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German Expressionist Theatre: The Actor and the Stage considers the powerfully stylized, anti-realistic styles of acting on the German Expressionist stage from 1916 to 1921. It relates this striking departure from the dominant European acting tradition of realism to the specific cultural crises that enveloped the German nation during the course of its involvement in World War I. This book describes three distinct Expressionist acting styles, all of which in their own ways attempted to show how symbolic stage performance could be a powerful rhetorical resource for a culture struggling to come to terms with the crises of historical change. The examination of Expressionist script and actor memoirs allows for an unprecedented focus on description and analysis of acting itself.
Around 1900, German and Austrian actresses had allure and status, apparent autonomy, and unconventional lifestyles. They presented a complex problem socially and aesthetically, one tied to the so-called Woman Question and to the contested status of modernity. For modernists, the actress's socioeconomic mobility and defiance of gender norms opened space to contest social and moral strictures, and her mutability offered a means to experiment with identity. For conservatives, on the other hand, female performance could support antifeminist convictions and validate masculine authority by positing woman as nothing but a false surface shaped by productive male forces. Influential male-authored tex...
Discussing some of the pivotal questions relating to the complementary fields of theatre and performance studies, this engaging, easy-to-use text is undoubtedly a perfect reference guide for the keen student and passionate theatre-goer alike.
This study aims to disclose the inner dynamics of the rich and diverse milieu within the Ottoman-Turkish society that created its unique hybrid forms through the scenic arts against an understanding of modernity in terms of a simple import or imitation of Western cultural forms. In the 19th century Armenians pioneered this process with melodramas, necessitating the presence of female performers on the stage; Armenian women thus went onstage with patriotic motives. Among the two leading figures of the Turkish Republic period are Nazim Hikmet, the most prolific but severely censured Turkish dramatist and Muhsin Ertugrul, who founded the subsidised theatres of Ankara and Istanbul. A later phase of modernisation arrives in the sixties with a social awakening towards the conditions of the rural society: Ankara becomes the seat of "popular" theatre after the founding of Ankara Art Theatre, in 1961. Mehmet Ulusoy's work in France in the 1970–1980s crowns the final synthesis.
New Theatre Quarterly provides a forum where theatrical scholarship and practice can meet. Topics covered in number 45 include: Palimpsestus: Frank Wedekind's Theatre of Self Performance, and 'Leaking Bodies and Fractured Texts': Representing the Female Body at the Omaha Magic Theatre.
Despite its international influence, Polish theatre remains a mystery to many Westerners. This volume attempts to fill in current gaps in English-language scholarship by offering a historical and critical analysis of two of the most influential works of Polish theatre: Jerzy Grotowski’s ‘Akropolis’ and Tadeusz Kantor’s ‘Dead Class’. By examining each director’s representation of Auschwitz, this study provides a new understanding of how translating national trauma through the prism of performance can alter and deflect the meaning and reception of theatrical works, both inside and outside of their cultural and historical contexts.
Premiering in 1944, The Glass Menagerie was Tennessee Williams's first popular success. Today the play is considered one of Williams's masterpieces and is frequently performed. This updated volume is an essential resource for those seeking to deepen their appreciation of this fascinating character study. Book jacket.
This collection considers contemporary performance of Shakespeare's plays in non-English-speaking theatres.