Links

CHAPTER 2: Pleasure, power, and aesthetics: Theatre in early literate societies, 500 BCE–1450 CE

Roman theatre

R. Beacham and H. Denard, “The Pompey Project,” a paper, with computer graphic illustrations, on the digital research and reconstruction of Rome’s first permanent theatre, the Theatre of Pompey: http://www.pompey.cch.kcl.ac.uk/

Hines, T.G. (2003/2009) The Ancient Theatre Archive, a Virtual Reality Tour of Greek and Roman Theatre Architecture. Includes photos of the ruins and data on the later stone theatres of the Roman Empire: http://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/home.htm

Case study: Plautus’s plays: What's so funny?

Theatre History.com: http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/plautus.html. Excellent portal of links to articles about Plautus: biographical information, analysis, and indexes of his writings.

Henri Bergson: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bergson/. Short biography of Bergson, along with brief descriptions of his basic theories.

“Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of Comic”: http://www.authorama.com/laughter-14.html. Henri Bergson’s essay on the meaning of the comic.

Kutiyattam

The following videos are available at www.keralatourism.org/video-clips.

Kutiyattam: http://ignca.nic.in/kuti0001.htm. Description and analysis of kutiyattam theatre, along with a 15-minute video of a kutiyattam performance and description of kutiyattam acting techniques. Written by Sudha Gopalakrishnan of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

Kailasodharanam (Ravanna: The Lifting of Mount Kailasa).  Includes a famous kutiyattam scene in which the actor playing the ten-headed demon-king Ravanna mimetically enacts his tremendous power by “lifting” Mount Kailasa.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3Z9F8eC31A

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtutaG1Zgdo

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnChII3qIOo

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYe_2eU6Z2A

Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N4ZgOaUPpc

Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nzYGibsC1I

Part 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke0xV9xPHK4

Part 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBk6aET3GnM

Kathakali dance-drama

Kathakali, Classical Dance Drama of Kerala, India: http://www.cyberkerala.com/kathakali/. Includes video clips and photos of kathakali performances; audio clips of kathakali songs; collection of Navarasas (facial expressions) by Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair; illustrations of Mudras (kathakali hand gestures); descriptions of props, rituals, and customs of kathakali; and a database of kathakali actors.

Background of kathakali: http://www.kathakali.net/background. Includes descriptions of kathakali actor training, photos and descriptions of kathakali make-up, stage sets, and music.

Kathakali – an amazing art form of Kerala. Videos on history, training, costuming and makeup.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63tKLX4Zkgo

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoW27HdRA7w

Nō

The best single online source for nō, kyōgen, kabuki and bunraku – including video clips (nō and kyōgen) photos (kabuki), historical prints, and other materials – is provided by the National Theatre of Japan at www.ntj.jac.go.jp/english

Video introductions to these traditional forms are also available: http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/noh/en/

Nō plays: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/noh/. Contains links to the full text of 13 nō plays (original Japanese text and English translations), an introduction by Thomas Rimer of the University of Pittsburgh, a listing of technical terms used in nō productions, stage diagram, a glossary of Japanese nō terms, and an interactive searching feature for words and characters in nō plays. The site is part of the Japanese Text Initiative, co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library. 

CHAPTER 3: Commemorative drama and carnival

Carnival

To “visit” carnivals from around the world, tour the New Mexico Museum of International Folk Art’s excellent exhibition at http://www.carnavalexhibit.org/.

Purim shpil

There are numerous YouTube videos that show homegrown versions of this “Jewish carnival” tradition. Enter the search term “Purim Shpil.”

European medieval Christian theatre

Mystery of Elche (YouTube videos):

Descent of the angels from heaven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9O6TEDtVm0

Coronation of the Virgin Mary (Coronación Elche): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS6g-pJi8N0

Misteri o festa d’Elx (series of images from Part I and II): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cnq0fmm8Rk

There is an online simulator showing the path and the sequence of plays in the York Corpus Christi Cycle at http://jerz.setonhill.edu/resources/PSim/applet/

Links to medieval research and database websites providing lists of digital texts’ bibliography of play translations; database research projects such as Records of Early English Drama and the York Doomsday Project; companies devoted to producing medieval plays; scholarly societies:

http://www.netserf.org/Drama/

Case study: Christians and Moors

“Christians and Moors Festivals in Spain” (2005): http://www.carnaval.com/spain/moors

Multiculturalism Gone Wrong: Spain in the Renaissance: http://www.dean.sbc.edu/ingber.html.  Discussion of the political currents behind the medieval and Renaissance Spanish caste system, and the way that cultural hierarchy was reflected in the poetry and theatre of the time, by Alix Ingber, Professor of Spanish at Sweet Briar College, Virginia.

Ta’ziyeh

“Ta’ziyeh Theatre Tradition”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msYXcB7lHb0

“Persian Passion Play”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aKAPL9Fkz4

Ramlila

There are many YouTube videos covering Ramlila performances, in Ramnagar and elsewhere, as well as other kinds of art inspired by Ramlila. For a compilation, visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfMG94dQa7URGbE6bj8W8g, or enter the search term “Ramlila.”

CHAPTER 4: Secular and early professional theatre, 1250–1650

Commedia dell’arte

The National Theatre offers a series of informational and instructional videos on the history, art of, and training for commedia performance; visit http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/backstage/commedia-dellarte

English theatre

The Original Globe Theatre: informational website about its history and design, with interesting excerpts from primary sources: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatre/globe.html

Kunqu

“Kunqu: The Mother of All Chinese Drama”: short introduction and excerpt from Peony Pavilion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNGUhRTfBhE

Kabuki

Japanese Theatre 3: Kabuki: 13-minute introduction with excellent excerpts from plays and commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3IHdm2Tf8g

Ennosuke III: Kabuki Actor: a brilliant documentary, made in 1984, about an important and innovative kabuki actor (now retired), including backstage scenes as well as excerpts of plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdLPtdzunxg

Kabuki 21: http://www.kabuki21.com/. Information on kabuki actors, timeline, glossary of kabuki terms, information about kabuki theatres, characters, images, bibliography, and extensive list of popular and scholarly links.

Bunraku

“Japanese Theatre 2: Bunraku”: introduction to bunraku with excerpts from plays and excellent commentary, total 9.5 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TKt67ouaqM

Another excellent introduction to bunraku with excerpts and excellent commentary,4.45 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUQNvn8EJQ

The best single online source for nō, kyōgen, kabuki and bunraku – video clips (nō and kyōgen), photos (kabuki), historical prints, and other materials – is provided by the National Theatre of Japan: www.ntj.jac.go.jp/english

Many videos, including the brief sampling below of titles we recommend are for sale from Insight Media: http://www.insight-media.com

Bunraku: Classical Japanese Puppet Art (28 minutes) #9AF905.

Kyōgen Classic: Poison Sugar (Busu) (28 minutes) #9AF733.

The Tradition of Performing Arts in Japan (30 minutes) #9AF350.

An Introduction to Bunraku: http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/bunraku/en/. Website maintained by the Japan Arts Council includes history of bunraku, stage plans, many photographs and detailed descriptions of puppets, and video clips of bunraku performances.

Barbara Curtis Adachi Bunraku Collection: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/eimages/eastasian/bunraku/. Columbia University’s extensive collection of documents pertaining to bunraku. Contains an extensive number of photographs of performances.

CHAPTER 5: Theatre and the print revolution, 1550–1650

Printing press

The Atlas of Early Printing has animations showing how the printing press worked and the spread of printing during the fifteenth century: http://atlas.lib.uiowa.edu

There is a brief video on the history of the printing press at http://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/videos/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-the-printing-press, and a demonstration at http://youtu.be/ksLaBnZVRnM

Case study: Sexuality in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night study guide: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/twelfth_night/twelfth_night.htm. Includes plot summary, commentaries, and a character analysis by William Hazlitt.

Marjorie Garber on bisexuality: http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/garber/viceversa.html. Excerpt from Marjorie Garber’s Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life, in which she discusses sexuality in Shakespeare’s plays.

CHAPTER 6: Theatres of absolutism, 1600–1770

Baroque scene design and machinery: The Development of Italian Scenic Spectacle (updated 2007): http://spectacle.appstate.edu/. Dr. Frank Mohler provides reliable explanations and basic demonstrations, with virtual moving models (using Quicktime) of scene changes, machinery. Click ‘Scene Changes’ for Florimene.

Case study: Molière and carnival laughter

ToutMolière.net: http://www.toutmoliere.net/.  Website with links to the texts of all Molière's plays, a detailed biography, and information on many of his contemporaries. Please note that all of the text is in French.

The Bakhtin Centre: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/bakhtin. Extensive portal for papers, bibliographical databases, email discussion, news lists, and conferences concerning Bakhtin’s work. Maintained by the Bakhtin Centre at the University of Sheffield.

CHAPTER 7: Theatre and sentiment: newspapers, private lives, and the bourgeois public sphere, 1700–1785

Case study: Theatre iconology and the actor as an icon: David Garrick

David Garrick – Encyclopedia Britannica guide: http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/226188/David-Garrick. Biography of actor David Garrick; a login is required.

CHAPTER 8: Nationalism in the theatre, 1760–1880

Blackface minstrelsy

“Stephen Foster,” American Experience Series (Public Broadcasting System, 2000): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/sfeature/sf_minstrelsy.html

“Blackface Minstrelsy, 1830–1852”: http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/mihp.html

“The Legacy of Blackface: National Public Radio”: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1919122

CHAPTER 9: Performing “progress”: From imperial display to the triumph of realism and naturalism, 1790–1914

Japonisme

“Curator’s Perspective: Vincent Van Gogh and Japan”: excellent illustrated lecture by art historian (1 hour, 2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mnBo87-T80

The Mikado

Excellent full production by D’Oyly Carte Opera, 1992 (2 hours 22 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2TW90OEU-U

Full length feature film Topsy-Turvy by Mike Leigh detailing the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan, specifically the creation of The Mikado. Includes many scenes replicating the original production, costuming and rehearsals as well as other aspects of Victorian life and theatre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxqTaIdpvCs

Madama Butterfly

Filmed version, filmed realistically in Japan (not on stage) with English subtitles (2 hours, 14 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxqTaIdpvCs

Case study: Ibsen’s A Doll House: If Nora were a material girl

A 1973 Paramount film of the play, directed by Patrick Garland with Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins, is available in a video recording. The opening scene (highly recommended) of this film is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwnBukRiRJI

The University of Adelaide e-books: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/i/ibsen/henrik/. Links to free, downloadable text of Ibsen’s plays.

CHAPTER 10: New media divide the theatres of print culture, 1870–1930

Sarah Bernhardt: YouTube has several short silent film clips of Sarah Bernhardt performing; search for “Sarah Bernhardt.”

German Expressionism

http://Everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=166783 (2009), website on German expressionism, with many links to other sources.

CHAPTER 11: New theatres for revolutionary times, 1910–1950

Second-generation avant-gardes

“Futurism” website (2009), including Marinetti’s manifesto and other documents: http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/

“MoMA Dada”: http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/dada

“Russian American Dramatic Arts Theatre: Meyerhold’s Production of The Fairground Booth”: https://sites.google.com/site/arttheatrestudio/meyerhold-s-production-of-the-fairground-booth. This site has information about the production, a few pictures, and a YouTube video at the bottom of the page about Meyerhold, theatre, and the Russian avant-garde.

“Surrealism” website with many links (2009): http://surrealism-plays.com/

“Surrealism” website by the British Research Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies (2009): http://www.surrealismcentre.ac.uk

“UbuWeb: Historical,” a resource for the historical documents and manifestos on Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism, is at http://www.ubu.com/historical/

“Federal Theatre Project Collection” (2009), website (Library of Congress): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/.

Chinese theatre

Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land. Film version of the play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyvXeQCQpCU (without subtitles). For a 2-minute video with English voiceover about the 2015 Oregon Shakespeare production, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hmQvd-radI. For an interview with writer-director Stan Lai, see “Director’s Notes: When Two Cultures Combine” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9IWBEnt474.

The White-Haired Girl (1950), website with film: http://archive.org/details/the_white_haired_girl

Thorton Wilder: official website of the Thornton Wilder Society, with newsletter, essays, and list of works: www.tcnj.edu/~wilder/

CHAPTER 12: The aftermath of the Second World War: Realism and its discontents in an increasingly shrinking world, 1940–1970

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed: http://ptoweb.org/ 

Samuel Beckett

Apmonia: extensive, sometime informal website compiled by Tim Conley and Allen Ruch, with film and theatre performance listings, essays on plays, production photos, bibliography, and an audio section that includes a free online performance of Krapp’s Last Tape, performed by Donald Davis, directed by Allen Schneider: www.themodernword.com/beckett/   

http://samuel-beckett.net/: This Samuel Beckett “official” site (2009) contains an impressive number of links to reviews of Beckett plays, audio recordings of performances, links to articles from the Journal of Beckett Studies, biographical information, listings of video and audio recordings, critical essays, interviews, and more.

The Samuel Beckett Endpage: https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/rg/the-samuel-beckett-endpage/. This Beckett page is maintained by the University of Antwerp, and has a number of images, bibliographies, a listing of current and recent productions, a listing of relevant conferences, and links.

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter official site: http://www.haroldpinter.org

Harold Pinter’s 2005 Nobel Prize acceptance address (not available in the UK): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6tgWhMKqNk

“The Tennessee Williams Annual Review” (2009), website of the journal, with listings of major archives, and audios of panels: www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org

Case study: Social drama in Kerala, India: Staging the “revolution”

Lokadharmi Theatre: http://www.lokadharmi.org/index.htm. This website for Lokadharmi, a theatre company and theatrical training group in Kerala, India, discusses theatrical productions within the context of social change in Kerala. Look particularly at the “publications” section for theoretical essays.

Kerala History: http://www.keralahistory.ac.in/index.htm. This website created by the Kerala Council for Historical Research presents a critical view of the cultural history of the Kerala region.

CHAPTER 13: Art, politics or business? Theatre in search of identity, 1968–2000

Some clips of the Living Theatre’s Paradise Now can be viewed on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ef51VmIWf8. 

Mahabharata: Peter Brook’s production has been made into a film and TV mini-series; visit IMDB. Excerpts also appear on YouTube.

Guillermo Gómez-Peña: Interactive “performance photo essay” website on which the artist demonstrates the dangers of ethnic profiling arising from the xenophobia common in the post 9/11 era. Site includes other videos, book lists, and interviews: http://www.pochanostra.com

Dario Fo. Nobel Prize website with biography and text of Fo’s acceptance speech (1997): http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1997/fo-bio.html

Robert Wilson: Einstein on the Beach, 1, 2, 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b26E0D2pm1c

The Wooster Group, On LSD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGcSWl_-538

Ping Chong Company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhsHaVuFWbs

CHAPTER 14: Theatres of local roots and global reach (1970–present)

Political theatre and theatre for social change

International Brecht Society: http://www.brechtsociety.org/

Mixed Blood Theatre: http://www.mixedblood.com

Nigerian Popular Theatre Alliance: http://www.niyo.se/NPTAenglish.html

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed: http://ptoweb.org/

SEKA: Sensitisation and Education through Kunda Arts website:http://www.seka-educational-theatre.com/

Shakespeare Behind Bars: the website gives more information about this program, about which there is also a documentary. Visit: http://www.shakespearebehindbars.org andhttp://www.shakespearebehindbars.org/documentary

Nigeria, Theatre for Development Centre, Zaria, Nigeria: http://www.tfdc.org.ng

PETA: Philippine Educational Theatre Association website: http://petatheater.com

Globalized and localized performance

Avignon Festival official website (2009): http://festival-avignon.com

Avignon/Avignoff Festival: many videos appear online via YouTube.

Behind the scenes tourism: The “Be a local, don’t be a Gringo” website describes the “behind-the-scenes” tours it offers of Rio de Janeiro at http://bealocal.com/.

Mahabharata: Peter Brook’s production has been made into a film and TV mini-series; visit IMDB. Excerpts also appear on YouTube.

Mega-musicals: There are many YouTube videos offering flavors of (and in some case full) productions of mega-musicals such as Phantom of the Opera.

Other

Guillermo Gómez-Peña: Interactive “performance photo essay” website on which the artist demonstrates the dangers of ethnic profiling arising from the xenophobia common in the post 9/11 era. Site includes other videos, book lists, and interviews: http://www.pochanostra.com

Couple in a Cage: For a documentary about this controversial exhibit visit http://vimeo.com/79363320.

The Hemispheric Institute has an extensive collection of online performance videos including:

• Latin American theatre such as Yuyachkani and FOMMA
• Social-group focused theatre such as Split Britches and El Teatro Campesino
• Performance artists like Guillermo Gómez-Peña
• Hip Hop performers such as Danny Hoch

See http://hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/en/hidvl

Case study: Imagining contemporary China: Gao Xingjian’s Wild Man in Post-Cultural Revolution China

Nobel Prize for Literature 2000: http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2000/index.html. Here you can find the announcement Nobel Prize committee's announcement of Gao Xingjian’s 2000 award, text and video of Gao Xingjian’s Nobel lecture, banquet speech, biography, and bibliography.

China in Denial over Nobel Laureate: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1064016.stm. BBC article concerning China’s reaction to news of Gao Xingjian’s Nobel Prize.

The Nationalism Project: http://www.nationalismproject.org/. Introduction to the concept of nationalism.

CHAPTER 15: Theatre in networked culture, 1990–present

Avatar Repertory Theatre (2010) Oedipus Rex trailer: http://www.avatarrepertorytheater.org/machinima-oedipus.php

“Biomechanical” (2014). A performance piece by Jo Ellsmere in Second Life inspired by Meyerhold’s biomechanics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew61QYyRlUo

Chilean Students “Thriller” Protest: see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/25/chile-thriller-protest-students-michael-jackson-dance_n_884531.html

From Tel Aviv to Ramallah Hip Hop Theatre Storyboard: http://www.press.umich.edu/special/hiphop/from_tel_aviv

George Coates Performance Works:  http://stevemobia.com/WriteSubPages/George_Coates.htm

Gertie the Dinosaur and Winsor McCay:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmVra1mW7LU 

Guillermo Gómez-Peña and La Pocha Nostra:  Borderscape 2000 kitsch, violence, cyborgs, and shamanism at the end of the century (backstage interviews and performance):  http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000556591.html

Hinds, R. (2011) Dreamscape, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFX831AI0Cg

Hip-Hop Theatre Festival (now called HiArts): http://www.hi-artsnyc.org/

Hoch, D. (2004) “Here We Go, Yo ... A Manifesto for a New Hip-Hop Arts Movement,” http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/dec04/go.cfm

“The Mask: a synchronicity” (2012). A dance performance in Second Life by Jo Ellsmere, Pyewacket Kazyanenko and Kai Steamer: https://vimeo.com/41673225

Miranda, Lin-Manuel (2015) Hamilton, the Musical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wboCdgzLHg

New York Neo-Futurists: http://www.nyneofuturists.org/

Hirata Ozira interview:  http://performingarts.jp/E/art_interview/0703/1.html

Punchdrunk Theatre: http://punchdrunk.com/

Stelarc (1994) “Amplified Body,” V2_ Events: http://v2.nl/events/amplified-body 

Stelarc, “Ear on Arm”: http://stelarc.org/?catID=20242 

Street with a View: http://benkinsley.com/street-with-a-view/

Third Rail Projects (2012), “Then She Fell,” Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects: http://www.thenshefell.com/

Third Rail Projects: http://thirdrailprojects.com/