{"title":"Keeping the Promise of Community: Communal Efforts on the Contemporary Zagreb Non-Institutional Scene","authors":"Višnja Rogošić","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/52-66","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/52-66","url":null,"abstract":"In their 1979 manifesto, the independent experimental theatre collective Kugla glumište (Zagreb, 1975–1985) claims: “Kugla discovers images, symbols and stories that wish to be the promise of community.” The article explores the repercussions of those neo-avant- garde community efforts on the contemporary Zagreb non-institutional scene by analysing four inclusive performances which differ in motivations, aesthetic aims, production levels and participatory modes. In The Love Case of Fahrija P (2017), the ex-members of Kugla and additional co-authors stage a polylogue with the artistic heritage of the deceased Kugla glumište member Željko Zorica Šiš (1957–2013) and the inclusive procedures they devised during the 1970s. The community project 55+ (2012) by the production platform Montažstroj gathers the participants who are over 55 in workshops, public debates, celebrations, protests and a documentary to provide visibility and voice to that neglected generation. In the trilogy On Community (2010–2011), the production platform Shadow Casters tests different mechanisms of creating temporary aesthetic communities, from learning an a cappella group song to sharing secrets, on its recipients. Finally, the atmospheric inclusion of the subtly associative performance Conversing (2019) by Fourhanded offers an almost elitist opportunity of co-existing in the intimate world of private tensions. However, what they all have in common is a physically non-invasive form, emotional and/or intellectual engagement and an emphasised personal commitment that can oblige audiences to reciprocate while they join the community of experience.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124838560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"can you hear me? by Simona Semenič and the question of no-longer-dramatic writing","authors":"Gašper Troha","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/104-120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/104-120","url":null,"abstract":"In the article, the author analyses three plays by Simona Semenič that were published in the book can you hear me? (2017). At first sight, the three pieces appear to be written in Semenič’s now-familiar writing style with no punctuation marks or upper-case initials and no apparent division between dialogues and stage directions. Content-wise, however, the three plays differ significantly from the bulk of the playwright’s opus as they represent autobiographical texts which once again establish the character and more or less distinct dramatic action. The article focuses on two questions: Are these still no-longer-dramatic texts? And, what is the status of representation and performativity in them? By analysing the formal and content properties of the three texts, more precisely, through an analysis of the drama character, the relationship between dialogue and monologue and dramatic action, the author shows that indeed these texts establish recognisable dramatic characters and relatively strong dramatic action. In this, they move away from no-longer- dramatic texts as defined by Gerda Poschmann, even though their legacy is still very much present, e.g., in the fragmented writing style.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124914741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"O skupinskem in snovalnem ustvarjanju v slovenskem gledališču","authors":"Aldo Milohnić","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/68-87","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/68-87","url":null,"abstract":"V prvem delu prispevka avtor analizira pojav režiserja in spremembe njegovega položaja v slovenskem gledališču od druge polovice 19. stoletja do danes. V tem kontekstu ga še posebej zanimajo premene gledališke režije, ki so se zgodile v drugi polovici 20. stoletja s pojavom skupinskega gledališča. Avtor metodološko kombinira zgodovinsko in primerjalno analizo, saj ti procesi potekajo še danes, ko se čedalje pogosteje govori in piše o »snovalnem gledališču« in drugih oblikah gledališkega ustvarjanja, ki se oddaljujejo od konvencionalnega postopka, po katerem dramatik napiše dramsko besedilo kot literarno umetnino, režiser pa jo prevede v gledališko umetnino. V sodobnem slovenskem gledališču je vse več predstav, kjer vnaprej napisano dramsko besedilo ni ključno za končni produkt ustvarjalnega procesa. Najpogosteje uporabljana izraza, ki označujeta to vrsto predstav, sta »po motivih« in »avtorski projekt«. Čeprav izraza nista sinonima in ju ni mogoče enačiti, oba implicirata tako imenovani »snovalni« tip gledališča. Avtor primerja skupinsko s snovalnim načinom ustvarjanja in opozori, da gre za praksi, ki sicer lahko potekata vzporedno, vendar ju ne moremo enačiti. Premislek o razmerju med skupinskim in snovalnim v sodobnem gledališču zgosti v ugotovitvi, da je za skupinsko gledališče konstitutivno specifično razmerje med ustvarjalno skupino in pozicijo režiserja, medtem ko je za snovalno gledališče ključno razmerje med ustvarjalno skupino in pozicijo dramatika. Na koncu se dotakne tudi povezav med postdramskim in postrežijskim gledališčem ter pojava ustvarjalne skupine kot kolektivne subjektivitete.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127634144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On Collective and Devised Creation in Slovenian Theatre","authors":"Aldo Milohnić","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/84-87","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/84-87","url":null,"abstract":"In the first part of the article, the author analyses the appearance of the director and the changes in his position in Slovenian theatre from the second half of the 19th century to the present day. In this context, he is particularly interested in the changes in theatre directing that took place in the second half of the 20th century with the emergence of collective theatre. The author methodologically combines historical and comparative analysis, as these processes still take place today, when devised theatre and other forms of theatrical creation are increasingly spoken and written about, moving away from the conventional process by which a playwright writes a dramatic text as a literary work of art and the director then transforms it into a theatrical work of art. There are more and more performances in contemporary Slovenian theatre in which a pre-written dramatic text is not crucial for the final product of the creative process. The two most commonly used terms for this type of performance are po motivih (based on the motifs) and avtorski projekt (auteur performance). Although the terms are not synonymous, both terms imply a devised type of theatre. The author compares group creation with the devised way of creating and points out that although these are practices that can take place in parallel, they cannot be equated. The author concludes that for collective theatre, the specific relationship between the creative group and the director’s position is constitutive. In contrast, for devised theatre, the relationship between the creative group and the playwright’s position is crucial. Finally, the author also touches on the connections between postdramatic and post-directors’ theatre and the emergence of the creative group as a collective subjectivity.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"38 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134511185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prague is Not Czech: Artistic Project as a Public Service","authors":"Amálie Bulandrová, Anna Chrtková, Andrea Dudková","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/182-200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/182-200","url":null,"abstract":"The presented text focuses on the particular artistic practice employed during the realisation of the project Prague is not Czech, which was established as a collective exhibition within the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019 (henceforth PQ). The authors of this project, who are gathered within the team Intelektrurálně, decided to carry on with the Prague is not Czech travel agency and to transform it into a systematic socio- artistic research, which uses selected strategies of non-Prague reality as a ready-made and fills them with its own content. Since its very beginning, the project has been based on a concept of radical cooperation. Therefore, a collaborative approach towards creation represents the primary subject that is being reflected within this text (and which is itself a product of the cooperation of several people).\u0000Thus, the gist of the presented paper is to introduce initial artistic approaches and fundamental strategies of the project. The following text, therefore, consists of a manifesto written by the initiators of the project and broader theoretical reflection. In the first section, entitled What we do, the authors describe the various forms of the presented project, conditions of its creation and its development. The text is then divided into four parts – according to the project’s essential aspects: Czechness, Participation, Scenography and Experience.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"213 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130317499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Me slišiš? Simone Semenič in vprašanje ne več dramske pisave","authors":"Gašper Troha","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/88-102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/88-102","url":null,"abstract":"Razprava se posveča trem dramam Simone Semenič, ki so izšle v knjigi z naslovom Me slišiš? (2017). Na prvi pogled gre za znano avtoričino pisavo brez ločil in velikih začetnic ter brez očitnega deljenja na didaskalije in dialog, vendar se v vsebinskem smislu bistveno razlikuje od preostalega avtoričinega opusa, saj so to avtobiografska besedila, ki ponovno vzpostavljajo dramsko osebo in bolj ali manj razvidno dramsko dejanje. Razprava se osredotoča na vprašanji, ali gre še za ne več dramska besedila in kako je z reprezentacijo in dogodkovnostjo v njih. Z analizo formalnih in vsebinskih lastnosti besedil, natančneje z analizo dramske osebe, razmerja med dialogom in monologom ter dramskega dejanja, razprava pokaže, da ti teksti vzpostavljajo prepoznavne dramske subjekte in dovolj trdno dramsko dejanje. S tem se odmikajo od ne več dramskih tekstov, kot jih definira Gerda Poschmann, čeprav je njihova dediščina še močno prisotna npr. v fragmentarnem načinu pisanja.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"56 5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123442250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Theatre of Yes: Beauty as the Axis of Change for the Transformation of Communities Through Their Own Stories","authors":"Marina Pallarès Elias","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/164-181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/164-181","url":null,"abstract":"Tejidos is a community artistic project that aims to develop a community to give voice to the particular stories of those who live in Oaxaca (women and the deaf community) and Mexico City (older adults). The project has been funded by the Arts Council England (2018) and Iberescena (2019). “Theatre of Yes” is a methodology that uses the power of beauty as a language to break the stereotypes of situations that society views with apathy. By creating a provocative and emotional performance, we can transform the lives of people who suffer social exclusion.\u0000Yet, how can we create a high-quality performance with people who are not professional actors but have stories that should be shared? How can we use powerful performances as an axis of change? How can emotions be the motor for the struggle against the social oppression that many groups suffer?\u0000Artistic work has helped us to observe how creativity pushes people to find a freer self and, above all, to be close to the essence of the human being. The base of the Theatre of YES brings together the universal characteristics, honesty, simplicity, humility and generosity. The characteristics of the methodology developed with these groups are the yes as a weapon against the non-worthy self, beauty as the axis of change, physical theatre according to the Lecoq methodology.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"56 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129076687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beton Ltd.: A Case Study","authors":"Branko Jordan","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/150-162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/150-162","url":null,"abstract":"The paper focuses on Beton Ltd., a theatre collective comprised of three actors, Primož Bezjak, Branko Jordan and Katarina Stegnar, established in 2010. Beton Ltd. emerged on the Slovenian performing arts scene with a collective approach to theatre-making and is thus a special case as far as non-hierarchical and collective production models in Slovenia are concerned. In the last ten years, Beton Ltd. has created seven performances: So Far Away: Introduction to Ego-logy (2010); I Say What I am Told to Say (2012); Everything We’ve Lost, While We’ve Gone on Living (2013); Revolting Man (2014); Ich kann nicht anders (2016); Große Erwartungen/Great Expectations (2018) and Mahlzeit (2019). Through introspective self-analysis, the paper elaborates on the necessary preconditions for the formation of a collective, as well as the conditions necessary for effective collaboration in performance making, combining a short historical overview of the case in question, including specific collaborative strategies developed by Beton Ltd. during the past decade.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"164 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131544297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Youth Theatre and Community Empowerment in Ghana","authors":"Promise Nyatepeh Nyatuame, Akosua Abdallah","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/122-149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/122-149","url":null,"abstract":"As contemporary theatre and new production models are now being evaluated with more regard to community empowerment, the importance of proper tools for evaluation of the process has increased. The article explored the community youth theatre practices of the Community Youth Cultural Centre (CYCC) of the National Commission on Culture (NCC) in Ghana. We examined the role of the youth theatre at CYCC in the light of community empowerment. Using the qualitative case study design, six artists with a minimum of five years and a maximum of thirty years of work experience with the CYCC were interviewed. Performance activities and documents of the CYCC were also observed and analysed. The findings revealed four themes: Objectives of the centre; Youth theatre practices; Abibigoro/puppetry theatre models; and non-formal and cultural education. It was found that staff and artists at the CYCC employed diverse theatrical modes to facilitate community empowerment processes. The study recommends that cultural and creative centres in Ghana should harness the potentials of the community youth theatre, develop community-specific and context-driven performance models to support artistic- aesthetic-cultural and non-formal education processes to enhance our collective strive for community empowerment in Ghana.","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"142 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117155357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collectives, Communities and Non-Hierarchical Modes of Creation from the 1970s till the 1990s","authors":"Tomaž Toporišič","doi":"10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/18-51","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51937/amfiteater-2021-1/18-51","url":null,"abstract":"Within the twenty-year period that coincides with the first twenty years of the Glej Theatre, the essay concentrates on the formation and transformations of non-hierarchical theatre communities, or, in the words of one of its founders, Dušan Jovanović, theatrical tribes. Using historical and present-day examples, the author will try to map the specific devised theatrical procedures producing what Badiou names “a generic vacillation”: “Theatre turns every representation, every actor’s gesture, into a generic vacillation so as to put differences to the test without any supporting base. The spectator must decide whether to expose himself to this void, whether to share in the infinite procedure. He is summoned, not to experience pleasure (which arrives perhaps ‘on top of everything’, as Aristotle says) but to think” (Rhapsody, 124).The essay strives to answer the following questions: How did the Slovenian experimental and non-institutional performing arts scene (as a reaction to the hierarchical structure of repertory theatres) create different non-hierarchical modes in relation to creating the performances, the theatre’s artistic direction and forming temporary communities with emancipated audiences? To which models did this scene turn – then and today – to develop its own logic of devised and collaborative theatrical tactics? And lately: To what extent have those different artistic collaborative tribes changed the theatrical landscape in Slovenia, Yugoslavia and elsewhere?","PeriodicalId":347236,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Community","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114136454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}