More Future? Straight Ecologies in British Climate-Change Theatre

Attempts to convey the urgency of the climate crisis often rely on the figure of the child. From Greta Thunberg via school-striking students to the grandchildren invoked in the titles of bestselling books about global warming, appearances of children seem especially effective in protesting the loss of a habitable planet. The iconic child that needs saving (or becomes the planet’s saviour) is equally prominent in British plays about climate change. Drawing on queer critiques of the conceptual short circuit between the child and the future, this article identifies two waves of UK eco-theatre: the first wave endorses hetero-nuclear family bonds and future-oriented thinking; the second wave traces alternative relations to nonhuman, ageing, or ailing Others in the present. The first part of the article revisits critiques of reproductive futurism; the second examines the straight ecologies that characterise the first wave of eco-theatre, based on a detailed analysis of Duncan Macmillan’s play Lungs (Studio Theatre, Washington, DC/Sheffield Crucible, 2011). The final part considers climate-change plays that sever reproductive timelines, as exemplified by Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children, and Stef Smith’s Human Animals (all Royal Court, 2016).

Specificity of formation of creative activity skills in studio theatre: competency-based approach

This article presents the experimental results of analysis of efficiency of teaching methods aimed at formation of creative activity skills of future actors during training in studio theatre. In the course of the research, psychological and pedagogical theories of formation of creative activity skills were studied; on the basis of experiments, the efficiency of specially developed methods aimed at formation of creative activity skills was proved. These are the methods of development of imagination and thinking, actor abilities, expansion of emotional sphere, worldview and experience of actors in the area of perception of arts pieces, and scenic practice in working on role and stage performance. The authors have systematized the skills of theatrical performance and highlighted as the most meaningful the skills of artistry, scenic mastery, creation of new images or actions, application of various means of stage arts, preparation and performance of stage pieces of various genres, execution of professional functions of actor, director, scriptwriter. Practical value of the work is in obtaining of new scientific data as well as formulation of recommendations regarding the process of formation and development of creative activity skills of students during training in studio theatre.

THEATRE BY REQUEST SEBAGAI ALTERNATIF PEMBELAJARAN TEATER

This research discusses about "Theatre by Request" (TbR) as showcase method by Studio Theatre Pusat Pengembangan dan Pemberdayaan Pendidik dan Tenaga Kependidikan (PPPPTK) of Seni Budaya Yogyakarta. TbR is an interactive show where audiences can choose and decide which actors will perform, the theme of the story will be staged, and to control the show depends on the performances option. This interactive performance is done by improvisation, considering the actor himself never know who will be chosen by the audience to play and what theme will be played. TbR is designed to introduce theatrical play techniques to the community, especially students. Mostly, theatre education uses drama script as a reference learning, but TbR uses theatre game as method to introduce theatre world. This research focuses on how TbR uses the game as a basis for making educative performances, especially education about the theater world itself. The results showed that theatre game is one of the alternative media to introduce theater as a performance as well as learning materials to the community, especially school children.

“In Sundry Languages” Pleasure and Disorientation through Multilingual Melange

Now in the development phase of its third iteration, “In Sundry Languages” by Toronto Laboratory Theatre presents the language struggles of both new and established Toronto residents in eight different languages. Following rehearsals on and off throughout its year-long evolution, I have found it fascinating to see the progression from its initial workshop phase to its current period of refinement. The piece is based on the actual immigration or international experiences of its performing members. Each of their stories has contributed to the dramaturgical content of a series of twelve vignettes, which play with linguistic quirks, difficulties, and stereotypes. I initially participated as an actor-dramaturg in the earliest rehearsals (in April 2015) and had the opportunity to dabble in Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Persian, Korean, and Portuguese. Due to a scheduling conflict I was only part of the project for the first three weeks of a six-week development stage, which resulted in a public performance on May 15, 16 2015. I later caught up with director Art Babayants for an interview in February 2016 to learn about the second iteration of “In Sundry Languages” scheduled to run in early March, 2017 at the Luella Massey Studio Theatre (Toronto).

Georg Friedrich Haas Atthis and Matthew Rogers The Virtues of Things, The Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, London

The Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House in London has hosted an impressive range of intimate experimental music theatre works over the last few years. The 2014/15 season, for example, has featured prominent premieres of new works by Harrison Birtwistle and David Harsent, and a ballet staging of John Adams' Shaker Loops, amongst a range of other interesting concerts and shows. The late-April premiere run of Matthew Rogers's The Virtues of Things and an early-May staging by Netia Jones of Georg Friedrich Haas's song-cycle on fragments of Sappho, Atthis, showed how well the Royal Opera uses the smaller space and shorter runs common to the Linbury to programme in quick succession such distinctive pieces from across the spectrum of contemporary music. Atthis, which I attended on 24 April 2015, was perhaps the more intriguing of these two shows, since in conception and execution it was so bold; though Virtues has its own qualities, to which I'll get in a moment.