A History of Polish Theatre

Poland is celebrated internationally for its rich and varied performance traditions and theatre histories. This groundbreaking volume is the first in English to engage with these topics across an ambitious scope, incorporating Staropolska, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Enlightenment and Romanticism within its broad ambit. The book also discusses theatre cultures under socialism, the emergence of canonical practitioners and training methods, the development of dramaturgical forms and stage aesthetics and the political transformations attending the ends of the First and Second World Wars. Subjects of far-reaching transnational attention such as Jerzy Grotowski and Tadeusz Kantor are contextualised alongside theatre makers and practices that have gone largely unrecognized by international readers, while the participation of ethnic minorities in the production of national culture is given fresh attention. The essays in this collection theorise broad historical trends, movements, and case studies that extend the discursive limits of Polish national and cultural identity.

Exploring the Transformative Power of Play in African Children’s Games

The transformative power of indigenous African children’s games can be demonstrated by how they were framed by the aesthetics of play such as imitation, imagination, make-believe, repetition, spontaneity, and improvisation. Such games could be regarded as ‘rites of passage’ for children’s initiation into adulthood as they occupied a crucial phase in the process of growing up. Using the illustrative paradigm of indigenous children’s games from the Shona-speaking peoples of Zimbabwe, this paper explores the transformative power of play as a means by which children engaged with reality. The paper proceeds to argue that the advent of modern agents of social change such as Christianity, formal education, urbanization, industrialization, scientific technology, and the cash economy not only created a fragmentation of African people’s cultural past but also threatened the survival of African cultural performance traditions. Although indigenous African children’s games were disrupted by modernity, they have managed to survive in a modified form.

The specificity of the interpretation of Rodelinda’s pa rt from G. Handel’s opera “Rodelinda”: interpretological approa

Statement of the problem. Among the questions that arise, let us single out those that will form the basis of the proposed article devoted to women’s parts in the opera “Rodelinda”: HIP traditions and staging strategies; vocal roles and their possible modifications / transformations under the conditions of specific directing and performing solutions. Analysis of recent scientific publications shows that ‘Handeliana’ is currently very voluminous. Thus, the works of W. Dean (1969), J. Knapp (2009) and C. Hogwood (2007), which have been republished several times, are considered thoroughly; L. Silke (2014) summarized the experience of predecessors and presented new dimensions of scientific understanding of Handel’s legacy. Fundamental are the studies by L. Kirillina (2019). The problem of performing vocal music of the Baroque era has been actively discussed in the works of I. Fedoseev (1996), N. Harnoncourt (2002), G. Kaganov (2013), M. Burden (2009), A. Jones (2006), О. Kruglova (2007), G. Konson & I. Konson (2020). The purpose of the article is to single out the main parameters of the baroque performance of women’s parts in G.F. Handel’s opera “Rodelinda” taking into account the performing traditions and modern trends. The research methodology is focused on the concept of “authentic performing strategy” (Yu. Nikolaievska, 2020), positions of comparative interpretology (Ch. Zhiwei, 2012) and interpretative approach, aimed at studying the specifics of the performance versions. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the application of an interpretive approach to the study of G. F. Handel’s operas. Results. In the 1938 recording (conducted by G. Leonhard), Rodelinda was performed by the famous Cecile Reich, in 1959, 1973 – by Joan Sutherland (in London and Netherlands productions). Closer to the authentic versions is the one performed by Sophie Danneman (1996); there is also a famous recording of 2005 with Rene Fleming (Metropolitan Opera), who was brilliant as an actress (which is required by the plot), but she admired and “played” her voice a little, which does not quite correspond to the principles of authenticity. One of the stars of the Glyndebourne Festival (1998) was the performer of Rodelinda’s part – Anna Caterina Antonacci, who performed her part with the necessary psychological and vocal accents, but, perhaps, somewhat dry and removed, which is why the listener is also removed from the heroine’s tragedy. In 2011 N. Harnoncourt recorded “Rodelinda” (in the title role – Danielle de Niese, who owns the entire arsenal of means inherent in baroque performance). Lauren Woods (recording of the 2016) is one of the most famous performers of the baroque repertoire. Critics have noted her perfect articulation, acting ability and “impressive vocals”. Simone Kermes, who critics call “the mad queen of the Baroque”, is distinguished by bright and temperamental performance, especially incomparable in the interpretation of baroque operas. Conclusions. From the interpretive point of view, mastering the expressive system of Baroque vocal performance traditions, in particular the art of vocal improvisation and ornamentation, consistent with the artistic context and directorial decision, can broadcast for the modern listener the affects and meanings of Handel’s music. The established features of baroque style are marked (affect, which is usually concentrated in such positions as tempo-rhythm, tonality, text, syntax of the melody) and performance (timbre, dynamics, intonation of the melodic line, ornamentation). Rodelinda’s part has been shown to require the ability to switch from one affect to another fairly quickly. In the analyzed interpretations, modern singers (D. de Nies, J. Sutherland, S. Kermez, L. Woods, A. K. Antonacci) practically do not allow themselves to be free, but seek to follow the principles of authentic performance, which is manifested in dynamic, agogic elements, various timbre colors arias (aria of revenge, duet-consent, aria of lamento), the ability to improvise.

Last Rites: Self-Representation and Counter-Canon Practices in Classical Music through Radhe Radhe

To commemorate the centennial ofthe 1913 Paris premiere of The Rite of Spring, the University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill organised The Rite of Spring at 100. As part ofthis, the Carolina Performing Arts (CPA) commissioned new pieces interpretingand responding to The Rite. Among these was Radhe Radhe: Ritesof Holi, created by the Indian-American composer-scholar and pianist VijayIyer, performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble, and accompanied by afilm about Holi—the annual Hindu harvest festival—assembled by filmmakerPrashant Bhargava. Radhe Radhe eventually took the form of a performancedocument mediated between live music and film, as well as culturally divergentnotions of ‘ritual’.   This article will ask, consideringBhargava’s film and Iyer’s score, along with documentation of live chamberperformances of the piece: how does ‘western’ classical music represent itselfin the twenty-first century? In what ways is self-representation performed in anintercultural collaboration such as Radhe Radhe that destabilises thedominant whiteness of the classical music canon by reimagining its soundscapein reference to a canonical work such as The Rite? Radhe Radhe—andIyer’s score in particular—I propose, echoes as a sonic postcolonial ur-textthrough its engagement with Holi. As an instance of the Deleuzian simulacrum,it represents a radical departure from the cultural politics of ‘everyday colonialracism’ (Levitz 2017: 163) surrounding the 1913 Rite, by employing a collaborativevocabulary that resists the hegemonic performance traditions of westernclassical music.

Afterword: Documenting Performance across the Medieval/Modern Frontier

As an afterword to the special issue of JMEMS “Performance beyond Drama,” this essay reflects on the complex ways that premodern performances and their embodied actors are captured in, mediated by, or dependent on the texts that we use to study them, and on the special importance of examining this process across a temporal framework—the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries—that challenges the periodizing schema of modernity. In particular, three major systemic changes impacted European performance practices and their documentation during this era: the more widespread availability and manufacture of paper, which made writing easier and reading cheaper, coupled with the introduction of print technology after 1455; the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation and its Catholic counterpart, and the bloody aftermath of religious wars, persecutions, and witch hunts that (re)shaped performance traditions; and the commodification and policing of entertainment through enclosure and regulation. Taken together, this special issue's contributions reveal fascinating convergences and continuities in performance across the medieval/modern frontier, while also showing how some medieval practices were made to conform with postmedieval political and religious projects, thereby obscuring or blurring the evidence for those earlier practices.

Black skin, white masks: Izzat as an appropriation of Othello

Izzat was the first mainstream Hindi film to reference Othello and has so far escaped the attention of academics who have begun researching the underexplored field of Bollywood Shakespeares. The film stars Dharmendra playing both versions of a fair- and a dark-skinned twin, which is a novel take on a Shakespearean trope. As a mainstream film, Izzat does not aspire to the pedagogical cultural capital of Shakespeare that Saptapadi does, nor does it reference the performance traditions of Othello onstage or film. However, references to Othello that seem superficial at first glance are embedded throughout the film. The only direct reference to the play is when Deepa meets Shekhar (who is pretending to be his twin Dilip) for the first time, and he sees she has been reading Othello. This sparks off a conversation about appearances and colour prejudices that is quite alien to an industry that traditionally favours light-skinned protagonists but rarely acknowledges it. Through this article, I would like to explore the ways in which Shakespearean tropes, and in particular Shakespeare’s Othello, has been used to explore postcolonial anxieties about identity in India by juxtaposing Adivasi identities with more typical urban Indian identities. The film also suggests that the colonizers have been replaced in Indian society by the urban elite who value superficial white masks and practise a racism that is much more insidious by discriminating against other Indians based on colour, caste and class. Through this exploration, I will also examine how Othello impacts the Indian psyche and why the referencing of Othello in this film points towards the many ways in which Othello is adapted and appropriated in Indian mainstream media.

Rethinking the Historical Development of Caribbean Performance Culture from an Afro-Iberian Perspective

This article advocates for a new perspective on Caribbean performance traditions by adopting an Afro-Iberian perspective. It argues that we are able to acquire a better understanding of the historical development of some of the most enigmatic Caribbean performances, including Jankunu, by taking into consideration that many of those who built the foundations of Afro-Caribbean culture had already adopted cultural and religious elements rooted in Iberian traditions before their arrival in the Americas. A comparative analysis demonstrates a series of parallels between early witness accounts of Jankunu and Iberian calenda traditions. In order to explain this, the article points to Iberian dominance in the early-modern Atlantic and, in particular, Portuguese influences in Africa. It highlights the importance of confraternities and argues that it was in the context of African variants of these mutual-aid and burial societies that elements rooted in Iberian traditions entered Afro-Caribbean culture.

Music Endangerment, Repatriation, and Intercultural Collaboration in an Australian Discomfort Zone

To the extent that intercultural ethnomusicology in the Australian settler state operates on a colonialist stage, research that perpetuates a procedure of discovery, recording, and offsite archiving, analysis, and interpretation risks repeating a form of musical colonialism with which ethnomusicology worldwide is inextricably tied. While these research methods continue to play an important role in contemporary intercultural ethnomusicological research, ethnomusicologists in Australia in recent years have become increasingly concerned to make their research available to cultural heritage communities. Cultural heritage communities are also leading discovery, identification, recording, and dissemination to support, revive, reinvent, and sustain their practices and knowledges. Repatriation is now almost ubiquitous in ethnomusicological approaches to Aboriginal music in Australia as researchers and collaborating communities seek to harness research to respond to the impact that colonialism has had on social and emotional well-being, education, the environment, and the health of performance traditions. However, the hand-to-hand transaction of research products and represented knowledge from performers to researcher and archive back to performers opens a new field of complexities and ambiguities for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants: just like earlier forms of ethnomusicology, the introduction, return, and repatriation of research materials operate in “social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination” (Pratt 2007 [1992]). In this chapter, we recount the processes and outcomes of “The Junba Project” located in the Kimberley region of northwest Australia. Framed by a participatory action research model, the project has emphasized responsiveness, iteration, and collaborative reflection, with an aim to identify strategies to sustain endangered Junba dance-song practices through recording, repatriation, and dissemination. We draw on Pratt’s notion of the “contact zone” as a “discomfort zone” (Somerville & Perkins 2003) and look upon an applied/advocacy ethnomusicological project as an opportunity for difference and dialogue in the repatriation process to support heterogeneous research agendas.

Типические места Малодербетовского цикла эпоса «Джангар» как средство определения авторства сказителя

Introduction. Russian folklorists have tended — and still do — to focus on formula-type language patterns inherent to traditional epic poetry. The shaping of epic songs would be facilitated by the wide use of structurally identical and stylistically similar descriptions and situations referred to as loci communes (‘typical passages’). Goals. The paper aims at identifying the personality of the taleteller to have recited the Baga Dorbet (Russ. Maloderbetovsky) cycle of the Jangar epic. With this in view, the work reveals typical passages of the Cycle, provides comparative insights into ones within prologues of the Cycle, compares the typical passages to similar elements from other cycles and individual repertoires. Materials and Methods. The study employs the methodology developed by P. D. Ukhov for the classification of Russian bylinas, and analyzes Jangar epic songs from the Baga Dorbet and Baga Tsokhor cycles, repertoires of such renown jangarchis as Eelyan Ovla, Mukӧvün Basangov, Dava Shavaliev, Nasanka Baldyrov, and Badma Obushinov. Conclusions. Typical passages of the Baga Dorbet cycle are structurally identical and stylistically homogenous descriptions where both syntactic patterns and described details and grammatical forms of parts of speech coincide which attests to that the texts were authored by (recorded from) one and the same taleteller. The opinion is confirmed by the below given examples of typical passages from other cycles that differ not only in terms of style or structure, but the very depicted objects, events, participants of the feast, the seating chart of theirs, and even numbers and sequence of stanzas significantly vary. The differences are determined by that the taletellers were representing different epic performance traditions with certain narrative patterns inherited from their predecessors. The comparative analysis of typical passages from the Baga Dorbet cycle shows the taleteller not only reproduces the once learnt song but rather creatively approaches every single performance maintaining standard elements of typical passages, modifies epic formulas employing synonyms, rearranging stanzas, reducing or adding details of descriptions, etc. This can be explained by that ‘above all in epic memory is not the formula precisely and intactly articulated in words but the artistic content, the taleteller (who) adheres to the framework of epic knowledge <...> (to) select one of the possible paths’, since this epic knowledge is wider than the text recited. So, the study concludes the whole of the Baga Dorbet cycle was recorded from (authored by) one taleteller and students whose names still remains unknown.

Ephemeral Art and Performance in Africa

Ephemeral art presents an interesting and not often covered lens in the field of African studies. It provides insight into the values placed on materials and the opportunity for deeper understanding of cultural traditions, spiritual beliefs, or individual philosophies. Ephemeral art may include transient materials intended to decay, those created in order to be destroyed, or even a piece marking a temporal instant, as in performances and site-specific installations. The ephemeral is what is seen, used, or performed until it decays, is buried, destroyed, or completes its durational moment. Performances exist as a moment in time—once past, they remain a memory. In this sense performance is ephemeral. While there is a great deal of scholarship on performance traditions, there is very little on African ephemeral art. The two topics remain distinct in the scholarly literature with overlaps in studies on the symbolism of ephemeral materials in performance traditions. The following bibliography is organized in two separate categories: ephemeral art and performance art, each connected through the trope of transiency.