für mich. Vieles von dem, was ich heute als meins ausgebe, kommt daher.« Navid Kermani

1980 gründet Roberto Ciulli in Mülheim an der Ruhr gemeinsam mit dem Dramaturgen Helmut Schäfer und dem Bühnenbildner Gralf-Edzard Habben das Theater an der Ruhr – ein freies, aber staatlich subventioniertes Ensembletheater,  bei dem das Reisen und der Kulturaustausch zum Programm gehören. In über 35 Jahren besucht das Theater über 40 Länder und holt zugleich die Welt ins Ruhrgebiet, indem es Künstler aus u.a. Chile, Polen, Russland, Ex-Jugoslawien, Ägypten, Türkei, Iran und Irak nach Mülheim einlädt.

Die Monographie versammelt erstmals auf rund 1000 Seiten Material zu Roberto Ciullis Werdegang und Werk:

I. Von seinem Studium der Philosophie und seinem Mailänder Zelttheater Il Globo am Stadtrand, seiner Ankunft in Deutschland Mitte der 1960er-Jahre, seinen Weg vom Deutschen Theater Göttingen bei Hilpert und Fleckenstein über Köln in den 1970er-Jahren mit Hansgünther Heyme bis zu der Theatergründung in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

II. Gespräche zwischen Roberto Ciulli und dem Anthropologen Jonas Tinius: Sie sprechen über Theater als Mittel, um die Welt zu verändern, über Migration, Anthropologie und die Provinz, über eine universelle Sprache und das Clowneske, über eine selbstbestimmte Haltung zur Welt und einen fremden Blick auf sie.

III. Material (Texte, Gespräche, Dokumente) aus rund 40 Jahren internationaler Theaterarbeit im und mit dem Theater an der Ruhr.

Daneben gibt es Texte von Navid Kermani, Helmut Schäfer, Heinz-Norbert Jocks u.v.a., zahlreiche Kritiken, Reisefotos und einen Bildessay von Knut W. Maron.

https://www.alexander-verlag.com/programm/titel/430-der-fremde-blick-roberto-ciulli-und-das-theater-an-der-ruhr.html?fbclid=IwAR3UXVg6CmUuRQZQOUKKLjvWntizCsrzFkT99L-N1nhyEC04pm2ghPOvPQs

Der fremde Blick – Roberto Ciulli und das Theater an der Ruhr
Gespräche, Texte, Fotos, Material
Tinius, Jonas (Hrsg.)
Wewerka, Alexander (Hrsg.)

ersch. Mai 2020 / 1296 Seiten. 400 Abb.. 15,0 x 23,0 cm. Banderole. Fadenheftung. Hardcover. 2 Bände Mit zahlr. Abbildungen und einem Bildessay von Knut W. Maron
ISBN 978-3-89581-491-4
25,– €

Tuđina u jeziku: Vida Ognjenović – Maj nejm iz Mitar, u: Teatron – časopis za pozorišnu umetnost. Broj 186–187. Beograd: Muzej pozorišne umetnosti Srbije, 2019, 102–107.

U radu se analizira funkcija jezika i prostora u drami „Maj nejm iz Mitar“ Vide Ognjenović, čiji junaci, putnici broda Dante koji plovi na relaciji Kotor-Njujork, ostaju zarobljeni u neizvesnosti, na pola puta između zavičaja i tuđine. Kao najvažniji deo prtljaga za put na kojem „velika tuga bije od tuđine“, poneli su raskupusani priručnik za srpskog radenika u Americi, koji će im pomoći da nauče engleski jezik. Tim jezikom, koji se mora naučiti, nagoveštava se neizvesna tuđina, a sporazumevanje se, što je brod bliži tuđem, neprijateljskom svetu, sve intenzivnije vrši na „onostranom jeziku“. Odsustvo naslovnog junaka drame tumačimo kao odsustvo zavičaja i sigurnosti, dok to što Mitar umire kao tuđi čovek tumačimo u ključu graničnog prostora drame, odnosno onih značenja koja tradicionalna kultura pridaje moru i prostoru granice uopšte.