Ibsen in Practice Relational Readings of Performance, Cultural Encounters and Power
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Frode Helland is Professor of Scandinavian Literature and Director of the Centre for Ibsen Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway.An intricately layered exploration of the complex relational connections that contribute to the construction of a global “Ibsen” … Helland’s vivid and engaging prose is one of the volume’s greatest attributes, as his explanations of each production’s aesthetics are meticulously detailed, almost novelistic, in their style … <i>Ibsen in Practice</i> functions as a valuable text across disciplines, providing not only exacting explorations of Ibsen’s plays in performance around the globe, but also demonstrating the power of precision in analyzing the contextual influences at work in the transfer of canonical literature across cultures.
Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism
Helland presents a fascinating study of how innovative craftspeople bring Ibsen’s dramaturgy to contemporary audiences across linguistic and national boundaries in ways that resonate with local viewers and simultaneously preserve a thematic core that is recognizably Ibsenian … What emerges from Helland's perceptive discussions is the realization that monumental art such as <i>A Doll’s House</i>,<i>Hedda Gabbler</i>, <i>An Enemy of the People</i>, <i>The Wild Duck</i>, <i>The Master Builder</i>, and <i>Peer Gynt</i>?works that Helland deftly explores in cultural contexts outside of Scandinavia?can have an enduring performance life even in venues different from the author’s in terms of politics, economics, ethnicity, or ideology. <b>Summing Up</b>: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.
- H. I. Einsohn, Middlesex Community College, CHOICE
Anyone looking for an explanation of Ibsen as performed today across cultures and in various theater circumstances around the world will be enlightened by Ibsen in Practice, a model of careful examination of the cross-cultural transfer of canonical dramatic works in performance … With its precise accounts of many productions across decades and cultures, its informative contextualizations, and its methodological self-awareness … Helland’s work offers a valuable model for further research and is indispensable for anyone teaching Ibsen.
- Dean Krouk, Scandinavian Studies
Helland’s study provides extensive description and contextual analysis of major productions of Ibsen’s plays across the (mostly contemporary) global north and south, providing an opportune sourcebook for researchers and scholars across disciplines … Helland’s detailed and comparative descriptions of these productions contribute valuable additions to the historical record of the precarious global embrace of Ibsen.
- Amy Holzapfel, Comparative Drama
Frode Helland’s <i>Ibsen in Practice</i> is a significant contribution to a comparatively recent critical approach to Ibsen … where Helland has been unable to see the performances about which he writes, or when he relegates himself to the status of a 'cultural outsider' (88), he provides meticulous scholarship and relies on the cultural and political history of the productions he researches, revealing both the integrity and the humility of a critic who is determined to understand the 'material and artistic context' (139) that would enable his readers to grasp the nature of the cultural exchanges that are central to his approach to Ibsen performance in global terms.
Modern Drama
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Introduction
1 Against Capitalist Realism: Thomas Ostermeier
Hedda Gabler
In the display case
Violence to the end
An Enemy of the People
Excursus: Between cultures (Istanbul, May 2014)
The relation to capitalism
2 A Doll’s House in Chile: Dictatorship and its Aftermath
In silence: A Doll’s House at the Catholic University (1980)
Nora under the (continuing) neoliberal regime
Teatro Nacional: Alfredo Castro (2006)
Teatro la Memoria (2011)
In pursuit of Nora Helmer (2012)
The Chilean way
3 Ibsen under the Radar: Censorship and Artistic Expression
Prelude: Double dolls in Hanoi
Iran: A Doll’s House and The Wild Duck
Dariush Mehrjui’s Sara
The fragmented female
The politics of clothing
Decency and identification
Tarantella
The question of agency
Life-lies in the theatre: My Wild Duck
Ideals and critique
Visual signs: The Master Builder from Beijing
Concluding conjectures
4 Three Chinese Dolls
Beijing Doll’s House: Nora (1956)
The performance
Culture and/or gender: A Doll’s House in the ‘New Era’ (Beijing 1998)
The changes of the ‘New Era’
The adaptation
Dancing dolls (Beijing 2010)
Funding and re-funding
Sino-Norwegian dance
5 Peer Gynt in Africa: Some Notes on the Dangers and Ambiguities of Interculturalism
The orient in the text
Peer in Africa – Zimbabwe 183
Peer Gynt on the Giza Plateau
Between cultures
Coda: From Dhaka to Mabou Mines
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Methuen Drama Engage offers original reflections about key practitioners, movements and genres in the fields of modern theatre and performance.
Each volume seeks to challenge mainstream critical thought through the introduction of original and interdisciplinary perspectives to the body of work under examination. Contributions to volumes will challenge existing critical paradigms and do so in an engaging and accessible manner that will open up fresh approaches and suggest avenues for further exploration.