The Mask of the Witch: from Ritual to Carnival and Theatre

This paper tries to approach a problem of great interest for theatrical anthropology: the mask of the witch, raising some questions concerning its origin and antiquity. In order to propose some possible answers, the paper briefly re-examines Carlo Ginzburg’s view on witchcraft in Ecstasies. Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath (Storia notturna), with emphasis on some elements that are still useful, in spite of the criticism this seminal book provoked. Then, some occurrences of witch masks in carnival processions are discussed, with regard to Latin or Germanic cultures. The subsequent question is: are these masks old ones, with a long evolution and permanent changes in form and signification, or – at the opposite – are they recent, appearing in carnivals only after the end of the witch-craze, in the 18th century? The article ends with some examples of witch masks used in theatre (Shakespeare – Ion Sava, Court Ballets): their carnivalesque origins – more recent or more ancient – are underlined

La théâtralité du tableau vivant dans le théâtre de Samuel Beckett : une perspective néo-avant-gardiste

Samuel Beckett’s theatrical work has been quite often compared, especially in the recent literature, to the abstract directions in modern painting and  sculpture, but there was no attempt to analyse its relationship to its contemporary artistic movements taking their roots in the historical Avant-guards. The  present article proposes to revisit Samuel Beckett’s theatre through a new perspective, mainly that of the theatricality of the living pictures (tableaux  vivants) present in his stage conception, through the bias of European and American Pop Art, Assemblagism, New Realism and other Neo-Avant-guard  artistic movements. Reconsidering thus an essential moment of theatre history, with the instruments of theatre iconography, we try to open new doors in  the understanding of his work as a playwright and as a stage director, by replacing it in the right context of visual and performing arts.Samuel Beckett’s theatrical work has been quite often compared, especially in the recent literature, to the abstract directions in modern painting and  sculpture, but there was no attempt to analyse its relationship to its contemporary artistic movements taking their roots in the historical Avant-guards. The  present article proposes to revisit Samuel Beckett’s theatre through a new perspective, mainly that of the theatricality of the living pictures (tableaux  vivants) present in his stage conception, through the bias of European and American Pop Art, Assemblagism, New Realism and other Neo-Avant-guard  artistic movements. Reconsidering thus an essential moment of theatre history, with the instruments of theatre iconography, we try to open new doors in  the understanding of his work as a playwright and as a stage director, by replacing it in the right context of visual and performing arts

A Dialogue on the Romanian Contribution to the Project of Total Theatre: Ion Sava and The Round Theatre (1944)

Lecturer PhD Cristian Rusu (1972) is a stage designer at the Cluj‐Napoca National Theatre and a visual artist. He teaches art history and stage design at the  Faculty of Theatre and Film at Babeș‐Bolyai University, Cluj‐ Napoca. He holds a PhD from Babeș‐Bolyai University with a thesis on The Project of Total Theatre 1919‐1970 (2015). As a stage designer, he is the co‐author of several highly acclaimed,  awardwinning theatre productions in national and international theater  festivals. As a visual artist, he is represented by Galeria Plan B Berlin

The Witch’s Body as a Narrative and Symbolic Tool

This paper aims to propose an exploration of the corporeality of witches insofar as it has been used as a medium or nexus for narratives, or as a symbolic sign in various artistic forms and arrangements. The starting point is the highlighting of an antithesis, which is permanently nuanced and overcome in the long evolution of culture, namely between the beauty of young witches and the ugliness of old ones. A first section of the article focuses on painting, looking at works by Baldung Grien, Salvator Rosa, Frans Francken, Luis Ricardo Falero. A second section looks at the corporeal duality that characterizes witchcraft and its resolution in synthesis in Vasile Voiculescu’s short story Magical Love. The last section is devoted to cinematographic works and how they have incorporated in their complex visual and textual narratives an ancient representational and iconographic tradition with roots in Renaissance and Baroque painting and in the literature of Greco-Latin Antiquity

‘Would you like to talk about that?’ How and when group emotional awareness enhances effectiveness of gender diverse teams

The aim of this paper is to explore the moderating role of group emotional awareness and diversity beliefs in the relationship between gender diversity and group effectiveness. In study 1 (cross-sectional survey in 31 organizational teams), the interaction effect between diversity and awareness suggests that awareness contributes to a larger extent to team effectiveness in gender homogenous rather than heterogeneous teams. Considering the moderating role of diversity beliefs for the outcomes of diversity, in study 2 (an experimental study on 21 student project teams) we look at the interaction of diversity beliefs and group emotional awareness. Results suggest that a positive framing of diversity has the strongest positive impact on effectiveness. However, group emotional awareness cancels the negative framing effect of diversity on effectiveness. Our data gives evidence for the existence of an affective, rather than cognitive path to reaping the benefits of gender diversity without paying the price elicited by categorization

Contemporary Theatre Directors About the Art of Directing and Theatre Pedagogy

In order to have a view as broad as possible on contemporary theater making, including theatre and directing pedagogy, I thought of a few questions to be answered by theater professionals, answers that would give a consistent image of the state of facts and of future openings for theatre/stage directing

To be or not to be… identified : explorations of students’ (dis)identification in a Romanian university

The paper explores the way in which contextual and dispositional factors impact on students’ development of identification and disidentification. We investigate these relations in one cross-sectional and one longitudinal study. The results indicate that need for identification moderates the impact of contextual variables upon disidentification and the transformation of ambivalent identification into disidentification. Based on these findings, the proposed guidelines for building an effective strategy to foster students’ identification with their university follow two lines. The first one refers to the differential impact of policies on students, depending on their need for identification and initial level of organizational identification. The second targets the manipulation in strategy making of organizational level factors affecting identification, such as the incongruence of the organization’s identity and organizational prestige

Du texte à la mise en scène : négociation, fidélité, mémoire. Interview avec Patrice Pavis

This interview with Patrice Pavis has been taken after the three day workshop in Târgu Mureș (13-15 Nov. 2019) by the local Institute of Theatre and Multimedia Research of the University of Arts. The general theme being the new forms of performing arts, we continued the dialogue, insisting on some of the main points concerning the often problematic relationship of the stage director to the source text – be it dramatic or not. The discussion focuses on the possible negotiation with this textual source of inspiration, on the question of fidelity, on the different layers of the artistic and historical memory that have to be taken into account when analysing a new stage adaptation.This interview with Patrice Pavis has been taken after the three day workshop in Târgu Mureș (13-15 Nov. 2019) by the local Institute of Theatre and Multimedia Research of the University of Arts. The general theme being the new forms of performing arts, we continued the dialogue, insisting on some of the main points concerning the often problematic relationship of the stage director to the source text – be it dramatic or not. The discussion focuses on the possible negotiation with this textual source of inspiration, on the question of fidelity, on the different layers of the artistic and historical memory that have to be taken into account when analysing a new stage adaptation