30 research outputs found
âWe will write it againâ: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppardâs Arcadia
Arcadia can be read as a subverted detective story in which history is reinterpreted rather than deciphered. The sleuth is a ruthlessly ambitious scholar who distorts evidence so as to achieve his ends. Arcadia thus highlights the unreliability of textual meaning, appealing to the reader/spectatorâs vigilance and inviting him to participate in the hermeneutical quest. This paper will throw light upon the playâs double time frame as being characteristic of the whodunit before focusing on the figure of Bernard as anti-detective and finally analysing how visual deciphering prevails over scriptural deciphering
Lâhorreur acoustique musiques « anempathiques » dans le thĂ©Ăątre de Martin Crimp
Le dramaturge britannique Martin Crimp suggĂšre dans ses didascalies un usage ironique de la musique et des sons. Lâantiphrase, figure par excellence de lâironie, est alors transposĂ©e dâun systĂšme sĂ©miotique textuel Ă un systĂšme sĂ©miotique auditif. La musique nâoccupe pas une fonction illustrative mais suscite Ă lâinverse un effet « anempathique », selon lâexpression de Michel Chion dans son ouvrage La Musique au cinĂ©ma. Martin Crimp use de cette stratĂ©gie anempathique dans des piĂšces telles que Play with Repeats (1990), The Treatment (1993) ou plus rĂ©cemment le triptyque Fewer Emergencies (2005) dans lesquelles des Ă©vĂ©nements violents sont relatĂ©s sur fond de boogie-woogie. Lâhorreur du rĂ©cit est exacerbĂ©e par le contrepoint musical. La joie qui envahit lâespace scĂ©nique par le biais de la musique est dĂ©noncĂ©e comme artificielle.The British playwright Martin Crimp suggests an ironic use of music and sounds in his stage directions. Antiphrasis is thus transposed from a textual semiotic system to an auditory semiotic system. Music is not illustrative but arouses on the contrary an âanempatheticâ effect, an expression coined by Michel Chion in his book La Musique au cinĂ©ma. Martin Crimp exploits this anempathetic strategy in plays such as Play with Repeats (1990), The Treatment (1993) or more recently the triptych Fewer Emergencies (2005) in which violent events are narrated with a boogie-woogie playing in the background. The horror of the story is emphasized by the musical counterpoint. The joy which pervades the stage through the use of music is denounced as artificial
Redefining a genre : comedy of menace from David Campton to Martin Crimp (1957-2008)
La comĂ©die de menace, expression utilisĂ©e pour la premiĂšre fois par le critique de thĂ©Ăątre Irving Wardle en 1958, est devenue aujourdâhui une notion stĂ©rĂ©otypĂ©e, appliquĂ©e de maniĂšre systĂ©matique au thĂ©Ăątre dâHarold Pinter. Cette thĂšse, en proposant de nouveaux critĂšres de dĂ©finition Ă la fois sĂ©miotiques et esthĂ©tiques, vise Ă rĂ©habiliter ce genre qui ne cesse de se dĂ©velopper depuis les annĂ©es 1950, chez des auteurs tels que David Campton, Caryl Churchill et Martin Crimp. Ce thĂ©Ăątre repose tout dâabord sur un renversement entre intrus et autochtone qui nâa jamais Ă©tĂ© explorĂ© depuis son Ă©vocation par Irving Wardle. La sĂ©miotique horizontale du dehors vers le dedans, associĂ©e au phĂ©nomĂšne dâintrusion, est remplacĂ©e par une sĂ©miotique verticale du surgissement : la menace Ă©mane des sous-sols et des profondeurs du moi dans une double acception topographique et psychanalytique. ThĂ©Ăątre de lâinversion, mais aussi de lâimplicite : la comĂ©die de menace suggĂšre lâhorreur plutĂŽt quâelle ne la donne Ă voir. Ce refus de lâopsis nâest toutefois pas synonyme dâeuphĂ©misation de la violence. Enfin, lâinsertion de passages ludiques ne permet pas dâattĂ©nuer lâatmosphĂšre menaçante mais dĂ©cuple au contraire le malaise du lecteur-spectateur. Les dramaturges de la menace proposent ainsi un nouveau genre de comĂ©die qui induit une nouvelle esthĂ©tique de la rĂ©ception.First used by the theatre critic Irving Wardle in 1958, the expression comedy of menace has become a catch-all phrase systematically applied to Harold Pinter. This thesis aims at redefining this genre, both semiotically and aesthetically, as well as restoring it to favour by showing that it has considerably evolved since the 1950s in the plays of David Campton, Caryl Churchill and Martin Crimp. This theatre first hinges on a reversal between intruders and inhabitants which has not been studied since it was identified by Irving Wardle. The horizontal semiotics linked to the intrusion motif is replaced by a vertical semiotics: menace looms up from the basements and the depths of the ego in a topographical and psychological perspective. Comedy of menace relies on inversion as well as unspoken feelings; it suggests horror rather than displaying it, yet it does not minimize violence. The comic interludes do not alleviate the menacing atmosphere but on the contrary enhance the spectatorsâ unease. The playwrights studied here thus devise a new comic genre which induces a new aesthetic of reception
Offstage Laughter: Restoration Comedies and the Female Audience
LâAngleterre de la fin du xviie siĂšcle est celle de la comĂ©die de mĆurs et de son lot de controverses, parmi lesquelles la diatribe de Jeremy Collier pour voyait dans la comĂ©die une incitation Ă la dĂ©bauche. Les critiques puritains dĂ©ploraient les rĂŽles assignĂ©s aux femmes dont la sacro-sainte puretĂ© Ă©tait discrĂ©ditĂ©e par les dramaturges de la Restauration. Si la condamnation des personnages fĂ©minins dissolus et des actrices supposĂ©ment perverses a fait lâobjet de nombreux ouvrages et articles, il semblerait quâune troisiĂšme posture ait Ă©tĂ© nĂ©gligĂ©e : celle de la spectatrice devant lâhumour grivois de ces comĂ©dies. Cet article propose de mettre en lumiĂšre le rire fĂ©minin de la Restauration, vu, plus prĂ©cisĂ©ment, Ă travers un prisme masculin. Les dramaturges et critiques de lâĂ©poque Ă©taient en effet pour la plupart des hommes, selon qui le public fĂ©minin Ă©tait soit dĂ©nuĂ© dâhumour, soit libertin. Selon Jeremy Collier, seules les prostituĂ©es pouvaient se dĂ©lecter de ces spectacles obscĂšnes. La dichotomie catĂ©gorique entre la femme chaste et respectable qui ne peut pas (ou nâose pas ?) rire et la prostituĂ©e qui rit Ă gorge dĂ©ployĂ©e sera bien sĂ»r nuancĂ©e
« âNow look, are you going to tell me a story or not?â: The Art and Politics of Storytelling in Matilda the Musical »
International audienc
« The Brighter and more cheerful it is, the more it hurts » : lâinquiĂ©tante noirceur des comĂ©dies de Martin Crimp
In Martin Crimpâs plays, humour only serves to make the ensuing anguish more acute. The playwright achieves this purpose by using two specific dramatic strategies: one that will be described as âgeneric oscillationâ, the other referred to by Crimp himself as the âfalse happy endingâ. Humour can never be perceived as creating comic relief in his theatre. The comic interludes framing horror scenes and macabre speeches enhance the spectatorsâ disquiet by making them deem their own laughter profoundly obscene. The false happy ending only reinforces such distress, as Martin Crimp himself underlines in an interview with Aleks Sierz, quoted in the title of this paper. The optimistic conclusion peculiar to comedy should always be read ironically. Such irony is achieved through a specific use of lighting and stage set which will be studied in detail in this paper. Martin Crimp thus revitalises the age-old genre of comedy, adopting its form while at the same time denouncing it as obsolete. Dark humour is at its fiercest, arousing self-conscious identification rather than alienation
« âWhere the devil are my slippers?â: My Fair Ladyâs subversion of Pygmalionâs feminist ending? »
International audienc