Are the Performances Broadcast Online Theatrical Performances? (Once Again on the Structural Differences Between the Stage and the Screen)

This article is an attempt to bring principled clarity to the recent disputes over the nature of theatrical art on the occasion of the general closure of the theatres after March 2020 (as an anti-epidemic measure in the COVID-19 crisis) and the alternative broadcasts of online performances. For a number of theoretical and practical reasons, and based on various examples, we maintain the understanding that with each shooting and broadcasting of a theatrical production a process of approaching the cinema begins – the erasure of its own theatrical quality occurs at the beginning of the process.

Theatrical and Non-Theatrical Thinking in Actual Choreographic Practice

The article attempts to concretize the essence of the two aesthetically polar staging approaches — theatrical and non-theatrical (performative) — in the context of the choreographic art development. The author suggests that the basis for separating these approaches can be some peculiarities in the ways they interpret such fundamental concepts as “actor”, “role”, “spectator”, “drama”, “action”, “conflict”, which, in a choreographic performance, are in certain relationships determined by cultural traditions, and in a non-theatrical production, they are transformed up to their disappearance. A similar experience of separating a theater and a non-theater on the basis of the presence of an actor, a role, a spectator and an hierarchy between them is proposed in theater studies. However, in choreographic (including ballet) performances, the content of the role is closely linked with the music and is often determined by the emotional background and musical dramaturgy. In the case of a radical departure from the composer’s intention, turning to a different starting point for the composition, the specificity of the choreographic (ballet) performance is destroyed. Borrowings from non-theatrical art are showed in the construction of meanings when working with intrinsic body movement, as well as in the reliance on interdisciplinarity. Within a single line of choreographic art, there is a whole spectrum of ideas that interpret the concepts of “theatricality”, “non-theatricality”, “drama”, and “performativity” in different ways. On what basis to classify them in order to reduce them to a consistent system is a difficult question. The article attempts to outline the foundation for future classification. The relevance of this topic is caused by the insufficient elaboration of the conceptual base in the specialized literature on choreographic art.

The Feminist Struggle in Performing Arts in Brazil

This article summarizes recent transformations in the field of performing arts in Brazil, with attention to feminist theatrical production. It provides a description of the context of this branch of Brazilian political theatre, between the civil–military coup of 1964 and the present, focusing on 2015, a period named the Brazilian ‘Feminist Spring’. This historical arc of almost sixty years celebrates groups and artists which represent the dissemination of feminist discussion and poetics in all kinds of performative events in the theatrical field, as well as revealing the backlash represented by the anti-feminist policies of the Bolsonaro government, elected in late 2018.

Means of speech characteristics of the stage image in the context of decoding the signal space contemporary performances

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of speech characteristics in the context of the disclosure of the plot-content aspect of the performance of postmodern aesthetics. Methodology. A typological and systematic method is used to study the creative mechanisms of the actor's creation of the speech characteristic of the image in the context of the peculiarities of the aesthetics of postmodernism; cognitive method, thanks to which theoretical positions in the field of language psychology and speech therapy are extrapolated to the field of theatrical art; method oftheoretical generalization, etc. Scientific novelty. The influence of postmodernist theater tendencies on the process of the actor's voice work on the creation of the image – the development and implementation of speech features of the character; the peculiarities of the process of decoding the sign system of a modern production on the basis of the interpretation of the speech characteristic of the images created by the actors are analyzed. Conclusions. The verbal characteristic of the image contributes to the actor's representation of certain internal characteristics of the character, his emotional state, deep reaction to events and/or actions of other characters, changes in lifestyle and worldview, etc., and in the context of postmodern aesthetics, when stage texts double coding" – a complex phenomenon of postmodernism, artistic and aesthetic means of which in theatrical art is a synthesis of different languages and codes of literature and philosophy in a holistic hypertext of performance, contribute to the understanding and comprehension of semantic aspects of theatrical production. The actor's use of elements of speech characteristic contributes to the expansion of his professional speech competence, the diversity of speech sound of the stage word. The components of speech characteristics can act as expressive means that reveal important aspects of the character; the necessary form of revealing the internal content of the stage image; an important element of the psychophysical structure of the role; an artistic technique that enhances the expressive possibilities of the stage word, and, accordingly, helps to form verbal symbolic means of expressing the artistic meanings of the performance. In our opinion, for the organic process of forming the stage image in general and the speech characteristics of the character in particular, the actor must not only expand his attention, observation, and ability to understand and comprehend the psychological and social causes of human behavior, but also deepen knowledge of psycholinguistics and speech therapy. Because only the organic combination of these factors contributes to the design of optimal stage speech, which corresponds to the concept of each specific performance.

Scrivere per il teatro Il mondo sardo nei racconti drammatici di Giuseppe Dessì

ABSTRACT: Questo articolo riguarda i testi per il teatro dello scrittore sardo Giuseppe Dessì (Cagliari, 1909 – Roma, 1977). Nell'ordine, presentiamo i Racconti drammatici - Qui non c'è guerra, La Giustizia - (Feltrinelli, 1959) e il dramma storico Eleonora D'Arborea (Mondadori, 1964). Importante autore di romanzi e racconti, in questi testi, Giuseppe Dessì rappresenta la complessità del mondo sardo in linea di continuità con quanto espresso nelle sue pagine narrative e saggistiche. Il teatro permette allo scrittore di sperimentare un nuovo linguaggio capace di rappresentare, attraverso i personaggi, non solo azioni e fatti ma anche atmosfere, percezioni e poetiche ragioni caratterizzanti i significati più profondi della sua scrittura. La produzione teatrale dell'autore, ancora oggi considerata di minor rilevanza e non abbastanza studiata dalla critica, è degna invece di maggiore attenzione e approfondimenti: per questo motivo, abbiamo deciso di presentare la figura di Giuseppe Dessì attraverso tre importanti testi drammatici poco conosciuti al grande pubblico estero.Parole chiave: Giuseppe Dessì. Letteratura italiana. Teatro. Narrativa. Sardegna. RESUMO: Este artigo trata da textos para o teatro do escritor sardo Giuseppe Dessì (Cagliari, 1909 – Roma, 1977). Apresentamos os Racconti drammatici - Qui non c'è guerra, La Giustizia - (Feltrinelli, 1959) e o drama histórico Eleonora D'Arborea (Mondadori, 1964). Importante autor de romances e contos, nestes textos, Giuseppe Dessì representa a complexidade do mundo sardo em paralelo com o que expressa nas suas páginas narrativas e ensaísticas. O teatro permite ao escritor experimentar uma nova linguagem capaz de representar, através das vozes dos personagens, não apenas ações e fatos, mas também os ambientes, as percepções e as poéticas, que permeiam os significados mais profundos da sua escrita. A produção teatral do autor, ainda hoje considerada de menor relevância e não suficientemente estudada pela crítica, é digna de maior atenção e aprofundamento: por esse motivo, decidimos apresentar a figura de Giuseppe Dessì através de três importantes textos dramáticos pouco conhecidos do grande público estrangeiro.Palavras-chave: Giuseppe Dessì. Literatura italiana. Teatro. Narrativa. Sardenha. ABSTRACT: This article concerns the texts for the theater of the Sardinian writer Giuseppe Dessì (Cagliari, 1909 - Rome, 1977). In order, we present the Racconti drammatici - Qui non c'è guerra, La Giustizia - (Feltrinelli, 1959) and the historical drama Eleonora D'Arborea (Mondadori, 1964). Important author of novels and short stories, in these texts, Giuseppe Dessì represents the complexity of the Sardinian world in line with what is expressed in his narrative and non-fiction pages. The theater allows the writer to experience a new language capable of representing, through the characters, not only actions and facts but also atmospheres, perceptions and poetic reasons characterizing the deepest meanings of his writing. The theatrical production of the author, still today considered of minor importance and not sufficiently studied by the critics, is instead worthy of greater attention and insights: for this reason, we have decided to present the figure of Giuseppe Dessì through three important dramatic texts little known to the large foreign public.Keywords: Giuseppe Dessì. Italian literature. Theater. Fiction. Sardinia.

Zoom; or, Obsolescence

The signal modality of theatrical production during the pandemic crisis of 2020–21 has been Zoom theatre. While Zoom theatre responds to public health concerns regarding virus transmission, it also articulates a vision of performance at the intersection of the public and the private, at the juncture between theatre and electronic media, and as a representation of theatre as a humanizing technology. Theatre has suggestively foregrounded new technologies under the sign of obsolescence, and in the affective register of nostalgia.

Performing the Elements in Indian Eco-Theatre: Deepan Sivaraman’s The Legends of Khasak

This article considers The Legends of Khasak, a Malayalam play by Deepan Sivaraman, as a landmark Indian eco-theatrical production. I argue for the play as an important development in a nascent Indian eco-theatre, telling an ecologically significant tale about the relationship between humans and nature through performative and scenographic innovations that transform the theatrical space into a sacred grove, a place of deep significance in terms of ecological balance. This essay elaborates on how the play celebrates the pancha bhutas, the five elements of nature, by displaying their agency and invoking the pancha indriyas, or the five pathways of human perception, and thereby awakening an awareness of our status as ecological beings enmeshed in the non-human world. In The Legends of Khasak, Sivaraman has evolved an eco-material aesthetics of performance that, influenced by traditional folk performance forms and rituals and post-independence syncretic theatre, makes a lasting contribution to the development of an Indian eco-drama.

Firenze per Claudio Magris

This volume brings together a selection of essays on Claudio Magris’ work, aiming to enrich critical debate with a specific focus on interdisciplinary dimension and continuous dialogue with the main European literary traditions. The outcome is an overall study on Magris’ narrative, essayistic and theatrical production, trying to fix his plural and prismatic identity: from the narration of places to an unavoidable ideological tension; from philosophical alphabets to the weight of History; from Myth’s remediation to the abroad reception; from hypotext filigree to real case studies. According to a diachronic perspective, they focus attention on Magris’ works, such as Microcosmi, Alla cieca, Non luogo a procedere and Tempo curvo a Krems.