Directing for the stage Research Papers (original) (raw)

A Director's Guide to Stanislavsky's Active Analysis describes Active Analysis, the
innovative rehearsal method Stanislavsky formulated in his final years. By uniting 'mental
analysis' and 'études', Active Analysis puts an end to the problem of mind-body dualism
and formalized text memorization that traditional rehearsal methods foster.
The book describes Active Analysis both practically and conceptually; Part One guides the
reader through the entire process of Active Analysis, using A Midsummer Night's Dream
as a practical reference point. The inspiration here is the work of the Russian director
Anatoly Efros, whose pioneering work led the way for a reawakening of theatre in post-
Soviet Russia. Part Two is the first English translation of Maria Knebel's foundational
article about Active Analysis. Knebel was hand-selected by Stanislavsky to carry his final
work forward in unadulterated form for succeeding generations of directors and actors.

- by José María Serralde Ruiz
- •
- Music, Music History, Musicology, Film Music And Sound

In the turn of the 20th century, numerous theatre directors focus on the representation of mythological figures such as Prometheus. In these performances we no longer receive the text of Aeschylus but mostly the images that the directors allow us watch and interpret. Approaching the unconscious of the spectator, these images are an act of purifying the imagination, a process by which, the artists virtualize their personal mythologies. Distinguished theatre directors such as Robert Wilson, Rodrigo Garcia and Jan Fabre have worked on the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, attributing a primal substance to elements such as the actor’s body and the visual scenery.

The purpose of this paper, which was presented in the international HASE conference "Rethinking Democracy in Language, Literature and Culture" (15-17 May 2015), is to discuss four of the latest productions by the internationally acclaimed Greek theatre director Theodoros Terzopoulos as a political tetralogy that represents the 20th century historic course of democracy in Europe as a chain of cultural traumas. More specifically, the performances of Mauser, Alarme, Amor and Endgame represent a diversity of historic and everyday (civil) wars in a theatre that becomes a critical vision machine which challenges spectators to look from the perpetrator’s point of view, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, lay equal criticism on both the perpetrator and the victim. The above political tetralogy coincides with the emergence and establishment of the Greek economic recession, which is but an aspect of the wider European crisis that unveils the deeper cultural crisis of a civilization once founded on the humanistic ideals of Enlightenment. It seems that Terzopoulos’ performances not only exercise severe criticism against power, its techniques and practices, but against the citizens’ attitude and stance in a democracy in crisis.

- by Jeanmarie Higgins
- •
- Theatre Studies, Directing for the stage, History of Directing, Scenic Design

Synthesizing the pedagogy of acting with new findings in Neuroscience and archetypal understandings of human ways of learning and seeing. This book contains practical exercises for directors, actors, and teachers to use combining these... more

- by Jane Drake Brody
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- Directing, Movement for actors, Action Research, Actor Network Theory
- by Avra Sidiropoulou
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- Critical Theory, Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Theatre History

In 1906, the Greek writer Nikolaos Poriotis translated Oscar Wilde’s 'Salomé'. It was the first play by Wilde to be translated into Greek, and was published in the periodical 'Panathinaia' in 1907.8 In the following year, Thomas Oikonomou, the first stage director of the Greek theatre, undertook the play’s stage representation. He was followed much later by his pupil Marika Kotopouli in 1922, and then by the playwright and journalist Spyros Melas in 1925. The article examines those three productions of Salomé, and will attempts an analysis of the factors that prompted its selection, as well as an interpretation of the performances styles, in relation to both the specific aims of the creators and the wider social and cultural framework.

- by Ioanna Papageorgiou
- •
- Directing for the stage, Oscar Wilde, Modern Greek Theatre, Salome

Στη μελέτη αυτή εξετάζονται τρεις εμβληματικές σύγχρονες σκηνικές προσεγγίσεις του μύθου της Αντιγόνης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα αναλύονται οι ακόλουθες παραστάσεις: α) Αντιγόνη του Σοφοκλή σε σκηνοθεσία των Marcel Bozonnet και Jean Bollack στο Théâtre de la Bastille, μία παράσταση που χαρακτηρίζεται από σκηνική λιτότητα και στρέφει την προσοχή του θεατή στο κείμενο. Στην παράσταση αυτή επικεντρώνουμε το ενδιαφέρον μας κυρίως στη μετάφραση και στην ψυχολογική προσέγγιση της ηρωίδας. β) Διασκευή της Αντιγόνης από τους Jean-Louis Sagot-Duvaroux και Habi Dembele Guimba. Πρόκειται για μία διαπολιτισμική προσέγγιση της Αντιγόνης από το σκηνοθέτη Sotigui Kouyaté, ο οποίος προτείνει μία απλή, στυλιζαρισμένη και γεωμετρική κίνηση, ενσωματώνοντας στοιχεία του αφρικανικού θεάτρου στη σκηνική του δημιουργία. γ) Αντιγόνη του Σοφοκλή σε σκηνοθεσία του Θεόδωρου Τερζόπουλου στο αρχαίο θέατρο της Επιδαύρου, όπου ο τραγικός μύθος της Αντιγόνης παίρνει σάρκα και οστά σε έναν γεωμετρικό κύκλο. Ο σκηνοθέτης δεν ενδιαφέρεται τόσο για το νόημα των λέξεων, αλλά για τη φυσική δύναμη των τελευταίων, η οποία μεταδίδει την αίσθηση του τραγικού, μέσω των κινήσεων του σώματος του ηθοποιού.

- by Eleni Papalexiou
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- Classics, Greek Tragedy, Theatre Studies, Directing for the stage
- by André Estevez
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- Opera, Directing for the stage, Body in Performance, Drama and Theater

From the fifteenth century, Florence inaugurated a festive typology of which there was hardly equivalent in other parts, whose best exponent was Brunelleschi. Since mid-Cinquecento Giorgio Vasari and Bernardo Buontalenti are owed the codification of the figure of the “set designer”, in addition to the speculative vertebration of the “Fiesta”, anchored in the Orphic thinking inherent in the symbolic interpretation of the Good Government ideology, codified iconographically from the Intermezzi. Although it is Giulio Parigi who best exemplifies the total artist, “through absolute control of entertainment or the royal spectacles. Regarding the copies of several fundamental works of the History of the Scenography - in a sequence that combines continuity from Parigi, through his son Alfonso and Ferdinando Tacca, Stefano della Bella, Giacopo Chiavistelli, Antonio Ferri, Filippo Acciaiuoli - preserved among the funds of the National Library of Spain (BNE), the tour through the analysis of the future of Florence of the last Medici is proposed, at the dawn of a new century and its use of theatrical resources.
A partir del siglo XV, Florencia inauguró una tipología festiva de las que no había apenas equivalente en otras partes, cuyo mejor exponente fue Brunelleschi. Desde mediados del Cinquecento a Giorgio Vasari y Bernardo Buontalenti se les debe la codificación de la figura del “escenógrafo”, además de la vertebración especulativa de la Fiesta, anclada en el pensamiento órfico inherente en la interpretación simbólica de la ideología del Buen Gobierno, codificado iconográficamente desde los Intermez-zi. Si bien es Giulio Parigi quien mejor ejemplifica el artista total, de toda la política cultural de los grandes duques de Toscana, a través del control absoluto del entreten-imiento o la Lúdica del Poder. A propósito de los ejemplares de varias obras funda-mentales de la Historia de la Escenografía –en una secuencia que hilvana la continu-idad desde Parigi, a través de su hijo Alfonso y Ferdinando Tacca, Stefano della Bel-la, Giacopo Chiavistelli, Antonio Ferri, Filippo Acciaiuoli - conservadas entre los fondos de la Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE), se propone el recorrido por el análisis del devenir de la Florencia de los últimos Medici, en los albores de una nueva centuria y su utilización de los recursos teatrales.

- by Esther Merino Peral
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- Art History, Scenography, Directing for the stage, Scenario planning
- by Stefano Boselli
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- Theatre Studies, Directing for the stage, Postmodernism, Luigi Pirandello

1980’li yillardan sonra dunyada ve Turkiye’de kimlik politikalarinin yukselisi, baski altina ali- nan aidiyet bicimlerinin kamusal alana cikmasini saglamistir. Bu gelismelerden etkilenen halk danslari sahnesinde de, hem kimlik temelli yeni topluluklar kurulmakta hem de coklu dans geleneklerini temsil eden gosterilerin icinde ya da gosteri dramaturjilerine dair ifadelerde ‘mozaik’, ‘ebru’ gibi metaforlar ile ‘kulturel cogulculuk’ gibi kavramlar kullanilmaktadir. Bu calismada, oncelikle 1980 darbesi sonra sekillenen toplumsal, siyasal, kulturel ortam ve ‘kimlik patlamasi’nin dans sahnesine yansimalarina odaklanilacaktir. Ardindan, cesitli gosterilerde temsil edilen kimlikleri, renkleri ya da aidiyet bicimlerini tanimlarken kullanilan mozaik ve ebru metaforlari ile kulturel cogulculuk kavrami karsilastirmali olarak incelenecektir.

- by Berna Kurt
- •
- Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, Performing Arts, Dance Studies

This paper will try to articulate a preliminary framework for the analysis of three self-referencing narratives My life in Art (1921), by Stanislavski, Threads of Time (1998) by Peter Brook, On Directing and Dramaturgy: Burning the House (2010) by Eugenio Barba, as texts that produce knowledge in the discipline of theatre direction. The history of the western theatre can be studied through the lives and work of these innovative and representative theatre directors. We want to know what is the form and function of these texts and in what ways can Discourse Studies and Genre Theory help us characterize them in order to establish a framework for future theatre autobiographers. The autobiography can be conceived as a rhetorical space inhabited by the autobiographer, the subject who writes. From My life in art (1924), Stanislavski's emerges as a paradigm of the traditional autobiography, one which today would be considered a little boring (due to its length and detail), given the creativity the genre has attained (Ekin, 1994). Finally, Barba (2010) represents himself as a post-postmodern autobiographer who uses the genre in an extremely creative way, to the point of making us doubt whether Directing and Dramaturgy: Burning the House (2010) should be adscribed to the genre as this text presents a fragmented self, impressionistic, given in glimses, at times collectively constructed by different voices. Barba emerges as a person who does not seem to attempt to give a rationale of his personality (Lejeune (1975). Brook emerges as a deep spiritual person always in search of cutting edge experiences, restless, curious, as he moves from The Conference of the Birds to The Mahabharata to The Man who. As genres are verbal artifacts that evolve in time (Bazerman, 2013), it is understandable that each of the three texts cristalizes in a different way, representing a different moment in time, a different output of the genre. " The discursive genre " has been framed as a theoretical construction that designs verbal human activity that evolves in time (Bazerman, 2013). It refers to typical forms by which we express ourselves (Bakhtin, 1986). This concept allows us to establish relationships between discursive situations, that is to say, forms of human activity, with texts as pieces shaped by language and rhetoric. Generally speaking, genres are texts with a communicative intention which belong to specific discourse communities. They are communicative events with dynamic characteristics and they are both interactive structures and thinking structures, This human practice as it is displayed to us by 12

- by inma garin
- •
- Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Cultural Studies, Directing for the stage

A History of Collective Creation examines collective and devised theatre practices in Europe and North America, beginning in 1900. Long associated with U.S., British and French theatre collectives of the 1960s, collective creation in fact has its roots in the theatrical experiments of the early 20th century, emerging just after the rise of the modern director. Tracing a lineage from explorations of collective creation in the work of Meyerhold, Stanislavsky, Copeau, St. Denis, Piscator, Reduta, Grotowski, and early documentary theatre, through mid-century manifestations as a theatrical expression of the New Left, A History of Collective Creation proposes that collective creation played a pivotal role in the evolution of the modern theatre.

- by Kathryn Syssoyeva
- •
- Collective Behavior, Social Movements, Chicano Studies, Russian Studies

In 2003, Theodoros Terzopoulos, the internationally acclaimed Greek theatre director, staged a performance which was based on fragments of ancient Greek dramas written by Aeschylus; the play he created was called Epigonoi. Seventeen years later-on the occasion of an interview, parts of which compose this article-Terzopoulos revisited that performance and made a fresh appraisal of it: he shared his thoughts on concepts like the fragment, the fragmented narrative and the fragmented life; he related the ancient, fragmented texts with the essence of myths and the darkness of tragedy; and he contemplated on their connection with the ubiquitous notions of trauma and of vacuum. In accordance with the article's subject matter, for the presentation of Terzopoulos' fragments of thought, a dictum by Ronald Barthes was followed: "Incoherence seems to me preferable to a distorting order."

- by Menelaos Karantzas
- •
- Greek Tragedy, Dramaturgy, Directing for the stage, Aeschylus

In the fall of 2013, I was already slated to direct Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone at my home university, when I was referred by a colleague for a guest directing slot at another university in the winter semester… to direct the same show. In the course of about six months I auditioned, rehearsed, opened, and closed two very different productions of the same script. I structured each production around a world that was inspired and developed by the improvised discoveries of each respective cast, a method that I had encountered in my studies at the Moscow Art Theatre referred to as Active Analysis. Derived from some of Stanislavsky’s final work, the task of actors in Active Analysis is “to filter the given circumstances through their own sensibility in order to ‘evaluate’ the facts, to understand their meaning in the context of the play and to start the process of feeling themselves in the role and the role in themselves.” This paper is an account of the Active Analysis rehearsal approach I employed, and the remarkably different and imaginative outcomes they inspired in each production.

- by Jennifer Goff
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- Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Directing, Directing for the stage
- by Aldo Roma
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- Opera, Directing for the stage, Lars von Trier, Werner Herzog
- by Simona Brunetti
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- Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Directing for the stage, Scandinavian Theatre

Η παρούσα μελέτη ασχολείται με παραστάσεις της αρχαίας τραγωδίας που ανέβηκαν από τις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1970 μέχρι τις αρχές του 21ου αιώνα, διευρύνοντας αρκετά χρονικά αλλά και γεωγραφικά το πεδίο αναφοράς. Χρησιμοποιώντας αντιπροσωπευτικά παραδείγματα από την ευρωπαϊκή και παγκόσμια σκηνή, προσπαθεί να αναδείξει μια άλλη διάσταση και ερμηνεία, διαφορετική από το στερεότυπο που έχει εδραιωθεί στη συνείδηση του Έλληνα θεατή ως «κλασική παράσταση τραγωδίας».

In my article I am going to present the artistic method used by Krystian Lupa, nowadays the most important theatre artist in Poland. This prominent director and pedagogue has kept for years a kind of intimate journal that is published both in the form of articles and books. However, while anounsing the discussion of the artistic method haven't I overstepped the horizon of the Lupa's notion of his work in theatre? In his text entitled "Utopia-letters to actors", Lupa describes an exercise in which actors are asked to transfer onto a piece of paper what they see with their "inner touch". As he explains, the pain we feel takes different shapes in our imagination. However how to draw them on a piece of paper? While observing novice actors participating in his workshops, Lupa points to the incertitude on their faces and hope that a miracle will happen and some of them will be able to perform the task. Later on, he explains that the hope that it will be fine "goes with its roots to the marvels of childhood-to this not fully trustful magic-when one closes their eyes and tries spells that are supposed to raise them into the air or cause the surrounding world ceases to exist. (...) Yes-all this dispute is from such a borderland. Unfortunately, I haven't told them about it-they had an impression that they deal with a serious method, no matter how unreal and absurd." Then, how to discuss a method that maybe is not totally serious? How to remain faithful to the text whose inherent value is its personal character, strengthened by highly artistic, literary language? This is how Lupa writes and works. His ability to spin never-ending monologues during rehearsals is legendary, and the monologue itself appears in his reflections under the name of an "interior monologue," as the main tool of actor's work. Thus each attempt to explain notes of this prominent director will be a betrayal of his lecture, and an attempt to systematise his notes will deprive them of their most attractive aspect. This is what happens in the majority of the cases when one tries to explain methods of creative work of artists. On the other hand, it is difficult to remain

- by Wojciech Baluch
- •
- Directing, Directing for the stage, History of Acting, Acting

This book is an insiders’ account of the groundbreaking Moscow production
of Chekhov's The Seagull directed by Anatoly Efros in 1966, which
heralded a paradigm shift in the interpretation and staging of Chekhov’s
plays. It is a unique glimpse behind the curtain of the laboratory of new
Russian theatre in the twentieth century. Efros' articles about Chekhov and
The Seagull, his diaries, interviews and conversations, and most
importantly the original rehearsal records combine to form an in-depth
account of of the director and his working process. This is an essential
book for anyone with an interest in Chekhov and the history of modern
Russian theatre.

- by Serge Goriely
- •
- Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Theatre History, Performance Art

Το κριτικό αυτό σημείωμα φιλοδοξεί να εισαγάγει τον θεατή στους κώδικες της ομότιτλης πρόσφατης παράστασης του Romeo Castellucci, όπου το ανθρώπινο συναντά το απάνθρωπο και το ατομικό το οικουμενικό. Η κατ’ εξοχήν ιδιωτική σκηνή που παρακολουθούμε μεταμορφώνεται μέσα στον χώρο και τον χρόνο υπό το βλέμμα του Χριστού. Μία διαδικασία χριστολογικής ενσάρκωσης συντελείται επί σκηνής, κατά την οποία οι ηθοποιοί θυσιάζονται, μεταβαλλόμενοι σε αντικείμενα θέασης, θύματα του βλέμματός μας. Η γλυκιά και υποδόρια βία των εικόνων του Romeo Castellucci μας διαπερνά υπενθυμίζοντας μας την τρυφερή, εύθραυστη και μυστηριώδη πλευρά της ανθρώπινης φύσης.

- by Didier Plassard
- •
- German Studies, Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Theatre History

Prakata Seorang sutradara boleh diumpamakan seperti seorang nakhoda kapal yang bertanggungjawab mengemudi kapalnya menuju ke destinasi yang diharapkan dengan selamat, di samping bertanggungjawab menjaga keselamatan anak-anak kapalnya, para penumpang serta lain-lain kapal yang berada berhampiran dengan laluan kapalnya. Sutradara adalah seorang pembuat keputusan. Walaupun begitu, bukan bermakna ia bebas berlagak seperti seorang diktator. Ia masih boleh menerima pandangan ahli produksi yang lain namun keputusan akhir adalah terletak di tangan sutradara. Sebagai seorang pembuat keputusan, terdapat beberapa lagi tanggungjawab lain yang perlu dipikul dan dilaksanakan oleh seorang sutradara. Tanggungjawab seorang sutradara bukan sekadar mempersiapkan sebuah produksi malahan juga perlu memikirkan cara bagaimana untuk menarik khalayak untuk meminati dan menghormati seni teater itu sendiri. Teater adalah satu hiburan; tidak kira hiburan berbentuk kerohanian atau berbentuk lahiriah. Sebagai seni hiburan, persembahan teater itu perlu mampu menarik penonton yang datang menyaksikan persembahannya. Persembahan perlu mencapai tahap kualiti yang baik, menghiburkan bukan hanya untuk pelibatnya malah untuk yang datang menontonnya. Penghasilan sebuah persembahan juga perlu dibuat dengan teliti dan bersungguh-sungguh. Persembahan yang baik dan berkualiti bukan tertakluk kepada kecanggihan panggungnya semata-mata tetapi juga kepada corak persembahan dan isi cerita yang baik. Persembahan berkualiti menjamin kehadiran khalayak yang tetap dan ramai. Sutradara perlu berusaha membina khalayak teater yang tetap dengan menghasilkan persembahan-persembahan teater yang berkualiti. Keperluan kepada kehadiran penonton bukan hanya untuk sebuah produksi sahaja malah sutradara perlu berusaha mencipta khalayak yang tetap yang akan datang menyaksikan setiap persembahan yang dibuatnya di masa akan datang. Sutradara juga hendaklah menghormati keperluan dan kebolehan artistik ahli produksinya. Sutradara hendaklah memberi peluang kepada ahli produksinya untuk berkreativiti dan bereksperimentasi sepanjang proses penghasilan produksi. Bebaskan mereka untuk berkarya kerana setiap individu itu unik dan berkebolehan. Kerjasama yang baik antara sutradara dengan ahli produksi akan menghasilkan suasana yang ceria dalam produksi. Sutradara perlu mendalami ilmu penyutradaraan sebanyak yang

- by Andika Aziz hussin
- •
- Directing for the stage

This essay explores the means by which, as intellectual and artistic operations, adaptations of Greek tragedy have nourished a chain of arguments on the limits of directorial interpretation and the rights and wrongs of artistic autonomy, tenaciously supporting or undermining the faithfulness Vs freedom binary. The tensions that permeate the source-adaptation symbiosis can only remind us that we are still quite far from being emancipated from the hierarchies of meaning inherent in any act of reading and of re-writing. By reimagining the source text, the director offers valuable service to the playwright, revealing with the mise-en-scène meanings, nuances and allusions that can only be unearthed through embodied exploration. In effect, unless revisited again and again, a text will be perennially stuck in its finite temporality. In this perspective, it is certainly worth determining for good whether a director’s ‘ethical’ position vis-à-vis revisiting a popular text must be concerned with credibility as opposed to originality and creativity.

- by Avra Sidiropoulou
- •
- Greek Tragedy, Theatre Studies, Theatre History, Directing
- by Acting Archives and +1
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- Theatre Studies, Theatre History, Directing, Applied Drama/Theatre
- by Magda El-Nowieemy
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- Ancient Egyptian Religion, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Egyptology

Il libro documenta e racconta la parte conclusiva della tournée internazionale di uno degli spettacoli più innovativi e festivi della ricerca teatrale italiana: l’Orlando Furioso di Lodovico Ariosto nella riduzione di Edoardo Sanguineti per la regia di Luca Ronconi (Spoleto, Festival dei Due Mondi, luglio 1969). New York, che lo ospitò a partire dal 4 novembre del 1970, avrebbe dovuto essere il punto di partenza per una lunga tournée nelle principali città americane. Invece, fu il punto del suo ultimo compimento. Una pregiudiziale ricezione, dovuta a questioni soprattutto interne, legata alle lotte sindacali dei portuali contro le politiche culturali dell’amministrazione del sindaco John V. Lindsay, hanno compromesso la sopravvivenza di un’operazione teatrale di grande impegno produttivo. Dopo molte polemiche, la sede per l’Orlando fu individuata in Bryant Park, nel cuore di Manhattan. Una imponente tensostruttura (Bubble Theater) fu costruita appositamente e il debutto poté avere luogo. Lo spettacolo che meglio aveva incarnato il clima politico-culturale successivo al Sessantotto, applaudito a Parigi con il motto del Maggio francese, l’Orlando a New York mancò il suo pubblico. Le recensioni inizialmente negative, con una coordinata coda polemica sui giornali, resero tuttavia impossibile la sua sopravvivenza. Il gigante mostrò tutta la sua fragilità e una trionfale parabola dunque qui si chiuse. Grazie alla scoperta di tutta la documentazione, in gran parte inedita, è stato possibile ricostruire l’intera vicenda. Sono state ascoltate e qui raccolte le voci di chi allora c’era, per mostrare, in tutta questa storia materiale, la forza intatta di un’utopia possibile: quella di un teatro popolare ritrovato perché capace di mantenere in comune l’intero immaginario della sua festa. Un teatro vissuto e attivamente partecipato dallo spettatore, secondo la felice definizione di Luciano Berio, come una «polifonia di eventi per gente libera».

- by Stefano Tomassini
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- Directing for the stage, Edoardo Sanguineti, Orlando furioso, Detournement

Η μελέτη αυτή αναφέρεται στις σύγχρονες σκηνοθετικές προσεγγίσεις των κλασικών μύθων της ελληνικής αρχαιότητας. Μέσα από την παρουσίαση του έργου σύγχρονων δημιουργών, η μελέτη καταδεικνύει ότι στην πλειονότητα των περιπτώσεων ο σκηνοθέτης δεν χρησιμοποιεί το κείμενο κατά γράμμα, αλλά μόνο ως ερέθισμα, με σκοπό να δημιουργήσει ένα νέο οπτικοακουστικό κείμενο. Με αυτό τον τρόπο ο σκηνοθέτης δημιουργεί την προσωπική του μυθολογία και πλάθει εικόνες που επιδρούν στο υποσυνείδητο και τη φαντασία του θεατή, προσφέροντας του τη δυνατότητα να προσδώσει στο θέαμα τη δική του ερμηνεία.

- by Eleni Papalexiou
- •
- Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Performance Studies, Postdramatic theatre

The display of violence on contemporary stages meets a growing perplexity from a public that does not easily accept theatrical practices which he thinks uselessly aggress him and for which he does not find any justification. Opinions are divided however and those who believe theatre can have a concrete social impact don't rebel against such violence directed towards them but rather defend its artistic interest, its accuracy or even its absolute necessity. Thus reconsidered, violence holds—according to them—a mobilising force which is perhaps not to be shun. Generating a tension amongst audiences it is susceptible to awake indignation and to arouse reflection. Does violence have the capability or not to raise awareness, to turn spectators into actors? Or is the public on the contrary forced into a king of voyeurism? Is his taste for sensationalism more flattered than criticised? Contemporary artistic creation is crossed by radical trends and it is around some of their best known avatars—Jan Fabre and Rodrigo García amongst others—that we will discuss these questions.

- by Eleni Papalexiou
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- Violence, Postdramatic theatre, Directing for the stage, Contemporary Theatre