History and Theory of the Theatre

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).

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).

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.

"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

Article first published in "Acting Archives Essays" (www.actingarchives.it) April 2011, later included in Theory of Acting. From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century (chapter 3), Napoli: Marsilio & Acting Archives, December 2012 (download: www.academia.edu).

Summary: The Academicians Establish the First Rules of Acting.    Giraldi Cintio’s “Discorsi”.    Angelo Ingegneri.    Stage Characters as Reality Perfected .    Leone de’ Sommi’s ”Dialoghi”  and Theory Based on Stage Experience.    The Writings of Pier Maria Cecchini.    The Theoretical Model of Acting.    Flaminio Scala and the Decline of the Early Treatises.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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).

In this paper we present an esoteric University play, Grobiana’s Nuptials, which was written by undergraduate Charles May and performed at St John’s College, Oxford in 1637.  The play was edited by Ernest Rühl, whose interest in the play was as evidence of the Grobian tradition - a  literary tradition indebted to Sebastian Brant’s Das Narrenschiff - in England.  Otherwise, scholars have largely ignored it, possibly put off by its extremely vulgar humour.  But it was very well received by University authorities when performed, and we explore its literary merits, its place in the history of theatre, and what it might tell us about early modern educational practice at the universities.

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.

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.

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.

Resumo Neste artigo, há uma discussão sobre a formação de conceitos nos Estudos Teatrais. Defende-se que, no lugar da mera importação de ideias e conceitos das Ciências Sociais, haja uma aproximação entre contextos de produção e atividade intelectual. Ao fim, apresento e analiso alguns conceitos operatórios fundamentais nas artes do espetáculo, como atos personativos, assimetria entre audiência e performance, e marcação emocional. Palavras-Chave: metafísica; teatro; conceitos. Abstract In this paper, there is a discussion about the formation of concepts in Performing Arts. It is argued that, instead of merely importing ideas and concepts from the Social Sciences, there is an approximation between contexts of production and intellectual activity. Finally, I present and analyze some fundamental operative concepts in the Performing Arts, such as personative acts, asymmetry between audience and performance, and emotional marking.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Un uomo, in toga, guarda in avanti. La posa nobile, la cassa piena di rotoli ai suoi piedi ne farebbero un buon esempio di oratore, raffigurato accanto ai suoi discorsi. Invece l’iscrizione ci dice che è un attore. Anche per lui, come per gli oratori, dunque, un segno distintivo sono i rotoli: copioni. O più probabilmente sono frammenti di copioni – un testo senza parti corali, formato solo delle parti dialogate, per esempio. Oppure una antologia di prologhi, o di canti lirici. In ogni caso: testi incompleti.
Comunque, in apparenza, testi. Accanto ai testi e agli attori spesso ci sono maschere. Ma possono esserci anche solo i rotoli. Sembra una testimonianza sulla importanza del testo –di importazione greca. Prevalenza della parte più nobile: in apparenza. E viene in mente quanti problemi porterà questo rapporto complicato – attore e testi – in tutti i secoli successivi.

The conference will allow nearly eighty scholars from around the world to discuss, interrogate and apply the concepts of space, culture and power in a truly interdisciplinary setting. The format includes plenary lectures, parallel sessions, and a concluding round table discussion.

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"

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.

The article Dal punto di vista degli attori 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).

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/

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”.

Le sujet de notre communication porte sur la recherche approfondie
des relations existant entre d’ une part, le théâtre et son essence fondamentale, la théâtralité, et d’ autre part, le spectacle et sa fonction, la spectacularité.
De fait, nous constatons que de nos jours les conditions perceptives humaines ont beaucoup évolué. Influencées par plusieurs facteurs, parmi lesquels une place pri-mordiale revient au rôle que joue l’ image icônisé offerte par les mass-media et l’ in-formatique en général, les capacités conceptuelles de l’ homme se sont pro-fondément transformées.
Le public, de toute représentation conçoit le message qui lui est adressé plutôt avec des critères de «spectacularité», qu’ avec d’ autres critères plus adaptés au fait théâtrale.

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.

Alfred Fillon (1825-1881), francês emigrado em Portugal por razões políticas,
foi uma das figuras mais importantes da fotografia portuguesa de oitocentos.
Fixando-se em Portugal na década de 1850, Fillon tornou o seu estabelecimento
fotográfico num dos mais destacados estúdios portugueses e tornar-se-ia numa
referência para as casas fotográficas portuguesas. Nele se fizeram fotografar as
mais importantes figuras da sociedade portuguesa do seu tempo, em particular
os membros da família real. A sua ligação aos meios teatrais, enquanto fotógrafo
do Teatro Nacional, trouxe-lhe enorme prestígio e muitas das fotografias de
artistas foram publicadas na revista O Contemporâneo.

Tento příspěvek se zabývá právní úpravou divadla v postmoderním státě. Klade důraz na
aspekt sociální spravedlnosti v procesu přijímání této právní úpravy. Cílem tohto příspěvku je proto
učinění závěru o reálné možnosti či nemožnosti vytvoření a fungování sociálně spravedlivé právní
úpravy divadla, a to především v prostředí postmoderního státu.

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.

The central question of this thesis is: what are the key principles of live performance presence? My research and its resulting theories, are firmly based in the integrated and constructivist processes of grounded theory. An extensive review and analysis of literature by the likes of Barba, Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Chekhov, Meisner, Bogart, Chaikin, Grotowksi, Brook, Oida, Suzuki, Fo, Lecoq, Zarrilli and Hodge, was triangulated through a focus group and through the application of my theories as praxis. The results of my research have led me to believe that although many theatre practitioners are not in total agreement on the best way to train actors, they do agree that presence is crucial to successful performance. The key principles of such presence, for the purposes of this thesis, are: energy, imagination, awareness and mutuality. These holistic, dynamic and interactive principles are crucial to the development of an actor's presence in performance.

Submission Deadline: 15 January 2017 Bursary Application Deadline: 22 December 2016 The Arabic Theatre Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research invites proposals for contributions to its forthcoming meeting at the IFTR annual conference in São Paulo, Brazil from 10 to 14 July 2017. We particularly, but not exclusively, welcome contributions that address the conference theme "Unstable Geographies: Multiple Theatricalities", which, as the organizers put it, emphasizes " the massive migrations and increasing deterritorialization of human cultures ". This topic has a strong relevance to the contemporary Arab world and its historically multi-layered inter-and intra-cultural shifts and displacments. If anything, this concern is particularly evident in the growing crises facing today's Arab and Arabo-Islamic migrant and refugee communities. This topical concern notwithstanding, it is equally evident in the historically-rich but largely under-explored theatrical practices of Arab and Muslim communities in South and Latin America.

Protagonisti stvaranja Dubrovačkih ljetnih igara bili su dr. Marko Fo-tez (1915. – 1976.) i dr. Branko Gavella (1885. – 1962.). »Njihov izlazak iz scene-kutije pod dubrovačke zvijezde«, kako piše Georgij Paro 1978. godine, »nužno je odredio temeljne koordinate teatra Igara, i ne samo to, već i neka osnovna načela igranja u otvorenim scenskim prostorima, koja su kasnije doživljavala mnoge korekcije i nadgradnje, ali su bila smjerodavna čak i kad se radilo o radikalno drugačijim pristupima.« (Paro, 1978: 150) Premda o tome nije mnogo pisao, nastavlja Paro, Gavella je svojim režijama tematizirao gotovo sve probleme igranja na otvorenom. Tako je primjerice režijom na taraci prividnom doslovnošću režijskog postupka postavio pred glumce, ali i gledatelje, neke posve nove mogućnosti i prob-leme: »Prostor scene širio se u prostor svijeta… čak i buka iz gruške luke postajala je na određeni način dio sveukupnog smisla predstave.« (Paro, 1978: 153) Branko Gavella takvim je postupkom naveo glumce »da dovedu u pi-tanje svoje glumačke navike i šablone i da počnu tragati za nekom novom prirodnošću, novim glumačkim izrazom…«. (Paro, 1978: 153) Naime,