Reification and Modern Drama: an Analysis, a Critique, and a Manifesto

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-268
Author(s):  
Eva Urban
Keyword(s):  
Research Centre ◽  
Modern Drama ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Irish Studies ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Political Drama ◽  
Irish Drama ◽  
The University ◽  
Postdoctoral Fellowship

Drawing on a close reading of Theodor Adorno's essay, ‘Education after Auschwitz’, in this article Eva Urban develops the argument that an analysis of the reification that reduces human relationships to mere business interactions has been a central concern of modern drama. The article offers an analysis of some of the ways in which this theme continues to be represented, interrogated, and challenged internationally in contemporary political plays and theatre performances across a range of genres and grounded in a variety of dramaturgical principles. It asks how drama, theatre-making, theatre-spectating, and theatre-participating can create dynamics necessary to enable a move from reified consciousness towards the development of critical autonomy and solidarity. A negotiation of the principles of critical consciousness and solidarity is problematic within economic structures that cause social, ethnic, and religious atomization and divisions. Her argument concludes with an outline for a manifesto for political drama and theatre practice to work against reification. Eva Urban is a lecturer and researcher in the English Department and an Associate of the Irish Studies Research Centre, CEI/CRBC, at the University of Rennes 2, France. She recently completed a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Cambridge and is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. The author of Community Politics and the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama (Peter Lang, 2011), she has also published articles in New Theatre Quarterly, Etudes Irlandaises, Caleidoscopio, and edited book collections.

Lessing's Nathan the Wise: from the Enlightenment to the Berliner Ensemble

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Urban
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Understanding ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Common Humanity ◽  
Irish Studies ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Political Drama ◽  
Irish Drama ◽  
Postdoctoral Research

Lessing's Nathan the Wise (1779), exemplary for its enlightenment and humanist ideals, assembles Jews, Christians, and Muslims in dialogue during the medieval crusades in Jerusalem. Their encounters allow them to transcend conflict, to recognize their common humanity, and to resolve their differences through dialectical discourse and group arguments. In this article Eva Urban looks closely at the representation of enlightenment in this play and examines the potential role of plays and theatre practice in developing autonomous citizenship and intercultural understanding. Particular reference is made to the 2013 Berliner Ensemble production of Nathan the Wise in relation to aesthetic debates about modern political drama. Eva Urban is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, and an Associate of Clare Hall, Cambridge. She is the author of Community Politics and the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama (Peter Lang, 2010) and has published a number of articles on political drama and Irish studies.

‘Actors in the Same Tragedy’: Bertrand Russell, Humanism, and The Conquest of Happiness

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-358
Author(s):  
Eva Urban
Keyword(s):  
Urban Life ◽  
Bertrand Russell ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Irish Studies ◽  
New Humanism ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Human Happiness ◽  
Political Drama ◽  
Irish Drama ◽  
Philosophical Writings

In Writings on Cities Henri Lefebvre calls for a ‘renewed right to urban life’. He maintains that ‘we must thus make the effort to reach out towards a new humanism, a new praxis, another man, that of urban society’. City spaces are used in a number of contemporary Irish site-specific theatre productions to explore histories of oppression and social injustice, and to imagine a new humanist praxis for society. The international multi-artform production The Conquest of Happiness (2013) was inspired by Bertrand Russell’s commitment to human happiness in defiance of war and suffering in his book The Conquest of Happiness (1930) and in his many political and philosophical writings. In this article Eva Urban critically examines the ways in which the performance in Northern Ireland attempted to embody Russell’s humanism and related critical concepts to encourage active citizenship. She considers to what extent the dramaturgical options employed inthe production applied Russell’s ideas and those of other thinkers by developing critical representations of inhumanity, challenging authoritarianism, and exploring humanist ideals. Eva Urban is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, and an Associate of Clare Hall, Cambridge. She is theauthor of Community Politics and the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama (Peter Lang, 2011) and her articles on political drama and Irish studies have been published in New Theatre Quarterly, Etudes Irlandaises, and Caleidoscopio.

scholarly journals Multilingual Theatre in Brittany: Celtic Enlightenment and Cosmopolitanism

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-297
Author(s):  
Eva Urban
Keyword(s):  
Northern Irish ◽  
Research Fellowship ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Welsh Language ◽  
Senior Research Fellow ◽  
Irish Drama ◽  
Senior Research ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
The University

In this article Eva Urban describes a historical tradition of Breton enlightenment theatre, and examines in detail two multilingual contemporary plays staged in Brittany: Merc’h an Eog / Merch yr Eog / La Fille du Saumon (2016), an international interceltic co-production by the Breton Teatr Piba and the Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru (the Welsh-language national theatre of Wales); and the Teatr Piba production Tiez Brav A Oa Ganeomp / On avait de jolies maisons (2017). She examines recurring themes about knowledge, enlightenment journeys, and refugees in Brittany in these plays and performances, and presents the argument that they stage cosmopolitan and intercultural philosophical ideas. Eva Urban is Senior Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast. She has held a Région de Bretagne Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Centre for Breton and Celtic Studies, University of Rennes 2, a research lectureship in the English Department, University of Rennes 2, and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Community Politics and the Peace Process in Contemporary Northern Irish Drama (Peter Lang, 2011) and has published articles in New Theatre Quarterly, Etudes Irlandaises, Caleidoscopio, and chapters in book collections.

Design for Patient Safety: A Review of the Effectiveness of Design in the UK Health Service

Volume 3 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. John Clarkson ◽  
James Ward ◽  
Peter Buckle ◽  
Dave Stubbs ◽  
Roger Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Medical Error ◽  
Improve Patient Safety ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Consistent Picture ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

The Department of Health and the Design Council jointly commissioned a scoping study to deliver ideas and practical recommendations for a design approach to reduce the risk of medical error and improve patient safety across the NHS. The research was undertaken by the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge, the Robens Institute for Health Ergonomics at the University of Surrey and the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art. The research team employed diverse methods to gather evidence from literature, key stakeholders, and experts from within healthcare and other safety-critical industries. Despite the multiplicity of activities and methodologies employed, what emerged from the research was a very consistent picture. This convergence pointed to the need to better understand the health care system as the context into which specific design solutions must be delivered. Without that broader understanding there can be no certainty that any single design will contribute to reducing medical error and the consequential cost thereof.

Malcolm MacNaughtan Bowie 1943–2007

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Stephane Mallarme ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
East Anglia ◽  
Henri Michaux ◽  
University Of Oxford ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
International Profile ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University

Malcolm MacNaughtan Bowie (1943–2007), a Fellow of the British Academy, was appointed from an assistant lectureship at the University of East Anglia to one in the University of Cambridge in 1969. At Cambridge, he worked as a specialist in difficult poets in French beginning with ‘M’, particularly Henri Michaux and Stephane Mallarmé. These are writers of involuted complexity, to read whom both a sensitivity to how word play plays and to how French prosody in poetry or prose works were essential. These studies by Bowie were followed by work on mind-altering psychoanalysis: on Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. He was the first director of the Romance Languages Institute, ran its vigorous seminar programme, and gave this a strong international profile by his invitations. At the University of Oxford, Bowie set up the European Humanities Research Centre, followed by an associated publishing venture, Legenda.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: the Politics of Morality in Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Rees
Keyword(s):  
British Association ◽  
Irish Literature ◽  
Irish Studies ◽  
Irish Drama ◽  
The Common ◽  
Contemporary Irish Literature ◽  
The University ◽  
Martin Mcdonagh

The recent plays of Martin McDonagh have fascinated and repelled critics for nearly a decade. His idiosyncratic blend of rural Irish mythology and ‘in-yer-face’ aggression has both caused consternation and won high praise, but the motivations and inspirations of McDonagh's work have not been widely discussed. Here, Catherine Rees addresses some of the common critical assaults on one of his most contentious plays, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), and seeks to rescue the playwright from misunderstanding and heavy-handed critical treatment. She also aims to clarify some of the issues surrounding this politically charged and controversial work, and discusses it within the wider context of British and Irish drama. An earlier version of this article was given as a paper at the ‘Contemporary Irish Literature: Diverse Voices’ conference at the University of Central Lancaster in April 2003. Rees has presented on various aspects of McDonagh's work at a joint American Conference for Irish Studies and British Association of Irish Studies conference, and is currently working on a PhD about his plays at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

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