Il teatro e l’indagine sull’umano. L’attore moderno in scena... all’ombra di Diderot

Can we say that the 18th century philosophe Denis Diderot and his theses of theatrical aesthetics are still relevant and viable on the modern theatre stage? The article elaborates on our contemporaneity to try to give an answer to this question, creating questionnaires-interviews with four professional actors with questions related to the key themes of Diderot's theatrical and artistic aesthetics, encountering the incredible actuality of the Diderotian vision. The idea of the actor's profession is, in its true essence, an aesthetic idea, thus stimulating a philosophical reflection based on all the great concepts of this discipline, highlighted by the theoretical and practical thought of Diderot and now investigated by the theatrical practice of contemporary actors: body, gestures, genius, interpretation, communication, expression. The sentiment of the Diderotian comédien on stage overcomes the distinction between a "warm", involved and passionate acting and a "cold", rational and controlled one, and declines its sensibility in a supra-individual meaning, in a concrete presentation of a model with a universal value but possible for the body of the actor on stage, therefore shared by spectators who observe the events happening on stage. In the same way, the modern actor trains on stage, organically and honestly, towards "becoming" in every moment and towards being legible, credible, creative, bringing to the stage actions full of questions that explore the possibilities of being human. In other words, becoming - as one of the actors interviewed in the questionnaire states in a very Diderotian way - «body of all bodies. A body that knows and can tell something universal and that makes vibrate inside the viewer the internal velvet that moves the soul. Even looking at something unrecognizable directly or consciously, I will feel narrated as a human being».

Teatralność procesu sądowego: kilka uwag o profesjonalizmie

The aim of the paper is to answer the question: what image of a professional role does the vision of a court trial as a theatre contain? In carrying out such a task, first of all, I will present the reasons that justify comparing the theatrical practice to a court hearing. When carrying out this procedure, I will pay attention to the concept of role, the ritualization of activities, the architecture of space, and functions of the role performers’ clothing. From these findings, a dramatical vision of a court trial emerges, modelled on a theatrical performance. It assumes that the performing of a role by the actor and the judge or the lawyer is largely defined by factors external to the interpreter. Such an approach to the exercise of the profession can be related to the dramatic vision of the role in Erving Goffman’s theatrical metaphor. In this perspective, it is assumed that exercising a role is a performance that can lead to two images of the professional ethos. They are characterized by an attitude of identification with the role and an instrumental distance to the profession. I intend to question both of these views. By carrying out this task, I will show that presenting a court trial as a theater does not have to assume the image of a judge, a lawyer whose task is to develop the ability to adapt to the rules of the profession and faithfully reproduce them in the cases under consideration. In presenting this position, I use the findings of theatrologist Jerzy Grotowski and the anthropological research of Victor Turner, focusing on the idea of liminality.

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.

Intercultural Polylogist of Modern Acting Training

The article examines the features of intercultural polylogue of modern acting training; identified and analyzed ways to unleash the potential of cultural diversity of theatrical, physical and spiritual practices, as well as identified strategies for the most effective exchange of methods and techniques of training actors between different cultural groups. It is revealed that modern world theatrical culture is characterized by increasing interest in methods of acting training, which, despite their diversity, combines not only the idea of the importance of the actor's training method and the need to develop his psychophysical apparatus, but also specific principles of training as a unique research method. helps to achieve a harmonious interaction of soul and body. Modern acting training in many countries is becoming increasingly intercultural: crossing borders, intercultural exchange in modern theatrical practice and the growing interculturality of the actor mean that at the present stage acting training is determined by many ways of learning and different worldviews. It is stated that the intercultural polylogue in the globalization period is becoming more intense, due to the rapid development of information technology, and this, in particular, applies to modern acting training. The phenomenon of acting training is that, differing in its unique intercultural principles, it becomes a kind of point of intersection, which marks a qualitatively new era in theatrical culture. It was found that the result of intercultural polylogue of different methods and techniques of acting skills was the formation of a unique approach to training as the most important condition of the creative process in the context of understanding the value system of another culture, the development of universal values

Chekhov’s text as a text of life. The ‘anti-theatrical’ stage adaptation of The Seagull [Chayka] by the Hungarian director Árpád Schilling

The article considers A. Chudakov’s idea about the significance ofanunfinished fabula in Chekhov’s works with regard to the theatrical practice of the Hungarian director Á. Schilling. According to Chudakov, Chekhov’s works without an unfinished fabula resemble an extract from the character’s life, selected at random. This randomness convinces the reader that the storyline is virtually unembellished poetically. The fabula and the plot of a short story or a play are carefully extracted from the ‘stream of existence,’ which is endless. Chudakov’s assessments of Chekhov’s poetics suggest that a theatrical specialist’s desire to remove the barriers between the stage of Chekhov’s plays and their audience represents a suitable approach to the playwright’s textual world. An appropriate example can be found in a staging of The Seagull [ Chayka] in Hungary in the early 21st c., namely, ÁrpádSchilling’s version in the Krétakör theatre. The author focuses especially on those artistic solutions found by Schilling that enable the aforementioned phenomenon of the vanishing boundaries, art’s expansion into life and, conversely, life’s expansion into art, to be realised during the performance.

The Livre d'Airs et de Simphonies Meslés de Quelques Fragmens d’Opéra 1697 of Pierre Gillier: An Edition and Study

<p>The Livre d’Airs et de Simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d’Opéra de la Composition de P. Gillier (Book of Airs and Instrumental Pieces mixed with some operatic fragments composed by Pierre Gillier) was published in Paris in 1697. Its contents are dedicated to the twenty-three year-old Philippe duc de Chartres (son of Philippe I duc d’Orléans, only brother of Louis XIV). Of the life of Pierre Gillier (1665- died after 1713), we know only that he possessed an haute-contre voice, and was employed as a chamber musician in the households of Philippe I duc d’Orléans and of his son, Philippe II. The Parisian courts of the Dauphin, and of Philippe I supported the secular arts that Louis XIV (self-exiled at Versailles), had rejected. There was an insatiable appetite for amateur music making in late seventeenthcentury France, notably in the broader societal context of airs: the salons. Composers generally wrote individual airs (of the serious and drinking types), complete operas, or theatre works. In such a context, Gillier’s publication is unique: his declared aim was to assemble a collection of serious songs linked together tonally in suites with instrumental pieces by means of their keys, for chamber music performance. As a precursor to the arrival in France of the multi-movement sonata and cantata, Gillier’s grouping together of instrumental and vocal movements to make larger musical entities has exceptional interest. His procedure has close links with theatrical practice. The thesis includes a critical edition of Gillier's complete collection made from the copy preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France as F-Pn/ Rés. Vm7 305. The edition is prefaced by a study of performance practices in vocal and instrumental music in late seventeenth-century France.</p>

The Livre d'Airs et de Simphonies Meslés de Quelques Fragmens d’Opéra 1697 of Pierre Gillier: An Edition and Study

<p>The Livre d’Airs et de Simphonies meslés de quelques fragmens d’Opéra de la Composition de P. Gillier (Book of Airs and Instrumental Pieces mixed with some operatic fragments composed by Pierre Gillier) was published in Paris in 1697. Its contents are dedicated to the twenty-three year-old Philippe duc de Chartres (son of Philippe I duc d’Orléans, only brother of Louis XIV). Of the life of Pierre Gillier (1665- died after 1713), we know only that he possessed an haute-contre voice, and was employed as a chamber musician in the households of Philippe I duc d’Orléans and of his son, Philippe II. The Parisian courts of the Dauphin, and of Philippe I supported the secular arts that Louis XIV (self-exiled at Versailles), had rejected. There was an insatiable appetite for amateur music making in late seventeenthcentury France, notably in the broader societal context of airs: the salons. Composers generally wrote individual airs (of the serious and drinking types), complete operas, or theatre works. In such a context, Gillier’s publication is unique: his declared aim was to assemble a collection of serious songs linked together tonally in suites with instrumental pieces by means of their keys, for chamber music performance. As a precursor to the arrival in France of the multi-movement sonata and cantata, Gillier’s grouping together of instrumental and vocal movements to make larger musical entities has exceptional interest. His procedure has close links with theatrical practice. The thesis includes a critical edition of Gillier's complete collection made from the copy preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France as F-Pn/ Rés. Vm7 305. The edition is prefaced by a study of performance practices in vocal and instrumental music in late seventeenth-century France.</p>

Bulbs Onstage: Theatrical Hygiene and the Electrification of Performance

European theatres were electrified between 1883 and 1913. This process has traditionally been associated with the advent of modernist theatre, but the details have rarely been examined, nor has the scope of the process's social and technological impacts been analysed. Reconstructing light bulbs’ early appearances in theatrical practice and discourse, this article traces the intricate entanglement between the electrical industry and theatrical culture around the turn of the century and highlights electricity's entanglement with concepts of hygiene and healing. Discussing an early light bulb in use in Bayreuth in 1882, the marketing strategies of the German Edison Company and Adolphe Appia's early manifesto, the article shows how electrification of theatres was shaped by competing visions of a future theatre. Also it demonstrates that aesthetics, technology and politics were intricately entangled in this process. Refuting teleological narratives of aesthetic progress, the paper proposes reframing modernist theatre's artistic autonomy as dependent on its embeddedness within the technologies of modernity.

Shakespeare and Music

William Shakespeare entertained many ideas about music, some of them conflicting, and he frequently represented these ideas in his plays. Music was a multifaceted art and science in early modern England, and debates over the nature and interpretation of music played out in a variety of contexts: academic, religious, political, commercial, and aesthetic. At the same time, music was a vital part of Shakespeare’s theatrical practice. He made use of his company’s musical resources to include performed music in his plays, and his characters frequently sing and quote popular ballads and songs that would have been recognized by his audiences. The combination of words about music and musical performances gave Shakespeare the opportunity to test various theories of music in complex and original ways. His plays are especially demonstrative of the ways in which certain views of music were connected to other ideological perspectives. Shakespeare’s most modern idea about music is the notion that musical meaning derives from its contexts and conventions rather than from an inherent, universal nature. Taken together, his plays provoke skepticism about unified theories of music. At the same time, they demonstrate that the seeming universality of music makes it an extremely powerful tool for both the polemicist and the dramatist.

Actress training by Michael Saint-Denis: improvisation in a mask

The purpose of the article is to analyze the features of the theatrical and pedagogical activity of M. Saint-Denis and to reveal the specifics of the acting training "Improvisation in a mask" in the context of students' work with a neutral and characteristic mask. Methodology. The biographical method was applied (to cover the director's and pedagogical activity of M. Saint-Denis); the typological method (for identifying and determining the main features of the theatrical pedagogy of M. Saint-Denis in general and the methods of teaching the actor developed by him in particular); the method of comparative analysis (for the study of the training "Improvisation in a mask" with neutral and characteristic masks), etc. Scientific novelty. Studied the actor's training "Improvisation in the mask" of the leading theater director and teacher of the twentieth century. M. Saint-Denis and revealed the features of the work of student actors with a neutral and characteristic mask; analyzed the theatrical and pedagogical activities of M. Saint-Denis as a standardizer of theatrical practice in the context of the developed and implemented curricula for acting in drama schools founded with his assistance (London Theater Studio, Old Vic School, Strasbourg Higher School of Dramatic Art, Canadian National Theater School and the Juilliard Drama Department). Conclusions. M. Saint-Denis's holistic model of acting training is formed on the basis of an organic combination of a physical approach, in which the body learns to turn into an absolute expressive instrument, an internal approach, the so-called realistic characterization, and a comprehensive understanding of the style in the context of mastering physical, vocal, intellectual, creative and emotional skills, allows student actors to master all kinds of drama. The study revealed that the mask was considered by M. Saint-Denis as a temporary working tool that helps to reduce feelings of insecurity and awkwardness, enhance the ability of internal self-awareness, enhance expression and experimental activity, develop concentration of attention, self-control of a student-actor and a harmonious path from the inception of physical qualities. character to their external dramatic expression. The student's task is to fill the mask, to give it life and feelings. If the actor who animates the mask is convincing and sincere, it feels like he has his own facial expression. The aim of the training is: to eradicate cliché-manners; teach students to develop and release creative impulses; to teach students to work on classical roles or roles of the "big style" (according to M. Saint-Denis).