Showing papers on "Postmodern theatre published in 1986"

Postmodern social theory

Abstract: My intentions are to review the major themes and problematics that have emerged over the last decade in postmodern social theory (see Foster 1983; Bernstein 1985; Jameson 1983, 1984a; Huyssen 1984; Jencks 1985; Newman 1985). I will examine the works of two leading French postmodern theorists, Lyotard (1971, 1974, 1984) and Baudrillard (1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1981, 1983a, 1983b, 1983c) against the backdrop of the poststructuralist and Critical Theory formulations of Barthes, Lacan, Althusser, Levi-Strauss, Derrida and Habermas. I hope to relate American social theory more closely to postmodern formulations. At the same time it is my desire to make social theory more alive to the current crises that grip the present world economic and cultural structures (Denzin 1986). Because Lyotard and Baudrillard offer explicit and implicit critiques of the Frankfurt School and Habermas, it will be necessary to briefly speak to Habermas's theory of communicative action (1975, 1983) as it applies to the legitimation crisis in post-capitalist societies. I will take up in order the following topics: (1) the current state of American social theory; (2) a brief discussion of the defining characteristics of postmodern theory; (3) an analysis of the major themes in Baudrillard and Lyotard's works; (4) a discussion of the Habermas critique of postmodernism and postmodern theory; (5) a set of proposals concerning the future directions social theory and empirical research might take, in light of the postmodern critique.

Pluralism in Postmodern Perspective

Abstract: Postmodernism once more-that breach has begun to yawn! I return to it by way of pluralism, which itself has become the irritable condition of postmodern discourse, consuming many pages of both critical and uncritical inquiry. Why? Why pluralism now? This question recalls another that Kant raised two centuries ago-"Was heisst Aufkliirung?"-meaning, "Who are we now?" The answer was a signal meditation on historical presence, as Michel Foucault saw.' But to meditate on that topic todayand this is my central claim-is really to inquire "Was heisst Postmodernmismus?" Pluralism in our time finds (if not founds) itself in the social, aesthetic, and intellectual assumptions of postmodernism-finds its ordeal, its rightness, there. I submit, further, that the critical intentions of diverse American pluralists-M. H. Abrams, Wayne Booth, Kenneth Burke, Matei Calinescu, R. S. Crane, Nelson Goodman, Richard McKeon, Stephen Pepper, not to mention countless other artists and thinkers of our moment-engage that overweening query, "What is postmodernism?," engage and even answer it tacitly. In short, like a latter-day M. Jourdain, they have been speaking postmodernism all their lives without knowing it. But what is postmodernism? I can propose no rigorous definition of it, any more than I could define modernism itself. For the term has become a current signal of tendencies in theater, dance, music, art, and architecture; in literature and criticism; in philosophy, psychoanalysis, and historiography; in cybernetic technologies and even in the sciences.

The classical heritage of modern drama: the case of postmodern theatre

Abstract: Whoever wishes to evaluate the classical heritage of modem drama is confronted from the beginning with the problem of defining notions which are either deliciously imprecise or archaic. This all too attractive opportunity tempts us to unravel the ambiguities attached to every one of these tenms and to test their paradoxical meanings and semantic richness. For it is only by playing on these words, using the negative dialectic dear to Theodor W. Adorno, that we can unblock certain contradictions and shake up some old habits. Each of these notions recalls its opposite, or at least a corrective or a different point of view that relativizes its meaning.

Drumbeats, masks, and metaphor : contemporary Afro-American theatre

Abstract: * Introduction * The Historical Precedent * Theatre and the Black Community * The Pitfalls of Integration * Creating a Community Theatre * Black Fire * The Theoretical Foundations of New Black Theatre * The Militant Theatre * LeRoijones/Amiri Baraka: An Iconoclastic Theatre * Jones/Baraka: A Revolutionary Theatre * Poems like Fists * Allegory, jazz, and Race Relations * Victims, Traitors, and Rebels * Rituals of Vengeance * Ideologies of Nationalism and Revolution * Model Punishments and Imaginary Games * Revolutionary Theatre and Promethean Consciousness * The Theatre of Experience * Metaphors in the Titles of Plays * Race Relations * The Family and the Community * Heroes and Rituals of the Street * J. F. Gaines and Melvin van Peebles: Humor and Play * Ed Bullins: The Language of the Blues * Edgar White: The Odyssey of the Picaro * Paul Carter Harrison: For a Neo--African Theatre * Theatre and Culture * Conclusion * Notes * Index

A companion to post-war British theatre

Abstract: This original compilation is a comprehensive guide to every aspect of contemporary British theatre. It contains entries on playwrights and their plays; on major directors, actors and theatre groups; on alternative theatre, 'schools' of dramatic practice, critical idioms and stage history. It will be an invaluable source of reference for the student of drama, the critic, the aspiring writer or actor; and a desirable acquisition for the thousands who visit the theatre regularly.

New directions in contemporary music theatre

Abstract: Initial research in Australia into attitudes of personnel involved in the generation and realization of contemporary Music Theatre/Opera, revealed opinions that the Nineteen Eighties represented a period of consolidation for the genre in the wake of the tremendous advances made since World War II. The author was concerned that this consolidation process was, in fact, harbouring 'backward-looking' attitudes and that new Ideas which would ensure the future existence of the genre were not being explored. Further research was undertaken In England to establish current opinions as to what makes artistically and financially viable Music Theatre/ Opera for audiences of today. This thesis is concerned with Music Theatre/Opera as a multi-faceted art form and in this respect, the three major works discussed as examples of some of the new directions being taken outside of Australia, are viewed from different perspectives. "Akhnaten" (Glass) is discussed In terms of two. different production styles within an overall view of the works accessibility, while "Donnerstag aus Licht" (Stockhausen) highlights the textual and musical Intentions of the composer in generating a non-collaborative work. "The Mask of Orpheus" (B irtw istle ) concentrates on the artistic and financial problems associated with a Twentieth Century 'spectacle'.

The Nature of Theatre Dialogue

Abstract: ‘What makes one sentence into a line of poetry and another sentence dull and lifeless?’ This was one of the questions Arnold Wesker set out to answer from the point-of-view of the practising playwright rather than the critical theorist, when he delivered the following pape; to the biennial conference of the International Association of Theatre Critics in Rome in 1985. He examines the constituent elements of stage dialogue in supposdly ‘raistic’ drama and th rigorous if not always conscious process of artistic selection and shaping diotated, in his own practice, by the natur of the originating experence. He illustrates his argument with extracts from his own works. including his most recently staged play in London, Annie Wobbler – the first in a now-completed cycle of four plays for on woman of which Four Portraits, Yardsal, and Whatever Happened to Betty Lemon? are the other parts. A frequent contributor to the original series of Theatre Quarterly , Arnold Wesker's earliest works, the plays of the ‘Wesker Trilogy’ and The kitchen , were milestones in the creatior of the ‘now British drama’ of the late fifties, and he has continuec to write for the theatre in a wide range of styles – which have been known to disturb the ‘expectations of realism’ of some of the critics he was here addressing…

Feminism in the French Theatre: a Turn-of-the-Century Perspective

Abstract: Even to sympathetic theatrical observers, ‘feminism’ in France at the turn of the century was often regarded as merely incidental to the larger concerns of the ‘social’ drama; and dramatic debate tended to focus on the issue of a woman's assertion of ‘freedom’ versus her presumably ‘natural’ functions as wife and mother. In this article, Elaine Aston illuminates such attitudes, utilizing both the texts of contemporary plays and discussion in journals current at the time. But she also detects early theatrical evidence of a slow shift towards a questioning of prevailing assumptions – and a belief (which today strikes her as enviable) in the power of theatre to effect social change.