Divadelní revue (Czech Theatre Review) vol. 32 · 2021 · no 2
Summary
The second issue of 2021's Theatre Review presents three historical analyses and an essay on the current state of Polish theatre. Miroslav Lukáš in his “Reports of Aristocratic Theatre in the Notes of Cardinal Harrach” provides an insight into Prague's theatrical life at the turn of the 1650s and 1660s, when, due to the stabilization of conditions after the Thirty Years' War, theatre practice was developing in aristocratic palaces. The main source for this period are the daily records and correspondence of Cardinal Harrach, which open up a view on the amateur productions in which the nobility performed and also reports on the nobility's contacts with professional actors who also took part in Prague's theatrical life. The production of the play Betrug der Allamoda from 1660 also belongs to this period. Alena Sarkissian's study “The Great Dead Are Returning: Phèdre and Iphigenia in The Work of Karel Dostal” analyzes the productions of stage director Karel Dostal, which deal with the French and German mythological tragedies from the Classicist period, Racine's Phèdre (1926) and the three stage adaptations of Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris (1921, 1943, 1954), mainly at the Prague National Theater. It presents them in the context of Dostal's reflections on the issue of so-called new classicism as outlined in his essay “Journeys to the Great Dead" (1926), but also in the context of theatre training he completed before the First World War in Germany. Andrea Sommer-Mathis and Petr Maťa's “The Prague performance of the Deceit of Allamoda (1660). An example of Italian cultural transfer in Bohemia around the middle of the 17 th century” returns to the performance mentioned in Miroslav Lukáš's essay. The Prague performance of Betrug der Allamoda in 1660 is analysed as an example of Italian cultural transfer in the context of theatre performances in the Bohemian aristocratic palaces and monasteries. Attention is paid not only to the text of the German play in its relationship to the Italian original, Francesco Sbarra's libretto La Moda (1652), but also to the person of its author and producer, the Barnabite preacher Don Costanzo Arzonni. In addition, the role of the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Ernst Adalbert von Harrach, as a theatre lover and spectator of this and other theatre productions of the time is illuminated. The reawakened love of life (joie de vivre) after the end of the Thirty Years' War also reflected an increasing enthusiasm for theatre and a desire for laughter, which also manifested itself in Betrug der Allamoda through the introduction of the comic figure of Burlachino, who gave a new quality to Sbarra's favola morale. In his essay “Theatre that is coming?”, Polish theatre historian and theorist Dariusz Kosiński ponders on the pungent topics related to the covid-19 pandemics and social movements, which address various kinds of inherent social violence and power structures. For Kosiński, the pandemics, as well as subversive social tendencies bring about a serious transformative moment for theatre, which questions and unsettles its long-standing, seemingly a-priori given status – aesthetic, social, cultural, historical, theoretical – and deep-seated, non-democratic, and eventually violent hierarchies. The present issue contains an interview with the Czech stage director and educator Přemysl Rut and two reviews of recently published books.
essays
Alena SarkissianThe Great Dead Are Returning: Phèdre and Iphigenia in The Work of Karel Dostal [peer-reviewed article]
Miroslav Lukáš
Reports of Aristocratic Theatre in the Notes of Cardinal Harrach [peer-reviewed article]
Andrea Sommer-Mathis – Petr Maťa
The Prague Performance of the Deceit of Allamoda (1660). An example of Italian cultural transfer in Bohemia around the middle of the 17 th century. [peer-reviewed article]
Dariusz Kosiński
Theatre that is coming? [essay]
interview
The game searching for of its rules. Interview with Přemysl Rut, stage director and educator (Michal Čunderle)review
Jan ŠotkovskýCzech Post-1989 Theatre Criticism in the Context of National Theatre (Alena Zemančíková: Zpětné zakreslení cesty: Činohra Národního divadla v letech 1990–2015)
David Kroča
Expressionistic Drama in Texts and Contexts (Expresionistické drama z českých zemí)
new book relases
(May–October 2021)Alena Sarkissian
The Great Dead Are Returning: Phèdre and Iphigenia in The Work of Karel Dostal [peer-reviewed article]
The study analyzes the productions of stage director Karel Dostal, which deal with the French and German mythological tragedies from the Classicist period, Racine's Phèdre (1926) and the three stage adaptations of Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris (1921, 1943, 1954), mainly at the Prague National Theater. It presents them in the context of Dostal's reflections on the issue of so-called new classicism as outlined in his essay “Journeys to the Great Dead” (1926), but also in the context of theatre training he completed before the First World War in Germany.
Contact: Alena Sarkissian | ORCID 0000-0002-3528-2605 | Kabinet pro klasická studia Filosofického ústavu AV ČR, v. v. i., a katedra divadelní vědy FF UK | sarkissian[at]ics.cas.cz
Miroslav Lukáš
Reports of Aristocratic Theatre in the Notes of Cardinal Harrach [peer-reviewed article]
The study provides an insight into Prague's theatrical life at the turn of the 1650s and 1660s, when, due to the stabilization of conditions after the Thirty Years' War, theatre practice was developing in aristocratic palaces. The main source for this period are the daily records and correspondence of Cardinal Harrach, which open up a view on the amateur productions in which the nobility performed and also reports on the nobility's contacts with professional actors who also took part in Prague's theatrical life. The production of the play Betrug der Allamoda from 1660 also belongs to this period.
Contact: Miroslav Lukáš | ORCID: 0000-0001-8518-5961 | Kabinet pro studium českého divadla, Institut umění – Divadelní ústav | miroslav.lukas[at]idu.cz
Andrea Sommer-Mathis & Petr Maťa
The Prague performance of the Deceit of Allamoda (1660). An example of Italian cultural transfer in Bohemia around the middle of the 17th century. [peer-reviewed article]
The Prague performance of Betrug der Allamoda in 1660 is analysed as an example of Italian cultural transfer in the context of theatre performances in the Bohemian aristocratic palaces and monasteries. Attention is paid not only to the text of the German play in its relationship to the Italian original, Francesco Sbarra's libretto La Moda (1652), but also to the person of its author and producer, the Barnabite preacher Don Costanzo Arzonni. In addition, the role of the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Ernst Adalbert von Harrach, as a theatre lover and spectator of this and other theatre productions of the time is illuminated. The reawakened love of life (joie de vivre) after the end of the Thirty Years' War was also reflected in increasing enthusiasm for theatre and a desire for laughter, which also manifested itself in Betrug der Allamoda through the introduction of the comic figure of Burlachino, who gave a new quality to Sbarra's favola morale.
Contact: Andrea Sommer-Mathis | ORCID 0000-0001-9637-7969 | Institut für Kulturwissenschaften und Theatergeschichte, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien | andrea.sommer@oeaw.ac.at
Petr Maťa | ORCID 0000-0002-6359-0357 | Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien | petr.mata[at]oeaw.ac