Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EWPWE (Europe at War in Post-war Europe. Performing Greek Tragedies, Comedies and European Identity.)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-09-01 al 2021-08-31
This project has examined the multiple ways in which contemporary western European theatre directors have staged and continue to stage war with the help of ancient Greek dramatic scripts from the WW2 onwards. In western European countries, which were very differently involved in the two World Wars and which have not experienced major military conflicts within their borders since, the subject of war has regularly been scrutinised in performance since 1945. During political or economic crises, European dramatic artists have tended to rely heavily on Greek plays to evoke war.
In a globalised world, ancient culture is usually considered a shared international heritage. However, it is undoubtedly the case that it enjoys more cultural capital in western Europe, which may well explain the reason why Greek theatre has particularly provided post-war Europe with the requisite distance to deal with war on the contemporary stage. For this reason, the lens of this project focused on a narrow geopolitical scale, presuming a specificity to western Europe that needed in this instance to be highlighted: how does the use of ancient theatre in order to depict war contribute to the building/ undermining of European identity? As there has been no open conflict within these countries’ territories during the period under consideration, representing war on stage necessarily questions the position and responsibility of both the individual nation states and Europe as a whole on the world stage at this time. In the context of the pandemic, and of the multiple crises it has exacerbated, it seemed particularly relevant to study how the use of ancient tragedy by contemporary performing artists contributes to forging new national and European identities and how they may respond to critiques of eurocentrism.
In a globalised world, ancient culture is usually considered a shared international heritage. However, it is undoubtedly the case that it enjoys more cultural capital in western Europe, which may well explain the reason why Greek theatre has particularly provided post-war Europe with the requisite distance to deal with war on the contemporary stage. For this reason, the lens of this project focused on a narrow geopolitical scale, presuming a specificity to western Europe that needed in this instance to be highlighted: how does the use of ancient theatre in order to depict war contribute to the building/ undermining of European identity? As there has been no open conflict within these countries’ territories during the period under consideration, representing war on stage necessarily questions the position and responsibility of both the individual nation states and Europe as a whole on the world stage at this time. In the context of the pandemic, and of the multiple crises it has exacerbated, it seemed particularly relevant to study how the use of ancient tragedy by contemporary performing artists contributes to forging new national and European identities and how they may respond to critiques of eurocentrism.
This project has been led at the APGRD (Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama), within the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford. I have actively contributed to the existing activities of the faculty by attending seminars and delivering papers at academic events. My research work has included performance analyses, theatre workshops and organisation of conferences.
Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, I haven’t been able to attend performances or rehearsals. But I have been in conversation with performing artists, sharing my dramaturgical expertise and/or interviewing them. I have advised the two postgraduate students (Marcus Bell and Alison Middleton), who were directing the Oxford Greek play (Orestes, 2020). And I have been in conversation with Irish playwright Marina Carr, movement director Struan Leslie, American director Peter Sellars as well as with British director Ian Rickson and British poet Kae Tempest. The three latest are available as podcast or video recordings and accessible to the general public.
During the two years of the fellowship, I have organised six theatre workshops (either with postgraduate students in Classics, with acting students or with professional actors). We have explored the performance of war and violence on contemporary stages through theatrical exercises. These workshops have also given me the opportunity to develop further research methodologies about the translation and dramaturgy of ancient scripts. The key-findings of these workshops have been summarized in papers I have delivered at academic conferences and have been presented as performances open to both academic and general audiences. They will also be published in a forthcoming book chapter that I am currently co-writing with Giovanna Di Martino (UCL).
I have organised two major academic events. The first one was a two-day conference co-organised with Anne-Violaine Houcke (Paris Nanterre): ‘Poetics, Politics and the Ruin in Cinema and theatre after 1945’. It gathered scholars in theatre studies, film studies, cultural history, Classics, and classical reception. Together, we explored how, by reinventing antiquity through working with ruins both politically and poetically, artistic processes as well as works of theatre and cinema record the historical and artistic consequences of WW2 in Europe. The aim was to study these processes from 1945 to the present where these traces continue to be detectable in the works of artists in Europe.
I also organised a day-long conference with Silke Felber (Vienna): ‘Collective Trauma and contemporary crises in performances of Ancient Tragedies’ that gathered performing artists and scholars in Classics, Classical reception and Performance Studies. It included two round-table discussions and we also screened pre-recorded interviews with Peter Sellars and with Kae Tempest and Ian Rickson (available on the APGRD YouTube channel). This event challenged the notion that trauma is unrepresentable by examining the performance of trauma on contemporary stages.
During lockdowns, as I worked from home and was unable to travel and collect new data by watching rehearsals or performances, I focused on publications:
1/I worked on the monograph that grew out of my PhD thesis (Créer le choeur tragique, Classiques Garnier, 2021). This study explores how the concept of ‘commun’ – ‘what we have in common’ – is questioned through contemporary performances of the ancient tragic chorus.
2/ I prepared for publication a co-edited volume (‘Rater’ [=Special Issue, Agôn n°9], Estelle Baudou, Quentin Rioual and Aurélie Coulon (eds.), 2021). This volume explores how the concept of failure can be understood as fundamental in the practice and theory of the performing arts. It gathers chapters by academics and by practitioners as well as interviews with theatre makers and testimonies of artists.
3/ I worked on a chapter for Greek Tragedy and the Digital (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2022), edited by Angeliki Poulou and Georgios Rodosthenous, entitled ‘‘Inventing’ the Ancient Tragic Chorus with the Digital. Performing Communality in 1999 Oresteias by Katie Mitchell (NT, London) and Georges Lavaudant (Odéon, Paris)’. This chapter analyses how digital technologies contribute to the ‘invention’ of the tragic chorus on contemporary stages.
4/ I worked on the translation into French of Marina Carr’s play, Hecuba, with Cécile Dudouyt (forthcoming 2022).
Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, I haven’t been able to attend performances or rehearsals. But I have been in conversation with performing artists, sharing my dramaturgical expertise and/or interviewing them. I have advised the two postgraduate students (Marcus Bell and Alison Middleton), who were directing the Oxford Greek play (Orestes, 2020). And I have been in conversation with Irish playwright Marina Carr, movement director Struan Leslie, American director Peter Sellars as well as with British director Ian Rickson and British poet Kae Tempest. The three latest are available as podcast or video recordings and accessible to the general public.
During the two years of the fellowship, I have organised six theatre workshops (either with postgraduate students in Classics, with acting students or with professional actors). We have explored the performance of war and violence on contemporary stages through theatrical exercises. These workshops have also given me the opportunity to develop further research methodologies about the translation and dramaturgy of ancient scripts. The key-findings of these workshops have been summarized in papers I have delivered at academic conferences and have been presented as performances open to both academic and general audiences. They will also be published in a forthcoming book chapter that I am currently co-writing with Giovanna Di Martino (UCL).
I have organised two major academic events. The first one was a two-day conference co-organised with Anne-Violaine Houcke (Paris Nanterre): ‘Poetics, Politics and the Ruin in Cinema and theatre after 1945’. It gathered scholars in theatre studies, film studies, cultural history, Classics, and classical reception. Together, we explored how, by reinventing antiquity through working with ruins both politically and poetically, artistic processes as well as works of theatre and cinema record the historical and artistic consequences of WW2 in Europe. The aim was to study these processes from 1945 to the present where these traces continue to be detectable in the works of artists in Europe.
I also organised a day-long conference with Silke Felber (Vienna): ‘Collective Trauma and contemporary crises in performances of Ancient Tragedies’ that gathered performing artists and scholars in Classics, Classical reception and Performance Studies. It included two round-table discussions and we also screened pre-recorded interviews with Peter Sellars and with Kae Tempest and Ian Rickson (available on the APGRD YouTube channel). This event challenged the notion that trauma is unrepresentable by examining the performance of trauma on contemporary stages.
During lockdowns, as I worked from home and was unable to travel and collect new data by watching rehearsals or performances, I focused on publications:
1/I worked on the monograph that grew out of my PhD thesis (Créer le choeur tragique, Classiques Garnier, 2021). This study explores how the concept of ‘commun’ – ‘what we have in common’ – is questioned through contemporary performances of the ancient tragic chorus.
2/ I prepared for publication a co-edited volume (‘Rater’ [=Special Issue, Agôn n°9], Estelle Baudou, Quentin Rioual and Aurélie Coulon (eds.), 2021). This volume explores how the concept of failure can be understood as fundamental in the practice and theory of the performing arts. It gathers chapters by academics and by practitioners as well as interviews with theatre makers and testimonies of artists.
3/ I worked on a chapter for Greek Tragedy and the Digital (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2022), edited by Angeliki Poulou and Georgios Rodosthenous, entitled ‘‘Inventing’ the Ancient Tragic Chorus with the Digital. Performing Communality in 1999 Oresteias by Katie Mitchell (NT, London) and Georges Lavaudant (Odéon, Paris)’. This chapter analyses how digital technologies contribute to the ‘invention’ of the tragic chorus on contemporary stages.
4/ I worked on the translation into French of Marina Carr’s play, Hecuba, with Cécile Dudouyt (forthcoming 2022).
The greatest strength of this project was its genuinely interdisciplinary nature as it put into dialogue the studies of Classical Reception and Theatre and Performance. I have broken new ground in focusing on the role of Classics in the building/undermining of European identities with the specific lens of performance. And, at the same time, I have contributed to the history of contemporary performance with a political and sociological approach.
In terms of methodology, I have had the opportunity the explore and theorise practice-based research within Classical Performance Reception. By organising a series of workshops, I have explored the use of ancient tragedies to perform violence and trauma on contemporary stages; and I have also contributed to the theory and practice of the translation of ancient scripts for the stage. I have established research protocols and teaching techniques that can be used by other scholars and/or performing artists.
This research is not only addressed to scholars but is also intended to enable performing artists consider the dramaturgical, linguistic, anthropological and political aspects of performing ancient material.
In terms of methodology, I have had the opportunity the explore and theorise practice-based research within Classical Performance Reception. By organising a series of workshops, I have explored the use of ancient tragedies to perform violence and trauma on contemporary stages; and I have also contributed to the theory and practice of the translation of ancient scripts for the stage. I have established research protocols and teaching techniques that can be used by other scholars and/or performing artists.
This research is not only addressed to scholars but is also intended to enable performing artists consider the dramaturgical, linguistic, anthropological and political aspects of performing ancient material.