Aesthetics in Theatre: The Challenge of Effect Under the Skin
Year 2021,
Issue: 32, 75 - 94, 21.06.2021
Guilherme Filipe
Abstract
The tremendous socio-political transformations that took place in the 19th century contributed to the change of criterion for theatre dramaturgy during the following century. The essence of the history of theatre, as “liminal space”, based on traditional perspectives of theatre illusion and dramatization of identity crisis suffered a profound revolution due to the decay and loss of essential values, thus leading to the emergence of the “theatre of the ‘new’ man”. This essay presents a panoramic view of ways of comprehending aesthetics along the 20th century. Through the work of many outstanding authors on this matter, our modernity is brought to understand that the dramaturgy of mankind will go on being the dramaturgy of theatrical performance, as a form of Art, being the transubstantiation of an ordinary world into a transcendent world of signs.
Supporting Institution
Centro de Estudos de Teatro, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa
Thanks
Michael Douglas Mallinson for final text revision
References
- Adorno, Theodor W. & Horkheimmer, Max. Dialetic of Enlightenment, translated by Edmund Jephcott. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002. google scholar
- Adorno, Theodor W.. Aesthetic Theory, Translated by R. Hullot-Kentor Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1997. google scholar
- Adorno, Theodor W.. Negative Dialectics, Translated by E. B. Ashton. New York: Seabury Press, 1973. google scholar
- Aristotle. The Poetics of Aristotle. Translated by S. H. Butcher. 3ed edition revised. London: Macmillan, 1902. google scholar
- Baudelaire, Charles, “Le beau, la mode et le bonheur”, Le Figaro 916 (26.11.1863), 1-2. google scholar
- Benjamin, Walter, “The task of the Translator.” In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Translated by Harry Zohn. Edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1968, 69-82. google scholar
- Benjamin, Walter, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Translated by Harry Zohn. Edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1968, 217-252. google scholar
- Benjamin, Walter. The Origin of German Tragic Drama, Translated by John Osborne. Verso books, 2003. google scholar
- Braun, Edward. The Theatre of Meyerhold: Revolution and the Modern Stage. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1995. google scholar
- Brecht, Bertolt & Willett, John. Brecht on theatre: the development of an aesthetic. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964. google scholar
- Buse, Peter, “Archaeology of an acting style: Stanislavski, Brecht and the subject”, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2 (1998), 219-238. google scholar
- Cano-Ruiz, J., “As emotividades e o sentimento humano da Arte”, A Batalha 115, 5-6. google scholar
- Craig, Edward Gordon. On the Art of Theatre. 5th ed. London: William Heinemann, 1911. google scholar
- Croce, Benedetto. Aesthetics as a science of expression and general linguistics, Translated by Douglas Ainsle. London: MacMillan and Co, 1909. google scholar
- Dufrenne, Mikel. The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience, Translated by Edward S. Casey. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973. google scholar
- Elam, Keir. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. London/ New York: Routledge, 1980. google scholar
- Fechner, Gustav Theodor. Vorschule der Aesthetik. Leipzig: Breitkopf, 1876. google scholar
- Ferreira, Guilherme Pires, “O conceito de Belo em geral na Estetica de Hegel: Conceito, ideia e verdade”, Revista Eletrönica Print by MeTâvoıa, Sâo Joâo del-Rei/MG, 13 (2011), 81-90 http://www.ufsj.edu.br/ revistalable. google scholar
- Fischer-Lichte, Erika. History of European Drama and Theatre. Translated by Joe Riley. London/ New York: Routledge, 2002 [1st ed. 1990]. google scholar
- Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The Show and the Gaze of Theatre: A European perspective. Translated by Joe Riley. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1997. google scholar
- Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The Transformative Power of Performance: A New Aesthetics. Translated by Saskya Iris Jain. London/New York: Routledge, 2008. google scholar
- Flynn, Daniel J. Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas. New Yor: Crown Forum, 2004. google scholar
- Holman, Christopher. Politics as radical Creation: Herbert Marcuse and Hannah Arendt. Toronto/Buffalo/ London: University of Toronto Press, 2013. google scholar
- Hoover, Marjorie L. Meyerhold: The art of conscious theatre. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1974. google scholar
- Huisman, Denis. L’Esthetique. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1954. google scholar
- Hulle, Dirk van. A new Cambridge companion to Samuel Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 2015. google scholar
- Jangfeldt, Bengt. Majakovsky and futurism 1917-1921. Stockolm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1976. google scholar
- Loureiro, Isabel Maria (ed.), HerbertMarcuse: A grande recusa hoje. Petropolis: Vozes, 1999. google scholar
- Picon-Vallin, Beatrice, “Vers un ‘super-acteur’?” In Etudes theâtrales, L’acteur entre personnage et performance 26 (2003), 59-68. google scholar
- Pinho, Eunice, “A Estetica de Dufrenne ou a Procura da Origem”, Revista Filosöfica de Coimbra V.3, 6 (1994), 361-396. google scholar
- Piscator, Erwin. The Political Theatre. A History 1914-1929. Translated by Hugh Rorrison. London: Eyre Methuen, 1980. google scholar
- Proust, Sophie. La direction d’acteurs dans la mise en scene theâtrale contemporaine. Paris: L’Entretemps, 2006. google scholar
- Saussure, Ferdinand de. Cours de Linguistique Generale. C. Bally et A. Sechehaye (ed.). Lausanne/ Paris: Payot, 1916. google scholar
- Saussure, Ferdinand de. Course in General Linguistics. Translated by W. Baskin. Glasgow: Fontana/ Collins, 1977. google scholar
- Schelling, Friedrich von. The Philosophy of Art; An Oration on the Relation between the Plastic Arts and Nature. Translated A. Johnson. London: John Chapman, 1845. google scholar
- Vitez, Antoine & Curmi, Andre, “La ‘direction d’acteur’”, Theâtre/Public 64-65 (juillet 1985). google scholar
- Weiberger, Jean. Les avant-gardes litteraires au XXe siecle. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamin publishing Company, 1984. google scholar
- Weimann, Robert, “Author’s Pen and Actor’s Voice: Playing and Writing in Shakespeare’s Theatre”, in Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture. Edited by Helen Higbee and William West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. google scholar
Aesthetics in Theatre: The Challenge of Effect Under the Skin
Year 2021,
Issue: 32, 75 - 94, 21.06.2021
Guilherme Filipe
Abstract
The tremendous socio-political transformations that took place in the 19th century contributed to the change of criterion for theatre dramaturgy during the following century. The essence of the history of theatre, as “liminal space”, based on traditional perspectives of theatre illusion and dramatization of identity crisis suffered a profound revolution due to the decay and loss of essential values, thus leading to the emergence of the “theatre of the ‘new’ man”. This essay presents a panoramic view of ways of comprehending aesthetics along the 20th century. Through the work of many outstanding authors on this matter, our modernity is brought to understand that the dramaturgy of mankind will go on being the dramaturgy of theatrical performance, as a form of Art, being the transubstantiation of an ordinary world into a transcendent world of signs.
References
- Adorno, Theodor W. & Horkheimmer, Max. Dialetic of Enlightenment, translated by Edmund Jephcott. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002. google scholar
- Adorno, Theodor W.. Aesthetic Theory, Translated by R. Hullot-Kentor Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1997. google scholar
- Adorno, Theodor W.. Negative Dialectics, Translated by E. B. Ashton. New York: Seabury Press, 1973. google scholar
- Aristotle. The Poetics of Aristotle. Translated by S. H. Butcher. 3ed edition revised. London: Macmillan, 1902. google scholar
- Baudelaire, Charles, “Le beau, la mode et le bonheur”, Le Figaro 916 (26.11.1863), 1-2. google scholar
- Benjamin, Walter, “The task of the Translator.” In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Translated by Harry Zohn. Edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1968, 69-82. google scholar
- Benjamin, Walter, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Translated by Harry Zohn. Edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1968, 217-252. google scholar
- Benjamin, Walter. The Origin of German Tragic Drama, Translated by John Osborne. Verso books, 2003. google scholar
- Braun, Edward. The Theatre of Meyerhold: Revolution and the Modern Stage. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1995. google scholar
- Brecht, Bertolt & Willett, John. Brecht on theatre: the development of an aesthetic. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964. google scholar
- Buse, Peter, “Archaeology of an acting style: Stanislavski, Brecht and the subject”, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2 (1998), 219-238. google scholar
- Cano-Ruiz, J., “As emotividades e o sentimento humano da Arte”, A Batalha 115, 5-6. google scholar
- Craig, Edward Gordon. On the Art of Theatre. 5th ed. London: William Heinemann, 1911. google scholar
- Croce, Benedetto. Aesthetics as a science of expression and general linguistics, Translated by Douglas Ainsle. London: MacMillan and Co, 1909. google scholar
- Dufrenne, Mikel. The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience, Translated by Edward S. Casey. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973. google scholar
- Elam, Keir. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. London/ New York: Routledge, 1980. google scholar
- Fechner, Gustav Theodor. Vorschule der Aesthetik. Leipzig: Breitkopf, 1876. google scholar
- Ferreira, Guilherme Pires, “O conceito de Belo em geral na Estetica de Hegel: Conceito, ideia e verdade”, Revista Eletrönica Print by MeTâvoıa, Sâo Joâo del-Rei/MG, 13 (2011), 81-90 http://www.ufsj.edu.br/ revistalable. google scholar
- Fischer-Lichte, Erika. History of European Drama and Theatre. Translated by Joe Riley. London/ New York: Routledge, 2002 [1st ed. 1990]. google scholar
- Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The Show and the Gaze of Theatre: A European perspective. Translated by Joe Riley. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1997. google scholar
- Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The Transformative Power of Performance: A New Aesthetics. Translated by Saskya Iris Jain. London/New York: Routledge, 2008. google scholar
- Flynn, Daniel J. Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas. New Yor: Crown Forum, 2004. google scholar
- Holman, Christopher. Politics as radical Creation: Herbert Marcuse and Hannah Arendt. Toronto/Buffalo/ London: University of Toronto Press, 2013. google scholar
- Hoover, Marjorie L. Meyerhold: The art of conscious theatre. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1974. google scholar
- Huisman, Denis. L’Esthetique. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1954. google scholar
- Hulle, Dirk van. A new Cambridge companion to Samuel Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 2015. google scholar
- Jangfeldt, Bengt. Majakovsky and futurism 1917-1921. Stockolm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1976. google scholar
- Loureiro, Isabel Maria (ed.), HerbertMarcuse: A grande recusa hoje. Petropolis: Vozes, 1999. google scholar
- Picon-Vallin, Beatrice, “Vers un ‘super-acteur’?” In Etudes theâtrales, L’acteur entre personnage et performance 26 (2003), 59-68. google scholar
- Pinho, Eunice, “A Estetica de Dufrenne ou a Procura da Origem”, Revista Filosöfica de Coimbra V.3, 6 (1994), 361-396. google scholar
- Piscator, Erwin. The Political Theatre. A History 1914-1929. Translated by Hugh Rorrison. London: Eyre Methuen, 1980. google scholar
- Proust, Sophie. La direction d’acteurs dans la mise en scene theâtrale contemporaine. Paris: L’Entretemps, 2006. google scholar
- Saussure, Ferdinand de. Cours de Linguistique Generale. C. Bally et A. Sechehaye (ed.). Lausanne/ Paris: Payot, 1916. google scholar
- Saussure, Ferdinand de. Course in General Linguistics. Translated by W. Baskin. Glasgow: Fontana/ Collins, 1977. google scholar
- Schelling, Friedrich von. The Philosophy of Art; An Oration on the Relation between the Plastic Arts and Nature. Translated A. Johnson. London: John Chapman, 1845. google scholar
- Vitez, Antoine & Curmi, Andre, “La ‘direction d’acteur’”, Theâtre/Public 64-65 (juillet 1985). google scholar
- Weiberger, Jean. Les avant-gardes litteraires au XXe siecle. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamin publishing Company, 1984. google scholar
- Weimann, Robert, “Author’s Pen and Actor’s Voice: Playing and Writing in Shakespeare’s Theatre”, in Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture. Edited by Helen Higbee and William West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. google scholar