Dramatising Solidarity and Unification in Divided Palestine: The Chorus and the Ghost in Kamel EL-Basha’s Following the Footsteps of Hamlet (2013)

This essay explores how Kamel EL-Basha’s theatre production Following the Footsteps of Hamlet (2013) preaches unity and resistance in a post-2006 divided Palestine. After giving a brief historical account of the causes of the internal Palestinian political divisions that distract Palestinians from achieving liberation, the article traces how El-Basha uses theatrical devices such as the chorus and the ghost to materialise a sense of unification in the theatrical space. The analysis draws on other international theatrical practices like Einar Schleef’s (1980) ‘Choric Theatre’ and cites critical works such as Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872) to locate El-Basha’s theatrical practice in a broader context regarding the significance of the chorus in dramatising unity. The essay also traces how the performance of traditional Palestinian songs, ululation, dances like dabke and other rituals in the play, help foster Palestinian identity and shape their sumud (steadfastness) in facing the occupation. Finally, the essay focuses on the role of the ghost in evoking nostalgia in the audience for the days of unity and collective resistance promoted by the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat before his death.

Dramaturgy

The image of the dramaturg resembling a stuffy librarian, as opposed to the largely intuitive process of theatre making, belongs to the past. Contemporary theatre performances not only tell a story, but constantly reflect on the world in which that story takes place and is shown. As a result, dramaturgy has become part of the artistic process. Thus everybody involved in a theatre production is concerned with dramaturgical thinking, i.e. how to relate to material, process, audience and society. The dramaturg crosses borders between theory and practice, between theatre makers, performance and audience. Dramaturgy. An Introduction provides a broad overview of the concept of dramaturgy and the profession of the dramaturg. It is intended for students and teachers of theatre and performance studies, but also for directors, scenographers, actors and for all lovers of theatre.

THE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR THE LACK OF THEATRE FUNDING

This paper explores factors that influence theatre funding in Malaysia. It argues that as an indispensable resource, theatre funding is always inadequate. Financing from private or government initiatives has always been a topical and sensitive issue for government, associations, the corporate sector, donors and the local community. Research has found that funding is a major issue and problem faced by theatre production and activist. This research aimed to identify the factors that contribute to the lack of theatre funding. It is believed that strategic planning, financial management and marketing will contribute to financing based on the production goals. The research uses are qualitative, in nature and use interviews as its main information-gathering tools. Theatres should be directed to other sources of funding with appropriate strategies and approaches to fulfilling their mission.

Repertory theater of production type – trends in the dialogue of cultures in modern music and theater culture (on the example of the Ural Opera Ballet Theater)

This article reviews a new model of repertory opera theater of production type, which has emerged at the intersection of traditional repertoire and project, or production theaters: it represents a special channel of intercultural communication. Opera performance creates a space simultaneously in several dimensions – musical, verbal, and visual; it resembles a form of polylogue of the authors and stage directors of the performance, becomes a realization of the dialogue of cultures, and turns into a unique form of art involving the representatives of different cultural systems. This is proven by particular artistic experiences of the dialogue of cultures in modern opera on the example of Ural Opera Ballet Theater in Yekaterinburg and its projects “Satyagraha”, “The Passenger”, “The Greek Passion”, and “Three Sisters”. A number of important ideas of theoretical and historical culturology find practical substantiation: the paramount prerequisite for the effectiveness of any activity – the unity of theory and practice is realizes in the sphere of artistic culture. It is determined that within the framework of repertory theatre, production direction must take consider the time requirements that are solved in the field of the dialogue of cultures. The article demonstrates that the dialogue of cultures manifests as the dominant trend in the development of theatrical culture, allowing a more effective response of the creative process to the demands of time. It is proven that the work created in the process of the dialogue of cultures, which contains polyphony of voices, requires peculiar work with the audience, who is also engaged in dialogue with the performance.

Theatre production: a positive metaphor for dementia care-giving

Language can shape and reinforce attitudes and stereotypes about living with dementia. This can happen through use of metaphors. However, common metaphors may not capture the complexity of experience of dementia from the perspective of the individual person or a family carer. This paper presents an alternative metaphor – that of a theatre production – based on the strategies used by carers to support people with dementia to live well in the community. We conducted face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 12 family members caring for someone with dementia in the community in Queensland, Australia. Our aim was to explore the strategies these carers used to provide support. Interview recordings were fully transcribed and thematically analysed. We identified positive care-giving strategies that described multiple roles that carers fulfilled as they felt increasingly responsible for day-to-day decision making. Family carers explained how they supported the person with dementia to remain a central character in their life and continued to support the person to be themselves. To achieve this, family carers embodied roles that we identified as similar to roles in a theatre production: director, stage manager, supporting cast, scriptwriter, and costume designer and wardrobe manager. Our metaphor of a theatre production offers a fresh perspective to explore the experience of informal care-giving in the context of dementia.

MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN MODERN PERFORMANCE: "A WOMAN FROM THE PAST" IN THE SARATOV DRAMA THEATRE

Innovative directorial solutions in modern drama theater are still the subject of active study. Researchers are particularly interested in introducing multimedia technologies in theatre production. However, despite the fact that such performances have already become a common theater practice, many issues and aspects remain poorly understood. One of the most important questions is the functionality of multimedia stage techniques in a theatrical play. On the example of Saratov Drama Theatre's production "A Woman from the Past", staged in 2017 by director A. Sozonov, the author of the article analyzes the work of multimedia technologies, the director's search for the choice of multimedia stage techniques, the influence on the audience, as well as some features of the actor's existence in the play using multimedia. The study reveals the director's methods that enable him to work with stage and virtual space at a new level and influence the audience by creating a certain atmosphere in a play. This work is one of the first experiences in exploring the functions of multimedia stage techniques in modern dramatic performance.

Ansätze einer Phänomenologie der Performativität von (Musik-)Theatertexten am Beispiel der Übertragung des Singspiels „Die Entführung aus dem Serail“ von W. A. Mozart ins Griechische

Western theatre production processes are historically characterized by their logos-centered approach. Therefore, the text is the starting point of all creative work. In this context, the theatrical text, as a literary phenomenon, is at the forefront of the action, whereby the “performance” of the text within a performance itself is often only perceived as a “disturbing” accessory. If, however, one entertains phenomenological thoughts in relation to the aesthetic production processes in theatre, one does not refer explicitly and exclusively to a text as a mental, cognitive construction of sense and meaning; rather, one extends the aesthetic working process to all the parameters involved in the interrelated theatre production process. The resulting theatrical expression is more than just logos in the form of a text. It is logos in an extended sense, which in turn can be perceived and experienced bodily, as well as sensually by the recipient. As a consequence, the theatre artist is offered new approaches to the performative understanding of a theatrical text. In this context, such a purposeful observation and perception of a particular appearance is of decisive importance. On the basis of these phenomenological considerations for the presentation of a theatre text on stage, we examine the libretto of W. A. Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” in order to show how a translation of the spoken dialogues (prose) of this Singspiel into Greek allows the Greek-speaking audience a performative approach to the text.