Reconsidering National Plays in Europe

Description

This volume frames the concept of a national play. By analysing a number of European case studies, it addresses the following question: Which play could be regarded as a country's national play, and how does it represent its national identity? The chapters provide an in-depth look at plays in eight different countries: Germany (Die Räuber, Friedrich Schiller), Switzerland (Wilhelm Tell, Friedrich Schiller), Hungary (Bánk Bán, József Katona), Sweden (Gustav Vasa, August Strindberg), Norway (Peer Gynt, Henrik Ibsen), the Netherlands (The Good Hope, Herman Heijermans), France (Tartuffe, Molière), and Ireland. This collection is especially relevant at a time of socio-political flux, when national identity and the future of the nation state is being reconsidered. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction (Suze van der Poll, Rob van der Zalm)....Pages 1-20 Schiller’s Die Räuber: “Der Ort der Geschichte ist Teutschland” (Kati Röttger)....Pages 21-52 Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell: The National Play of Switzerland? (Elke Huwiler)....Pages 53-84 Bánk Bán: The Hungarian National Play (Krisztina Lajosi)....Pages 85-118 Strindberg’s Gustav Vasa and the Performance of Swedish Identity – from Celebration to Introspective Critique (Erik Mattsson, Egil Törnqvist)....Pages 119-153 Peer Gynt: Norway’s National Play (Suze van der Poll)....Pages 155-184 A (Dutch) Tale of the Sea: The Good Hope by Herman Heijermans (Rob van der Zalm)....Pages 185-210 Molière’s Tartuffe and French National Identity: Reconfiguring the King, the People and the Church (Matthijs Engelberts)....Pages 211-243 Theatre as a Moral Institution: Twentieth-Century Ireland (Joep Leerssen)....Pages 245-265 Epilogue (Suze van der Poll, Rob van der Zalm)....Pages 267-271 Back Matter ....Pages 273-283