Paul Woodruff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195332001
- eISBN:
- 9780199868186
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195332001.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
The Necessity of Theater examines the whole art of theater, which teaches us how best to watch and be watched, and is as necessary to human life as language. We practice the art of ...
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The Necessity of Theater examines the whole art of theater, which teaches us how best to watch and be watched, and is as necessary to human life as language. We practice the art of theater on the formal stage, but also in sports events, weddings, and ceremonies of all kinds. The book begins by defining the art in a broad way, so as to include as many kinds of theater as possible across world cultures. After defining theater, The Necessity of Theater examines in turn each of the main elements of its two main components: the art of watching and that of being watched. Performers practice the art of making their actions worth watching. This means that they should pay attention to such elements as action, choice, plot, character, mimesis, and the sacredness of performance space. All of these are covered in the book. Audiences practice the art of paying attention to the actions before them. To do that they need to know how to find events worth watching. A good audience is emotionally engaged through one of the many forms of empathy that are distinguished in this book, one of which leads to human wisdom. Plato's ancient attack on theater is right in that theater cannot teach us transcendent truths, but theater does each us about ourselves.Less
The Necessity of Theater examines the whole art of theater, which teaches us how best to watch and be watched, and is as necessary to human life as language. We practice the art of theater on the formal stage, but also in sports events, weddings, and ceremonies of all kinds. The book begins by defining the art in a broad way, so as to include as many kinds of theater as possible across world cultures. After defining theater, The Necessity of Theater examines in turn each of the main elements of its two main components: the art of watching and that of being watched. Performers practice the art of making their actions worth watching. This means that they should pay attention to such elements as action, choice, plot, character, mimesis, and the sacredness of performance space. All of these are covered in the book. Audiences practice the art of paying attention to the actions before them. To do that they need to know how to find events worth watching. A good audience is emotionally engaged through one of the many forms of empathy that are distinguished in this book, one of which leads to human wisdom. Plato's ancient attack on theater is right in that theater cannot teach us transcendent truths, but theater does each us about ourselves.
Christopher B. Balme
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184447
- eISBN:
- 9780191674266
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184447.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
This book is a major study devoted to post-colonial drama and theatre. It examines the way dramatists and directors from various countries and societies have attempted to fuse the performance idioms ...
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This book is a major study devoted to post-colonial drama and theatre. It examines the way dramatists and directors from various countries and societies have attempted to fuse the performance idioms of their indigenous traditions with the Western dramatic form. These experiments are termed ‘syncretic theatre’. The study provides a theoretically sophisticated, cross-cultural comparative approach to a wide number of writers, regions, and theatre movements, ranging from Maori, Aboriginal, and Native American theatre to Township theatre in South Africa. Writers studied include Nobel Prize-winning authors such as Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, and Rabindranath Tagore, along with others such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Jack Davis, Girish Karnad, and Tomson Highway. This book demonstrates how the dynamics of syncretic theatrical texts function in performance. It combines cultural semiotics with performance analysis to provide an important contribution to the growing field of post-colonial drama and intercultural performance.Less
This book is a major study devoted to post-colonial drama and theatre. It examines the way dramatists and directors from various countries and societies have attempted to fuse the performance idioms of their indigenous traditions with the Western dramatic form. These experiments are termed ‘syncretic theatre’. The study provides a theoretically sophisticated, cross-cultural comparative approach to a wide number of writers, regions, and theatre movements, ranging from Maori, Aboriginal, and Native American theatre to Township theatre in South Africa. Writers studied include Nobel Prize-winning authors such as Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, and Rabindranath Tagore, along with others such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Jack Davis, Girish Karnad, and Tomson Highway. This book demonstrates how the dynamics of syncretic theatrical texts function in performance. It combines cultural semiotics with performance analysis to provide an important contribution to the growing field of post-colonial drama and intercultural performance.
Lauren Arrington
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199590575
- eISBN:
- 9780191595523
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590575.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This book utilizes new source material and documents that have not previously been analysed with regard to the Abbey Theatre's history in order to reconstruct the political, socio‐religious, and ...
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This book utilizes new source material and documents that have not previously been analysed with regard to the Abbey Theatre's history in order to reconstruct the political, socio‐religious, and economic forces that exerted pressure on the theatre's programme. These pressures resulted in a complex dynamic: the theatre's directors (including W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory) publicly defied attempts to censor the Abbey's programme in order to create profitable controversies, while they privately self‐censored plays when they anticipated an opportunity for financial gain. It argues that plays that have not previously been regarded as censored should be recognized as such in light of the political and financial pressures that motivated their suppression. Furthermore, it argues that W. B. Yeats was not an uncompromising champion of artistic freedom, as he is remembered; rather, Yeats was willing to sacrifice the freedom of the artist when he foresaw a chance to ensure the longevity of his theatre.Less
This book utilizes new source material and documents that have not previously been analysed with regard to the Abbey Theatre's history in order to reconstruct the political, socio‐religious, and economic forces that exerted pressure on the theatre's programme. These pressures resulted in a complex dynamic: the theatre's directors (including W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory) publicly defied attempts to censor the Abbey's programme in order to create profitable controversies, while they privately self‐censored plays when they anticipated an opportunity for financial gain. It argues that plays that have not previously been regarded as censored should be recognized as such in light of the political and financial pressures that motivated their suppression. Furthermore, it argues that W. B. Yeats was not an uncompromising champion of artistic freedom, as he is remembered; rather, Yeats was willing to sacrifice the freedom of the artist when he foresaw a chance to ensure the longevity of his theatre.
Matthew Rebhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199751303
- eISBN:
- 9780199932559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751303.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature, Drama
Pioneer Performances: Staging the Frontier, 1829–1893, offers the first synoptic treatment of the history of American frontier performance ranging from Jacksonian America to Buffalo ...
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Pioneer Performances: Staging the Frontier, 1829–1893, offers the first synoptic treatment of the history of American frontier performance ranging from Jacksonian America to Buffalo Bill's Wild West show at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. This project is not simply an addition to the history of the American theater. It reconceives how the frontier was—and still is—defined in performance and what it means for that frontier to be called “American.” This project finds, in a series of plays written between 1829 and 1881, a theatrical genealogy that worked aesthetically and politically to challenge Manifest Destiny. By tracing performances of frontiersmen and freaks, Indians and octoroons in theaters stretching from Massachusetts to Georgia, this work shows how a succession of authors created the image of a transgressive frontier. They put that transgressive image with its fluid construction of identity up against the melodramatic frontier of hegemonic expansion that led to Buffalo Bill. This project argues that American theatrical aesthetics changed to accommodate alternative modes of performance in the nineteenth century, making the performance of the frontier the central genre in the construction of American drama. The American frontier is not just a historical “process” or a geographic “place,” as recent revisionist historians have argued. Rather, it is a set of performative practices conditioned by history and geography. Most Americans did not travel outside the metropole. For them, the frontier was created as much on the footboards of New York City as on the plains of the West, and for them, the frontier performed in the theater was thematically richer, more diverse, and more radical than critics have acknowledged.Less
Pioneer Performances: Staging the Frontier, 1829–1893, offers the first synoptic treatment of the history of American frontier performance ranging from Jacksonian America to Buffalo Bill's Wild West show at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. This project is not simply an addition to the history of the American theater. It reconceives how the frontier was—and still is—defined in performance and what it means for that frontier to be called “American.” This project finds, in a series of plays written between 1829 and 1881, a theatrical genealogy that worked aesthetically and politically to challenge Manifest Destiny. By tracing performances of frontiersmen and freaks, Indians and octoroons in theaters stretching from Massachusetts to Georgia, this work shows how a succession of authors created the image of a transgressive frontier. They put that transgressive image with its fluid construction of identity up against the melodramatic frontier of hegemonic expansion that led to Buffalo Bill. This project argues that American theatrical aesthetics changed to accommodate alternative modes of performance in the nineteenth century, making the performance of the frontier the central genre in the construction of American drama. The American frontier is not just a historical “process” or a geographic “place,” as recent revisionist historians have argued. Rather, it is a set of performative practices conditioned by history and geography. Most Americans did not travel outside the metropole. For them, the frontier was created as much on the footboards of New York City as on the plains of the West, and for them, the frontier performed in the theater was thematically richer, more diverse, and more radical than critics have acknowledged.
Bernard J. Baars
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195102659
- eISBN:
- 9780199864126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195102659.003.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter presents a brief discussion of the aim of the book. It compares Plato's thoughts on consciousness with that of Frank Crick, arguing that both appear to reflect the same underlying ...
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This chapter presents a brief discussion of the aim of the book. It compares Plato's thoughts on consciousness with that of Frank Crick, arguing that both appear to reflect the same underlying metaphor of our personal experience, the theater metaphor. The importance of theater metaphors to scientists is considered.Less
This chapter presents a brief discussion of the aim of the book. It compares Plato's thoughts on consciousness with that of Frank Crick, arguing that both appear to reflect the same underlying metaphor of our personal experience, the theater metaphor. The importance of theater metaphors to scientists is considered.
Terryl C. Givens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167115
- eISBN:
- 9780199785599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167115.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Disapproval of theater goes back to the Puritans, and was typical in most religious traditions. Mormons built the Salt Lake Theatre soon after arrival in the Valley. Young forebad tragedy, but it ...
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Disapproval of theater goes back to the Puritans, and was typical in most religious traditions. Mormons built the Salt Lake Theatre soon after arrival in the Valley. Young forebad tragedy, but it flourished anyway. They pioneered little theater and the road show. Several pageants continue to be more evangelistic than dramatic.Less
Disapproval of theater goes back to the Puritans, and was typical in most religious traditions. Mormons built the Salt Lake Theatre soon after arrival in the Valley. Young forebad tragedy, but it flourished anyway. They pioneered little theater and the road show. Several pageants continue to be more evangelistic than dramatic.
Lauren Arrington
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199590575
- eISBN:
- 9780191595523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590575.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter concludes, starting with looking at how vital it is to consider scholarly work on the history of the Abbey Theatre for getting a full, accurate representation of the multivalent ...
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This chapter concludes, starting with looking at how vital it is to consider scholarly work on the history of the Abbey Theatre for getting a full, accurate representation of the multivalent pressures that impacted upon the theatre's productions and the institution's relationship with the state. The profit-incentive driving the directors, the objections of actors and managers, the sensibilities of conservative social pressure groups, and the ideological sensitivities of the state constituted internal and external forces of censorship that were not unique to the Abbey Theatre nor particular to Ireland.Less
This chapter concludes, starting with looking at how vital it is to consider scholarly work on the history of the Abbey Theatre for getting a full, accurate representation of the multivalent pressures that impacted upon the theatre's productions and the institution's relationship with the state. The profit-incentive driving the directors, the objections of actors and managers, the sensibilities of conservative social pressure groups, and the ideological sensitivities of the state constituted internal and external forces of censorship that were not unique to the Abbey Theatre nor particular to Ireland.
Marc Baer
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112501
- eISBN:
- 9780191670787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112501.003.0013
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter discusses briefly what happened to the OPs who participated in the 1809 theatre riot. Other notable individuals linked to this incident are also discussed in this chapter in passing. The ...
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This chapter discusses briefly what happened to the OPs who participated in the 1809 theatre riot. Other notable individuals linked to this incident are also discussed in this chapter in passing. The chapter ends with the ultimate fate of the theatre in Covent Garden, which is now known as the Royal Opera House.Less
This chapter discusses briefly what happened to the OPs who participated in the 1809 theatre riot. Other notable individuals linked to this incident are also discussed in this chapter in passing. The chapter ends with the ultimate fate of the theatre in Covent Garden, which is now known as the Royal Opera House.
Roger Warren
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198128779
- eISBN:
- 9780191671692
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198128779.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
Shakespeare's late plays – Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest – have provoked a great deal of interest in the modern theatre. In this book, the author draws upon extensive ...
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Shakespeare's late plays – Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest – have provoked a great deal of interest in the modern theatre. In this book, the author draws upon extensive theatrical experience of the plays in rehearsal and performance, particularly in two special seasons: at Stratford, Ontario in 1986 and at the National Theatre in 1988 under the direction of Sir Peter Hall. This book describes in detail how the rehearsal process focuses the principal theatrical issues of Shakespeare's late plays.Less
Shakespeare's late plays – Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest – have provoked a great deal of interest in the modern theatre. In this book, the author draws upon extensive theatrical experience of the plays in rehearsal and performance, particularly in two special seasons: at Stratford, Ontario in 1986 and at the National Theatre in 1988 under the direction of Sir Peter Hall. This book describes in detail how the rehearsal process focuses the principal theatrical issues of Shakespeare's late plays.
Suzanne R. Westfall
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198128809
- eISBN:
- 9780191671708
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198128809.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
This book is the first to examine early Tudor theatre specifically from the perspective of the great households of England. The aristocrats of the sixteenth century commissioned, funded, and staged ...
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This book is the first to examine early Tudor theatre specifically from the perspective of the great households of England. The aristocrats of the sixteenth century commissioned, funded, and staged complex and often lavish entertainments for their households including plays, masques, concerts, dances, and sports. These thematically and stylistically unified revels, watched by guests and retainers, were designed to swell the social and artistic reputation of the patron and to communicate his ideology — in fact to delight the eye and ear while selectively educating the mind and soul. Theatre became for the nobleman a means to secure loyalty, a loyalty that both reflected and reinforced his political power. Important both as a collection of primary source documents and for its detailed examination of them, this book first considers the evolution, theatrical talents, duties and privileges, and techniques of retained performers, including Chapel Children and Gentlemen, minstrels, playwrights, and players. It then proceeds to a discussion of the interlude and of how the unique relationship between nobleman and artist affects the play's characters, theme, and structures.Less
This book is the first to examine early Tudor theatre specifically from the perspective of the great households of England. The aristocrats of the sixteenth century commissioned, funded, and staged complex and often lavish entertainments for their households including plays, masques, concerts, dances, and sports. These thematically and stylistically unified revels, watched by guests and retainers, were designed to swell the social and artistic reputation of the patron and to communicate his ideology — in fact to delight the eye and ear while selectively educating the mind and soul. Theatre became for the nobleman a means to secure loyalty, a loyalty that both reflected and reinforced his political power. Important both as a collection of primary source documents and for its detailed examination of them, this book first considers the evolution, theatrical talents, duties and privileges, and techniques of retained performers, including Chapel Children and Gentlemen, minstrels, playwrights, and players. It then proceeds to a discussion of the interlude and of how the unique relationship between nobleman and artist affects the play's characters, theme, and structures.
Stephen Banfield
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263242
- eISBN:
- 9780191734014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263242.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses Jerome Kern, who provides a convenient and important case study for the reclamation of the musical as historical output. It explores how the cross-disciplinary, unruly, and ...
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This lecture discusses Jerome Kern, who provides a convenient and important case study for the reclamation of the musical as historical output. It explores how the cross-disciplinary, unruly, and sometimes ephemeral, materials of popular musical theatre can best be first located and safeguarded. These materials are then reconstituted for the detached assessment they now demand, away from the pressures and traditions of showbusiness and popular canons. The lecture touches on four areas: the changing expectations of genre, the workings of nationalism, the nature and scope of the source materials, and the interplay of creative ambition and commercial expediency.Less
This lecture discusses Jerome Kern, who provides a convenient and important case study for the reclamation of the musical as historical output. It explores how the cross-disciplinary, unruly, and sometimes ephemeral, materials of popular musical theatre can best be first located and safeguarded. These materials are then reconstituted for the detached assessment they now demand, away from the pressures and traditions of showbusiness and popular canons. The lecture touches on four areas: the changing expectations of genre, the workings of nationalism, the nature and scope of the source materials, and the interplay of creative ambition and commercial expediency.
Catherine Conybeare
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199262083
- eISBN:
- 9780191603761
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019926208x.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter explores the idea of the dialogues as spectaculum. Licentius cast the dialogues as such, and Augustine picks up on the notion that these are texts to be watched, not read. If they are ...
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This chapter explores the idea of the dialogues as spectaculum. Licentius cast the dialogues as such, and Augustine picks up on the notion that these are texts to be watched, not read. If they are indeed presented in some way as a theatrical event before us, the readers, the following questions are raised: How are we, the audience, engaged in the action? How is the dramatis personae selected, described, stage managed? What is the relationship here between reality and action?Less
This chapter explores the idea of the dialogues as spectaculum. Licentius cast the dialogues as such, and Augustine picks up on the notion that these are texts to be watched, not read. If they are indeed presented in some way as a theatrical event before us, the readers, the following questions are raised: How are we, the audience, engaged in the action? How is the dramatis personae selected, described, stage managed? What is the relationship here between reality and action?
Nicholas P. Cushner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195307566
- eISBN:
- 9780199784936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195307569.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The visual presentations of the new religion were found mainly in the colonial art and architecture of Christian churches. Workshops functioned as places where native artisans could learn the new ...
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The visual presentations of the new religion were found mainly in the colonial art and architecture of Christian churches. Workshops functioned as places where native artisans could learn the new motifs that were current in places of worship. Jesuit schools, following the European tradition of Jesuit Theatre, enacted plays that provided entertainment but were didactic as well.Less
The visual presentations of the new religion were found mainly in the colonial art and architecture of Christian churches. Workshops functioned as places where native artisans could learn the new motifs that were current in places of worship. Jesuit schools, following the European tradition of Jesuit Theatre, enacted plays that provided entertainment but were didactic as well.
Roger Warren
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198128779
- eISBN:
- 9780191671692
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198128779.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
In the autumn of 1984, Peter Hall, the then Director of the National Theatre, publicized that Shakespeare's late plays – Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale – would be staged at the smallest ...
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In the autumn of 1984, Peter Hall, the then Director of the National Theatre, publicized that Shakespeare's late plays – Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale – would be staged at the smallest of the three houses of the National Theatre, the Cottesloe. Although this may have been the perfect venue for staging these plays, and staging these plays would present an opportunity to explore the theatrical issues within the play, these were hindered because the National Theatre experienced a financial crisis. During the delay leading up to the production, Peter Hall contemplated about replacing Pericles with The Tempest for two reasons. Firstly, he did not want to leave out the most challenging of Shakespeare's late plays; and secondly, Hall's method of construing Shakespeare relies on a meticulous textual investigation and is not without a strict observation of the verse. This book, therefore, attempts to look further into the rehearsals and shows of this particular play season.Less
In the autumn of 1984, Peter Hall, the then Director of the National Theatre, publicized that Shakespeare's late plays – Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale – would be staged at the smallest of the three houses of the National Theatre, the Cottesloe. Although this may have been the perfect venue for staging these plays, and staging these plays would present an opportunity to explore the theatrical issues within the play, these were hindered because the National Theatre experienced a financial crisis. During the delay leading up to the production, Peter Hall contemplated about replacing Pericles with The Tempest for two reasons. Firstly, he did not want to leave out the most challenging of Shakespeare's late plays; and secondly, Hall's method of construing Shakespeare relies on a meticulous textual investigation and is not without a strict observation of the verse. This book, therefore, attempts to look further into the rehearsals and shows of this particular play season.
Terryl C. Givens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167115
- eISBN:
- 9780199785599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167115.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Film has largely replaced theater as the dramatic medium for Mormon artists. Film was early employed in the anti-Mormon campaign, and Mormons learned early to use it for their own purposes. ...
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Film has largely replaced theater as the dramatic medium for Mormon artists. Film was early employed in the anti-Mormon campaign, and Mormons learned early to use it for their own purposes. Evangelistic (missionary films) and public relations varieties (Homefront series) have given way to a recent generation of talented filmmakers who are creating two kinds: one is an insider genre, while the other explores ways of informing popular film with a Mormon sensibility.Less
Film has largely replaced theater as the dramatic medium for Mormon artists. Film was early employed in the anti-Mormon campaign, and Mormons learned early to use it for their own purposes. Evangelistic (missionary films) and public relations varieties (Homefront series) have given way to a recent generation of talented filmmakers who are creating two kinds: one is an insider genre, while the other explores ways of informing popular film with a Mormon sensibility.
R. A. W. Rhodes, John Wanna, and Patrick Weller
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199563494
- eISBN:
- 9780191722721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563494.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, UK Politics
This chapter explores the dilemmas facing parliaments, especially their relations with the executive, and the changing patterns of representation. It focuses on five topics: the limits to ...
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This chapter explores the dilemmas facing parliaments, especially their relations with the executive, and the changing patterns of representation. It focuses on five topics: the limits to parliamentary sovereignty, scrutiny of the executive; the role of the opposition; changing patterns of representation; and the impact of territorial representation, notably federalism. There is a recurrent dilemma between whether parliament has fallen into decline with the rise of party government or whether it is better seen as a ‘theatre of action’, located in a web of political actors, not just elected representatives. Although parliaments have been shaped by party discipline and had their unqualified sovereignty challenged by rival sources of power, they remain central to responsible and representative government in Westminster.Less
This chapter explores the dilemmas facing parliaments, especially their relations with the executive, and the changing patterns of representation. It focuses on five topics: the limits to parliamentary sovereignty, scrutiny of the executive; the role of the opposition; changing patterns of representation; and the impact of territorial representation, notably federalism. There is a recurrent dilemma between whether parliament has fallen into decline with the rise of party government or whether it is better seen as a ‘theatre of action’, located in a web of political actors, not just elected representatives. Although parliaments have been shaped by party discipline and had their unqualified sovereignty challenged by rival sources of power, they remain central to responsible and representative government in Westminster.
SWAPAN CHAKRAVORTY
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198182665
- eISBN:
- 9780191673856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198182665.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
A recent survey of drama and society in the English Renaissance ends with applauding Thomas Middleton as ‘a master’ who ‘will take no contemporary ...
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A recent survey of drama and society in the English Renaissance ends with applauding Thomas Middleton as ‘a master’ who ‘will take no contemporary value for granted, no reality as unchanging’. His promiscuous texts are proven material for postmodern theatre and pedagogy, constantly assaulting the tidy notions of high and low, genre and counter-genre. It is not surprising that academic criticism should have managed to find in Middleton the extremes of both committed didacticism and detached irony. One reason it still finds him so difficult to place is the suggestion in his plays that desires, morals, society, and politics are subject to rules that can operate only by misrepresenting themselves to our consciousness. The suggestion makes Middleton an important waymark in our emergence out of cognitive innocence.Less
A recent survey of drama and society in the English Renaissance ends with applauding Thomas Middleton as ‘a master’ who ‘will take no contemporary value for granted, no reality as unchanging’. His promiscuous texts are proven material for postmodern theatre and pedagogy, constantly assaulting the tidy notions of high and low, genre and counter-genre. It is not surprising that academic criticism should have managed to find in Middleton the extremes of both committed didacticism and detached irony. One reason it still finds him so difficult to place is the suggestion in his plays that desires, morals, society, and politics are subject to rules that can operate only by misrepresenting themselves to our consciousness. The suggestion makes Middleton an important waymark in our emergence out of cognitive innocence.
Margaret Litvin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691137803
- eISBN:
- 9781400840106
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691137803.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
For the past five decades, Arab intellectuals have seen themselves in Shakespeare's Hamlet: their times “out of joint,” their political hopes frustrated by a corrupt older generation. This book ...
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For the past five decades, Arab intellectuals have seen themselves in Shakespeare's Hamlet: their times “out of joint,” their political hopes frustrated by a corrupt older generation. This book traces the uses of Hamlet in Arabic theatre and political rhetoric, and asks how Shakespeare's play developed into a musical with a happy ending in 1901 and grew to become the most obsessively quoted literary work in Arab politics today. Explaining the Arab Hamlet tradition, the book also illuminates the “to be or not to be” politics that have turned Shakespeare's tragedy into the essential Arab political text, cited by Arab liberals, nationalists, and Islamists alike. On the Arab stage, Hamlet has been an operetta hero, a firebrand revolutionary, and a muzzled dissident. Analyzing productions from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait, the book follows the distinct phases of Hamlet's naturalization as an Arab. The book uses personal interviews as well as scripts and videos, reviews, and detailed comparisons with French and Russian Hamlets. The result shows Arab theatre in a new light. It identifies the French source of the earliest Arabic Hamlet, shows the outsize influence of Soviet and East European Shakespeare, and explores the deep cultural link between Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and the ghost of Hamlet's father. Documenting how global sources and models helped nurture a distinct Arab Hamlet tradition, this book represents a new approach to the study of international Shakespeare appropriation.Less
For the past five decades, Arab intellectuals have seen themselves in Shakespeare's Hamlet: their times “out of joint,” their political hopes frustrated by a corrupt older generation. This book traces the uses of Hamlet in Arabic theatre and political rhetoric, and asks how Shakespeare's play developed into a musical with a happy ending in 1901 and grew to become the most obsessively quoted literary work in Arab politics today. Explaining the Arab Hamlet tradition, the book also illuminates the “to be or not to be” politics that have turned Shakespeare's tragedy into the essential Arab political text, cited by Arab liberals, nationalists, and Islamists alike. On the Arab stage, Hamlet has been an operetta hero, a firebrand revolutionary, and a muzzled dissident. Analyzing productions from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait, the book follows the distinct phases of Hamlet's naturalization as an Arab. The book uses personal interviews as well as scripts and videos, reviews, and detailed comparisons with French and Russian Hamlets. The result shows Arab theatre in a new light. It identifies the French source of the earliest Arabic Hamlet, shows the outsize influence of Soviet and East European Shakespeare, and explores the deep cultural link between Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and the ghost of Hamlet's father. Documenting how global sources and models helped nurture a distinct Arab Hamlet tradition, this book represents a new approach to the study of international Shakespeare appropriation.
Philip V. Bohlman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195178326
- eISBN:
- 9780199869992
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195178326.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Central to the chapter’s survey of emerging Jewish popular-music genres is the role of the city as a new cultural context for Jewish music making by the turn of the century. Immigrants from rural ...
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Central to the chapter’s survey of emerging Jewish popular-music genres is the role of the city as a new cultural context for Jewish music making by the turn of the century. Immigrants from rural Eastern Europe, Jewish musicians entered all areas of the urban musical cultures of Vienna, Berlin, and other cities, where they performed for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences with enormous success. The city was also the site for mixing musical genres, creating new sounds in popular music and establishing new genres—for example, cabaret and Yiddish theater. The chapter analyzes numerous broadsides and hit songs such as Gustav Pick’s “Viennese Coachman’s Song.” Individual musicians, music publishers, and ensembles serve as a collective biography throughout the chapter.Less
Central to the chapter’s survey of emerging Jewish popular-music genres is the role of the city as a new cultural context for Jewish music making by the turn of the century. Immigrants from rural Eastern Europe, Jewish musicians entered all areas of the urban musical cultures of Vienna, Berlin, and other cities, where they performed for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences with enormous success. The city was also the site for mixing musical genres, creating new sounds in popular music and establishing new genres—for example, cabaret and Yiddish theater. The chapter analyzes numerous broadsides and hit songs such as Gustav Pick’s “Viennese Coachman’s Song.” Individual musicians, music publishers, and ensembles serve as a collective biography throughout the chapter.
Deborah Howard and Laura Moretti (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197265055
- eISBN:
- 9780191754166
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265055.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book investigates the use of secular space for music-making in Early Modern France and Italy. This era is remarkable for the growing importance of music in domestic life, ranging from elaborate ...
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This book investigates the use of secular space for music-making in Early Modern France and Italy. This era is remarkable for the growing importance of music in domestic life, ranging from elaborate court festivities to family recreation. In parallel with the emergence of the theatre as a separate building type, music-making in elite circles became more specialised through the employment of paid musicians, as opposed to amateur participation by the inhabitants and their guests. Meanwhile, however, music printing and the mass-production of instruments, especially lutes, allowed music-making to diffuse down the social scale. The book shows how spaces specifically designed for music began to appear in private dwellings, while existing rooms became adapted for the purpose. At first, the number of rooms specifically identifiable as ‘music rooms’ was very small, but gradually, over the following 150 years, specialised music rooms began to appear in larger residences in both France and Italy. A major theme of the book is the relationship between the size and purpose of the room and the kinds of music performed – depending on the size, portability and loudness of different instruments; the types of music suited to spaces of different dimensions; the role of music in dancing and banqueting; and the positions of players and listeners. Musical instruments were often elaborately decorated to become works of art in their own right.Less
This book investigates the use of secular space for music-making in Early Modern France and Italy. This era is remarkable for the growing importance of music in domestic life, ranging from elaborate court festivities to family recreation. In parallel with the emergence of the theatre as a separate building type, music-making in elite circles became more specialised through the employment of paid musicians, as opposed to amateur participation by the inhabitants and their guests. Meanwhile, however, music printing and the mass-production of instruments, especially lutes, allowed music-making to diffuse down the social scale. The book shows how spaces specifically designed for music began to appear in private dwellings, while existing rooms became adapted for the purpose. At first, the number of rooms specifically identifiable as ‘music rooms’ was very small, but gradually, over the following 150 years, specialised music rooms began to appear in larger residences in both France and Italy. A major theme of the book is the relationship between the size and purpose of the room and the kinds of music performed – depending on the size, portability and loudness of different instruments; the types of music suited to spaces of different dimensions; the role of music in dancing and banqueting; and the positions of players and listeners. Musical instruments were often elaborately decorated to become works of art in their own right.
