{"title":"The Craiova International Shakespeare Festival Celebrates Thirty Years","authors":"Maria Shevtsova","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000356","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000356","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Emil Boroghină founded the Shakespeare Festival in Craiova in 1994 with the longer-term intention of making it an international festival of significant, indeed world, standing. This article, written in honour of Boroghină and dedicated to him, offers an overview of the Festival’s programming and related details from its triennial period to its present biennial existence. It draws particular attention to Boroghină’s selected outstanding directors (‘great directors, great productions’, in his words, and the title of one of his editions) without, however, losing sight of the Festival’s varied theatre activities, especially in the celebratory year of 2024.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142939868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hi and Mighty: On the Czech Theatre Showcases","authors":"Mark Brown","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000344","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Hi PerformanCZ visitor programmes, hosted regularly by the Czech Arts and Theatre Institute since 2018, have invited international theatre professionals, from directors and promoters to critics, to immerse themselves in the variety of theatre on the contemporary Czech stage. Showcased performances, themed in programmes dedicated to theatre for children and young people, puppet theatre, and text-based theatre, among other examples, are accompanied by symposia, meetings with Czech theatre-makers, theatre tours, and museum visits. In this article Mark Brown provides an overview of the Czech showcases from 2018 to 2024, while focusing particularly on four productions: Tomáš Dianiška’s <span>The Magnificent 294</span> (2020, showcased 2023); Jan Jirků’s <span>Zá-to-pek!</span> (2019, showcased 2022); director Jan Mikulášek’s staging of Thomas Bernhard’s novel <span>Woodcutters</span> (2018, showcased 2022 and 2023); and Brno’s Goose on a String Theatre’s collectively devised piece <span>Smokeout</span> (2022, showcased 2024). These productions markedly represent the diverse strengths of Czech theatre in the twenty-first century.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142939910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Burning Hope: Staging Queer Ecology in a Time of Wildfire","authors":"Kari Barclay","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000320","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article analyzes three contemporary plays by trans and gender-non-conforming artists from the United States that engage with forest fires and queer ecology. These three plays – MJ Kaufman’s <span>Sagittarius Ponderosa</span>, Agnes Borinsky’s <span>The Trees</span>, and Kari Barclay’s <span>How to Live in a House on Fire</span> – tie wildfire to colonial histories of fire suppression and imagine a just climate transition as linked to queer and trans self-reinvention. The article describes this dramaturgical tactic as ‘burning hope’ – letting go of straight, settler desire and gesturing toward reciprocal obligation with the non-human world. Building on Kim TallBear’s call to attend to organic matter and Stephen Pyne’s study of fire history in the ‘Pyrocene’, the article imagines theatre as a prescribed burn that can re-orient audience relations to futurity. Burning hope does not abandon hope; it recognizes grief as mobilization for environmentalist solidarities.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142939783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dialogue: The Role of the Editor","authors":"Philippa Burt, Maria Shevtsova","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000265","url":null,"abstract":"<p>World-renowned <span>New Theatre Quarterly</span> celebrates its fifty years of publication and its 200th issue, this being the last under the editorship of Maria Shevtsova. Simon Trussler, founder of <span>Theatre Quarterly</span> in 1971 (which closed for lack of funding in 1981) always considered <span>New Theatre Quarterly</span>, established with Cambridge University Press in 1985 – and with Clive Barker as co-editor – to be simply a continuation of <span>TQ.</span> Maria Shevtsova fully agreed. Forty issues of <span>TQ</span>, combined with one hundred and sixty editions of <span>NTQ</span>, gives the magic figure 200. The logistics of things, however, means that the number 160 appears on the cover of the present issue (the ‘New’ in <span>New Theatre Quarterly</span> standing for the newly resurgent journal on the back of its predecessor). This present issue also celebrates Maria Shevtsova’s twenty years of co-editorship with Simon Trussler, together with five more years of sole editorship of the journal following his death in 2019 (commemorated in NTQ 142, May 2020; see also their respective editorials, ‘One Hundred Issues and After’, in NTQ 100, November 2009).</p><p>Twenty-five years of absolute commitment and tireless work call for recognition and thanks. Assistant editor Philippa Burt here discusses with Shevtsova her vision for the journal, and how her scholarship, research, teaching, as well as her numerous academic and outreach activities in multiple media, connected with her editorial commitment. This conversation took place on 19 June 2024.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"33 6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142939877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mysticism as Transgression in Chista Yasrebi’s Rahil","authors":"Narges Montakhabi Bakhtvar","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000216","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As a prominent figure in the contemporary Iranian theatre scene, Chista Yasrebi uses her plays to call for female liberation in the country while navigating the existing political constraints, including censorship. Her 1996 play <span>Rahil</span>, for example, acts as a political allegory through its narrative of the titular woman’s desire for transcendence within the patriarchal realm of Persian mysticism. In its close analysis of the play, this article identifies the historical significance of mystic women in Iran and examines Yasrebi’s use of mysticism to comment on the complexities of gender politics, the oppression faced by Iranian women, and the need for social resistance. Further, it draws on key concepts from Alain Badiou’s political philosophy to demonstrate how Rahil’s journey into mysticism can be seen as an act of transgression. It argues that Yasrebi’s work enriches the ongoing discourse on the role of women in Iranian society and the broader struggle for political transformation.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142397916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Documentary and Community Theatre with Young People in Madrid: The Creative Process of Mundo Quinta","authors":"Luisa García-Manso","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000174","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mundo Quinta is a documentary theatre creation programme for adolescents in Madrid, launched by Espacio Abierto Quinta de los Molinos and directed by the theatre company Cross Border Project. This publicly funded programme started in 2018 and is currently celebrating its sixth season. Each season takes place during the academic year and culminates in the premiere of a new play. This article combines empirical and ethnographical methods with theatre analysis to examine the foundations, artistic vision, and creative process of Mundo Quinta, and to analyze how artistic quality is ensured in the final productions. The research undertaken focuses on the fourth season, and identifies the techniques used to create the verbatim theatre play <span>¿Me quieres alfileres?</span> (<span>Multiformas de quereres</span>) [<span>Do You Love Me?</span> (<span>Multiforms of Love</span>)] in 2022 with designated young participants.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"123 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142397912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Not Billington, not Zoella, and Definitely not a ‘Fangirl’: Social Distinction within Communities of Amateur Theatre Critics","authors":"Megan Vaughan","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000186","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In theatre criticism, the lines between professional and amateur have softened considerably since the turn of the twenty-first century, with much attention – academic and journalistic – given to the impact of amateur theatre criticism on theatre-making and marketing, on newspapers, and on theatre scholarship. So far, however, the voices and perspectives of amateur critics themselves have largely been absent from research. To rectify this absence, this study applies sociological concepts from Pierre Bourdieu and Sarah Thornton to thirty-five interviews undertaken with practising theatre bloggers in the United Kingdom in order to understand their relative positions within three intersecting fields: the field of professional theatre reviewing; the field of online ‘influencing’; and the smaller and more specific field of ‘amateur’ theatre criticism. Here, the study undertaken finds a significant proportion of practitioners using the counterpoint of the ‘fangirl’ – whose practices of appreciation and etiquette are widely disparaged – to advocate for their own purportedly more intellectual and professional approaches to critique.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142397996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"British Theatre from Agitprop to ‘Primark Playwriting’","authors":"David Edgar, Hakan Gültekin","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000204","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this interview, which took place in Birmingham on 16 February 2023, Hakan Gültekin talks to playwright David Edgar about his theatre universe and the current state of British theatre. Edgar has long championed the social and economic rights of playwrights, and here suggests that the lack of long-term and sustained support from British theatres has created what he calls ‘Primark playwrights’. His plays are characterized by a careful examination of historical events and the impact of these events on society, as evident in his epic two-part play <span>Destiny</span> (1976), which examines the roots of the British Labour movement. Other notable plays include <span>Excuses Excuses</span> (1972), <span>Saigon Rose</span> (1976), <span>Wreckers</span> (1977), and <span>Entertaining Strangers</span> (1986), commissioned by the Colway Theatre. He has also written plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company, including <span>The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs</span> (1978), <span>Maydays</span> (1983, revived in 2018), and <span>Pentecost</span> (1994). More recently, he adapted <span>A Christmas Carol</span> for the RSC (2017) and staged the one-man show <span>Trying It On</span> (2018). He founded the first playwriting degree in Britain at the University of Birmingham in 1989, and served as President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain from 2007 to 2013.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142397914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Othello: A Moor Rorschach Test","authors":"Akaela Michels-Gualtieri","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000241","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The evolution of the colour of Othello’s skin-tone is a surprisingly accurate cultural barometer of attitudes towards race in the eyes of scholars. A significant portion of the critical literature is focused upon the Moor’s complexion as one of the main variables within the play. Yet the fact that the script has itself become a variable, and not a constant, has been neglected. This text’s transformation can be traced alongside the ratification of racial laws. In Jacobean England, Antebellum American, and Imperial Germany, audiences respectively experienced Othello committing divergent crimes, ranging from murder-suicide, to marriage, to simply existing. These countries’ racial legislation coloured the various audience interpretations of the Moor. While Othello’s actions were always the same, the public projected their own attributed meanings onto the play – a practice analogous to a living Rorschach test. This article explores the concept of using a metaphorical Rorschach test as a tool for the historicization of the many colours of <span>Othello.</span></p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142397915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Embodied Gestures of Human Rights: Remorse, Sentiment, and Sympathy in Romantic Regency Drama","authors":"Eva Urban","doi":"10.1017/s0266464x24000198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x24000198","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article demonstrates how the Enlightenment model of sentiment and sympathy is performed in embodied gestures of affective empathy-building, cross-cultural fraternity, and concern for human rights in three Romantic Regency tragedies: <span>Pizarro</span> (1799) by the Romantic dramatist August von Kotzebue, adapted from the German by the Irish dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan; <span>Remorse</span> (1813) by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge; and <span>The Apostate</span> (1817) by the Irish dramatist Richard Lalor Sheil. In these plays, protagonists are moved towards sympathy and solidarity with others across cultural divisions and conflict. The discussion also examines how human rights issues are addressed in two plays by Scottish dramatists: Archibald MacLaren’s <span>The Negro Slaves</span> (1799) and Joanna Baillie’s <span>Rayner</span> (1804). Here the protagonists express remorse for engaging in conflict, colonialism, slavery, violence, and human rights abuses against others. All these texts share a common internationalist desire to unite humanity against oppression, injustice, and inequality, advocating human rights, equality, religious tolerance, and cosmopolitan citizenship.</p>","PeriodicalId":43990,"journal":{"name":"NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142397913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}