Experimentalism and Ideology in D.H. Lawrence’s Theatre

D.H. Lawrence’s theatre production can be referred to different dramatic models. In his early works (1906-1913) the two groups of the “colliery plays” and the comedies The Merry-Go-Round, The Married Man and The Fight for Barbara present evident similarities as to setting and characters from a mining community, as well as to family and emotional conflicts. However, the dramatic discourse of the first group is structured in a way openly reminiscent of Chekhov’s theatre, reproducing forms of everyday life; in the second group the naturalist elements are combined both with typical aspects of the “comedy of manners” and Shakespeare’s romantic comedies. After World War I Lawrence resumed his interest in writing plays with Touch and Go (1918), moving towards a new form of theatre, partly anticipating Bertolt Brecht’s expressionist theories. In 1925, taking inspiration from the Bible, he wrote his last play, David, where he develops the epic form further. An investigation of both the ideological dimension and the dramatic treatment of Lawrence’s play is offered in the present essay.La produzione teatrale di D. H. Lawrence si richiama a modelli drammaturgici diversi. I drammi del primo periodo (1906-1913) possono suddividersi in due gruppi – i tre “colliery plays” e le tre commedie The Merry-Go-Round, The Married Man and The Fight for Barbara – in cui ricorrono simili conflitti emotivi e familiari che si dipanano sullo sfondo di una comunità di minatori. La struttura del discorso drammatico del primo gruppo si richiama apertamente al teatro di Chekhov nel rappresentare forme della quotidianità turbata dal dramma di un momento; il secondo gruppo combina gli elementi naturalistici con aspetti tipici della commedia romantica di Shakespeare e della “commedia di maniera” del secondo Seicento inglese. Dopo la prima guerra mondiale Lawrence recuperò il suo interesse per il teatro producendo Touch and Go (1918) e sperimentando una nuova scrittura drammaturgica in parte anticipatrice delle teorie espressioniste del teatro di Bertolt Brecht. Nel 1925, ispirandosi alla Bibbia, compose il suo ultimo dramma, David, in cui si confronta ulteriormente con la forma epica. Il presente saggio offre alcune riflessioni sia sulla dimensione ideologica che sulla forma drammatica del teatro di Lawrence

The “Diasporic Theatre” from nostalgia to contemporary socio-politics: reimagining identity in some contemporary Black and Asian British playwrights

British theatre has undergone dramatic changes over the last few decades, which mirror the enormous changes in British society. In particular, since the 1980s there has been an increasing number of Black and Asian playwrights working in and writing about Britain. This article will focus on the diasporic theatre of such writers as Tanika Gupta, Roy Williams and Kwame Kwei-Armah, a kind of theatre which attempts to redefine British identity through a “hybridisation” of the theatrical discourse.British theatre has undergone dramatic changes over the last few decades, which mirror the enormous changes in British society. In particular, since the 1980s there has been an increasing number of Black and Asian playwrights working in and writing about Britain. This article will focus on the diasporic theatre of such writers as Tanika Gupta, Roy Williams and Kwame Kwei-Armah, a kind of theatre which attempts to redefine British identity through a “hybridisation” of the theatrical discourse

Ibsen and the Italian Risorgimento

Versione inglese di Henrik Ibsen og den italienske Risorgimento, in AA. VV., Lyset kommer fra Sør, a cura di E. Carbone-G. D’Amico, Oslo, Gyldendal, 2011, pp. 178-193

Il teatro olandese dell’Aia

Philiep Bossier examines the monumental volume of Jan Hein Furnée, a professor at the Amsterdam University, Points of Civil Fun. Class Consciousness and Urban Culture in The Hague, 1850-1890 (Bert Bakker, Amsterdam 2014, pp. 875) showing the symbolic value of the theater for the ruling classes. The theater is part of several similar spaces, such as public gardens, the new zoo, musical opportunities, etc. The critic appreciates the subtlety of the sociological method, attentive to illuminate the progressive presence of women in areas previously dominated by males only. The theater of the Dutch capital has the prerogative of an alternating programming in French and Dutch language.Philiep Bossier examines the monumental volume of Jan Hein Furnée, a professor at the Amsterdam University, Points of Civil Fun. Class Consciousness and Urban Culture in The Hague, 1850-1890 (Bert Bakker, Amsterdam 2014, pp. 875) showing the symbolic value of the theater for the ruling classes. The theater is part of several similar spaces, such as public gardens, the new zoo, musical opportunities, etc. The critic appreciates the subtlety of the sociological method, attentive to illuminate the progressive presence of women in areas previously dominated by males only. The theater of the Dutch capital has the prerogative of an alternating programming in French and Dutch language

Recitare Fosse: sperimentazioni italiane

How should one act Fosse? This article will explore such a theme analyzing the work of Valerio Binasco and Vanda Monaco Westerståhl. Binasco has staged four works by Fosse, occasionally also participating as an actor. His productions are very awake to the essential eloquence of space and the rhythms of time, of which the actor is architect. In his drive to restore poetry to any and all life, the actor seeks the “vital rhythm of the character”, beyond the confines of psychology and judgement, as if in a continued close-up and an intensely musical game. Vanda Monaco, who with her translations contributed greatly to the Italian awareness of Fosse, has worked particularly on I Am the Wind. She has a “physical approach to the text”: a meticulous study into the words and sounds, the emotions and images that this coming together triggers, so as to arrive at a character. Paradoxically, lending characters humanity through the mask of a seventeenth-century Pulcinella who, freed from stereotypes, is quantified by the body of a contemporary actor and the words of a great author

Cinque cortesi trappole per topi. Immagine, "phonè" e immaginazione nelle "mises en abyme" del teatro barocco

The essay analyzes the forms of mise en abyme and dumb-show adopted in different culture of European theatre in the course of the first part of the seventeenth century. Discusses the following texts and performances: Hamlet, A midsummer night’s dream, Pericles, Prince of Tyre of Shakespeare; El Retablo de las Maravillas of Cervantes; Li due Covielli and Fontana di Trevi of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Inside of these works, the analysis concerns especially the phenomena of relations between evocative force of the word and artifice of the visual scene.The essay analyzes the forms of mise en abyme and dumb-show adopted in different culture of European theatre in the course of the first part of the seventeenth century. Discusses the following texts and performances: Hamlet, A midsummer night’s dream, Pericles, Prince of Tyre of Shakespeare; El Retablo de las Maravillas of Cervantes; Li due Covielli and Fontana di Trevi of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Inside of these works, the analysis concerns especially the phenomena of relations between evocative force of the word and artifice of the visual scene

Un pantin merveilleux. L’attore di Diderot come figura dell’eccedenza

The Paradoxe sur le comédien describes the art of acting as an exercise of multiplicity. According to Diderot, the great actor must be at the same time nothing and everything. In his materialistic approach, acting is considered a work and a concrete experience, where the actor must find a balance between the grace of the marionette and the exaggeration of the ideal. In absence of any passion, this kind of actor should be self-controlled and detached in order to move the audience. Indeed, Diderot’s theory is very concerned with the relationship between the artist and the spectator, not only for a moral purpose, but in view of a layered aesthetic experience. It follows that a dialectic between measure and excess can be considered as an exceptional key to understanding Diderot’s conception of theatre, which can also surprisingly disclose some contemporary features.Il Paradosso sull’attore tratteggia l’arte teatrale come un esercizio di molteplicità: secondo Diderot, il grande attore dev’essere al contempo tutto e nulla. Con un approccio materialista, la recitazione viene descritta come un lavoro e un’esperienza concreta in cui l’attore deve trovare un equilibrio tra la grazia della marionetta e l’eccedenza dell’ideale. Privo di sensibilità, padrone di sé, critico e distaccato, questo attore è interamente teso a commuovere il pubblico. Infatti, la teoria di Diderot è innanzitutto attenta alla relazione con lo spettatore, non tanto in vista di un messaggio morale da veicolare, quanto di un’esperienza estetica da promuovere. In questo contesto, la dialettica tra misura ed eccedenza si rivela un’importante chiave di lettura della concezione diderotiana del teatro, che peraltro racchiude sorprendenti anticipazioni di istanze contemporanee