CALL FOR PAPERS
Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London
Two-day Conference 10-11 March 2006
Performance and Adaptation: European Theatre on the London Stage after 1945
Spanish Golden Age drama and Marivaux
(with an evening of performances at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama)
As part of its Core Programme on Performance in 2005-06 (which includes Italian
performance workshops, a Mozart recital with readings, a conference on Brecht,
etc; see http://igrs.sas.ac.uk <http://igrs.sas.ac.uk/> ), the IGRS is running
a two-day international Conference on European theatre on the post-1945 London
stage, organised by Dr Elinor Shaffer, with Dr Catherine Boyle, Professor Robin
Howells and Professor Naomi Segal. The Conference brings together two streams, a
French and a Spanish one, focused on the dramatic work of the Spanish 'Golden
Age' writers and Marivaux. Incorporating an evening of performances by students
at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, this Conference will also combine
academic papers with round-table discussions by theatre practitioners and
translators. It will be of particular interest to academics in English,
languages and drama, to theatre practitioners, and to translators.
Proposals for academic papers are invited. Each paper should be 30 minutes long.
Please write to Dr Shaffer at [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by 5 November 2005, sending
* your name, affiliation and email address;
* the title of your proposed paper;
* a summary of the proposed paper of no more than 500 words.
The Conference is concerned particularly with Marivaux and 'Golden Age' authors
Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and especially Cervantes, whose dramatic output
is little known compared to his fiction. Most of these writers have had a
considerable presence on the post-war London stage, generated new translations
and adaptations, and renewed traditional elements such as commedia dell'arte in
unexpected ways. In its first season, the National Theatre under Peter Hall
included a performance of Marivaux's La Dispute by the French Théâtre national
populaire, and more than one production of L'Île des Esclaves (Island of
Slaves) and La fausse Suivante (The False Servant) have been given. There have
been successful 'Golden Age' Spanish seasons, one at The Gate and another at
Stratford and London, as well as performances of plays such as Calderón's La
Vida es sueño (Life is a Dream). Cervantes' Pedro el Picaro (Pedro, the Grand
Impersonator) was a strikingly novel feature of the 2004 RSC 'Golden Age'
season at the Playhouse and opens a new chapter of reception.
The first day of the Conference will concentrate on general issues, with papers
on these dramatists in the context of their own times, and how their work has
been adapted and performed since. Themes to be explored might include the
representation of master-slave relations; impersonation, gender relations and
cross-dressing; modes of explication and implication (the recognition of true
feeling); comic characters; actors and acting styles; dramatic hierarchies in
relation to social class of audiences; the evolution of comedy. On the Friday
evening, all participants are invited to the GSMD students' comparative
presentation of passages and scenes from a number of the plays.
The second day of the Conference will open with a paper by Robin Howells on the
GSMD performances, with further papers, workshops and round-tables on, more
broadly, the reception and adaptation of the traditions in the English-speaking
theatre. What was the theatrical climate for European drama in the post-war
period? Comparisons of different productions of the same play would be welcome,
as would general debate on performability, translation and adaptation.
PUBLICATION is envisaged in the IGRS Journal of Romance Studies, in a possible
special issue on 'European Theatre on the English Stage' of Comparative
Literary Studies (Edinburgh University Press), the Journal of the British
Comparative Literature Association, and a projected publication on Cervantes on
the Stage. The Conference organisers are grateful for the support of the School
of Advanced Study and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Rosemary Lambeth
Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies
School of Advanced Study, University of London
Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Tel: 020 7862 8677; fax 020 7862 8672
Web: www.sas.ac.uk/igrs <http://www.sas.ac.uk/igrs>
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