Divadelní revue (Czech Theatre Review) 2019 · no 2

vol. 30 · November 2019 · no 2

Summary

The second issue of 2019s Theatre Review contains five essays and analyses, two of which focus on the contemporary theatre and three of which discuss older theatre history. Jitka Vrbková's article “Teatr 21: Theatre of Actors with Specific Abilities” is an outcome of her research stay at the Warsaw Teatr 21, which works on professional basis with actors with Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. Teatr 21 perceives the specific abilities of actors not as limited abilities that need to be overcome but rather as exceptional possibilities that inspire the performing arts. The article offers an insight into the functioning of the theater as well as an analysis of creative principles. Based on the personal experience with the productions, theater rehearsals and interviews with the artists, the article uses not only academic literature and reviews, but also the author's diary records from her research stay. The overall message then stems from the alternate positions from which the topic is approached. In her essay “(Re)Considering Space Politics through Performance Claudia Bosse's Nomadic Urban Composition IDEAL PARADISE”, Daniela Pillgrab analyzes an urban site-specific and nomadic performance project of the independent Viennese theatre company theatercombinat. The performance IDEAL PARADISE (Vienna, June 2016) redefined and challenged the spatial options for artistic production. This paper demonstrates with the example of IDEAL PARADISE how performance art has the potential to enter urban life and become a productive part to conceptions of urban cohabitation. Magdaléna Jacková's “There is a ‘krygsman’, and there is a heart in him as big as a pail, or a familiar unfamiliar play about Samson” examines an anonymous The Sacred History of Samson, published in 1608 in Prague by Daniel Sedlčanský. The script represents the only fully preserved Bohemian play about Samson from the early modern period. It has remained virtually unknown to the public, since the only published parts of the play were interludes and post-lude as literary historians called them. The aim of this study is to acquaint the reader with this remarkable play, to point out its possible connection with the tragedy of Samson by the German playwright Hieronym Ziegler, and finally to present the hypothesis that it was not Helluon acts that served as interludes but the individual scenes of Trapped Infidelity. Lisa Erlenbusch's “Viennese Hanswurst Burlesques, or else Marivaudage viennois in Bohemia?” discusses four German translations of French comedies, which were part of a volume of nine plays that originated from the Viennese Kärntnertortheater and were adapted for amateur performances staged by the Prince and Princess of Schwarzenberg and friendly members of the Austrian-Bohemian aristocracy at the Castle Theatre at Český Krumlov in the mid- 18 th century. The authors of the French templates have mostly fallen into oblivion – with the notable exception of Marivaux, who is represented with his famed Jeu de l'amour et du hasard. The translations are by no means literal ones, with deletions, additions and modifications of scenes and names abounding. While the quality of these translations varies, they tend to focus more on the characters' presence on the stage. This is especially true for the male servant figures, all of whom are being transformed into the Viennese Hanswurst, who is allowed to shine with his numerous antics and distinctly dialectal speech. In the case of Marivaux's Jeu, said alterations make for an arguably even tighter and ultimately funnier piece. The essay by Alena Jakubcová (Jr.) “Lustiger Hoff-Diener (comic court servant) as the Forerunner of Hanswurst. Theater-historical and Linguistic-historical Analysis” presents the results of the script analysis of the play Die glückseelige Eyffersucht zwischen Roderich und Delmiren from Jan Vondráček's inheritance. The joint Hauptaktion was presented on July 23, 1713 at the Špork Theater by Württembergische and Mecklenburgische Hof- Komödianten. The study focuses on the character of Cordadilia and the changes it has undergone over time in German variants. Comparing the Italian pretext with the German translations, the study identifies the stages through which the character was developing from the "confidente" type, flatterer and comic servant to Hanswurst. The study draws attention to the common features of mentioned Hauptaktion and the Hanswurst burlesques, and considers the Prague Cordadilia a Hanswurst's predecessor.

analyses

Jitka Vrbková
Teatr 21: Theatre of Actors with Specific Abilities [peer-reviewed article]

Daniela Pillgrab
(Re)Considering Space Politics through Performance. Claudia Bosse's Nomadic Urban Composition IDEAL PARADISE [peer-reviewed article]

Magdaléna Jacková
There is a “krygsman”, and there is a heart in him as big as a pail, or a familiar unfamiliar play about Samson [peer-reviewed article]

Lisa Erlenbusch
Viennese Hanswurst Burlesques, or else Marivaudage viennois in Bohemia [peer-reviewed article]

Alena Jakubcová (Jr.)
“Lustiger Hoff-Diener” (comic court servant) as the Forerunner of Hanswurst. Theater-historical and Linguistic-historical Analysis [peer-reviewed article]

Transliteration of Prague Scripts of Die gluckseelige Eyffersucht zwischen Roderich und Delmiren [document]

interview

with the theatre and literary historian Václav Štěpán I take it all as a story I watch from the outside... [interview] Libor Vodička

reviews

Veronika Kyrianová
Historical Development and the Discursive Theory of Theatre Rehearsal (Annemarie Matzke: Arbeit am Theater. Eine Diskursgeschichte der Probe)

Tomáš Kubart
Is the camera a spectator? “The photography constitutes a performance, it doesn’t describe it” (Hana Buddeus: Zobrazení bez reprodukce? Fotografie a performance v českém umění sedmdesátých let 20. století.)

reports

Dagmar Inštitorisová Deep into the past perspectives (Perspektivy teatrologie 3. Brno, May 2019)

Jitka Vrbková
Teatr 21: Theatre of Actors with Specific Abilities
The article is an outcome of a research stay at the Warsaw Teatr 21, which works on professional basis with actors with Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. Teatr 21 perceives the specific abilities of actors not as limited abilities that need to be overcome but rather as exceptional possibilities that inspire the performing arts. The article offers an insight into the functioning of the theater as well as an analysis of creative principles. Based on the personal experience with the productions, theater rehearsals and interviews with the artists, the article uses not only academic literature and reviews, but also the author's diary records from her research stay. The overall message then stems from the alternate positions from which the topic is approached.
Contact: Jitka Vrbková | Divadelní fakulta JAMU v Brně, Brno, Czech Republic | vrbkova.jitka[at]seznam.cz

Daniela Pillgrab
(Re)Considering Space Politics through Performance: Claudia Bosse's Nomadic Urban Composition IDEAL PARADISE.
Amidst the working process for their project (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise, the independent theatre company theatercombinat was confronted with a lack of space: all vacant buildings which they usually employ turned into refugee accommodations. The performance IDEAL PARADISE (Vienna, June 2016) hence redefines and challenges the resource space for artistic production. This paper demonstrates with the example of IDEAL PARADISE how performance art has the potential to enter urban life and become a productive part to conceptions of urban cohabitation.
Contact: Daniela Pillgrab | daniela.pillgrab[at]univie.ac.at

Magdaléna Jacková
There is a “krygsman”, and there is a heart in him as big as a pail, or a familiar unfamiliar play about Samson.
Anonymous The Sacred History of Samson, published in 1608 in Prague by Daniel Sedlčanský, represents the only fully preserved Bohemian play about Samson from the early modern period. It has remained virtually unknown to the public, since the only published parts of the play were interludes and post- lude as literary historians called them: Milan Kopecký classified some passages, in which Helluo appears, interludes, whereas a short one-act play printed after the afterword and known under the conventional name Trapped Infidelity was considered a post-lude. The aim of this study is to acquaint the reader with this remarkable play, to point out its possible connection with the tragedy of Samson by the German playwright Hieronym Ziegler, and finally to present the hypothesis that it was not Helluon acts that served as interludes but the individual scenes of Trapped Infidelity.
Contact: Magdaléna Jacková | Ústav pro českou literaturu, Prague, Czech Republic | jackova[at]ucl.cas.cz

Lisa Erlenbusch
Viennese Hanswurst-burlesques or Marivaudage in Bohemia? Four comedies from Český Krumlov and their French templates.
This article examines four German translations of French comedies which are part of a bundle of nine plays originating from the Viennese Kärntnertortheater and adapted for amateur performances given by the Prince and Princess of Schwarzenberg and friendly members of the Austrian-Bohemian aristocracy at the Castle Theatre at Český Krumlov in the mid-18 th century. The authors of the French templates have mostly fallen into oblivion – with the notable exception of Marivaux, who is represented with his famed Jeu de l’amour et du hasard. The plots and depictions of characters in the three other plays are by the numbers, the transmission of information is often badly executed and there are many inconsistencies in general. The translations are by no means literal ones, with deletions, additions and modifications of scenes and names abounding. While the quality of these translations varies, they tend to focus more on the characters’ presence on the stage. This is especially true for the male servant figures, all of whom are being transformed into the Viennese Hanswurst, who is allowed to shine with his numerous antics and distinctly dialectal speech. In the case of Marivaux’s Jeu, said alterations make for an arguably even tighter and ultimately funnier piece. Lisa Erlenbusch: Vídeňské hanswurstiády aneb Marivaudage v
Contact: Lisa Erlenbusch | Franz-Nabl-Institut für Literaturforschung, Graz, Austria | lisa.erlenbusch[at]edu.uni-graz.at

Alena Jakubcová (Jr.)
“Lustiger Hoff-Diener“ (comic court servant) as the Forerunner of Hanswurst. Theater-historical Analysis.
The study presents the results of the script analysis of the play Die glückseelige Eyffersucht zwischen Roderich und Delmiren from Jan Vondráček’s inheritance. The joint Hauptaktion was presented on July 23, 1713 at the Špork Theater by Württembergische and Mecklenburgische Hof-Komödianten. The study focuses on the character of Cordadilio and the changes it has undergone over time in German sources. Comparing the Italian pretext with the German translations, the study identifies the stages through which the character was developing from the “confidente", flatterer and comic servant to Hanswurst. The study draws attention to common features of the mentioned Hauptaktion and Hanswurst burlesques, and calls the Prague Cordadilio a Hanswurst's predecessor.
Contact: Alena Jakubcová (Jr.) | al.jakubcova[at]seznam.cz