European Performative Theatre: The issues, problems and techniques of crucial masterpieces

Description

Performative theatre is one of the most important trends of our time. It is emblematic of the work of many European theatrical artists in the early twenty-first century. Annamaria Cascetta does not propose a model or a historical overview, but rather strives to identify the salient features of a significant trend in the theatrical research and transformation of our time by analysing some crucial examples from outstanding works, of great international resonance. She draws on work by artists from different generations, all active between the late twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty-first, and in various European countries, performed in a number of European theatres in recent years. The aim is to apply a method of analysis in depth, bringing out the technical elements of contemporary "performative theatre" in the field, and above all to highlight the close links between it and the urgent and troubled issues and problems of history and society in the phase of cultural and anthropological transition we are experiencing. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction The idea of performative theatre: cultural sources The performative theatre: salient characteristics The performative theatre: theatrical sources This study Notes 1 The human journey: Odyssey by Robert Wilson The work on the text: from Homer to Armitage to Wiens-Wilson The work on the stage codes – signs and meaning: towards the symbolic The thread of sequences Prelude 1: Olympus 2: Calypso’s island 3: Odysseus on the reef 4: Odysseus on the raft 5: The land of the Phaeacians 6a: Odysseus recounts his story to the Phaeacians 6b: Odysseus tells his story to the Phaeacians 7: The Lotus Eaters 8: Arete continues the story 9: Cyclops 10: The story continues in Nausicaa’s chamber 11: The bag of winds 12: The story continues 13: Circe 14: The realm of the dead 15: Arete is won over 16: The sirens 17: Scylla and Charybdis 18: End of the narrative 19: The beach of Ithaca 20: The faithful swineherd 21: Penelope and the suitors 22: On the way to the palace of Odysseus 23: Odysseus enters his palace 24: Stringing the bow 25: Reunion 26: Epilogue: Olympus The intertwining of the stage codes The guiding image and access to the symbolic meaning Notes 2 A journey into mind and brain: Je suis un phénomène to The Valley of Astonishment by Peter Brook An extraordinary memory: ‘Je Suis un Phénomène’ Inspiration Structure of the production and the construction of the text The Performance Planes of meaning The Valley of Astonishment Story, words and stage signs Sources and significance: Humanity in search of itself An idea and a poetic of the theatre: ‘the necessary theatre’ and performative theatre Notes 3 Upending tradition: Christ and Aeschylus irrelevant? Romeo Castellucci’s Orestea and Sul concetto di volto nel Figlio di Dio The classical heritage: from Aeschylus to Castellucci The structure Agamemnon The sentry announces he has seen the beacon signalling victory over Troy The coryphaeus recalls the departure of the ships and the sacrifice of Iphigenia Clytemnestra and Aegisthus Agamemnon arrives Cassandra arrives: prophecy and death The king’s body exposed The triumph of Aegisthus, who crowns himself The total regression of the coryphaeus fully identified with the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland The Libation Bearers Orestes and Pylades arrive to honour Agamemnon’s tomb Entry of Electra Electra, Orestes and Pylades meet and recognise each other The slaying of Aegisthus The slaying of Clytemnestra Orestes alone and unhinged Eumenides The Pythian oracle speaks The judging of Orestes Finale Anthropological regression, arrogance of power, instability of the common people: changes in the nuclei of the tragic... Staging: transcoding and sources The inheritance of Christ? Sul concetto di volto nel Figlio di Dio Structure of the work Meaning: what remains of his gaze on humanity? Conclusion Notes 4 Christ’s legacy: Golgota Picnic by Rodrigo Garcia: starting again from man or drowning in nothingness? Rodrigo Garcia and his working method for a performative theatre The opening monologue: themes, structures, ambiguities Writing on the stage What meaning? What effect? Notes 5 Anna Castoldi and Francesco Marzano: How to live together?: From militarism and authoritarianism to the weapon of joy... Historical context Artistic context Structure Dodin as director and the Maly Drama Theatre method Staging Gaudeamus Stage design, lighting and music Relation between the texts The unifying thread of joy Joy as a sexual force Joy as malice Joy as play Notes 6 A school of democracy for an ever-changing identity: The Blind Poet by Jan Lauwers and Ça ira by Joël Pommerat An ever-changing identity – the multiplicity of ethnic groups between mixing and oppression: The Blind Poet The poetics of performance in Lauwers Structure, language and meaning of the spectacle First portrait: Grace Ellen Barkey Second portrait: Maarten Seghers Third portrait: Hans Petter MeløDahl Fourth portrait: Anna Sophia Bonnema Fifth portrait: Benoît Gob Sixth portrait: Jules Beckman Seventh portrait: Mohamed Toukabri The finale and the significance Thinking about politics – training for democracy together: Ça ira Structure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Revolution and spectacle Performativity Notes 7 Migration, artificiality and the city on the axis of time: Bodenprobe Kazachstan and Remote X (Remote Milano) by Rimini... Bodenprobe Kazachstan: reality in the circle of art The structure From document to symbol Remote Milano The route What knowledge? Notes 8 Oh What a Lovely War by Joan Littlewood: The prophecy of a pioneer artist Foreshadowing performative theatre: technique and themes Genesis and sources The sequences Act I Overture Scene 1: War Game Scene 2: the newspanel announces ‘Sarajevo’ Scene 3: war Scene 4: recruiting and enthusiastic departure Scene 5: French cavalry charge Scene 6: letters from the front Scene 7: youth Scene 8: training and seduction Scene 9: conference between allied commanders Scene 10: the first British wounded arrive at Waterloo Scene 11: Christmas night in the trenches; enemy soldiers fraternise Act II Scene 1: Oh, It’s a Lovely War Scene 2: the grand grouse-shooting party Scene 3: sergeant reporting to lieutenant Scene 4: Roses of Picardy Scene 5: the powerful at a ball and group photos Scene 6: Haig’s orders Scene 7: illusions and destruction of the Irish contingent Scene 8: Mrs Pankhurst’s pacifist rally Scene 9: the Battle of the Somme Scene 10: Intermezzo Scene 11: church service Scene 12: resignation and obstinacy at the front Scene 13: in the city Scene 14: at the front again Montage and interlacing of expressive codes War cultures: a still current tragic delusion Notes 9 The body’s dignity regained: MDLSX by Enrico Casagrande, Daniela Nicolò and Silvia Calderoni (Motus) and... The body-person MDLSX by Motus Bestie di scena by Emma Dante Notes 10 The beautiful and the true: From Orchidee to Vangelo, the salvational itinerary of Pippo Delbono Orchidee What beauty, what art? Vangelo Structure The sources and the codes of the spectacle The line of the verbal text The line of music The visual line Meaning: falsehood and truth Notes Photos Index