Theatre Research Research Articles

Van historiserend paradigma naar maatschappelijke reflectie

In this contribution the last twenty-five years of research concerning early modern Dutch theatre are discussed. Jan Konst argued that research of early modern Dutch theatre up to the year 2000 can be characterised as belonging to a historic paradigm. In this article it is argued that Dutch theatre research of the past two decades has been changing to include more critical reflections of society. It is maintained that this is needed so that theatre-historical research remains relevant in the twenty-first century.

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age

Book Review| December 01 2021 The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age Damrosch, Leo. The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2019/2020. 31 color + 93 b/w illus. 488 pp. $20.00 USD, £9.99 (paperback). ISBN 9780300217902 (hardback—out of print); 9780300251784 (paperback). Penny Richards Penny Richards Cheltenham Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research (2021) 33 (1-2): 151–152. https://doi.org/10.5325/rectr.33.1-2.0151 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Penny Richards; The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age. Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research 1 December 2021; 33 (1-2): 151–152. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/rectr.33.1-2.0151 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressRestoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2021 by The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved. No copies may be made without the written permission of the publisher.2021The Pennsylvania State University Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe. 5 vols. Stephen Bernard, General Editor. Vol. 1: The Early Plays, ed. Rebecca Bullard and John McTague; Vol. 2: The Middle Period Plays, ed. Michael Caines; Vol. 3: The Late Plays, ed. Claudine van Hensbergen; Vol. 4: Poems, ed. Stephen Bernard, and Lucan’s Pharsalia (I–III), ed. Robin Sowerby; Vol. 5: Lucan’s Pharsalia (IV–X)

<i>The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe</i>. 5 vols. Stephen Bernard, General Editor. Vol. 1: <i>The Early Plays</i>, ed. Rebecca Bullard and John McTague; Vol. 2: <i>The Middle Period Plays</i>, ed. Michael Caines; Vol. 3: <i>The Late Plays</i>, ed. Claudine van Hensbergen; Vol. 4: <i>Poems</i>, ed. Stephen Bernard, and <i>Lucan’s Pharsalia</i> (I–III), ed. Robin Sowerby; Vol. 5: <i>Lucan’s Pharsalia</i> (IV–X)

Early American Music and the Construction of Race

Early American Music and the Construction of Race

Playback Theatre, social justice and empathy: A diffractive review

This article explores the relationship between social justice and Playback Theatre practice. In lieu of a diffractive approach, this study breaks away from representational forms of research such as the traditional literature review. Instead, the author strives to review the selected studies as alive and dynamic, with the ability to activate new insights when creatively played with and re-examined. This review traces selected Playback Theatre research that has sought a deeper understanding of empathy in Playback Theatre practice and its relationship with social justice. The author foregrounds what has resulted from these studies regarding empathy in Playback Theatre and their relationship with Nancy Fraser’s social justice model, particularly the cultural dimension of recognition. This review offers a social justice definition relevant to Playback Theatre while seeking to explore how this informs the artistic dimension of Playback Theatre enactments.

Theorizing ethical questioning for applied theatre practice

This article examines ethical questioning as an inquiry process germane to making ethical choices in applied theatre research. Focusing on reflexivity through reflection before, in and on action, I consider ethical questioning as a framework to amplify resistance, promote participation and strengthen decolonization in the research process. I situate ethical questioning within critical pedagogy for applied theatre practice and construct an ethical questioning framework that rests on both individualism and collective processes. I conclude by briefly examining some processes in my doctoral research and reflecting on the implications of ethical questioning on applied theatre and the call to turn from a morality debate about ethics to a political act rooted in the awareness of oneself in relation to the other.

Turandot Carla Gozziego na scenie Teatru Ludowego w Nowej Hucie

The cultural peculiarity of Nowa Huta, a city founded after World War II, resulted from the lack of any artistic habits of the young audience. It was the Ludowy Theatre which, since 1955, had been bearing the responsibility for shaping up the expectations of the spectators in the new district of Krakow [Cracow] – dynamically developing but still devoid of any cultural foundations. The team of Skuszanka soon gained recognition among critics and elevated the newly created institution to the rank of an equal partner in the nationwide cultural exchange. The image of the Ludowy Theatre as a centre of progressive and experimental art quickly became even more profound, since it looked modern compared to the rather monotonous background of Krakow's theatres at that time. Thus, it became an institution whose opening, coinciding with the symbolic date of the Polish October, inaugurates a new season of the theatrical research. The aim of this paper is to illustrate this phenomenon by describing and analysing the performance that many of the contemporary critics called the flagship spectacle of the Nowa Huta theatre, i.e. Princess Turandot by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Krystyna Skuszanka. This play, drawing on fairy-tale plots and colourful Italian folk comedies, became not only an expression of opposition to socialist realism, but also a harbinger of the future activities of this institution, and perhaps even a reflection of the condition of the Polish theatre at that time.

Actor's training in the context of distance education

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of teaching traditional acting techniques within the framework of new technologies and digital communication using the example of acting training in the context of distance education. Methodology. The topic of the article determined the use of an integrated approach using general scientific and theatrical research methods - this made it possible to determine a set of factors that determine the quality of teaching acting training in conditions of distance education. The method of theoretical study of foreign literature on the research problem has been applied; the method of studying and analyzing pedagogical experience; the method of systems analysis, which contributed to the consideration of online learning in the context of theatrical pedagogy as a kind of integrity in the variety of its internal and external connections; typological method, in order to identify the specifics of teaching acting training in the conditions of distance learning, etc. Scientific novelty. Investigated innovative approaches to teaching actors in the context of the use of new technologies in acting training; analyzed the specificity of cognitive, social and educational presence as key elements in the development and implementation of online education in the context of the peculiarities of teaching the skill of an actor; the features of transformation of acting training exercises, associated with tactile sensations, were revealed; it was stated that in the conditions of distance education in acting training, direct contact (touch of the body) can be mediated by means of vibrotactile quality of the voice. Conclusions. Teaching acting training can take on new forms, provided it is conducted in an online format. The study showed that the structure of theater pedagogy in general and teaching of acting training in particular requires a revision of co-presence as an ontological condition for the transfer of tacit knowledge, which has traditionally been in the epistemological structure of theater pedagogy. The shift in emphasis in teaching an actor from traditional to innovative ways is associated with a broad approach to the decentralization of the preliminary epistemological interpretation of the body as its unique and, accordingly, central direction. The biggest challenge for the teacher of acting in the transition to the online format is that this subject is predominantly group-oriented, based on working in physical spaces. Teaching acting training in the context of distance learning requires a holistic understanding of how the digital space works, and acting training, using these limitations, should be initially planned and created taking into account the dynamics of the networked world. When conducting acting training in a digital environment, the lack of contact must be replaced with other sensory sensations. An important aspect in the context of the designated problems is the social aspect, which forms the group dynamics among students. For this aspect, it is advisable to use a number of auxiliary applications, including the social network Facebook (for scheduling and quickly sharing visual materials) and software for web conferencing "Adobe Acrobat Connect".

Prison Theatre and an Embodied Aesthetics of Liberation: Exploring the Potentials and Limits

Prison theatre practitioners and scholars often describe the sense of imaginative freedom or “escape” that theatre and drama can facilitate for incarcerated actors, in contrast to the strict regimes of the institution. Despite this, the concept of freedom or liberation is rarely interrogated, being presented instead as a given—a natural by-product of creative practice. Drawing from John Dewey’s (1934) pragmatist aesthetics and the liberatory pedagogies of Bell Hooks (2000) and Paulo Freire (1996), I propose an embodied aesthetics of liberation in prison theatre that adds depth and complexity to claims for freedom through creativity. Reflecting on over twenty years of prison theatre practice and research, I propose that the initial “acts of escape” performed through engaging the imagination are merely the first threshold toward more meaningful forms of freedom. I frame these as the following three intersecting domains: “Acts of unbinding”, which represents the personal liberation afforded by experiences with theatre in prison; “acts of love”, which expresses how the theatre ensemble might represent a “beloved community” (hooks); and “acts of liberation”, which articulates how these experiences of self-and-world creation may ripple out to impact audiences and communities. An aesthetics of liberation in prison theatre can, therefore, be conceived as an embodied movement towards personal and social renewal; an approach that deepens our understanding of its oft-cited humanising potential, and its limits.

“You have the right to love and be loved”: participatory theatre for disability justice with self-advocates

Individuals with intellectual disability are often left out of and overlooked in discussions on sexual health and sexuality. Given this, we undertook a participatory theatre research project to better respond to the needs of the individuals with intellectual and developmental disability regarding their sexual agency and sexual citizenship. The project, entitled Romance, Relationships, and Rights arose when the executive director of a community living agency approached researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship to learn about how they, as an agency, could better support their community. To disrupt sexual ableism and traditional theatre hierarchies, we collaboratively turned to participatory and disability theatre with the aim to advance and promote the sexual citizenship of individuals with intellectual and developmental disability, who refer to themselves as self-advocates - those who speak and act with agency. The challenges of equitable co-creation arose throughout the theatre process; the themes of deconstruction/co-construction and uncertainty and liminality reveal the iterative process of centering self-advocate voices.

Working through and with whiteness in fieldwork practice: activating an ethic of solidarity in race research in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT This article examines how whiteness operates within research projects – specifically projects where white researchers undertake studies on race – and offers possibilities for activating an ‘ethic of solidarity’ within and through skewed power dynamics. An ‘ethic of solidarity’ offers five areas for white researchers to reflect and act on: probing positionality, interrogating epistemic assumptions, disrupting hierarchies of power, shifting asymmetrical dialogue, and practicing decolonial research. With examples from my participatory theatre research with white, Black, and Brown Dutch youth in the Netherlands, I demonstrate how these reflections can turn into action. I offer the term an ‘ethic of solidarity’ to refer to a process of reflection, self-positioning, and action that is, in fact, an essential methodological component in social justice research design and process. In doing so, this article provides insight into how white researchers can undertake politically engaged research by activating solidarity.

“I'm on My Way to a Heav'nly Lan’”:Porgy and Bessas American Religious Export to the USSR

AbstractScholars have explored the use of Breen-Davis'sPorgy and Bessand its stellar ensemble cast to counter Soviet criticism of US race relations during the Cold War—but an equally prominent theme in contemporary coverage of the production is spirituality. Onstage as well as off, the Soviet tour ofPorgy and Bessreflected both American and Soviet ideas about religion's role in international diplomacy in the mid-1950s. This article explores religiosity in the Breen-Davis production as well as the reception of the 1955–56 Soviet tour both in the United States, where the production represented a hopeful vision of the nation's racial tolerance and religious pluralism, and in the USSR, where the tour's twin messages of American spiritual superiority and racial equality were challenged by Soviet authorities. Drawing on materials from the Robert Breen Archives housed in the Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University, this article considers Breen-Davis'sPorgy and Bessas a religious export to the USSR, enriching our understanding of US cultural diplomacy and Cold War–era musical exchange with broader implications for American–Soviet history, religious studies, and opera analysis.

The concept of power in Max Weber’s thought Theatrical Research

Max Weber lost a great portion of his life in analyzing the concept of power. He is best known of his specialized in history, economy, philosophy, religion, morality and many others. What recognize him from ancient and his Contemporary Sociologists even until nowadays, this -made him dominate&nbsp; any sociological research when it approaches the concept of power, then they require a help from his analysis. Weber was not limited by comparing between power and force, but he attempts to identify the core of both concepts and highlight their specifications. So that he could to survive power term from known understandings, which look at this term as the process of depression. The concept of power is promoted by Weber to different level and to be prepared in front of any modern research in order to find out another meaning and uncover more hiding matters. This research approaches this term by its own manner, and includes the view of the Sociologist.

Finding resonance: applied audio drama, inquiry and fictionalising the real

ABSTRACT This article examines the tensions and possibilities of audio drama in applied theatre and qualitative inquiry. Drawing on our experiences of making participatory audio drama, we argue that applied audio drama provides rich ground for generating new knowledge and approaches to applied theatre research and practice as informed by the cultural turn towards listening, sound, and sonic agency. Situating the conversation within fiction rather than documentary or self-revelatory podcasting, we discuss how applied audio drama is uniquely placed to explore ideas of truth and resonance at the interface between art, research, education and social justice.

Transnationality and Modes of Production in Theatre Studies

ABSTRACT Transnationality and Modes of Production in Theatre Studies - This paper presents an argument in favor of a transnational approach which also examines modes of production within theatre studies in Brazil. Drawing on discussions that took place in July, 2018, at the Philanthropy, Development and the Arts international conference in Munich, we point to new possibilities that may enrich various fields of theatre research. In several cases discussed at the conference and summarized in this article, seemingly local issues and practices revealed their recurrence in other parts of the world (Brazil included), thus demonstrating their interconnection within transnational networks and circuits. In conclusion, it is suggested that the study of theatre from the perspective of transnationality and modes of production may also constitute an action in defense of research, and of the cultural milieu itself, particularly in countries that are living through reactionary periods, as is the case for Brazil today.

Theoretical fundamentals of theater research in the context of musical sociology

Theoretical fundamentals of theater research in the context of musical sociology

'Reclaiming place in a tourist town’: Preliminary findings from a social theatre research project run by young people during COVID-19

• The study presents findings on young people’s experiences during a pandemic. • Participatory social theatre is employed as a creative methodology. • Young co-researchers living in a host community express their connection to place. • Reclaiming place has provoked a desire for more socially and environmentally just tourism. • Co-researching is presented as an emancipatory method in tourism research.

The Importance of Realism, Character, and Genre: How Theatre Can Support the Creation of Likeable Sociable Robots

Stage plays, theories of theatre, narrative studies, and robotics research can serve to identify, explore, and interrogate theatrical elements that support the effective performance of sociable humanoid robots. Theatre, including its parts of performance, aesthetics, character, and genre, can also reveal features of human–robot interaction key to creating humanoid robots that are likeable rather than uncanny. In particular, this can be achieved by relating Mori's (1970/2012) concept of total appearance to realism. Realism is broader and more subtle in its workings than is generally recognised in its operationalization in studies that focus solely on appearance. For example, it is complicated by genre. A realistic character cast in a detective drama will convey different qualities and expectations than the same character in a dystopian drama or romantic comedy. The implications of realism and genre carry over into real life. As stage performances and robotics studies reveal, likeability depends on creating aesthetically coherent representations of character, where all the parts coalesce to produce a socially identifiable figure demonstrating predictable behaviour.

A\xa0turn to arts-based research methodology in psychodrama research

A tendency in psychodrama research is the focus on proving effectiveness. This article in the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie aims to propose arts-based research (ABR) methodology through a theoretical approach by a brief literature review of psychodrama research, a glimpse into discourses in applied theatre research and an introduction to arts-based research (ABR) methodology. How moments of participation and self-identified significant experiences by the participants from a psychodrama group can be investigated through ABR methodology will be exemplified through performative inquiry (Fels 2012), inspired by poetic inquiry (Faulkner 2018). In this way, the article aims to shed light on the question: How might arts-based research methodology in combination with qualitative research methodology contribute to the psychodrama research field? The article also presents empirical and ontological perspectives relating to the pilot study and give a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of applying ABR methodology exemplified in the article. This way, the paper aims to illuminate how ABR methodologies can be applied together with qualitative research methodology to contribute to psychodrama research.

On the 10-year anniversary of the Barrydale Giant Puppet Parade South Africa: A conversation between parade creative directors Aja Marneweck and Sudonia Kouter

2020 marks the tenth anniversary of the Barrydale Giant Puppet Parade, a large-scale, experimental annual public puppetry event and performance in a small rural town in the Klein Karoo of South Africa. This multifaceted, collaborative puppet theatre-making process, which results annually in the creation of a parade and large-scale original performance, is co-organized by Net Vir Pret (a children’s school aftercare non-profit organisation based in the town of Barrydale) and the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects (LoKO) at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape (CHR@UWC). The following conversation between the author (a Theatre Research Fellow at the CHR@UWC and creative director of the parade since 2014) and Sudonia Kouter (the Net vir Pret Aftercare manager and a key artistic contributor in the parade creative and directing teams) explores some of the experiences of meaning-making that arise in such a multi-layered and ambitious project.