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This book examines Brecht’s theory and method of adaptation. It first reconstructs it into a single framework using four key Brechtian concepts: Fabel, gestus, estrangement effects, and historicizing. It then uses that framework to analyse four Brechtian adaptations: The Tutor, Don Juan, “Socrates Wounded,” and Kriegsfibel. It argues that adaptation occupies a previously unrealised central place in Brecht’s thought, demonstrating that he provides us with a unique way to think about adaptation—as material transformation. It concludes by describing how Brecht is useful for anti-capitalist aesthetics today because through him one can foster a new consciousness which enables better social conditions to be created. This book is practical for both theatre practitioners and artists as well as theorists.
Author:
This book examines Brecht’s theory and method of adaptation. It first reconstructs it into a single framework using four key Brechtian concepts: Fabel, gestus, estrangement effects, and historicizing. It then uses that framework to analyse four Brechtian adaptations: The Tutor, Don Juan, “Socrates Wounded,” and Kriegsfibel. It argues that adaptation occupies a previously unrealised central place in Brecht’s thought, demonstrating that he provides us with a unique way to think about adaptation—as material transformation. It concludes by describing how Brecht is useful for anti-capitalist aesthetics today because through him one can foster a new consciousness which enables better social conditions to be created. This book is practical for both theatre practitioners and artists as well as theorists.
Intimations of the Local in a Globalised World
Series:
Cross/Cultures, Volume: 223
This volume examines how Indigenous theatre and performance from Oceania has responded to the intensification of globalisation from the turn of the 20th to the 21st centuries. It foregrounds a relational approach to the study of Indigenous texts, thus echoing what scholars such as Tui Nicola Clery have described as the stance of a “Multi-Perspective Culturally Sensitive Researcher.” To this end, it proposes a fluid vision of Oceania characterized by heterogeneity and cultural diversity calling to mind Epeli Hau‘ofa’s notion of “a sea of islands.”
Taking its cue from the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, the volume offers a rhizomatic, non-hierarchical approach to the study of the various shapes of Indigeneity in Oceania. It covers Indigenous performance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai’i, Samoa, Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Each chapter uses vivid case histories to explore a myriad of innovative strategies responding to the interplay between the local and the global in contemporary Indigenous performance. As it places different Indigenous cultures from Oceania in conversation, this critical anthology gestures towards an “imparative” model of comparative poetics, favouring negotiation of cultural difference and urging scholars to engage dialogically with non-European artistic forms of expression.
Taking its cue from the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, the volume offers a rhizomatic, non-hierarchical approach to the study of the various shapes of Indigeneity in Oceania. It covers Indigenous performance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai’i, Samoa, Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Each chapter uses vivid case histories to explore a myriad of innovative strategies responding to the interplay between the local and the global in contemporary Indigenous performance. As it places different Indigenous cultures from Oceania in conversation, this critical anthology gestures towards an “imparative” model of comparative poetics, favouring negotiation of cultural difference and urging scholars to engage dialogically with non-European artistic forms of expression.
Intimations of the Local in a Globalised World
Series:
Cross/Cultures, Volume: 223
This volume examines how Indigenous theatre and performance from Oceania has responded to the intensification of globalisation from the turn of the 20th to the 21st centuries. It foregrounds a relational approach to the study of Indigenous texts, thus echoing what scholars such as Tui Nicola Clery have described as the stance of a “Multi-Perspective Culturally Sensitive Researcher.” To this end, it proposes a fluid vision of Oceania characterized by heterogeneity and cultural diversity calling to mind Epeli Hau‘ofa’s notion of “a sea of islands.”
Taking its cue from the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, the volume offers a rhizomatic, non-hierarchical approach to the study of the various shapes of Indigeneity in Oceania. It covers Indigenous performance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai’i, Samoa, Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Each chapter uses vivid case histories to explore a myriad of innovative strategies responding to the interplay between the local and the global in contemporary Indigenous performance. As it places different Indigenous cultures from Oceania in conversation, this critical anthology gestures towards an “imparative” model of comparative poetics, favouring negotiation of cultural difference and urging scholars to engage dialogically with non-European artistic forms of expression.
Taking its cue from the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, the volume offers a rhizomatic, non-hierarchical approach to the study of the various shapes of Indigeneity in Oceania. It covers Indigenous performance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai’i, Samoa, Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Each chapter uses vivid case histories to explore a myriad of innovative strategies responding to the interplay between the local and the global in contemporary Indigenous performance. As it places different Indigenous cultures from Oceania in conversation, this critical anthology gestures towards an “imparative” model of comparative poetics, favouring negotiation of cultural difference and urging scholars to engage dialogically with non-European artistic forms of expression.
Rooted in a range of approaches to the reception of classical drama, the chapters in this book reflect, in one way or another, that Greek and Roman drama in performance is an ongoing dialogue between the culture(s) of the original and the target culture of its translation/adaptation/performance. The individual case studies highlight the various ways in which the tradition of Greek and Roman plays in performance has been extremely productive, but also the ways in which it has engaged, at times dangerously, in political and social discourse.
Series:
Metaforms, Volume: 27
Rooted in a range of approaches to the reception of classical drama, the chapters in this book reflect, in one way or another, that Greek and Roman drama in performance is an ongoing dialogue between the culture(s) of the original and the target culture of its translation/adaptation/performance. The individual case studies highlight the various ways in which the tradition of Greek and Roman plays in performance has been extremely productive, but also the ways in which it has engaged, at times dangerously, in political and social discourse.
A Translation of Mayama Seika’s Genroku Chūshingura
The revenge of the 47 rōnin is the most famous vendetta in Japanese history and it continues to inspire the popular imagination today. Written between 1934 and 1941, Mayama Seika’s ten-play cycle Genroku Chūshingura is a unique retelling of the incident based on his own painstaking research into the historical facts.
Considered a modern masterpiece, it now has a secure place in the Kabuki repertoire and many of the plays are still frequently performed.
For the first time, Seika’s monumental achievement is here translated into English in its complete and original form by three experienced experts in the field.
Considered a modern masterpiece, it now has a secure place in the Kabuki repertoire and many of the plays are still frequently performed.
For the first time, Seika’s monumental achievement is here translated into English in its complete and original form by three experienced experts in the field.
A Translation of Mayama Seika’s Genroku Chūshingura
The revenge of the 47 rōnin is the most famous vendetta in Japanese history and it continues to inspire the popular imagination today. Written between 1934 and 1941, Mayama Seika’s ten-play cycle Genroku Chūshingura is a unique retelling of the incident based on his own painstaking research into the historical facts.
Considered a modern masterpiece, it now has a secure place in the Kabuki repertoire and many of the plays are still frequently performed.
For the first time, Seika’s monumental achievement is here translated into English in its complete and original form by three experienced experts in the field.
Considered a modern masterpiece, it now has a secure place in the Kabuki repertoire and many of the plays are still frequently performed.
For the first time, Seika’s monumental achievement is here translated into English in its complete and original form by three experienced experts in the field.
Author:
Abstract
The Modern Māori Quartet (MMQ) has been a significant ambassador of Aotearoa music, theatre and indigenous culture in the contemporary global live performance marketplace. Initiated by James Tito in 2010 with founding members Maaka Pohatu, Matutaera Ngaropo, Matariki Whatarau and Francis Kora, MMQ is a musical group with a theatrical focus, bridging contemporary Aotearoa music and entertainment with the Māori showbands phenomena of the 1960s and 70s. MMQ has navigated a range of local and global live performance markets, touring extensively throughout Aotearoa and internationally across Australia, Rarotonga, UK, USA, Germany, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and China. Utilising MMQ’s archival records, press interviews, and an audience survey collected during MMQ’s performance at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this chapter offers an account of the evolution of the Modern Māori Quartet and the importance of whakawhanaungatanga (establishing relationships and connections) in their performances.
Abstract
This essay applies theoretical concepts to do with journeys, beaches, islands and star paths to analyse two interdisciplinary, trans-cultural, group-devised theatre works created in Ōtepoti (Dunedin), Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island of New Zealand). Like star navigators, the creative ensembles who produced these pieces traversed the complex waters of creating cross-disciplinary theatre works in which mātauranga Māori and global scientific discourses co-exist on-stage. The essay analyses the creation of the devised theatre works that resulted from these collaborations, Fission/Wēhenga (2019) and Wairua (2020), in particular exploring the process of cross-disciplinary and transcultural devising, implementing both Western and kaupapa Māori methodologies. Devising privileges both Indigenous and Western discourse whilst at the same time challenging an ascribed sense of legitimacy assumed by Euro-centric ways of knowing. It allows for and encourages multiperspectivism, where more than one discourse co-exists in the time and space of the stage. Thus, these projects opened up performative conversations between Māori understandings of the cosmos and globalised scientific theories, mediated through a collaborative theatrical process.
Author:
Abstract
This essay and embedded interview explores how the work of Auckland-based Pasifika, queer, interdisciplinary art-performance collective FAFSWAG has, over the last decade, forged a new understanding of creative space making/taking that challenges many of the existing hegemonic art and theatre structures in Aotearoa. The queer spaces they birth and occupy can be understood as counterpublics, a term made popular by Nancy Fraser and later Michael Warner. Counterpublics offer a space for disruption and resistance against the cultural, societal and institutional hierarchies they inhabit. This writing, which has grown from an interview with founding member Elyssia Wilson-Heti, attempts to document their national and increasingly international importance by looking at their diverse creative practice which spans galleries, theatres, community centres, nightclubs, film and online spaces. Within all this work remains a commitment to invoke social change through creative practice by activating spaces that are cutting edge, culturally responsive and socially relevant.
Abstract
This introduction, besides outlining the map navigated by the different contributors, lays the theoretical premises and methodological foundations underlying this critical anthology. Following in the wake of Diana Looser’s Moving Islands: Contemporary Performance and the Global Pacific, the goal of this volume is to offer a vision of Oceania as a complex region in which globalisation is negotiated through a myriad of fluid pathways. A first section outlines how Oceanic is defined in this anthology, as comprising both Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. The cultural diversity of Oceania as a whole is described with the help of theories drawn from commentators such as Hauʻofa (his notion of a “sea of islands”), Wendt, Hereniko, Allen, DeLoughrey, Glissant (his concept of creolisation), and Domínguez et al. (their vision of an “imparative” comparative poetics.) A second section of this introduction focusses on the dynamics of globalisation, studied according to the tri-partite opposition between the local, the global, and the glocal. A third section sets forth how Indigenous literary and performance material can best be approached by insiders and outsiders alike through Clery et al.’s “relational” methodologies. This corresponds to the stance of a “Multi-Perspective Culturally Sensitive Researcher (MPCR),” who can engage responsibly with different cultures. This flexible approach mirrors Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of the rhizomatic model, which privileges heterogeneity and non-hierarchical links.
Author:
Abstract
This chapter will explore the genealogical connections of Kānaka Maoli to Oceania through Kūkulu o Kahiki. As a point of ancestral origin, Kūkulu o Kahiki, the pillars of Kahiki/South Pacific/Oceania and the many islands therein, anchors the Hawaiian archipelago to Oceania. Through analysing traditional mo‘olelo (narratives) adapted for the stage in the modern era of Hana Keaka (Hawaiian-medium theatre), this contribution reveals the deep-rooted sense of Oceanic belonging and connectivity. This positionality for Kānaka Maoli instills a collective responsibility to nurture our sea of islands. Mo‘olelo serves as a highway across Oceania connecting Kānaka Maoli to Tangata Whenua (Māori), to Maohi, and to many other Oceanic genealogies. The mo‘olelo of Kamapua‘a and Lā‘ieikawai illustrate shared genealogical ties and obligations of Kānaka Maoli in Oceania, as well as frequent transpacific travel and partnerships in traditional times. Each Hana Keaka production then illuminates the relationships that exist in Oceania and the maintenance of these connections.
Author:
Abstract
This chapter concentrates on two Indigenous plays from Oceania, Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker’s Kupua (Hawai‘i, 2001) and Albert Wendt’s The Songmaker’s Chair (Samoa/New Zealand, 2003), which it reads from a “close together” rather than “equal” viewpoint, thus echoing the “multiperspectivism” called for in Allen’s theories of Indigeneity. Allen’s vision prefigures Domínguez et al.’s reconfiguration of comparative literature according to a non-Eurocentric understanding of the world akin to Panikkar’s “imparative philosophy.” As Domínguez et al. argue, “imparative” comparative poetics facilitate the negotiation of cultural difference. This chapter therefore foregrounds the diverse local themes and aesthetic devices these artists deploy in their attempt to undo their homogenising effect of globalisation. In their subversive efforts, both playwrights forge innovative forms of magical realism rooted in Indigenous epistemologies. This chapter thus examines the magical realist aesthetic of the two plays according to the recent theoretical models provided by Jeanne Delbaere (psychic, grotesque and mythic realism) and Kim Anderson Sasser (summation modus operandi). It further shows how Hailiʻōpua Baker and Wendt revitalise the global writing mode of magical realism through local concepts: the Hawaiian “mo‘okū ‘auhau,” which links all people and living things, as well as the Samoan Vā, i.e. “the space between […] that relates, that holds, separate entities.” All in all, considered together, Baker’s and Wendt’s plays illustrate the diverse, rhyzomatic re-articulations of Indigenous knowledge in an increasingly globalised Oceania.