Freddie Rokem | Tel Aviv University (original) (raw)
Books by Freddie Rokem
care and confidence, but my great appreciation; to Herbert Blau, as will become clear in the foll... more care and confidence, but my great appreciation; to Herbert Blau, as will become clear in the following pages, my admiration; to Yvonne Rock, my gratitude for her deep and lasting friendship; and to Galit Hasan-Rokem, as much as I can give. This book is dedicated to our three children. xiv Preface Poetry and History The notion of performing history, chosen for the title of this study, is intentionally ambiguous because the terms "performance" and "history" can align in a number of different ways. On the most basic level the notion refers not to the representations of the past staged in the theatre but to the historical events and actions themselves as they have been performed in the past (in the "past perfect" tense). A historical event, moreover, is a form of "doing" or performing just Here the Marquis de Sade, as a refraction of Peter Weiss, directly refers to the historical developments which took place 150 years after the French Revolution, but are, no doubt, relevant to both the playwright and his audiences after the Second World War. In this context it is also important to note, however, that the expression translated as the "final solution" in the last line of the English translation of Sade's speech in Marat/Sade is "letzten Behandlung" in the German original. This rather means "last treatment," which Sally Jacobs's model for the production of Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade at the Aldwych Theatre, London, 1964. The showers are clearly visible on both sides of the stage. Photo by and courtesy of Sally Jacobs.
Philosophers and Thespians - פילוסופים ואנשי תיאטרון, 2022
The Hebrew translation of my book Philosophers and Thespians: Thinking Performance has been publi... more The Hebrew translation of my book Philosophers and Thespians: Thinking Performance has been published by the Bialik Institute in Jerusalem in Ira Avneri's translation. It is a revised version of the book published in 2010 by Stanford University Press which has already appeared in Italian, Polish, German and Slovenian.
Performance Research, 2022
This is my Editorial for the issue of Performance Research -- "ON INTERRUPTIONS"
Performance Research, 2022
What, has this thing appeared again tonight Hamlet, I, 1, 21
Jews and the Making of Modern German Theatre. Jeanette R. Malkin and Freddie Rokem, eds. Iowa Cit... more Jews and the Making of Modern German Theatre. Jeanette R. Malkin and Freddie Rokem, eds. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2010
Papers by Freddie Rokem
Modern Drama, 2024
This article discusses how Bertolt Brecht employed the ancient figure of Niobe as a model for sev... more This article discusses how Bertolt Brecht employed the ancient figure of Niobe as a model for several of his female characters. The examples examined here are his adaptation of Antigone, where the protagonist compares herself to Niobe, as in the classic Sophocles drama; the allusions by Polly Peachum in the Pirate Jenny song in the stage version of The Threepenny Opera; and the dialectical interaction between Mother Courage and her mute daughter Kattrin in Mother Courage and Her Children. Each such "likeness" encompasses a strong emotional involvement or empathy with the Trauer, or sorrow, of the ancient figure of Niobe, who was petrified for boasting of her many children to Leto, and whose offspring then killed all of her children. At the same time, Brecht also allows his characters to resist and even protest against their ancient female role model. On the basis of these examples, the article discusses Brecht's modern version of the Trauerspiel, based on Walter Benjamin's ideas; his development of the notion of the model and the model-book with Niobe as a model for the modelling process itself; and, finally, the importance of the notion of the Halt, a stop or interruption, for this modelling process. The article suggests that the close interdependence between Brecht's oeuvre and the ideas of his close friend Walter Benjamin concerning the Trauerspiel reveals the modelling aspect of many of Brecht's female characters as well as his multifaceted, critical approach to tragedy.
Geschichte im Rampenlicht, 2020
A Reconsideration of the Actor as a “Hyper-Historian” in plays performing history as proposed in ... more A Reconsideration of the Actor as a “Hyper-Historian” in plays performing history as proposed in my book Performing History. In this article I propose a reading of Mutter Courage and her Children based on Walter Benkamin's text on the Angel of History.
Things : Religion and the Question of Materiality, edited by Dick Houtman, and Birgit Meyer, , 2012
The deus ex machina took the place of metaphysical consolation.-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of... more The deus ex machina took the place of metaphysical consolation.-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy Engel und Puppe: dann ist endlich Schauspiel.
Das Denken der Bühne, 2019
Modern Drama, 2013
Finally Job cried out: God damn the day I was born and the night that forced me from the womb. On... more Finally Job cried out: God damn the day I was born and the night that forced me from the womb. On that daylet there be darkness; let it never have been created; let it sink back into the void. The Book of Job 1 The Book of Job holds a unique position in the Hebrew Bible. Its action takes place in a strange, completely unknown country, Uz, about which we do not know anything. And Job, the protagonist, is not even directly identified as an Israelite. The Book of Job also has an unmistakeable dramatic structure, not at all typical for biblical texts, based on concrete situations and dialogue between the characters involved in conflictswhat the Greeks termed agon. It is a text that is closely related to classical Greek drama in many ways. 2 It is also a text that contains quite subversive messages, like the opening lines of chapter three, quoted as the motto for this article, where Job damns the day he was born, calling God to 'uncreate' the world and let it sink back again into the darkness and the chaotic void from which it was initially formed, an idea that even sounds uncannily modern to a twentieth and twenty-first century reader. The major aim of this article, however, is not to analyse the biblical Book of Job. Instead, it will focus on the adaptation of the Book of Job for the stage by the Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin (1943-99). But when examining this contemporary adaptation, we also need to consider the horizon of expectations created by the ancient biblical narrative, according to which, after having endured extreme suffering, Job was "rewarded" with a new family and his wealth was restored. Israeli readers and audiences are quite
Itinera, 2022
This essay examines the two stories about or related to the Sabbath which Walter Benjamin include... more This essay examines the two stories about or related to the Sabbath which Walter Benjamin included in his essay commemorating the tenth anniversary of Kafka's death. Both are pastiches of Hasidic stories, apparently written by Benjamin himself. The first is based on a legend about a princess who prepares a festive meal for her fiancé on Friday evening, as the Sabbath begins; and the second is about the Jews in a Hasidic village who have assembled on Saturday evening, as the Sabbath is about to end, telling their wishes to each other. These stories, the essay suggests, are not only important for assessing Benjamin's reading of Kafka's oeuvre, but must at the same time also be seen as an expression of Benjamin's own, gradually developing understanding of the Messianic dimensions of his own philosophy of history.
Performance Philosophy, Dec 21, 2017
History, Memory, Performance, 2014
Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença
care and confidence, but my great appreciation; to Herbert Blau, as will become clear in the foll... more care and confidence, but my great appreciation; to Herbert Blau, as will become clear in the following pages, my admiration; to Yvonne Rock, my gratitude for her deep and lasting friendship; and to Galit Hasan-Rokem, as much as I can give. This book is dedicated to our three children. xiv Preface Poetry and History The notion of performing history, chosen for the title of this study, is intentionally ambiguous because the terms "performance" and "history" can align in a number of different ways. On the most basic level the notion refers not to the representations of the past staged in the theatre but to the historical events and actions themselves as they have been performed in the past (in the "past perfect" tense). A historical event, moreover, is a form of "doing" or performing just Here the Marquis de Sade, as a refraction of Peter Weiss, directly refers to the historical developments which took place 150 years after the French Revolution, but are, no doubt, relevant to both the playwright and his audiences after the Second World War. In this context it is also important to note, however, that the expression translated as the "final solution" in the last line of the English translation of Sade's speech in Marat/Sade is "letzten Behandlung" in the German original. This rather means "last treatment," which Sally Jacobs's model for the production of Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade at the Aldwych Theatre, London, 1964. The showers are clearly visible on both sides of the stage. Photo by and courtesy of Sally Jacobs.
Philosophers and Thespians - פילוסופים ואנשי תיאטרון, 2022
The Hebrew translation of my book Philosophers and Thespians: Thinking Performance has been publi... more The Hebrew translation of my book Philosophers and Thespians: Thinking Performance has been published by the Bialik Institute in Jerusalem in Ira Avneri's translation. It is a revised version of the book published in 2010 by Stanford University Press which has already appeared in Italian, Polish, German and Slovenian.
Performance Research, 2022
This is my Editorial for the issue of Performance Research -- "ON INTERRUPTIONS"
Performance Research, 2022
What, has this thing appeared again tonight Hamlet, I, 1, 21
Jews and the Making of Modern German Theatre. Jeanette R. Malkin and Freddie Rokem, eds. Iowa Cit... more Jews and the Making of Modern German Theatre. Jeanette R. Malkin and Freddie Rokem, eds. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2010
Modern Drama, 2024
This article discusses how Bertolt Brecht employed the ancient figure of Niobe as a model for sev... more This article discusses how Bertolt Brecht employed the ancient figure of Niobe as a model for several of his female characters. The examples examined here are his adaptation of Antigone, where the protagonist compares herself to Niobe, as in the classic Sophocles drama; the allusions by Polly Peachum in the Pirate Jenny song in the stage version of The Threepenny Opera; and the dialectical interaction between Mother Courage and her mute daughter Kattrin in Mother Courage and Her Children. Each such "likeness" encompasses a strong emotional involvement or empathy with the Trauer, or sorrow, of the ancient figure of Niobe, who was petrified for boasting of her many children to Leto, and whose offspring then killed all of her children. At the same time, Brecht also allows his characters to resist and even protest against their ancient female role model. On the basis of these examples, the article discusses Brecht's modern version of the Trauerspiel, based on Walter Benjamin's ideas; his development of the notion of the model and the model-book with Niobe as a model for the modelling process itself; and, finally, the importance of the notion of the Halt, a stop or interruption, for this modelling process. The article suggests that the close interdependence between Brecht's oeuvre and the ideas of his close friend Walter Benjamin concerning the Trauerspiel reveals the modelling aspect of many of Brecht's female characters as well as his multifaceted, critical approach to tragedy.
Geschichte im Rampenlicht, 2020
A Reconsideration of the Actor as a “Hyper-Historian” in plays performing history as proposed in ... more A Reconsideration of the Actor as a “Hyper-Historian” in plays performing history as proposed in my book Performing History. In this article I propose a reading of Mutter Courage and her Children based on Walter Benkamin's text on the Angel of History.
Things : Religion and the Question of Materiality, edited by Dick Houtman, and Birgit Meyer, , 2012
The deus ex machina took the place of metaphysical consolation.-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of... more The deus ex machina took the place of metaphysical consolation.-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy Engel und Puppe: dann ist endlich Schauspiel.
Das Denken der Bühne, 2019
Modern Drama, 2013
Finally Job cried out: God damn the day I was born and the night that forced me from the womb. On... more Finally Job cried out: God damn the day I was born and the night that forced me from the womb. On that daylet there be darkness; let it never have been created; let it sink back into the void. The Book of Job 1 The Book of Job holds a unique position in the Hebrew Bible. Its action takes place in a strange, completely unknown country, Uz, about which we do not know anything. And Job, the protagonist, is not even directly identified as an Israelite. The Book of Job also has an unmistakeable dramatic structure, not at all typical for biblical texts, based on concrete situations and dialogue between the characters involved in conflictswhat the Greeks termed agon. It is a text that is closely related to classical Greek drama in many ways. 2 It is also a text that contains quite subversive messages, like the opening lines of chapter three, quoted as the motto for this article, where Job damns the day he was born, calling God to 'uncreate' the world and let it sink back again into the darkness and the chaotic void from which it was initially formed, an idea that even sounds uncannily modern to a twentieth and twenty-first century reader. The major aim of this article, however, is not to analyse the biblical Book of Job. Instead, it will focus on the adaptation of the Book of Job for the stage by the Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin (1943-99). But when examining this contemporary adaptation, we also need to consider the horizon of expectations created by the ancient biblical narrative, according to which, after having endured extreme suffering, Job was "rewarded" with a new family and his wealth was restored. Israeli readers and audiences are quite
Itinera, 2022
This essay examines the two stories about or related to the Sabbath which Walter Benjamin include... more This essay examines the two stories about or related to the Sabbath which Walter Benjamin included in his essay commemorating the tenth anniversary of Kafka's death. Both are pastiches of Hasidic stories, apparently written by Benjamin himself. The first is based on a legend about a princess who prepares a festive meal for her fiancé on Friday evening, as the Sabbath begins; and the second is about the Jews in a Hasidic village who have assembled on Saturday evening, as the Sabbath is about to end, telling their wishes to each other. These stories, the essay suggests, are not only important for assessing Benjamin's reading of Kafka's oeuvre, but must at the same time also be seen as an expression of Benjamin's own, gradually developing understanding of the Messianic dimensions of his own philosophy of history.
Performance Philosophy, Dec 21, 2017
History, Memory, Performance, 2014
Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença
Nordic Theatre Studies
My contribution to the the NTS issue on Theatre and Continental Philosophy discusses a particular... more My contribution to the the NTS issue on Theatre and Continental Philosophy discusses a particular aspect of the complex intellectual and creative dialogue between the work and thinking of Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht, beginning in 1929, the year they became close friends. Benjamin is no doubt the first critic of Brecht’s epic theatre, even planning to write a book about his artistic contributions. By examining the notion of the “Interruption” (Die Unterbrechung) and the sudden appearance of a stranger in three of Benjamin’s texts about Brecht’s epic theatre, I want to draw attention to Benjamin’s philosophical understanding of this ‘critical’ figure’ (the interrupting stranger), as one of the central aspects of the epic theatre. The essay is a prolegomenon for a more comprehensive study of this topic.
Spuren der Avantgarde: Theatrum alchemicum, 2016
Theatralia, 2016
Jaký je vztah mezi budovou nebo místem, kde se koná představení, a fiktivním prostorem konkrétníh... more Jaký je vztah mezi budovou nebo místem, kde se koná představení, a fiktivním prostorem konkrétního představení? Jsou tyto dva prostorové subjekty -budova (či místo) a fiktivní prostor -na sobě vzájemně závislé? Vytváří budova (nebo v sobě "zahrnuje") konkrétní divadelní představení? Můžeme tvrdit, že sémiotický charakter jeviště a hlediště jako architektonických subjektů určitým způsobem stanovuje, nebo dokonce předurčuje, co může být na konkrétním jevišti představeno? A konečně, jak se tyto sémiotické systémy vzájemně ovlivňují během konkrétního divadelního představení; jak ovlivňují komunikaci mezi herci a diváky?
Performance Philosophy, 2015
Eavesdropping scenes, where one of the characters eavesdrops or spies on one or several of the ot... more Eavesdropping scenes, where one of the characters eavesdrops or spies on one or several of the other characters (usually with the knowledge of at least one of them) will serve as my point of departure for exploring the relations between tragedy, comedy and philosophy. The eavesdropper is a spectator inside the fictional world who because of what he (and most frequently it is a male) learns by eavesdropping or just by carrying out this act of transgression is transformed into a victim. I exemplify with Polonius (in Hamlet, III, 4) and Orgon (in Tartuffe, IV, 5), who are physically situated in a focal (liminal) point where the eavesdroppers become vulnerable and can quickly be transformed from tragic to comic figures and vice versa, transgressing the generic borderlines between tragedy, melodrama, comedy and farce. There are also many instances where philosophical discourses originate from an eavesdropping situation, the most obvious being the form of teaching practiced by Pythagoras,...
Performance, Exile and 'America', 2009
Studies in Theatre and Performance, 2015
Jewish Theatre: A Global View, 2009
The Cambridge Companion to August Strindberg, 2009
Religion and the Question of Materiality, 2012
SYMPOSIUM in Israel December 2022
INTERNATIONAL BRECHT SOCIETY