The Rockefeller Roundabout of Funding. : Severino Montano and the Development of Theatre in the Philippines in the 1950s

For more than two decades after World War II, the Rockefeller Foundation supported theatre outside the USA. This essay focuses on the promotion of the Philippine writer, theatre practitioner and pedagogue Severino Montano in the 1950s. Montano received individual and institutional subsidies from the Rockefeller Foundation between 1949 and 1960 to ‘develop drama in the Philippines’ – on the basis of his work in theatre education and his practical theatre work, especially his large-scale project “Arena Theatre” at the Philippine Normal College in Manila. Although the Rockefeller Foundation’s total funding for Montano is relatively small, it continued at a steady rate for a decade. The article first examines the Rockefeller Foundation's funding policy in the field of theatre in the USA and abroad in general and, in the main part, focuses on the promotion of Montano and the foundation’s funding strategies in particular. The paper works with primary sources from the funding context, in particular with the files of the Rockefeller Archives Centre

Theatrical Commodity Chains and Colonial Competition

This essay examines forms of theatrical performance that animated California port cities like San Francisco in the 1840s to ask two sets of interrelated questions: what is the relationship between the trade routes of traditional physical commodities and cultural ones like theater, and how do multiple national projects affect the forms of locality that emerge in contested colonial sites? By looking at a single site within the colonizing world of the nineteenth century, we can more clearly see the ways theater operates as an artifact of multiple national influences, and also in its relationship to multiple physical commodities

The University of the Theatre of Nations: Explorations into Cold War Exchanges

The article analyses the Cold War history of the University of the Theatre of Nations, a project developed by two international organisations, the Theatre of Nations Festival and the International Theatre Institute. By placing the university project within the larger framework of theatre exchanges and training programmes developed during the post-war period, the article discusses the role played by these international organizations in creating spaces where theatre practitioners from all over the world could acquire contacts and build networks that connected them to their peers despite ideological divisions. Within this framework, the article shows the contribution made by Eastern European practitioners to the development of the Theatre of Nations University and to projects implemented by the International Theatre Institute throughout the Cold War period

Transnational networks of the Theatre of the Oppressed: The institutionalization of a circulating method

This work reflects on how the transnational networks of the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) contributed to its institutionalization and permanence as one of the most practiced theatrical methodologies worldwide. In order to understand the expansion of the method developed by Augusto Boal as a transnational network, the article first defines the terms ‘institutionalization’ and ‘network’, before providing a brief review of its history, its adaptation to the cultural policies in France and Brazil, and the importance of the TO Centres in this process. The ability of the method to adapt to the most diverse contexts, cultures and especially to the social development field demonstrate that, more than just circulating a theatrical method, the global network of the Theatre of the Oppressed reveals itself as a vehicle for the circulation of policies connected to the idea of cultural democracy

A New Notion of Time in Modern Tokyo Life: A Comedy at High Speed at the Imperial Theatre in the 1920s

The Imperial Theatre in the 1920’s operated both as a stronghold of multifarious modern Japanese theatre and as an embodiment of the acceleration of Tokyo modern life, in which people started to benefit from theatrical entertainment provided by thriving consumerism. A popular genre performed at the Imperial Theatre was joyūgeki (actress play), a series of satirical comedies in which actresses portrayed the main roles. A Comedy at High Speed can be recognised as a description of exhilarating modern life where the object of laughter aroused by the audience being the discordance experienced in the multifaceted modern life of the 1920’s controlled by a new perception of time. This new concept consisted of economic systems as well as social structures, in which not only anticipation of desirable flamboyancy grew swiftly, but also intolerant darkness, represented by fascism, a violation of human rights, and class distinctions were equally underlaid

Maurice E. Bandmann and the Beginnings of a Global Theatre Trade

This essay outlines the remarkable but today largely forgotten career of the Anglo-American actor and theatre manager Maurice E. Bandmann (11872-1922). In the course of a thirty-year career Bandmann established a theatrical circuit that extended from the Mediterranean to the Far East. It argues that Bandmann refined theatrical management from an actor-centred to a manager-centred enterprise which enabled him to move several troupes performing various genres around the circuit on a carefully calibrated rotation system. The essay explores how Bandmann created a successful theatrical product that could cater to a highly diverse theatrical public. It argues that the theatrical trade routes established by Bandmann worked on a principle of repetition, whereby troupes sustained a culture of promise and expectation that transcended a specific work or performer

Herr Daniel Bandmann and Shakespeare vs the World

German actor Daniel Bandmann played his first Hamlet at the age of 20, and made his English language debut as Shylock in New York, 1863. In his prime, he performed extensively in America, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, amongst other countries. Though he played roles which ranged from Narcisse and the Corsican twins to Jekyll and Hyde, he was perhaps most closely identified with a handful of Shakespearean roles: Hamlet, Shylock, Macbeth, Othello, Iago. His apparently ungovernable temper led to a love/hate relationship with the critics, played out in public through the newspapers.  His responses to criticism open a window into his playing of these roles. This paper examines Bandmann’s acting in the role of Hamlet and the critical interchanges he engaged in around the world, as an exemplar of the interaction of theatre and the global media

Editorial

We are currently living in a time of postponement. The disruptions caused by the Corona pandemic have also affected the journal as all schedules of all contributors were suddenly rearranged. With some delay we are pleased to present the current number of the journal. It comprises three contributions, two of which touch on Augusto Boal’s global theatre movement, the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO). Any study of theatre in a globalized context must engage with Boal and his seminal influence on both political and applied theatre

Editorial

This special issue of the Journal for Global Theatre History focuses on the role(s) that the university, the humanities, the academy, and higher education played in and for the Cultural Cold War. After 1945, in a world of emerging nations, the development of academies, curricula, and university institutions was high on the agenda of cultural policy and diplomatic efforts. Educational institutions also proved to be powerful tools of cultural diplomacy and soft power influence. The papers in this volume are revised presentations from the international symposium, “Cold War University. Humanities and Arts Education as a (Battle)field of Diplomatic Influence and Decolonial Practice”, jointly organized by Judith Rottenburg and Lisa Skwirblies in the context of the ERC project Developing Theatre (GA No. 694559)

Editorial

Editoria