Magda Romanska

The Post-traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and Kantor (eBook, PDF)

History and Holocaust in 'Akropolis' and 'Dead Class'

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Despite its international influence, Polish theatre remains a mystery to many Westerners. This volume attempts to fill in various gaps in English-language scholarship by offering a historical and critical analysis of two of the most influential works of Polish theatre: Jerzy Grotowski's 'Akropolis' and Tadeusz Kantor's 'Dead Class'. By examining each director's representation of Auschwitz, this study provides a new understanding of how translating national trauma through the prism of performance can alter and deflect the meaning and reception of theatrical works, both inside and outside their cultural and historical context.

Although theatre scholars have now gained familiarity with 'Akropolis' and 'Dead Class', there remains little understanding of the complex web of cultural meanings and significations that went into their making - they remain broadly but not deeply known. Grotowski and Kantor both sought to respond to the trauma of the Holocaust, albeit through drastically different aesthetics, and this study develops a comparative critical language through which one can simultaneously engage Grotowski and Kantor in a way that makes their differences evocative of a broader conversation about theatre and meaning. Ultimately, this volume invites and engages with many questions: how is theatrical meaning codified outside its cultural context? How is it codified within its cultural context? What affects the reception of a theatrical work? And, above all, how does theatre 'make meaning'?

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Anthem Press
• Seitenzahl: 420
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. Dezember 2012
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780857285263
• Artikelnr.: 44360729

Autorenporträt

Magda Romanska, with a Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Introduction
PART I: OUR AUSCHWITZ: GROTOWSKI'S "AKROPOLIS"
Chapter 1: Jerzy Grotowski: A Very Short Introduction
Chapter 2: Native Son: Grotowski in Poland
Chapter 3: Grotowski: The Polish Context
Chapter 4: Grotowski, the Messiah: Coming to America
Chapter 5: The Making of an Aura
Chapter 6: On Not Knowing Polish
Chapter 7: "In Poland: That is to Say, Nowhere"
Chapter 8: "Akropolis"/Necropolis
Chapter 9: The Vision and the Symbol
Chapter 10: "This Drama as Drama Cannot Be Staged"
Chapter 11: Two National Sacrums
Chapter 12: "Hollow Sneering Laughter": Mourning the Columbuses
Chapter 13: Against Heroics
Chapter 14: Representing the Unrepresentable
Chapter 15: Trip to the Museum
Chapter 16: Bearing the Unbearable
Chapter 17: The Living and the Dead
Chapter 18: Jacob's Burden
Chapter 19: The Final Descent
Chapter 20: Textual Transpositions
Chapter 21: "Akropolis" After Grotowski
ILLUSTRATIONS
PART II: OUR MEMORY: KANTOR'S "DEAD CLASS"
Chapter 22: Tadeusz Kantor: A Very Short Introduction
Chapter 23: "Dead Class": The Making of the Legend
Chapter 24: "Dead Class" in Poland
Chapter 25: The Polish History Lesson
Chapter 26: "Dead Class" Abroad
Chapter 27: On Not Knowing Polish, Again
Chapter 28: The Visual and the Puerile
Chapter 29: The National and the Transnational
Chapter 30: Witkiewicz's Tumor
Chapter 31: An Age of Genius: Bruno Schulz and the Return to Childhood
Chapter 32: Conversing with Gombrowicz: The Dead, the Funny, the Sacred and the Profane
Chapter 33: Panirony: "A pain with a smile and a shrug"
Chapter 34: Raising the Dead
Chapter 35: "Dead Class" as Kaddish...
Chapter 36: "Dead Class" as "Dybbuk," or the Absence
Chapter 37: The Dead and the Marionettes
Chapter 38: Men and Objects
Chapter 39: "Dead Class" as "Forefathers' Eve"
Chapter 40: "Dead Class": The Afterlife
Postscript
Appendix: Table 1. Chronology of Events
Table 2. Comparison between Wyspiäski's "Akropolis" and "Genesis"
Table 3. Comparison between Grotowski and Kantor
Notes
Bibliography
Index