Theatrical Genre Research Articles

К вопросу о происхождении мадригальной комедии и ее связи с культурными традициями и идеями ренессансного гуманизма

In order to understand such a unique phenomenon of European civilization as the Renaissance, it is necessary to immerse yourself in its musical culture, which reflects the complex and often contradictory processes taking place in the inner world of a person of that era. Under the influence of these processes, a wide variety of qualitatively new musical forms was formed, which served as the basis for interesting phenomena of musical culture, reflecting the characteristic traits of the Renaissance. Among these forms is the Italian madrigal comedy, a genre that lies at the intersection of musical and stage arts, which has not been sufficiently studied to date. In this regard, it is of interest to study its genesis and connection with elements of folk musical culture. Several samples of medieval prose could be considered the origins of the madrigal comedy -in particular, related to the tradition of the Italian novella. Among the examples of these, originally oral, genres was the 13th-century digest “Il novellino”, echoes of which can also be found in the typically Renaissance “Decameron” by G. Bocaccio, which reflects the characteristic features of the secularization of European society, including the enjoyment of man on earth existence. The novella itself is a kind of “construction genre”, opening up wide opportunities for improvisation - which makes it related to late theatrical genres. A mature literary genre that influenced the formation of the madrigal comedy was the farce that has existed since the 15th century. The difference between a farce and a novella is a pronounced stereotyping of certain characteristic features of the components of the Renaissance society (such as social classes, estates and professions), which can be considered as a phenomenon that precedes the appearance of masks of the madrigal comedy. The musical basis of the madrigal comedy was based on medieval song genres, which have a simple, lively and energetic harmony, which corresponds to the spirit of love of life and fun, embodied in the ideals of the Renaissance. The typology of madrigal comedies includes at least two types. The first is the simplest, representing a thematic cycle of madrigals without a pronounced stage component (“Caccia” by A. Striggio). A mature type, including independent solo parts, division into parts and a pronounced storyline, is reflected in the work of A. Banchieri and O. Vecchi. O. Veechi's comedy, the “Amphiparnassus”, among other things, also has pronounced farcical features, reflected in the vivid images of the heroes of the work. The short life of the madrigal comedy, apparently, was associated not so much with its content, but with the absence of a pronounced visual component, which did not allow it to find a response among the people and significantly reduced its competitiveness with the new visual genre of opera. Thus, the madrigal comedy can be considered as an organic combination of elements of traditional Italian culture and the ideas of Renaissance humanism, and its pronounced national flavor reflects the basic trends in the musical culture of the Renaissance.

The Lenaian Festival at Classical Athens in Sociocultural Context

This article covers the Lenaia (Λήναια) which was an important part of social and political life in Classical Athens. Our understanding of how dramatic agones in Athens were organized primarily comes from the accounts of the Great (City) Dionysia, while other festivals have been studied less thoroughly. The unique nature of the Lenaia manifested itself both in the purely theatrical and in the social aspects of the event. Regarding the leading theatrical genre, tragedy, the Lenaia remained in the shadow of the City Dionysia, playing the role of the “small stage”. The comic agones at the Lenaia, on the other hand, were staged to a very high standard, to which the social aspect further contributed since the audiences at the Lenaia were much more down-to-earth, animated and active that at the Dionysia. The Lenaia was held during the coldest part of the year. It was precisely in winter when peasants from different parts of Attica, who constituted the majority of the Lenaian audience, were less busy with farming; unlike the Great Dionysia, the Lenaia was not attended by foreigners. The Lenaian festivals were held on a less lavish scale, their organization was entrusted to less significant magistrates, and their performances were much less costly than the Dionysian ones. The Athenians must have considered the Lenaia a predominantly peasant festival, inaccessible to outsiders. Lenaian performances were but little affected by “political correctness”, their earthy humour at times evolved into biting political satire. All of the above created a special atmosphere that became the background of Aristophanes’ best comedies.

Mindennapi határértékeink : A figuraszínház dokumentumszínházi lehetőségei a belga „L’Herbe de l’oubli" című előadás elemzésén keresztül

In the following paper, through the analysis of the Belgian performance L’Herbe de l’oubli, I examine how the elements of the theatre of figures (such as the manipulation of puppets) could respond to the challenges of documentary theatre. The performance of Point Zéro company (written and directed by Jean-Michel d’Hoop, premiered in 2018) discusses some elemental ethical and political questions about the use of nuclear power. It introduces the audience to the everyday life of families living in the extended zone of Chernobyl. The piece combines videography, puppets, and interview-fragments of the habitants from the contaminated areas. One of my goals is to raise attention to a production I find extremely important and to promote a theatrical genre, the intertwined figure-documentary theatre, that has endless possibilities and is not yet represented in Hungary.

РАДИОТЕАТР 1920-Х ГОДОВ: ПЕРВЫЕ ШАГИ ПО НЕЗРИМОЙ СЦЕНЕ

The article is devoted to the early years of the development of the Soviet radio theatre, when artistic broadcasting as a new and unexplored area of creative mastering of reality was at the forefront of the cultural process. The first attempts to broadcast dramatic performances are considered as a stage in the formation of the radio theatre genre. The materials illustrating the creative searches in the field of radio performance directing, its musical and sound design are given. An attempt has been made to identify the place of the Moscow and Leningrad Radio Theatres in the system of contemporary performing arts. The range of creative tasks that the actors of the first radio performances had to cope with by trial and error is outlined. The socio-cultural conflict between supporters and opponents of the original radio art is highlighted, which is important for the understanding of the issue. Some mutual influences of radio theatre with theatrical processes of the aforementioned period are followed. Several typical examples of early Soviet radio drama are briefly analyzed, in particular, radio plays "The Tale about Sphagnum" and "Glass" by A. A. Tarkovsky, the radio play "Ural-Kuzbass" based on the play by V. Gusev, "Dneprostroy" based on the script by A. N. Afinogenov are considered. Some tendencies in the development of radio drama genre in Soviet artistic broadcasting are traced. The mutual influences of radio theatre and radio journalism of the indicated period are also pointed out.

Military might and healing power. Appropriation and representations of the goddess Palden Lhamo in Kalmykia

The article is aimed at revisiting a paradoxical interconnection that can sometimes exist between the representations of military and healing powers in the popular worship and imagination of certain groups. Can these contradictory energies be manifested in a single vessel and, importantly, what forms can such vessels take? I unpack these questions by focusing on forms of appropriation of the Tibetan wrathful goddess Palden Lhamo in the Buddhist society of Kalmykia, a republic situated in the European part of Russia. I examine Kalmyk representational genres and discursive milieux constructing this female deity as simultaneously a fount of military might, a source of political legitimation and a vessel of therapeutic powers. The paper also addresses local theories explaining why and how a female deity, also functioning as a fertility goddess, has developed into the focus of military cult. Besides personal communications and interviews conducted in Kalmykia between 2010 and 2019 with a wide range of interlocutors, my discussion also draws on the iconography of old military banners bearing her image.

Teatro performativo queer

Four recent Italian theatrical works, created by Andrea Adriatico, Enzo Cosimi, Irene Serini and Motus, expose the potential of the development of performative theatre, thanks to the transfer of the queer theme also to the expressive codes and the modalities of representation: the fluidity of identity and orientation also ap-plies to the shows, which take on a fluid form. The essay explores these modali-ties through four perspectives: the «laterality» of the narrative, the crossing of theatrical genres, the «mutant» identity of the spectators, the relationship bet-ween personal and political discourse, also in reference to a classic of queer theatre, La traviata norma (1976).

‘Jesus, the Ark for Today’: Evangelizing through Sight & Sound Theatres’s Noah

Sight & Sound Theatres, a Christian theatre company known for their musical adaptations of stories from the Bible, takes up the mission of evangelizing through musical theatre. While the genre of musical theatre can transform harsh religious messaging into an accessible and entertaining form, it can also undermine religious messaging by introducing camp and trivializing supernatural deities. This article examines how Sight & Sound Theatres’s Noah keeps with and breaks musical theatre conventions effectively to evangelize to their audiences.

Китайское оперное искусство периода японо-китайской войны: жанр через призму вестернизации

The paper aims to present the panorama of the musical theatre genres relevant for Chinese art of the Sino-Japanese War period and to identify the specificity of refraction of the European opera tradition in each of them. The scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that despite the constant attention of the researches to Chinese opera art, the development of the national opera in this period has not received enough coverage until now. The present study proposes a differential system of Chinese opera genres, determines the degree of influence of the European tradition on each of the considered genres for the first time. The emphasis is placed on the operas “Qiu Zi” and “The White-Haired Girl”, which are considered the greatest artistic works in the development of the two main directions of wartime opera. As a result, it has been proved that the variety of musical theatre genres is connected with different degrees of adaptation of European musical thinking components: from using individual elements (harmony, performance style, instrumentation) to an artistically justified combination of national and foreign traditions.

Performances of Suffering in Latin American Migration: Heroes, Martyrs and Saints

Performances of Suffering in Latin American Migration: Heroes, Martyrs and Saints

A Review of Zoom interactive performance, 'Helping Hands': process, distress, success and who was helped.

Intervention for Russell Anderson’s work-in-progress Interactive Zoom theatre performance conducted on 6th August 2021 at 1:00 pm (U.K time), for a PhD thesis at Oxford Brooke's University was called 'Helping Hands'. Exploration and involvement of socio-digital options in Zoom theatre performativity, invokes questioning the adaptive process, distress and success as well as whom are we helping by being involved? Are we helping the company hosting the Zoom application, digital-theatre experimenters, the characters in the play, real people with similar socio-political problems as depicted in the play, ourselves or Russell Anderson? My personal experience and observations, beginning from receiving the digital mail invitation and background information of the performance, until the discussion about the work, in the end will be narrated with critical observations on each character's role and background, audio-visual spectrum, additional software and applications used, spect-actorship and employment of the break-out room feature of the Zoom application. The referenced theatre genres and probable methodologies employed in structuring the performance will be discussed by referring to Sir Andersons personal notes on the matter. The emotions and doubts, particularly that of whom I was helping, during the performance will be addressed in terms of the nature of the interactive, hyperdrama’s structure and the overall effect that it influenced. Its outcome will be critically compared with observations made by other scholarly reviewers on other Zoom adaptive performances, namely, Karen by The Transit Ensemble, Newspaper Theatre workshop by Seattle Rep, The Belle’s Stratagem by Red Bull Theatre, Time Machine by Creation Theatre and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by CtrlAlt_Repeat, while addressing Interaction, communication, mediatization and liveness in digital theatre.

Nonfiction Theater

Abstract Are there nonfiction genres of theater scripts, just as there are nonfiction genres of film, such as documentary, and of literature, such as biography and history? I propose that there are, and that Verbatim Theater qualifies as a nonfiction theater genre. What sets it apart is that it is supposed to instruct performers not merely to reenact, or represent, a series of events, but overall to present evidence or arguments for a thesis, or for the audience to draw their own conclusions. For scripts to present evidence, audiences have to be able to filter out what is supposed to serve as evidence from what else occurs on stage. Unlike various other genres of theater that one might initially appear to be nonfiction—such as autobiographical dialogues, Documentary Theater, and ethnodrama—Verbatim Theater does this.

Неоклассицизм в творческом наследии И. Ф. Стравинского: жанры, формы и музыкальный язык

The study aims to determine the musical and theoretical features of I. Stravinsky’s neoclassical creative work. The author identified causes and prerequisites for Stravinsky’s work in the neoclassical direction, analysed the conceptual features of neoclassicism in art. Scientific novelty lies in determining features of neoclassicism as a way of deforming the stylistic material of previous eras in Stravinsky’s creative work. As a result, it has been ascertained that the intrinsic features of neoclassicism in Stravinsky’s creative work are the use of forms and genres of music written by composers of the XVII-XIX centuries, rejection of homophonic texture in favour of polyphonic writing, orientation to melodism and linearity, rigid rhythmic organisation, plot mythologisation in theatrical genres.

Opera by Lev Kolodub "The Poet" as a Vector of the Director's Actualization of the Kobzar’s Image in Modern Ukrainian Realities

Creative and ideological prerequisites of the director's appeals to L. Kolodub's opera "The Poet" are considered. The reasons for the need for a new scientific and creative understanding of opera in the sociocultural realities of a modern Ukraine are clarified. The scientific novelty of the research is determined, which consists of the original conceptual vision of updating the performance in accordance with the requirements of the present on the basis of synthesis of achievements of scientific thought and creative heritage of iconic figures of Ukraine and abroad. The purpose of the research is the need for new readings of the opera "The Poet" by Lev Kolodub as an ideological and integral work, devoid of the narrative of the Soviet era and the pathos of canonization of Kobzar as a "Superman", which is not characterized by human and romantic experiences, the research methods chosen: to determine the influence of world socio-cultural processes on the musical theater of Ukraine – system-analytical; to consider the creative heritage of L. Kolodub - biographical; to analyze the musical drama of the work — genre stylistic; to analyze the director's embodiments of the Opera — interpretative; to create your own concept of a creative art project — experimental modeling. The main results and conclusions of the study are obtained, which are as follows: a long break between the time of writing the opera "The Poet" by L. Kolodub (1984-1988) and its first stage reading (2001) is associated with subjective reasons due to the inconsistency of actions between musical theaters of Ukraine. The opera "The Poet" from the point of view of the composer's idea is definitely a new look at the image of Taras Shevchenko. In fact, Levko Kolodub invented a new genre of musical theater with this work — "biographical opera". Its versatility can be regarded as an attempt by the composer himself to "revive the classics" and bring them closer to the audience's perception. In this vein, this work provides a wide range of opportunities for director's reading and can live an active repertoire, ideologically true life at opera venues in Ukraine and diasporas. A comparative analysis of the Opera implementations in the Lysenko Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and the National Philharmonic of Ukraine allowed us to determine the difference between the director's approaches to solving mise en scene due to traditional (theater stage in Kharkiv) and non — traditional (concert hall in Kyiv, in the past-a room for balls of the merchant's House) locations. The post-graduate student predicted her own conceptual vision of the creative art project - the opera "The Poet" by L. Kolodub, which provides for the use of the latest achievements of scientific thought and original creative findings of leading figures of musical theater in Ukraine and abroad.

Человек театра из окружения П.И. Чайковского: К.Н. Де‐Лазари

This paper is dedicated to a creative personality from P.I. Tchaikovsky’s friendly circle, Konstantin Nikolaevich De-Lazari (stage name Konstantinov). Throughout the composer’s life, this artist of almost all theatrical genres (from drama and opera to vaudeville and operetta) maintained friendly relations with Pyotr Ilyich himself, then with his brothers and father. Serving alternately in the troupes of the opera (Bolshoi Theater, Moscow) and drama theaters (Alexandrinsky Theater, St. Petersburg), he did not lose touch with either the musical or dramatic environment and was considered “his own man” behind the scenes of the theaters of both capitals. He was a friend of Pyotr Ilyich’s friends: N.G. Rubinstein, G.A. Laroche; patronized talented actresses who played prominent roles in the destinies of M.I. Tchaikovsky (M.G. Savina) and A.I. Tchaikovsky (A.Ya. Glama-Meshcherskaya). K.N. De-Lazari left several memoir texts; their exact number and significance for the biography of P.I. Tchaikovsky has not yet received a scientific assessment. These texts and their interpretation will help to expand our understanding of the composer’s circle of friends and the synthetism of perception of musical and dramatic theater, characteristic of P.I. Tchaikovsky, his natural artistry, in a broad sense.

“I Wonder Which of You is Real”

Abstract In response to Judith Yaross Lee's introduction of a framework designed to probe the relationship between empire and American humor, this article analyzes John Kneubuhl's “The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo,” a 1966 episode of The Wild Wild West (1965-69). Kneubuhl (1920-92) was a Samoan American playwright who wrote for theater, television, and film. Like Mark Twain, he demonstrated a lifelong interest in the trope of the confidence man. In “The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo” he depicts protagonists and antagonists alike in the US borderlands as con artists contending for power. While agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon emerge as cultural impersonators who serve the ideology of Manifest Destiny, the Prince of the South Sea Coral Islands, a Polynesian aristocrat, deploys American hegemony in Oceania. Kneubuhl draws on conventions of the fale aitu, a Samoan theatrical genre, as well as his association with Sam Amalu, a Native Hawaiian humorist and con man known for his elaborate pranks and swindles. As a site of contest between what Lee terms “neocolonial hybridity” and “postcolonial discontinuity,” “The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo” exemplifies Kneubuhl's unique trickster aesthetics.

“I Wonder Which of You is Real”

Abstract In response to Judith Yaross Lee's introduction of a framework designed to probe the relationship between empire and American humor, this article analyzes John Kneubuhl's “The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo,” a 1966 episode of The Wild Wild West (1965-69). Kneubuhl (1920-92) was a Samoan American playwright who wrote for theater, television, and film. Like Mark Twain, he demonstrated a lifelong interest in the trope of the confidence man. In “The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo” he depicts protagonists and antagonists alike in the US borderlands as con artists contending for power. While agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon emerge as cultural impersonators who serve the ideology of Manifest Destiny, the Prince of the South Sea Coral Islands, a Polynesian aristocrat, deploys American hegemony in Oceania. Kneubuhl draws on conventions of the fale aitu, a Samoan theatrical genre, as well as his association with Sam Amalu, a Native Hawaiian humorist and con man known for his elaborate pranks and swindles. As a site of contest between what Lee terms “neocolonial hybridity” and “postcolonial discontinuity,” “The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo” exemplifies Kneubuhl's unique trickster aesthetics.

Operette und die (Wiener) Theaterzensur - Politik auf der Bühne?

The study examines the impact of censorship on Viennese operetta theatres and theatre plays. The Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv in St Pölten preserves about 15.000 censorship files from the late 1850s until the 1920s, documenting the act of censorship for various theatrical genres. After presenting the institutions and practices of censorship in the Habsburg Empire, three case studies demonstrate how censorship decisions were made according to the expected audience in different theatres and the political climate. Majestät Mimi (Felix Dörmann, Roda-Roda / Bruno Granichstaedten, 1911), Der Vogelhändler (Moritz West, Ludwig Held / Carl Zeller, 1891) and Der Obersteiger (West, Held / Zeller, 1894) have been chosen for their topival relevance. Although music was never part of the actual censorship act, it probably still played a role in the decisions made about the operettas.

Exhibition Review: Every Day. Art. Solidarity. Resistance

Exhibition Review: <i>Every Day. Art. Solidarity. Resistance</i>

Sound Archives and Musical Representations of Modern India: The Case of the Felix van Lamsweerde Collection (1963-2005)

This essay presents a critical social history of the context in which the Felix van Lamsweerde Collection came together. Felix van Lamsweerde (b. 1934), a Dutch collector, cultural anthropologist and impresario, extensively recorded Indian expressive cultures in the Netherlands and India between 1963 and 2005. This collection was digitised and catalogued between 2017 and 2020 at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv in Germany as part of a German Research Foundation (DFG) project. It includes a wide range of first-hand and commercial audio/video recordings of music, dance and theatre genres from across India along with accompanying notes, photographs, and a vast collection of books, magazines and journals. Van Lamsweerde’s journey into studying musics of India and the collection itself points to how India’s cultural politics evolved in the immediate decades following its independence from the British in 1947. Whilst historicising the colonial, oriental and nationalist legacies of music collection in India, this essay examines the Van Lamsweerde Collection and archival projects at large through a source critical approach. It attempts to demonstrate the ways in which caste, class, gender and racialisation processes and the sound archive shaped one another in the formation of transnational cultural representations of India. Drawing on discussions in ethnomusicology, social theory and archival studies, this essay offers an interpretation of how musical knowledge and a homogenous construct of Indian culture has taken shape in Western European and American academe.

Українська шкільна різдвяна драма ХVІІ-ХVІІІ ст. і ляльковий театр вертеп: проблема адаптації та інтерпретації музичного чинника

The article states that the Ukrainian baroque art has become differentiated into the high, middle and lower stylistic levels. There were certain connections between them, and new art genres appeared on the verges of these levels. The problem of the connection between distinct stylistic levels of the Ukrainian musical baroque has not yet attracted the attention of researchers. The study examines the links between the Ukrainian school Christmas drama of the XVIIth– XVIIIth centuries and the puppet Nativity play theatre. It is noted that for the first time a comparison of these two kinds of theatrical art is drawn in terms of the use of a musical factor in them. It is established that the first act of the Nativity play drama is related to the high style of Ukrainian Christmas school drama. This is revealed on the basis of analysing the dramatic functions of a Choir in both school drama and Nativity play drama. A choir in these spectacles took an active part in revealing the Christmas story, playing the role of a character. What they had in common was the genre of spiritual chant with the syllabic versification. Despite its association with the high style of school drama, the Nativity play drama was a quite new theatrical genre that belongs to the middle stylistic level. Focusing on the folk environment, authors of the Nativity play drama intelligibly conveyed to a wide audience the sacred plot. It is noted that in the second act of the Nativity scene were adapted interludes of school dramas, which represented the lower stylistic level of the Baroque. In this act, a funny line came to the fore, and a musical component is marked by influences of the Ukrainian musical folklore with a predominance of its dancing variety. The interaction of folklore with the lower version of the Baroque had a great potential for the further development of the Ukrainian national theatre. Due to the fact that music was an integral part of the puppet Nativity play drama and played an important dramatic function, this theatrical spectacle, like some school dramas, had the features of the drama with music genre. Thus, school drama and Nativity play drama created the foundation, on which in the XIXth century, the Ukrainian dramaturgy emerged, with a significant role of the musical factor in it, which was essentially a drama with music.