ABOUT THIS BOOK

An examination of the relationship between contemporary theater and its communities.

Redefining Theatre Communities explores the interplay between contemporary theatre and communities. It considers the aesthetic, social, and cultural aspects of community-conscious theatre-making. While doing so, the volume reflects on recent transformations in structural, textual, and theatrical conventions and traditions, and explores the changing modes of production and spectatorship in relation to theatre communities. The essays in this collection present an array of emerging perspectives on the politics, ethics, and practices of community representation in the contemporary international theatre landscape. An international, interdisciplinary collection featuring work by theatre scholars, theatre-makers, and artistic directors from across Europe and beyond, Redefining Theatre Communities will appeal to those interested in the diverse forms of socially engaged theatre and performance.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Marco Galea is a senior lecturer in the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Malta. Szabolcs Musca is a research fellow at the Centre for Theatre Research at the University of Lisbon.

REVIEWS

"Editors Marco Galea and Szabolcs Musca have gathered together an impressively expansive and international body of essays to create this volume. . . . It will be of value to scholars of contemporary theatre who wish to expand their repertoire of practices and locations in which a diversity of projects are taking place. It opens out a range of readings of community in relation to theatre and performs a valuable contribution to thinking about the complexities of theatre in relation to the communities within which it exists. It also encourages the reader to think about the communities that theatre, and creativity more generally, can build."

— New Theatre Quarterly

“The different methods of theater making from within the communities rather than for the communities is another strong methodological strategy. . . . The rich background of the multiple authors adds a layer to their research and personal experience in engaging with marginalized communities. The book is focused on the teaching of performance as research on multiple levels—it provides innovative engagement tools to cater for different audiences; offers suggestions and strategies on how to deal with cultural heritage, memory, vulnerable groups, and forgotten theater spaces; and finally, imparts upon its reader a methodological approach for any theater practitioner on how to revive mythical and cultural stories by bringing the past to the present to discuss current issues.”

— PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Marco Galea and Szabolcs Musca

PART I: Theatre Communities: Traces, Places and Belonging

Communal Solidarity and Amateur Theatre in Post-Revolutionary Russia: Theoretical Approaches – Stefan Aquilina

Theatre in Malta: Which Spaces Does the Community Occupy? – Vicki Ann Cremona and Ruben Paul Borg

Performance, Dislocation and Spirituality: Adrift Together – Zoe Zontou

PART II: Performing Communal Identities: Ethics, Politics and Affect

The Politics of Spectatorship: Community, Ethics and Affect in Contemporary British Rewritings of Ancient Tragedies – Maria Elena Capitani

Living and Working in Tepantor: Understanding Political Theatre and the Community– Pujya Ghosh

Bodies Without Organs and Organs Without Bodies: The Maltese Experience of Creating National Theatres – Marco Galea

PART III: 'Glocal' Representations of Theatre Communities

Local and Global Stages: Translating Communities in Hybrid Cultural Spaces –Szabolcs Musca

The Economic Communities of the Edinburgh August Festivals: An Exclusive 'Global Sense of Place' and an Inclusive 'Local Sense of Space' – Evi Stamatiou

Strategies of Empowerment: Postmigrant Theatre at the Ballhaus Naunynstrasse – Hasibe Kalkan

PART IV: Creative Encounters: Changing Ecologies

Community and Ownership: Uncovering New Voices at the Royal Court Theatre – Mark O'Thomas in conversation with Vicky Featherstone

UrbanDig Project: Theatre for Neighbourhoods – Zoe Zontou in conversation with George Sachinis

Community Theatre as Political Theatre: Towards a New Political Theatre Practice – Marius Bogdan Tudor and Ionu? Sociu in conversation with David Schwartz

PART V: Emerging Practices: Connecting Through the Digital and the Verbatim

New Technologies for a New Audience? Using Transmedia Storytelling towards a New Experience Design Form – Ágnes Bakk

Manipulation of Reality Through an Interactive Game: Remote X as an Example of New Modes of Spectatorship – Nad’a Satkova

Feeding Back: Verbatim Theatre and/as Communal Practice – Bettina Auerswald

Conclusion

Marco Galea and Szabolcs Musca

Notes on Contributors

Biographical note