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Russia
- Soviet theatre massively popular
- Through the 60s increasing dissatisfaction with socialist realism.
- renewed interest in Meyerhold and Tairov and Vakhtangov
- '74 century of Meyerhold's birth celebrated with performances, articles, and conferences
- Moscow Art Theatre: continued to command the greatest official prestige'87 grew to the point where it was devided into 2 parts, though rivalries between the two tarnished the public image
- Contemporary Theatre continued to gain prestige
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Moscow Theatre of Drama and Comedy (Taganka)
- Most controversial Russian theatre
- liberal use of dynamic movement, dance, mime, masks, puppets and projections
- produced works on the edge of permissability combined with formalistic production techniques
- number of productions banned or censored, but popular among young audiences
- 1977 given permission to tour internationally
- while on tour in '84 head, Yuri Lyubimov critical of Soviet censorship, removed from his post and stripped of his citizenship
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Soviet Playwriting
- Although strictures relaxed, punishments for overstepping were severe
- Some addressed the issues of maintaining integrity in the face of authoritarian demands for conformity, but stopped short of criticizing Soviet system
- most wrote traditional dramas that avoided controversial issues
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Jerzy Grotowski
- Founded Theatre of 13 Rows in '59 became the Polish Laboratory Theatre in '65
- Gained international reputation when he toured and began working with foreign troupes and lecturing on his methods
- First phase of his ideas in Toward a Poor Theatre (1968)
- Theatre borrowed too heavily from other media, eliminate everything but two essential elements; actor and audience
- actor training focus - total control of body, voice, and psyche
- Looked for archetypal patterns, much of script might be abandoned and the rest rearranged.
- Goal to make audience and performers confront themselves in something analogous to a religious experience
- After 1970 decided he needed to break down blocks between audience and performers
- 1975 Research University of 500 international participants at Worclaw
- Included students, teachers, journalists, and famous directors including Peter Brook, Barrault, and Joseph Chaikin
- purpose to rediscover roots of theatre in ritual and discover their own true being
- 3rd phase researched diverse ritual performances across cultures and nations
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German Theatre to 1990
- by mid '60s seem to have tired of preoccupation with guilt, move toward leftist analysis of social problems
- many new plays related to folk-play through every-day characters, colloquial speech and neo-naturalistic situations
- Franz Xaver Kroetz Used speech and behavior of his native Bavaria to depict brutalization of the Proletariat
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Heinar Muller
- Only East German playwright to win international fame
- Began with The Scab (1956) socialist realism
- In the 70s became increasingly indirect and allusive
- Hamletmachine (1977) short work uses Hamlet as a reference point for criticism of intellectual's position in the contemporary world
- After winning major western awards became East Germany's preeminent playwright
- during 90s among most produced across Germany
- At the time of his death was director of the Berliner Ensemble
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Berliner Ensemble after the 60s
- By Weigel's death in '71 considered to be something of a museum
- Ruth Berghaus became director and attempted to revitalize through experimental productions
- Met with considerable opposition as, "self-indulgent formalism"
- Replaced in '77 by Manfred Wekwerth, who had worked closely with Brecht, and the company regained much of its former vitality
- After reunification privatized, though still received substantial subsidy
- 5-person management team installed, Brecht's heirs for a time refused permission to produce Brecht's work
- by 1994 only Muller left, and his death in 1995 left considerable uncertainty
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Peter Stein
- Most respected German director after 1968
- Staging of Goethe's Tasso in '69 considered a watershed
- Criticized position of Goethe and contemporary artists
- When Stein and several actors insisted on reading political statements at intermission, fired
- Formed a theatre collective, this collective soon considered the best company in the nation
- Approach came to dominate German directing in the 70s
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Pina Bausch
- creator if Wuppertal Dance Theater
- Ballet company broke down barriers between dance and spoken word or musical theater
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Dario Fo
- Italian
- Wrote, directed, and starred in political plays satirizing every political faction
- Mistero Buffo (1969)We're All in the Same Boat--But That Man Over There, Isn't He the Boss (1971)Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970)
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French Theatres after 1968
- Worker/Student protests in '68 caused reevaluation of role of theatre in French life
- National Theatre system reorganized, for the first time theatres outside Paris designated national theatres
- Theatre National de Strasbourg, Theatre de l'Est Parisien, Theatre National Populaire
- Many theatres treated with caution because they had shown sympathy to left-wing causes
- Government accused of being out of touch with common people, theatre often accused of the same
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Roger Planchon
- among most interested in reshaping French Theatre
- Director of Theatre National Populaire in '72
- Brecht's major champion in France
- Looked for ways to make theatre more accessible to the working class
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Patrice Chereau
- '72 Chosen as co-director of Theatre National Populaire
- One should not lower standards to appeal, to the working class, rather make it available and understandable to the masses
- '76 directed Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth, linking it with debasement resulting from industrial revolution
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Theatre du Soleil
- formed in '64 by Ariane Mnouchkine
- First gained recognition in '67 with Wesker's The KitchenDuring uprisings of '68 performed in factories
- Became a theatre collective The Clowns ('69) first production as collective
- 1789 in 1970 suggested French Revolution subverted by those who cared more about property than justice, performed on platforms surrounding a standing audience
- Early '80s Mnouchkine reorganized the company and presented a series of Shakespeare productions incorporationg production conventions of Kabuki and Sanskrit theatre
- By 90s among the most respected companies in the world
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Avignon Festival
- Began to increase playing spaces as early as '66
- eventually included 12 official spaces and countless fringe spaces
- Because of massive size, became increasingly diverse, came to provide a representative cross-section of theatre in France and elsewhere
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Brazilian Theatre after '68
- Did not begin to recover from crackdown in '68 until new regime in '79
- Plays banned in the 60's and 70's quickly brought back to the stage
- Center for Theatrical Investigation established in '78 under Jose Antunes Filho would set tone for Brazilian theatre
- Macunaima ('79) story of Native American's journey from idyllic forest home to degenerate city and back again made aclectic use nudity, spectacular athleticism, and highly evocative visual elements to create scenes of remarkable beauty
- Brazilian theatre became dominated by a theater of images
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Mexican theatre after the '60s
- 40 theatres linked into the National Theatre Touring Circuit in '77
- provide a high-quality standard repertory
- The National Theatre Company disbanded in '82, most theatres used for musical reviews and touring companies from America and Europe
- avante-garde faded in the'80s
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British Theatre after the '60s
- '68 censorship that had been in effect since 1737 abolished
- Gave impetus for many small "finge" groups to start up, similar to off-off-Broadway in America
- by 70s, fringe companies had become sufficiently accepted to begin receiving grants from the Arts Council and local authorities
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English Stage Company
- since '56 principal producer of works by new playwrights.
- Wished to produce Bond's Saved and Osborne's A Patriot for Me
- when denied licenses, reconstituted as a private club, Lord Chamberlain brought and won suit against ESC
- Resulting controversy became so heated that Parliament was persuaded to abolish censorship
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RSC post '68
- '68 Hall, Brook, and Saint-Denis resigned as directors, Trevor Nunn took over
- Nunn moved company away from Brechtian Neorealism, designer Christopher Morley's settings minimalist and focused attention on acting
- produced Brook's 1970 Midsummer Night's Dream
- '78 Terry Hands added as co-director
- '82 moved into Barbican
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the National Theatre
- Hall appointed head of National in 1973
- National Theatre building finished in 1976, two years late and with a massive budget
- Delays and costs aroused hostility, furthered when 1/4 of the 75-76 Arts Council drama budget devoted to the national
- '88 renamed the Royal National Theatre
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Edward Bond
- Highly controversial plays including
- Saved in which a baby is stoned to death in its carriage my its father and his friends
- denounced by many critics and sensational and decadent, plays based on moral concerns about a world in which lack of love and compassion breeds a callousness that accepts the horrible as normal
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David Story
- Surface realism and absence of clear-cut meaning
- concerned primarily with various forms of alienation
- Home, The Changing Room, The Contractor, Stages
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Tom Stoppard
- '67 Rosencrantz and Guldenstern Are Dead
- Highly theatrical exploration of the nature of reality
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David Hare
- Plenty, A Map of the World, Slag, Teeth'n'SmilesMost plays about how the desire to develop and maintain power undermine personal integrity
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Caryl Chyrchill
- Wrote many of her plays for Joint Stock and ESC
- primarily about power, powerlessness and exploitation, with strong feminist perspective
- Cloud 9, Top Girls
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Alan Ayckbourn
- How the Other Half Loves, The Norman Conquestsknown for wit and innovative manipulation of space and time
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Broadway after'68
- Nudity and obscenity introduced to Broadway in '68 with Hair!'69 explicit sexual acts with Che!, large number of completely nude scenes in Oh, Calcuttaby '70s almost all accepted standards under attack
- Hair!: almost all elements derived from youth culture
- served as an international focal point for those wishing to throw off behavioral restraints
- Many of the most popular works by English Andrew Lloyd Weber and French Alain Boubil/Claude-Michel Schonberg, challing musicals as an American art form
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Stephen Sondheim
- Most successful and experimental writer of musicals after '68
- Company ('70) no chorus, using principal performers in song-and-dance numbers
- Pacific Overtures ('76) drew on Kabuki conventions
- Sweeney Todd ('79) approached opera with music throughout
- Sunday in the Park with George ('84) explored artistic creation
- Into the Woods ('87) explored darker side of fairy tales
- all works offer ironic views of human behavior and social values and avoid happy endings, most organized around concept rather than story
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Living Theatre post-'68
- Returned to America in '68
- best-known production Paradise Now ('68)
- divided into eight parts, each designed to raise audience's political awareness and move toward present
- barriers between actors and spectators eliminated; both roamed the space freely and performers confronted audience directly and aggressively
- Ends with call to go into the streets and continue the revolution
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Radical Companies
- The Bread and Puppet Theatre
- Using puppets and well-known stories seeks to promote love, charity, and humility
- Sand Francisco Mime Troupe
- Founded in '59 to do silent plays, but starting in '66 turned to agit-prop spoken plays about current issues
- El Teatro CampesinoFounded in 1965 by Luis Valdez to dramatize the plight of agricultural workers in California, then to encourage Mexican-American Pride
- Free Southern Theatrefounded in '63 by Gilbert Moses and John O'Neal as an extension of the civil-rights movement, sought to raise consciousness of southern African Americans
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Open Theatre
- Founded in '63 by Peter Feldman and Joseph Chaikin
- More a workshop than a producing organization, as it presented to the public only irregularly
- Concerned with those specific aspects of theatre which differentiate it from film and television: direct human contact and constantly changing components
- Drew heavily on "role playing" and "games" theories of human behavior
- Many techniques reminiscent of Grotowski's poor theatre
- Worked closely with playwrights to develop works through improvisation and revision
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New York Shakespeare Festival
- Started by Joseph Papp in '54
- gave free performances each summer in Central Park
- municipally owned Delacorte Theatre in Central Park inagurated in 1962 to be home
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Sam Shepard
- Large output, but many recurring themes
- attempts to escape or deny the past, cowboy and West as basic American myths, family as battleground
- In late 80's increasingly turned to film work, and his theatrical work diminished
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Lanford Wilson
- Balm in Gilead (1965)
- minimal story, focus on character relationships and eventual revelation of hidden feelings
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David Rabe
- Early plays in response to Vietnam
- Hurlyburly ('84) characters in Hollywood seemingly unaware of the casual cruelties they practice on eachother
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David Mamet
- Writes primarily about the debasement and distortion of human beings by the materialistic goals of American Society
- Reiterative speech reveals character trapped by stereotyped attitudes and insubstantial values
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Terrence McNally
Plays concentrate on gaps between people and the importance of bridging them
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Female American Playwrights
- Marsha Norman
- Maria Irene Fornes
- Beth Henley
- Wendy Wasserstein
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African American Theatre
- '63 Free Southern Theatre
- '65 LeRoi Jones and others founded Black Arts Repertoire Theatre School in New York
- by late 60's over forty groups promoting African American Theatre
- Spirit House '66 by LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka)
- The New Lafayette Theatre '67 by Robert Macbeth
- served as a cultural center for Harlem
- Negro Ensemble Company '68 Douglas Turner Ward
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Lorraine Hansberry
- Raisin in the Sun '59
- only one other play completed before her death
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Amiri Baraka
- The Toilet, Dutchman treated black-white relationships as confrontational and violent
- after depicted all whites as devils incarnate
- Slave Ship ('69) traces black experience from Aftica to present-day America
- Eventually move from black nationalism to revolutionary socialism
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August Wilson
- Fist success Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (84)
- wrote play about black experience in each decade of the 20th century
- Do not concentrate on black rage at whites, but focus on issues of African American identitiy
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George C. Wolfe
- Won recognition with The Colored Museum (86)
- best known for work as managing artistic director at the Public Theatre
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David Henry Hwang
- first asian-american playwright to gain national prominence
- mingled asian and western conventions
- M. Butterfly (88)
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Environmental Theatre
- '68 Richard Schechner published six "axioms" designed to clarify environmental theatre
- On a continuum from pure/art to impure/life, environmental theatre between traditional theatre and happenings
- All the space is used for performance, all the space is used for the audience
- In transformed space or a found space
- focus is flexible and variable
- all production elements speak their own language
- a text need be neither a starting point nor the goal of a production
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The Performance Group
- Formed by Richard Schechner in '68
- first production Dionysus in '69Performance space taken over by The Wooster Group
- under artistic director Elizabeth LeCompte, developed original pieces, several based on the autobiographical recollections of Spalding Gray
- employed deconstructionist techniques more fully than any other U.S. company especially with Route I & 9 and L.S.D.
- Route I & 9 portions of Our Town juxtaposed with blackface and pornographic films, showing what is marginalized or ignored in Wilder's play
- L.S.D. Miller's The Crucible used to illuminate parallels between colonial witchcraft and contemporary witch-hunts
- Legal conflicts with Miller and Beckett over use of their works raised issues about the rights of authors that still have not been resolved
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Robert Wilson
- Perhaps the artist that must fully embodies postmodern/poststructuralism
- Borrows liberally from various media, cultures, and historical periods, juxtaposing seemingly unrelated images
- Works often in Europe, where subsidies help stage his very expensive productions
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