masthead

upstage

The theatre of the fin-de-siècle viewed from the wings

No 4 : Prompt for Autumn 2008

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To THE OSCHOLARS homepage | For the Table of Contents, click | To hub page

‘Well, come, gentle reader, why doesnt anybody go to the theatre? Do you suppose that even I would go to the theatre twice a year except on business? You would never dream of asking why Morris did not read penny novelettes, or hang his rooms with Christmas number chromolithographs. We have no theatre for men like Morris; indeed, we have no theatre for quite ordinary cultivated people. I am a person of fairly catholic interests: it is my privilege to enjoy the acquaintance of a few representative people in various vortices of culture. I know some of the most active minded and intelligent of the workers in social and political reform. They read stories with an avidity that amazes me; but they dont go to the theatre. I know the people who are struggling for the regeneration of the arts and crafts. They dont go to the theatre. I know people who amuse their leisure with edition after edition of the novels of Mrs Humphry Ward, Madame Sarah Grand, and Mr Harold Frederic, and who could not for their lives struggle through two chapters of Miss Corelli, Mr Rider Haggard, or Mr Hall Caine. They dont go to the theatre.’ –– from Bernard Shaw's obituary for William Morris in the Saturday Review of 10th October 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Click to see the entry.
News
Editorial
Publication
Recent & Forthcoming Productions
Henrik Ibsen		Michael Field
Henry James		Two Edwardian Plays
Societies
The Ibsen Society of America		The Irving Society
The Strindberg Society		The American Society for Theatre Research
The Irish Society for Theatre Research		The Society for Theatre Research
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Seminars, Conferences & Calls
British Aestheticisms		The Craig Lectures
Platform		Irish Society for Theatre Research
The East End Seen Though Performance
Journals
Contemporary Theatre Review		Puppet Notebook
Modern Drama		Rogues & Vagabonds
Mofa		Theatre Notebook
Links
All about Jewish Theatre
Backstage
Henry Irving Foundation
Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection
Theatre History
Victorian Plays Project
Curtain Call
Sarah Bernhardt

EDITORIAL

We launched this page in October 2007 as part of our reconstruction, gathering articles and notices on Theatre that previously were scattered through different sections of THE OSCHOLARS: Beyond the Wilderness, Publications, Being Talked About and The Society Page; and strengthened its identity in December 2007. This process will continue, even if a little irregularly at first. Our aim is to give an overview of contemporary representation of and scholarship on fin-de-siècle theatre, and guide readers to further research. Items which directly concern Wilde, Shaw, Moore or Lee will continue to be found in THE OSCHOLARS (see especially Going Wilde), Shavings, Moorings and The Sibyl. Similar articles concerning the French fin-de-siècle will be found in rue des beaux-arts.

We hope that readers will alert us to events of interest, notably to productions of works by or publications on our chosen authors, basically Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann, Maeterlinck, Schnitzler, Wedekind; and to associations that undertake their study. Suggestions and offers to review are always welcome, as is discussion in our forum. We would particularly like to learn more about doctoral or post-doctoral research.

Previous editions of are archived.

Material is provided by our team of Associate Editors

PUBLICATION

A new edition is announced of the Dictionnaire Encyclopédique du Théâtre (Paris: Bordas, 2008). Edited by Michel Corvin, this is an uniquely comprehensive encyclopaedia that covers all aspects of theatre: history, aesthetics, economics, legislation, sociology, philosophy, literature, technology, scenography, architecture, site. With 2650 entries written by scholars from around the world, this dictionary is an exhaustive study, whose accessibility means it will be of use to academics, students, theatre professionals and theatre enthusiasts. It covers the earliest performance practices, and travels across time to the present day, with up-to-date information on the most important writers, actors, performance artists, directors, performance spaces and forms. It travels across, space, passing through each continent, to provide a chronologically and geographically complete study.

RECENT & FORTHCOMING PRODUCTIONS

listed by author

michael field

The Airmid Theatre (New York) presented A Question of Memory by Michael Field [Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper] (1893) on 8th September. Directed by Tricia McDermott. Dramaturgy by Maxine Kern.

Featuring: Greg Foro, Adam Green, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Ellen Mittenthal, Margi Sharp, Matt Walker, Matthew Waterson.

1848: Tensions run high in a small Hungarian village not far from a military outpost. The residents thirst for independence from Austria but are forced to mix with occupying officers and do their best to keep the peace. Young ladies fall in love and plan marriages, others dream of love from afar, and love rebuffed simmers and stirs dangerous jealousy. When war is declared, the local regiment is called to arms. All bets are off when an unexpected turn of events shatters the villagers' idealism and the schoolmaster is captured by officers who know him well. Under the stress of interrogation, will he confess all he knows or is it simply a Question of Memory. A Question of Memory casts a sobering light upon the far-reaching effects of war. Juxtaposing heroism with betrayal and patriotism with familial loyalty, Field's play raises questions about love, war, and humanity that are both timely and universal. http://www.airmidtheatre.org

HENRIK IBSEN

The Irish Repertory Theatre, New York, opened its 21st Season with the World Premiere of Frank McGuinness’s adaptation of THE MASTER BUILDER.

Performances Begin: Friday, 10th October 2008. Official Opening: Thursday, 23rd October 2008

Two-time Tony Award winner, James Naughton will star in the Frank McGuinness adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s, THE MASTER BUILDER which opens the twenty-first season at The Irish Repertory Theatre. The World Premiere adaptation, directed by Ciaran O’Reilly, will begin performances on October 10th, and have its official opening on October 23, 2008. Along with Mr. Naughton, the cast includes Charlotte Parry, Letitia Lange, Kristin Griffith, Daniel Cameron Talbott, Herb Foster, and Doug Stender.

Frank McGuiness’s adaptations of Ibsen’s work have received world-wide acclaim, including The 1997 Tony Award for best revival of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” This adaptation of The Master Builder was commissioned by The Irish Repertory Theatre.

THE MASTER BUILDER (1892): Halvard Solness, a successful architect and builder in a small Norwegian town has dominated his staff and his wife, Aline. Hilde Wangel, a vivacious young woman arrives unannounced. Hilde has idolized Solness for ten years, since he built a large church in her hometown and dramatically climbed to the top if the tower to celebrate its dedication. The architect’s heroic presence had a profound effect on the young and impressionable girl of twelve as he promised to return in ten years time and, “build her a kingdom.” Today, the ten years are up and Hilde has come to reap what he has sown.

Frank McGuinness was born in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, and now lives in Dublin and lectures in English at University College, Dublin. His plays include: The Factory Girls (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1982 and Arcola Theatre, London, January 2006), Baglady (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985; Hampstead Theatre, London, 1986), Innocence (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1986), Carthaginians (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1988; Hampstead Theatre, London, 1989), Mary and Lizzie (RSC, 1989), The Bread Man (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1991), Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Hampstead, West End and Broadway, 1992, West End 2005), The Bird Sanctuary (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1992), Mutabilitie (RNT, 1997), Dolly West’s Kitchen (Abbey, 1999; Old Vic, 2000) and Gates of Gold (The Gate Theatre, Dublin, 2002, Finborough Theatre, London, 2004). His translations include Ibsen’s Rosmersholm (RNT, 1987), Lorca’s Yerma (Abbey, 1987), Peer Gynt (Gate, 1988; RSC and international tour, 1994; RNT, 2000), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Gate and Royal Court, 1990), Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera (Gate, 1991), Hedda Gabler (Roundabout Theatre, Broadway, 1994), Uncle Vanya (Field Day Production, 1995), A Doll’s House (Playhouse Theatre, Broadway, 1997), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (RNT, 1997), Sophocles’ Electra (Chichester, Donmar Warehouse, Broadway, 1998), Ovstrovsky’s The Storm (Almeida Theatre, London, 1998), Miss Julie (West End, 2000), Euripides’ Hecuba (Donmar Warehouse, 2004), his adaptation of Du Maurier’s Rebecca (David Pugh Productions, national tour, 2005) and his version of Phaedra (Donmar Warehouse, 2006). Frank’s latest play There Came a Gypsy Riding was produced by the Almeida Theatre in 2007.

Ciarán O’Reilly (Director) most recently directed Prisoner of the Crown, Sive, Defender of the Faith, The Hairy Ape (Drama Desk Nom.), The Field, Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Drama Desk Nom.), and The Irish Rep original, The Bells of Christmas. He also directed The Nightingale and Not The Lark and The Invisible Man by Jennifer Johnston. He was recently seen in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Touch of A Poet with Gabriel Byrne. Previous to that, he appeared at The Westport Country Playhouse in Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness. He has appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and made his Broadway debut in The Corn is Green. His many Off-Broadway roles include: two productions of The Shadow of a Gunman; Brendan Behan’s The Hostage; Hugh Leonard’s Da, Summer and The Au Pair Man; Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come!; J.M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World; Harold Prince’s Grandchild of Kings; Geraldine Aron’s Same Old Moon; Tom Murphy’s A Whistle in the Dark; Dion Boucicault’s The Shaughraun; John Murphy’s The Country Boy; and Frank McCourt’s The Irish...and How They Got That Way. He appeared in The Devil’s Own (starring Harrison Ford), “Law & Order” (NBC), “The Irish...and How They Got That Way” (WNEW), and “Third Watch” (NBC). He founded The Irish Repertory Theatre with Charlotte Moore, has appeared in many of their productions, and has produced all of them.

The creative team for The Master Builder includes Eugene Lee, Set Design, Linda Fisher, Costume Design, Michael Gottlieb, Lighting Design, Zachary Williamson, Sound Design, Robert-Charles Vallance, Hair and Wig Design, and Rick Murray, Prop Master. Stage Manager is Pamela Brusoski and Assistant Stage Manager is Janice M. Brandine.

Henry James

Writer-director Liam Halligan’s new stage adaptation of Henry James’ 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw completed its current run on May 10th at the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co Wicklow. The Storytellers Theatre Company toured from Tallaght to Kilkenny, Waterford, Ballymun, Navan, Sligo, Longford, Castleblaney, Cavan and Letterkenny before ending in Bray. I attended on the closing night and the production was still going strong.

The Turn of the Screw is a claustrophobic novella, so the decision to use only four actors on stage worked well. Ruth McGill played the Governess as her twenty-year-old self and also as an elderly woman revisiting her past. Chris Patrick Simpson played both the mysterious gentleman known as ‘The Master’ who hires the Governess and Miles, his young nephew. Helen Delaney was Miles’ little sister Flora and Deirdre Monaghan was Mrs Grose the housekeeper. The ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel were left to the imagination, with the hint that the audience members were standing in for both the apparitions and the edited out character of Douglas.

Useful notes were provided in the programme for the play. Fans of Henry James are well aware that he wrote ghost stories like ‘Sir Edmund Orme’ in which the ghost is apparently quite real. For newcomers to James, listing the author’s links to The Society of Psychical Research was helpful background information.

It was a welcome relief to see that the story had not been updated to the twentieth or twenty-first century, something that tends to be a disappointment for Victorianists. For the most part, the cast spoke the actual dialogue that James had written for his characters, meaning that audience members who had read the book had the chance to see how some of James’ more ambiguous lines were interpreted. Ruth McGill, for example, portrays the Governess as an awkward young woman who is still overly dominated by her upbringing in a vicarage. Consequently McGill allows her character’s pronouncements to sound more simpering than sweet in the early part of the play. The Governess’ gauche attempts to befriend the children give way to a convincing desperation as the ghosts begin to appear.

The set was simple and effective. A full-length mirror placed us in the Governess’ bedroom. Six arched trees suggested both the garden of Bly and the walls of the house. More trees were brought on stage as the play progressed as if to imply that the Governess was increasingly lost in the woods. The treacherous lake of Bly was represented by a shallow moat of water that was built into the front of the stage. The children splashed and played in the water, always suggesting the possibility of death by drowning. In the novella, the former governess Miss Jessel tries to lure Flora across the water to her, presumably to kill her and thus reclaim her.

The most significant change in Halligan’s adaptation is in the framing device of the story. The beginning of James’ The Turn of the Screw is deliberately confusing: Douglas, now an elderly man at a Christmas gathering, looks back forty years to recall his sister’s governess and a sad tale from her past. As a young man, he is entrusted with her written account of the tragedy at Bly only a decade after the main story has taken place, perhaps because he reminds her of Miles. Understandably, Halligan simplifies the frame of the story for the stage by allowing the governess to speak to us as an elderly woman. It is implied that the audience may be standing in for Douglas as a trusted confidante although his name is not mentioned.

The children’s uncle places their ages as slightly older than in the novella, at twelve and ten. Miles and Flora are both played by adults rather than pubescent children, something that accentuates the obvious error in both the Governess and Mrs Grose’s belief that they are playful babies. As Miles, Chris Patrick Simpson is a little boy at one moment and a youth with a crush on his governess at the next. He imitates the late Quint’s phrases and seductive looks, but the Governess responds by kissing him as if he were an affectionate toddler. The play acknowledges that seeming to be possessed in adolescence is probably normal, as children try to cope with the challenging onset of more adult feelings. Yet there is an amusing nod to The Exorcist when Flora writhes on her bed in a fever, shocking Mrs Grose by repeating the swearwords that she learnt from Quint or Miss Jessel.

To capture Mrs Grose’s odd mixture of common sense and superstition, Deirdre Monaghan plays the housekeeper as a solid countrywoman who has inherited both traits from her community. Like the Governess, she also has a destructive need to believe in the children’s purity. Helen Delaney’s Flora is called both an ‘angel’ and a ‘vixen’ in the course of the play, an acknowledgement of the Victorians’ contradictory attitude to women. The children’s time in India is highlighted by Flora’s dancing with bells, the dance also hinting at Flora’s emerging sexuality and her inevitable journey away from her childhood. Miles and Flora often sing folk ballads that remind the audience of the disastrous end to Quint and Miss Jessel’s socially prohibited love affair (he is apparently murdered and she either commits suicide or dies in childbirth). Each song suggests an unfair punishment for sexual behaviour, particularly for women.

Strong performances all around produced the desired effect on the audience. The fact that the Governess stares accusingly out at us when seeing her ghosts added to the feeling of uneasiness. People who had not read the book told me at the interval that they knew there would be a tragic ending. The Governess seems more obviously insane in the play than in the novella and the general consensus amongst the audience on the night was that she was unbalanced. Yet an alternative explanation of the Governess’ behaviour is that her twenty-year old self unknowingly breaks through the fourth wall of the stage to see us and be terrified by us, implicating the audience in the series of disasters that follows. Conversely, the elderly Governess is fully aware of the audience and pleads with us to look at the happenings in Bly on her behalf. A similar sense of unreality and disorientation is conveyed in the novella by James’ recurring use of frames and art imagery, as if the Governess is trapped in a painting like the soul of Dorian Gray.

The climactic scene of the play – Miles’ ‘confession’ and death - is more conclusive than the novella. The Governess accidentally strangles Miles while embracing him, which is certainly one possible interpretation of ‘I caught him, yes I held him – it may be imagined with what a passion’. In Halligan’s version, the Governess is guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Her older self sadly concludes that the ghosts in Bly were the products of her own imagination. Yet an opposing voice, that of Mrs Grose, still claims that the ghosts were real and informs us that the Governess was again employed by another family ten years later. We see Flora trembling and crying just before the stage lights dim, about to dive into the lake. It is uncertain whether Miss Jessel or the Governess is responsible for her death. Flora’s suicide is threatened but does not occur in the novella. Possibly Halligan felt that James’ ending – which never reveals Flora’s fate after she is sent away from Bly – was unsatisfactory.

The play was an enjoyable experience for everyone in the audience as a compelling story. For fans of Henry James, Halligan’s script and direction provided a suggestive and useful interpretation of James’ deliberately ambiguous material.

Aoife Leahy

TWO EDWARDIAN PLAYS IN NEW YORK

Airmid Theatre, Monday 27th October 2008

Celebrating Suffrage: Two Short Comedies. Directed by Tricia McDermott. Dramaturgy by Catherine Pressimone

"How the Vote was Won" by Cicely Hamilton and Christopher St. John (Christabel Marshall) (British, 1909) imagines the hilarious ramifications of what happens when all women decide to stop working until they get the vote.

"A Chat with Mrs. Chicky" by Evelyn Glover (British, 1912) pits a well-educated anti-suffrage woman against a poor charwoman in a comic conversation about women's competency and need to have a voice in government.

THEATRE SOCIETIES

THE IBSEN SOCIETY OF AMERICA

‘To live is - to war with trolls

In the holds of the heart and mind.’

The Ibsen Society of America (ISA) was founded in 1978 at the close of the Ibsen Sesquicentennial Symposium held in New York City to mark the 150th anniversary of Henrik Ibsen's birth. The late Ibsen translator and critic Rolf Fjelde, Professor of Literature at Pratt Institute and the chief organizer of the Symposium, was elected Founding President. In December, 1979, the ISA was certified as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of New York.

The purpose of the Ibsen Society of America, as set out in its Bylaws, is to foster through lectures, readings, performances, conferences, and publications an understanding of Ibsen's works as they are interpreted in texts and produced on stage and in film and other media. The Society is The Ibsen Society of America by virtue of its location and the citizenship of most of its members, but it is concerned with Ibsen activities throughout the world. Membership in The Ibsen Society of America is open to anyone with an interest in Ibsen.

The ISA publishes an annual journal, Ibsen News and Comment, distributed free to all members, which reports on Ibsen activities within the ISA and throughout the world. It reviews productions of Ibsen's plays and recent books and articles on Ibsen. Every issue features the only existing critical annotated bibliography of current articles on Ibsen.

A Call for Papers (now closed) has been issued for the The XIIth International Ibsen Conference: “Ibsen Across Cultures”

14th–20th June 2009 at Fudan University, Shanghai.

The journal is edited by Joan Templeton, The Ibsen Society of America, Department of English, Long Island University–Brooklyn Campus, One University Plaza, Brooklyn, New York 11201. E-mail: @ or @ (but e-mail communication is difficult). If you click the masthead below, you will arrive at the most recent issue on line, volume 27, 2007. Although the site is a very useful introduction to the Ibsen Society and its concerns, it obviously is a struggle to keep it up to date: the bibliography ends in 2004, for example.

The Society’s meetings are announced on their website (last updated 28th January 2008 click the image below).

THE IRVING SOCIETY

The Irving Society was founded in 1996 to explore the life and times of Sir Henry Irving, the first actor to be knighted and the figure who, more than any other, raised the theatre to the status of a fine art. The complexity of his character, his mesmeric personality, his personal integrity and messianic intensity still fascinate us nearly a century after his death. The late Sir John Gielgud was a Founder Patron, and Sir Henry's great-grandson, John H.B. Irving, is a current Patron. Frances Hughes succeeded Michael Kilgarriff in the chair.

The Society organises functions, trips, lectures, and meetings of various kinds five times a year, besides publishing a quarterly newsletter, The Irvingite, and a half-yearly journal, First Knight. The latest issue of The Irvingite (No 45 October 2008) is now published and can be downloaded from their website as a .pdf file (35.64 Mb – be warned!).

The annual subscriptions (including publications) are Single - £20.00; Couples - £34.00; Overseas - £24.00 and can be sent (STERLING ONLY) to the Honorary Treasurer, Sylvia Starshine, THE IRVING SOCIETY, Flat 7, 23 Stanhope Road, London N6 5AW, England @

For more details see the Society’s website (click on the logo).

the strindberg society

The Strindberg Society (Strindbergssällskapet) was founded in 1945 and is thus one of the oldest literary societies devoted to a single person. The purposes of the Society are to support the Strindberg Museum as well as research on Strindberg; collect, register and look after different kinds of Strindberg memorials; publish texts and documents; arrange conferences. Its website can be reached by clicking its colophon.

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH

The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) is a U.S.-based professional organization that fosters scholarship on worldwide theatre and performance, both historical and contemporary. ASTR was founded in 1956 to encourage theatre scholarship and to provide a link with other similar groups represented in the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR/FIRT). Its name was adopted to distinguish it from the Society for Theatre Research, based in the United Kingdom. After each year's conference, the Program Committee for the next conference circulates a general call for proposals for plenary papers and working sessions. Once these have been selected, usually in early spring, the Program Committee compiles and releases a call for participants in the working sessions, each with its own participant/proposal parameters. For more information, click the banner.

THE IRISH SOCIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH

The Irish Society for Theatre Research (ISTR) aims to facilitate research on Irish theatre in its national and international contexts in terms of an engagement with the full spectrum of Irish theatre from page to stage. The field of Irish Theatre Studies is being transformed by new approaches to the rich history of Irish theatre and by the remarkable diversity of contemporary theatrical practice. ISTR was founded in order to develop and promote new and challenging ways of thinking about Irish theatre which engage with diverse contemporary historiographical, theoretical, cultural and performance frameworks.

A peer-reviewed journal has been established, Irish Theatre International, the journal of ISTR, aiming to publish research on Irish theatre in its national and international contexts in terms of an engagement with the full spectrum of Irish theatre from page to stage; and to publish interdisciplinary research between theatre studies in Ireland and the wider community of theatre and performance studies in its international contexts. Members of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal currently include Nicholas Grene, Cheryl Herr, Joan Fitzpatrick Dean, Janelle Reinelt, Marilynn Richtarik, Anthony Roche, Shaun Richards, Neil Sammells and Brian Singleton.

The ISTR website recently moved from www.qub.ac.uk/istr to www.istr-ctae.org/home.html, where the latest news (at 22nd November) is dated April 2008.

THE SOCIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH

Six or more evening meetings are held monthly in London during the winter for members, their guests, and the general public, at which lectures (given by invited speakers) are followed by discussion and refreshments. A special Annual address is given, usually in May, following the Society's Annual General Meeting. Last year the Annual Address was ‘Deceptive Masks and Honest Faces?: The Representation of the Actress in mid-19th Century Drama’ by Jan McDonald, MA, FRSE, FRSAMD, Emerita Professor of Drama in the department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies of the University of Glasgow. The lecture considered 19th century drama as a source for the theatre historian, focussing particularly on Masks and Faces by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor, both experienced men of the theatre as well as authors.

A very useful register of members’ research interests is on the Society’s website.

The Society promotes further ad hoc activities for members and their guests. These have included Saturday ‘Study-days’, open to the public, when a topic is explored in depth by a series of speakers; day-trips to places of theatrical interest; and commemorative celebrations. The Society’s website can be checked by clicking on their colophon.

The Society also

· Distributes Theatre Notebook, an illustrated journal devoted to the history and technique of the British theatre, worldwide to members.

· Holds an annual Festival in memory of William Poel in which students from leading drama schools perform.

· Acts as an advisory body on theatrical matters and puts on occasional Study Days on particular aspects of theatre.

· Awards research grants to encourage work on theatrical subjects, especially those connected with live theatre.

· Awards an annual Theatre Book Prize for original research into any aspect of the history and technique of the British theatre.

This site is regularly updated, and was redesigned earlier this year.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR THEATRE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Association for Theatre in Higher Education is an American organization of individuals and institutions that provides vision and leadership for the profession and promotes excellence in theatre education. ATHE actively supports scholarship through teaching, research and practice and serves as a collective voice for its mission through its publications, conferences, advocacy, projects, and through collaborative efforts with other organizations.

ATHE's 1,800 members include post-secondary faculty in theatre and related fields, graduate students, and theatre and performance artists in universities, commercial venues, and community-based and alternative theatres. Organizational members include theatre departments at colleges and universities, training conservatories, and many theatres.

Members receive a variety of benefits including subscriptions to publications, reduced rates at the national conference, a listing in the ATHE directory, a members-only e-mail list, and a chance to participate in specific interest groups.

The website (recently redesigned and simplified) currently includes information on the 2009 Conference in New York and the 24th October 2008 issue of ATHENews, ATHE’s Online Newsletter.

SEMINARS, CONFERENCES AND CALLS FOR PAPERS

CALL FOR PAPERS: British Aestheticisms : Sources, Genres, Definitions, Evolutions

Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier 2nd—3rd October 2009

www.esthetismes.org

A social phenomenon, an artistic movement, and a literary trend, British Aestheticism has been the object of multiple, sometimes contradictory, definitions which all point to its central role in the advent of modernity. As a movement and as an operative notion Aestheticism is of major importance to anybody interested in nineteenth and early twentieth century British culture.

This international conference on ‘British Aestheticisms : Sources, Genres, Definitions, Evolutions,’ which will take place in October 2009, aims at re-examining the notion of Aestheticism from a transdisciplinary perspective and hopes to attract contributions (in French or in English) from researchers across the fields of British studies, comparative studies, art history, publishing history, aesthetics, philosophy, reception theory, women’s studies, queer theory, and gay and lesbian studies.

Papers may focus on the definition and the boundaries of Aestheticism, its relationship with tradition, and its links with contemporary or subsequent movements (European Decadence, Modernism, etc.) ; we also encourage contributions on the generic definition of Aestheticism, its editorial policies or its circulation and popularization via other media (visual arts, theatre, music-hall) in mainstream culture as well as in various alternative communities, in the general context of the explosion of the means of communication and mechanic reproduction, or what L. Dowling calls 'artistic vulgarisation'. What authors were/are considered aesthetic ? Who read Aesthetic writings (both fiction and non-fiction), bought or saw Aesthetic products, or attended Aesthetic performances? Furthermore, as Aestheticism is concomitant with a re-envisaging of gender and identities, contributors may want to explore the links between Aestheticism and Victorian feminism and with the 'third sex'. Finally, one may want to examine the philosophical underpinnings of a movement based on Kantian philosophy which aimed at challenging oppositions between aesthetics and ethics : is Aestheticism a subversion, a redefinition, or a suspension of the oppositions between aesthetics and ethics ?

We welcome papers addressing, but not limited to, the following issues :

Aestheticism and literary tradition

The sex of Aestheticism

Aestheticism and subversion

Women aesthetes

Aestheticism, its scandals and its trials (Rossetti, Ruskin, Whistler, Wilde)

Aestheticism and the visual arts

Reception of British Aestheticism abroad

Aestheticism in the museum : its exhibition style, its exhibition venues, its artists, its exhibitions then and now

Aestheticism and European Decadence

The circulation of Aesthetic production : publishing, reproduction, periodicals

Aestheticism and Modernism

Aestheticism and philosophy : ethical implications

Aestheticism and the theatre, the opera, or popular culture

Aestheticism and the issue of its possible religious affiliation (Catholic/Anglican)

Fashion and/or Avant-garde

Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism

Seriousness, humour, irony

The Politics of Aestheticism

This conference is organised by the CERVEC Research Center (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Victoriennes, Edouardiennes et Contemporaines, EA 741) of the Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, France. Selected papers will be published. Please send a 300-word abstract before December 1st, 2008 to catherine.delyfer@univ-montp3.fr AND bncoste@free.fr

The Craig LectureS

Thursday 5th February 2009, 6-7pm, Central School of Speech and Drama, Embassy Theatre, Eton Avenue, London, NW3 3HY

The Craig Lecture fund was set up was to promote an annual lecture as a memorial to Edward Gordon Craig, by using the income to specifically award researchers working on Craig. Finding a lecturer with something new to say proved difficult in recent years, so the Society for Theatre Research, which managed the fund, persuaded the Charity Commissioners to modify the terms, allowing money to be spent on lectures with a broader reference to Craig's work and influence.

The fund still, however, produces more income than the Society can properly use. The Committee was very pleased, therefore, when it was approached by teachers at the Central School of Speech and Drama who wished to include an annual lecture on Craig in their open programme - open, that is, to the public as well as their students. It was agreed that the CSSD would organize and promote the event while the Society would make a contribution to the costs, including the lecturer's fee.

The first of these lectures is to be held on Thursday 5th February 2009, 6.00-7.00pm, at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and the lecturer will be Michael Levine. More detail, perhaps, later on.

Numbers are limited. Please contact Catherine Hindson @ to reserve your place. Applications are invited for 2 postgraduate travel bursaries of £50. Please mention if you are interested in applying for one of these bursaries when you reserve your place.

Irish Society for Theatre Research / Cumann Taighde Amharclannaíochta na hÉireann

Symposium 2009: 'Players and Painted Stage'

Call for Panel Papers

Venue: Institute of Technology Sligo, Friday 8th May and Saturday 9th May, 2009 (Pre-conference event on Thursday evening)

Confirmed keynote speakers: Professor Richard Cave, Royal Holloway, University of London; Professor Baz Kershaw, University of Warwick; Niall Henry, Artistic Director, Blue Raincoat Theatre Company

Submission of Abstracts: 9th January 2009

Panel Paper Submissions: The conference theme 'Players and Painted Stage' could reflect critical as well as practical approaches to theatre in and of Ireland in terms of performance, space and place. The theme aims to include elements of performance such as dramaturgy, artistic direction, design, alongside writing and acting. We invite submissions of 200 words that respond to the conference theme.

Please forward all Panel Paper Submissions and any general enquires to: @

Platform : Call For Papers

Platform Postgraduate eJournal of Theatre & Performing Arts

Call For Papers : Spring 2009 (Vol 4, No 1): Staging Gender(s)

Submissions are invited from postgraduates, postdoctoral researchers and entry-level academics in the fields of theatre and performing arts for the next edition of Platform, a themed issue, titled Staging Gender(s).

How does theatre intervene in our perception of gender identity? What is the relationship between academic discourse on gender and feminism, and performance practices? Is there still a need to consider theatre practitioners or playwrights according to their gender? To what extent is work by women in theatre and performance informed by gender and feminism?

Setting out from current debates surrounding the contested legitimacy and/or efficacy of terms such as feminism and gender identity this issue aims to explore the multiple intersections of gender and feminism(s) in different forms of theatre and performance.

We hope that this issue will contribute to this debate on the relationship between feminism, gender and theatre/performance and make an attempt to trace connections with the past as well as to examine current and future directions. Topics might include but are by no means limited to:

§ Gender and/or feminism as political intervention

§ Representations of masculine identities in theatre history/practice

§ Intersections of feminist/gender/race/queer identities with theatre practice/theatre history

§ Gender identity and globalisation / nomadism / cosmopolitanism

§ Futures for feminism(s)

§ The ‘new lad’ plays and the feminist backlash

§ International feminism(s)

§ Gender, feminism and reception

Platform welcomes practice-based papers.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 23rd January 2009. Papers should be sent as email attachments, along with a short (200 word) abstract, to: platform-submissions@rhul.ac.uk.

Details of our submission guidelines can be found on the website (www.rhul.ac.uk/drama/platform) and we recommend that potential contributors familiarise themselves with these before sending in their papers. All papers are reviewed by one academic and one peer reviewer, provided they meet our submission guidelines.

Platform is an electronic journal devoted to postgraduates, postdoctoral researchers, and entry-level academics in the fields of theatre and performing arts. Platform is run by postgraduates for postgraduates, and is based at the Drama and Theatre Department of Royal Holloway, University of London.

http://www.rhul.ac.uk/drama/platform

Conference: The East End Seen Though Performance

V&A Theatre Collections and the University of East London (UEL) will jointly host a one-day conference focusing on aspects of 19th and 20th century theatre in London’s East End. The conference will take place in the new Sackler Centre at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Thursday 29th January 2009.

‘The East End Seen Though Performance’ will herald the impending launch of the East London Theatre Archive (ELTA) website, due to go live during February 2009. The website will feature digitised images of rare archive material sourced from archive collections held by the V&A Theatre Collections, UEL, and others. Items relating to theatres such as the Britannia Theatre, New Standard Theatre, Hackney Empire and Theatre Royal Stratford East will feature on the website. The ELTA website, which is funded by JISC <http://www.jisc.ac.uk>, will be freely available to all researchers on an open access basis.

The conference will allow researchers to explore East London’s unique contribution to the performing arts, which to date has been a comparatively under-researched subject area. Speakers will cover the last 200 years via themes including demographics, theatre architecture, and audiences, and will aim to challenge prevailing notions of East London theatre.

Confirmed speakers: Professor Colin Chambers, Reader in Drama, Kingston University, Professor Jim Davis, Department of Theatre Studies, University of Warwick, John Earl, building historian and former Director of the Theatres Trust, Dr John Marriott, Reader in History, University of East London (Co-Director Raphael Samuel History Centre).

Mark O’Thomas, Director of the Institute for Performing Arts Development (IPAD) at the University of East London, will chair the conference. A full programme will be made available nearer the time of the conference.

There is no admission charge for the conference, but places are limited and are allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Free lunch and refreshments will be provided. To book your place email: elta@uel.ac.uk

JOURNALS

Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film

Editors: Viv Gardner, David Mayer and Kate Newey

ISSN: 1748 3727

Two issues a year: June and December

Nineteenth Century Theatre & Film regularly publishes essays, documents, bibliographies and filmographies, review essays, and an annotated list of books received. The policy of the journal construes the term theatre comprehensively to include the various arts of performance which emerged over the long period from the Age of Revolution to the advent of sound motion pictures. Film is understood to include ‘pre-cinema’ optical and narrative forms, ‘silent’ motion pictures, and illusions. This journal considers narrative or variety entertainments from all countries and regions. Its scope embraces not only drama but dance, opera, music hall, circus, fairground entertainment, and other forms which implicate live audiences (actual, potential, or imaginary). The journal's emphasis on the value of primary materials is reflected in the publication of documents in photographic or critical facsimile and in annotated critical edition, carrying out the policy of contributing directly to the research needs of the working scholar.

Subscription charges

SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR 2009: Institutions £94.00/$216.00/€157.00; Individuals £34.00/$63.00/€58.00

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MOFA

A new, peer-refereed electronic journal, MOFA, was launched in Autumn 2007 by IATR, the Israeli Association of Theatre Research. The Editor is Avraham Oz, University of Haifa.

MOFA (‘performance’ in Hebrew) will be devoted to the publication of refereed articles in English, covering all areas of the Performing Arts. It will be issued by IATR, the association of researchers of theatre and performance from all Higher Education Institutes in Israel which grant academic degrees in theatre.