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Sculpting Masculinities in 19th- and 20th-Century Physical Culture: The Practiced Life of Stanley Rothwell
No full textThe performance of physical transformation poses a methodological challenge for historians of 19th- and 20th-century physical culture: it is primarily the still image that evidences a dynamic, embodied practice. The archive of Stanley Rothwell (1904–1986) — British miner, artist’s model, bodybuilder, boxer, wrestler, writer, and physical educator — reveals the sculpted masculine “ideal” as a performance of becoming, in which the image is constantly trained, constructed, and rebuilt through repetition, allowing for the possibility of difference
Adiós Arturo: La Cubana de Vuelta:
No full textThis review article looks at the newest show, Adiós Arturo by one of Spain's most acclaimed theatre companies, La Cubana first presented in 201
The Racist Case for Diversity?
No full textThis short article responds to a notorious incidence of racism in a British theatre review from 2018 to argue that diversity initiatives in the British theatre have failed to challenge the assumptions of white supremacy at the level of narrative and discourse and have thereby not only acted as a fig-leaf for systemic racism, but have actively sustained it
Suffragette Judy: Punch and Judy at Suffrage Fairs and Exhibitions in Edwardian London
No full textThis chapter explores the phenomenon of Punch and Judy shows at suffrage exhibitions in Edwardian Britain. Drawing on examples of other entertainments at such events, this chapter considers the content and context of these shows within the wider performative presentation of violence and politicized female bodies by both militant and nonmilitant organizations in this period. The role of male supporters for Votes for Women in subverting the tropes of the traditional puppet show is contrasted with current debates within the Punch and Judy community around the concerns of feminist campaigners and the portrayal of domestic violence as entertainment
On Access in Applied Theatre and Drama Education
No full textThis book explores and interrogates access and diversity in applied theatre and drama education.
Access is persistently framed as a strategy to share power and to extend equality, but in the context of current and recent power struggles, it is also seen as a discourse that reinforces marginalisation and exclusion. The political bind of access is also a conceptual problem. It is impossible to refuse to engage in strategies to extend access to institutions, representations, buildings, education, discourse, etc. We cannot oppose access or strategies for access without reinforcing marginalisation and exclusion. We can’t not want access for ourselves or for others. However, we are then in danger of remaining immersed in a distribution of power that reinforces and naturalises inequality as difference. For applied theatre and drama education, the act of creating, teaching, and learning is intrinsically connected to choice, along with the agency and capacity to choose. What is less clear, and what still interests us, is how the distribution of power and representation creates the schema for an analysis of access and diversity.
This book was originally published as a special issue of Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance
Cymbeline 19
No full textSix scenes from Shakespeare's 'Cymbeline, King of Britain', performed by MA Acting Classical students and filmed by Illuminations Media. These scenes, excerpted from MA Acting's 2019 production of the play which opened the School's Courtyard Theatre, were filmed with Illuminations as part of a research project into the language of filmed theatre. Alongside 'Cymbeline 19' we filmed 'Cymbeline 37', the same six scenes in a reconstruction of a 1937 BBC broadcast of parts of an Embassy Theatre production of the play ('Cymbeline 37' is yet to be released)
Foucaults Theatre
No full textThe volume contributes to a new articulation of theatre and performance studies via Foucault's critical thought. With cutting edge studies by established and emerging writers in areas such as dramaturgy, film, music, cultural history and journalism, the volume aims to be accessible for both experienced researchers and advanced students encountering Foucault's work for the first time. The introduction sets out a thorough and informative assessment of Foucault's relevance to theatre and performance studies and to our present cultural moment - it rereads his profound engagement with questions of truth, power and politics, in light of previously unknown writings and lectures set in relation to current political and cultural concerns. Unique to this volume is the discovery of a 'theatrical' Foucault - the profound affinity of his thinking with questions of performativity. This discovery makes accessible the 'performance turn' to readers of Foucault, while opening up ways of reading Foucault's oeuvre 'theatrically'
Sites of Appearance, Matters of Thought: Hannah Arendt and Performance Philosophy
No full textThis editorial introduces this special issue on the thresholds, borders, and dialogues between Hannah Arendt’s work and performance philosophy, bringing together contributions that investigate political resistance, thought, and practice. Arendt’s relevance to our times is ubiquitous: from the near constant citation of The Origins of Totalitarianism in relation to the recent rise in strong-man politics and resurgent ethnic nationalism, to her diagnosis of the plight of refugees, denied even the rights belonging to those that have broken the law, but instead placed outside the law. Contemporary political philosophy also bears numerous influences, in the thinking of Mouffe, Rancière, Nancy, Agamben, Brown, Butler, and more. For performance philosophy, we might engage with Arendt’s performative notion of politics itself, as exemplified in her idea of ‘spaces of appearance’, but also the performativity of thought, as well as the implications of Arendt’s work for phenomenology, governmentality, rights, and ecology. Contributors to this special issue also think through the relevance of Arendt’s work for an anti-colonial and anti-racist political praxis, and for post and non-human political ethics, judgment, and thinking