As Enlightenment ideals gave way to revolutionary impulses, dancers doubled as singers, circus performers shared their stages, and entertainments took place on the fairgrounds and in aristocratic palaces. Performances in these distinctive multi-genre traditions raise a number of questions that are equally relevant for us today: What is the artwork? How can we restate a history that was intended to be fleeting? What is the relationship between “text” and performance? How can we restage interdisciplinary works? And, in restaging historical work, what does it mean to be authentic? This course explores the hybrid genres of dance, mime, music and drama from the past to analyze their present relevance as “art.”
This course will explore the varied conceptions and genres of 18th century theater and performance, focusing on French and Italian traditions. In particular, we will approach these different genres through the study of plays, operas, ballets, and pantomimes presented in varying venues, such as the official Parisian declamatory and lyric theaters, the fairgrounds, and private society theaters, using these readings to discover the ways in which these multiform theatrical works flow between pre-established genres.
Our overarching theme throughout the course will be the concept of restaging. In restaging a work from this period, how do you remain faithful to the work? What aspects of the work are lost by simply looking at its text or music? How does this relationship change when considering and ‘high’ and ‘low’ theaters? Given the multitude of theatrical reforms and the fluidity of genres during this period, this question does not require a single response but rather an understanding of the particularities of each work, its public, and the theoretical questions that each work brings into play.
This course will explore the varied conceptions and genres of 18th century theater and performance, focusing on French and Italian traditions. In particular, we will approach these different genres through the study of plays, operas, ballets, and pantomimes presented in varying venues, such as the official Parisian declamatory and lyric theaters, the fairgrounds, and private society theaters, using these readings to discover the ways in which these multiform theatrical works flow between pre-established genres.
Our overarching theme throughout the course will be the concept of restaging. In restaging a work from this period, how do you remain faithful to the work? What aspects of the work are lost by simply looking at its text or music? How does this relationship change when considering and ‘high’ and ‘low’ theaters? Given the multitude of theatrical reforms and the fluidity of genres during this period, this question does not require a single response but rather an understanding of the particularities of each work, its public, and the theoretical questions that each work brings into play.
- Teacher: Olivia Sabee