History and Theory of the Theatre

"This paper argues for a pre-theoretical and pro-theatrical understanding of theory. To begin, it considers the Greek tradition of theōria as practiced around the fifth century BCE in the period just before Plato appropriated the cultural practice of theōria as a model for philosophical inquiry. As will be shown, this proto-philosophical practice of theōria was profoundly theatrical, which is to say, spectacular and dramatic in social, situational, and symbolic ways. Such events of theōria involved diverse citizens participating as active witnesses in recurring festivals that had both intimate and far-reaching political, religious, and aesthetic significance. Reflecting on some present-day settings and occasions for practicing theory, this paper concludes with a disciplinary provocation: the re-engagement of theōria’s fundamental theatricality can reanimate the social, situational, and symbolic dimensions of architectural theory, without sacrificing either its relative independence or its capacity for heuristic wonder.
      Before theory was a thing, it was a practice. In ancient Greece theōria was a spatiotemporal practice thoroughly intertwined with socio-political experiences and endeavors. The cultural practice of theōria involved traveling to a foreign place, primarily for the sake of witnessing a spectacular festival and/or consulting an oracle, then returning home to share with others an account of events seen and understandings gained. All three stages of theōria – traveling, spectating, and returning with a report – were vitally important. Individuals would temporarily leave behind the familiarity of their local conditions, assumptions, and problems to immerse themselves in intensely social, synesthetic, and metaphysical encounters at a Panhellenic festival. They would then return home with the obligatory challenge of communicating the truth of what was witnessed to those who stayed behind...." — Lisa Landrum

The article explores some pre-Christian, Christian and post-Christian celebratory rituals that exist in a Nordic tradition of Christmas feasts, with a particular focus on the Norwegian Yule. A key theme is the presentation and discussion of rituals and performative events in the described celebrations, along with observations on the interesting etymology of words and names, as well as myths and legends, associated with Yule celebrations. The article looks at some roots of theatre in early religious ritual and dramatic elements in folk practice, and at beliefs and customs that have shaped present day Christmas – or Yule - traditions in the North.

Drawing from early modern plays and treatises on the precepts and practices of the acting process, this study shows how the early modern Spanish actress subscribed to various somatic practices in an effort to prepare for a role. It provides today's reader not only another perspective to the performance aspect of early modern plays, but also a better understanding of how the woman of the theater succeeded in a highly scrutinized profession. Elizabeth Marie Cruz Petersen examines examples of comedias from playwrights such as Lope de Vega, Luis Vélez de Guevara, Tirso de Molina, and Ana Caro, historical documents, and treatises to demonstrate that the women of the stage transformed their bodies and their social and cultural environment in order to succeed in early modern Spanish theater. Women's Somatic Training in Early Modern Spanish Theater is the first full-length, in-depth study of female actors in seventeenth-century Spain. Unique in the field of comedia studies, it approaches the topic from a performance perspective, using somaesthetics as a tool to explain how an artist's lived experiences and emotions unite in the interpretation of art, reconfiguring her "self" via the transformation of habit.

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”.

In the vast landscape of the history of the performing arts in baroque Rome, theatre and other entertainments in the context of the colleges take on primary importance, not only for the quality of the results – often at the level of productions in theatres and noble palaces – but above all for the role they played, beginning with the regulations in the Jesuit “Ratio studiorum”, in the moral and cultural education of college students. This study presents a preliminary section of a larger research project based on the documents from the archive of the Collegio Nazareno, aiming at reconstructing the material history of the performing arts’ practice in the college. Through an examination of accounting records and regulations regarding the ceremonial protocol for celebrations, academic gatherings, and ‘comedie’ (theatrical performances), the essay proposes a reflection on the relationship between theatre and the mechanisms of control governing the college.

Politics of ‚Happiness Cultures‘. Nazi Germany and Switzerland, 1933–1945
Funded by: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
De Gruyter Oldenbourg | 2021.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110657456/html

*German abstract below*

English abstract:

Knowledge about "happiness" means power. For the self-portrayal of a nation, its system of values and morals, knowledge about happiness can be used and reinterpreted as an emotional-political instrument of power. How did knowledge of happiness change after 1933? In the years of crisis and war, which were marked by propaganda, persecution, the Second World War and the Holocaust, knowledge of happiness had a mass psychological function in Nazi Germany within the framework of the racist work moral „Kraft durch Freude" ("Strength through Joy") and in Switzerland in the context of the cultural-nationalist emotional policy of „geistige Landesverteidigung" ("intellectual national defence"). Isabelle Haffter shows the constructedness of happiness knowledge as an ambivalent expert and popular knowledge, which is characterised by change and continuities. The aim of the study is to uncover a research gap in the transnational history of knowledge and emotions about cultural nationalisms by means of historical case studies from the fields of politics, science and the performing arts.


Wissen über „Glück" bedeutet Macht. Zur Selbstdarstellung einer Nation, ihres Werte- und Moralsystems, kann auf dieses Wissen zurückgegriffen und als emotionspolitisches Machtinstrument genutzt werden.
Wie veränderte sich Glückswissen und dessen politische Verwendung nach 1933? In den Krisen- und Kriegsjahren, die von Propaganda, Verfolgung, dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und dem Holocaust geprägt waren, besaß Glückwissen in NS-Deutschland im Rahmen der rassistischen Arbeitsmoral „Kraft durch Freude" und in der Schweiz im Kontext der kulturnationalistischen Gefühlspolitik der „geistigen Landesverteidigung" eine massenpsychologische Funktion.
Isabelle Haffter zeigt die Konstruiertheit von Glückswissen als ein ambivalentes Experten- und Populärwissen auf, welches von Wandel und Kontinuitäten gekennzeichnet ist. Anhand historischer Fallbeispiele aus Politik, Wissenschaft und den darstellenden Künsten wird die bestehende Forschungslücke in der transnationalen Wissens- und Gefühlsgeschichte über kulturelle Nationalismen aufgedeckt.

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 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.

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.

El teatro, muy a menudo excluido en los estudios sobre géneros comúnmente llamados no miméticos (el terror, lo fantástico, la ciencia ficción), puede, sin embargo, aportar mecanismos que caen más allá del alcance de otros medios como el cine o la narrativa. En concreto, el terror puede beneficiarse de la ruptura de la cuarta pared y la integración del público en el ámbito escénico. El artículo rastrea, en la teoría y en la práctica, los grados de tal asimilación y las posibilidades que se siguen para la recreación del terror en las tablas.

Divadlo je významná společenská síla, o jejíž regulaci se každý stát. Cílem tohoto příspěvku je rozebrání právní úpravy divadla na českém území od 19. stol. do současnosti v obecné rovině a srovnání rozdílů mezi jednotlivými obdobími jejího vývoje. Hlavní zřetel bude kladen na souvislost změn právní úpravy a revolucí měnících státní režim. V závěru se zaměřím na stav a možnosti právní úpravy divadla v současnosti.