the actor sʼ body: image, metaphor and sign

216 Pages·2015·20.33 MB·English

STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEȘ-BOLYAI 1/2015
THE ACTORʼS
BODY:
IMAGE, METAPHOR
AND SIGN
STUDIA
UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI
DRAMATICA

1/2015
March

STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI
DRAMATICA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
ŞTEFANA POP-CURŞEU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

HONORIFIC BOARD:
GEORGE BANU, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle
ION VARTIC, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
MICHAEL PAGE, Calvin College

EDITORIAL BOARD:
LIVIU MALIŢA, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
ANCA MĂNIUȚIU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
MIRUNA RUNCAN, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
LAURA PAVEL-TEUTIȘAN, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
VISKY ANDRÁS, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
DORU POP, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
ANDREA TOMPA, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
IOAN POP-CURŞEU, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
DELIA ENYEDI, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
RALUCA SAS-MARINESCU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
ANCA HAŢIEGAN, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

INTERNATIONAL REFEREES:
DOMNICA RĂDULESCU, Washington and Lee University
PETER P. MÜLLER, University of Pécs
TOM SELLAR, Editor of Theatre Journal, Duke University Press, Yale University
JEAN-PIERRE SARRAZAC, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle
GILLES DECLERCQ, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle
PATRIZIA LOMBARDO, Geneva University
LAURA CARETTI, Università degli Studi di Siena

ISSUE EDITORS (1/2015):
MIRIAM CUIBUS and FILIP ODANGIU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

SECRETARY OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD:
IOAN POP-CURŞEU, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

EDITORIAL OFFICE: 4th Kogălniceanu Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
Phone: [phone],
Web site: http://studia.ubbcluj.ro/serii/dramatica,
Contact: [email protected]
Cover design: Filip Odangiu and Diana Aldea

STUDIA UBB EDITORIAL OFFICE: B.P. Hasdeu no. 51, 400371 Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
Phone + 40 264 405352, [email protected]
YEAR Volume 60 (LX) 2015
MONTH MARCH
ISSUE 1

Thematic issue

The Actor’s Body: Image, Metaphor and Sign

CONTENT / SOMMAIRE

STUDIES AND ARTICLES
Bronwyn TWEDDLE, Selective Brechtianism: Reworking Mother Savage
for the German Stage ...................................................................................... 9
Fabrice NOWAK, Yoshi Oida, portrait de l’acteur en initié * Yoshi Oida,
Portrait of the Actor as an Initiated Human Being ......................................... 31
Oana POCAN, Le corps conscient de l’acteur * The Actor’s Conscious
Body ................................................................................................................. 51
Anissa JAZIRI, Aspect du corps et qualité de l’âme dans quelques pièces
comiques et tragicomiques du XVIIe siècle français * Aspect of the
Body and Quality of the Soul in Some Comic and Tragic-Comic 17th-
Century French Plays ...................................................................................... 61
Christofi CHRISTAKIS, Le corps plastique dans l’œuvre dramatique
de Beckett : image, matière, mouvement, geste * The Plastic Body in
Beckett’s Drama: Image, Material, Movement, Gesture ................................. 79
Eszter HORVATH, Corps en acte, entre virtuel et actuel * The Acting
Body between Virtual and Actuality .................................................................. 103
Ioan POP-CURŞEU, Corps de sorcières, entre horreur et beauté. De la
peinture au cinéma, avatars d’une tradition iconographique * Bodies
of Witches, between Horror and Beauty. From Painting to Cinema, Avatars
of an Iconographic Tradition ......................................................................... 119
CONTENTS OF STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LX, 1, 2015

Meriam AZIZI, La figuration du corps dans la mise en scène filmique
du temps proustien * Representation of the Body in the Cinematographic
Staging of Proust’ Vision of Time ........................................................................ 131
Marie CLÉREN, « Ils sont du décor qui bouge » : corps « plastiques »
en scène * «They are Moving Décor»: «Plastic» Bodies on Stage ................. 145

CREATION, INTERVIEWS, MISCELLANEA
ANCA MĂNIUŢIU, ŞTEFANA POP-CURŞEU, La possibilità del Teatro *
The Possibility of Theatre, an Encounter of Reflection and Confrontation ........ 161
« Le théâtre comme un champ très large de pratiques du comporte-
ment humain ». En dialogue avec MARIO BIAGINI * “Theatre as a
Wide Field of Human Behaviour Experiences”. A Dialogue with MARIO
BIAGINI ........................................................................................................ 165
“Every Moment We Are In Has the Transparent Seed of Grace”. A
Dialogue with THOMAS RICHARDS ..................................................... 179
“The Artist's Work is Related to Creating a More Human Place for Us
Here”. A Dialogue with LLOYD BRICKEN ............................................ 185
« Je suis là, je travaille, c’est ma vie ». Un dialogue avec OPHÉLIE MAXO *
“I am here, I work, this is my life”. A Dialogue with OPHÉLIE MAXO ....... 191
“The Fulfillment Comes when Somebody Loves what He is Doing”.
A dialogue with ALEJANDRO RODRIGUEZ ........................................ 195

PERFORMANCE, FILM AND BOOK REVIEWS
DANIEL IFTENE, Take a Walk on the Shorts’ Side. ClujShorts International
Short Film Festival, 3rd edition (23-29 March) ......................................... 205
SIMINA RĂCHIŢEANU, Kenan Görgün and the Turkish Legacy of a
Belgian Writer. ClujShorts International Film Festival ......................... 209
DANA MONAH, Quand les livres parlent du théâtre: l’acteur dans la
littérature française [When Books talk about Theatre : The Actor in French
Literature] : Mihaela Mîrțu, L’acteur dans les rets de la fiction, Editura
Universității Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iași, 2014. ....................................... 213
6
STUDIES AND ARTICLES

STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LX, 1, 2015, p. 9 - 30
(Recommended Citation)

Selective Brechtianism:
Reworking Mother Savage for the German Stage

BRONWYN TWEDDLE*

Abstract: My bilingual (German/English) production of Travelling Light Theatre
Company’s (UK) work Mother Savage for the Studiobühne Essen (Germany) in
2012 became a dialogue with Brechtian theatre techniques, and an examination of
their relevance in the contemporary theatre. The production utilised a Brechtian
design aesthetic, which also questioned the concept of Historisierung (historicisation).
The emotionally-restrained acting style was an extended exploration of Brecht’s
concept of Gestus, the socially-determined action, in that the story of the 90-minute
piece was told predominantly through physical gesture. Our new production of
a devised, largely physical-theatre work originally created by another company,
can be compared to Brecht’s Modellbuch (model-book) idea. Production choices,
such as extended silence and a slow, drawn-out dramaturgical tempo, toyed
with the boundaries of performer and audience comfort. This discomfort provoked
spectators to observe closely and assess the action critically – demonstrating
that, with some adjustments, Brecht’s approaches to performance can still have
a strong impact.

Keywords: Brechtian theatre, Gestus, Historisierung, Modellbuch, physical theatre.

Introduction
A few years ago I read American director Anne Bogart’s account of
her first experience directing in Germany, during which she “resolved to speak
only German and to try to work like a German director.” [Bogart 2001: 13]
Because she wasn’t working from a base of who she was authentically, and
she didn't provide a “solid form for the actors to push against”, she claims
that “the results were disastrous” [Bogart 2001: 14]. So when I was invited

* Senior Lecturer in Victoria University of Wellington’s [New Zealand] Theatre Programme, e-mail:
[email protected]