Rowdy and Rough: Brendan Behan Sings Songs from The Hostage

Author(s): David Livingstone / Language(s): English Issue: 67/2024

Although most well-known for his plays and prose, the Irish writer Brendan Behan also recorded a number of songs, some of his own composition and others either traditional or written by contemporaries. His best-known recording, Brendan Behan Sings Irish Folk Songs and Ballads, remarkably captures not only his voice, but also his wit and distinct joie de vivre. The collection from 1960 includes not only the songs themselves (with Behan still in fine singing form), but also his introductions and wry comments on a range of subjects. The article looks at the circumstances behind the recording, the actual songs included on the album, and Behan’s ongoing commentary about a range of topics. The focus is on the first half of the recording which consists of songs from his play The Hostage, with an additional short discussion of one of his most well-known pieces, “The Auld Triangle,” which serves as an ongoing leitmotif in his earlier play, The Quare Fellow.

Programul iconografic al bisericii Sf. Nicolae din Rădăuți. Menologul în vremea Sf. Ștefan cel Mare

Author(s): Emil Dragnev / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2022

The painted Menologium in the narthex of the Diocesan Church in Rădăuți (cca. 1488/89) is the most extensive produced in late-15th-century Moldavia. However, this Menologium is not complete, but selective, like those in the narthexes of the Lujeni and Voroneț churches, dating back to the same century. In general, it is a representative Menologium, illustrating on average 7–9 days of each month, but giving priority to September – the beginning of the liturgical year, to March – the beginning of the second half of the year, and to August – the last month of the liturgical year, by illustrating 14, 18 and 27 days respectively. The first day of the illustrated Menologium, September 1st, is preceded by the introduction to the versified Hagiography (Prologue) of Middle-Bulgarian, Tarnovian redaction. A study of the composition of the Rădăuți Menologium indicates that its primary textual source was this redaction of the versified Prologue. For the most part, this Menologium follows a known repertoire, especially for post-Byzantine art in the Romanian and Greek area, but it also contains some rare or unique representations. Establishing the content of the Rădăuți Menologium disproves its supposed evolution in Moldavia from selective to complete. Like the Lujeni Menologium, it shows that the painters were equipped with all the possibilities to represent a Menologium of any extent, the only limit being the available painting surface.

„Пак, значи, вещицата ще помага“ (Драматургията на Йохан Волфганг фон Гьоте и раждането на метапсихологията)

Author(s): Maria Kalinova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The article traces an “anachrony” introduced by Sigmund Freud, in which the order of events in the history of cultural influence is reversed and the author of “The Interpretation of Dreams” becomes a contemporary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the birth of the dramatist is paired with the birth of metapsychology. This inverted genealogy is interesting because, along with turning the “father” of psychoanalysis into an ancestor of the author of “Faust”, the theoretical question is raised not about the birth, but about the “extra-birth” or “overproduction” of psychoanalysis. As part of the argument of the text is a commentary on the persistent presence of the figure of Goethe’s Mephistopheles in Freud’s writings, so that the figure can give form to the formless, the unnameable, the disappearing, allowing the possible contours of something that refuses to be scientific to be revealed.

Текст, фрагмент, синтез, или текстът в театъра днес

Author(s): Petya Yosifova-Hunkins / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The modern theatrical adaptation aims to engage the audience not through the narrative but through its fragments, allowing individuals to assemble the performance’s entirety in their own consciousness. This approach leads to a multiplicity of interpretations and a richness of readings, as the number of spectators equals the number of interpretations and adaptations, making the viewer an active participant. By participating, the audience brings the present day‘s relevance, thus building a bridge between classical examples and the contemporary. The text becomes a canvas for the spectator’s reflection, a basis for the event called theater, understood in a purely ontological sense as an encounter among people.

Нов театрален жанр ли е документалният театър?

Author(s): Blagoy Boychev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The aim of this article is to answer the question whether documentary theater is a separate theatrical genre, or simply a specific method for the realization of performances in already established theatrical genres. In order to answer this question correctly and reasonably, I have examined the various aspects in the definition of the phenomenon “genre”, I have traced the influence of Aristotle’s thought system on the conception of theatrical art and on the views of modern theatre theorists. A comparative analysis of various theoretical concepts regarding “genre” has been realized and a definition of “genre” has been proposed – as having a specific impact and asserting this impact in works of documentary theatre, which also differentiates it from other theatrical genres and conceptualizes it in an independent category.

Театърът на Източна Европа – театър, който променя живота

Author(s): Kalina Stefanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The text is a foreword of the book “20 Ground-Breaking Directors of Eastern Europe: 30 Years After the Fall of the Iron Curtain”, edited by Kalina Stefanova and Marvin Carlson, published by Palgrave Macmillan, an imprint of Springer Nature, in 2021. The book is also published in Spanish, by ADE, and in Chinese, by China Theatre Press, in 2024. The text is an introduction to the life-changing theatre of Eastern Europe with a host of examples from unforgettable productions by the directors included in the book. Among the accents are: the treatment of the classics where the focus is often not on the letter but on what enlivens it; the tendency for creation of a vertical theatre reality by some of the directors who dispense with nearly all material on stage, including to a large degree the written word; an unusual political theatre that could rather be called a politics-of-the-soul theatre; another tendency with something like a contemporary type of a Chorus-cum-main-character taking center stage – sort of a dramatic (or tragic) hero in plural. The main criteria for the choice of the 20 directors included in the book are also elaborated on. Finally, the foreword touches upon the situation of the theatre in a time of pandemics.

Прекрачване

Author(s): Violeta Detcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The author of more than thirty plays, Jon Fosse is among the most interesting, provocative, and staged contemporary playwrights. His drama occupies a special place between his prose and poetry. A subject of interest in this text is its genre fluidity, which – as I will try to show – makes possible the transition from the play to its prose and its poetry. The analysis is limited to one of Fosse‘s first plays – “The Name” (Namnet, 1995) and one of the last – “This is” (Slik var det, 2020), as well as on one of the director‘s approaches to staging the plays and his prose. Namely that of Luk Perceval in his 2001 productions of “Dream of Autumn” (Draum om hausten, 1999) and on “Trilogy” in 2019 (Trilogien. Andvake, Olavs draumar, Kveldsvævd, 2014).

„Вино от глухарчета“ в сетива и лета

Author(s): Sylvia Borissova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The article examines basic philosophical-aesthetic elements in Dandelion Wine (1957) by Ray Bradbury, in parallel with the play of the same name under the dramatization and direction of Katya Petrova in the “Nikolay Binev” Youth Theater, Sofia, Bulgaria, which is being performed during the current theater season (2023/2024). The main object of study – both in terms of the novel and in terms of the play – is the specific language of expression of the senses in summer and summer in the senses: a characteristic line both of the rich set of means of expression of the great American writer and of the original dramatization, adaptation, choreography and scenography of the production. In this perspective, sensory anthropology is a methodological key both for research and for creating an artistic world.

Румънската драматургия след 1990 година – промяна на парадигмaта и търсене на нова идентичност

Author(s): Lora Nenkovska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The article offers an overview of the Contemporary Romanian Dramaturgy written by contemporary playwrights. The following pages are centered on theatrical texts as a main driver of changes and new forms of theatrical productions in Romania, since the most recent history of the Romanian theater was written precisely with the active participation of the playwrights and the independent theater companies.

Фолклорни куклени представления на улицата: Петрушка и неговите европейски събратя

Author(s): Iliana Chekova-Dimitrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The puppet street theater had a vivid presence in the life of European cities from the 19th to the early 20th century. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland during the 18th century, the comic character Kasper was well-known. Puppet play was also widespread in Slavic folklore traditions. Some German and Austro-Hungarian travelers wrote about puppet performances and left drawings of what they saw in Russian (Adam Olearius in the 17th century) and Bulgarian lands (Felix Kanitz in the 19th century). The paintings of numerous German and Russian artists provide an idea of street theater during festive and everyday occasions. This article traces the development of puppet theater among the Eastern Slavs – from the skits of the “skomorokhs,” through the lubok literature of the 18th century (folk picture books), to various forms of street theater involving puppets during Christmas and Easter celebrations in cities from the 19th to the early 20th century – “vertep”, “rayok”, “balagan”, “Petrushka”, and others. The influence of Italian, French, and German traditions on the puppet theater of the Eastern Slavs is noted. In the performances of Russian theaters of the 21st century, the skits with Petrushka are filled with new content. A Bulgarian translation of the skits from the folk comedy “Petrushka” is offered to the readers. In the Bulgarian folklore tradition, various forms of puppet theater are also known, including the “box theater”, puppets made from towels, marionettes on a board, and stick puppets. Ritual masks of the “kukeri” are adorned with puppets in bridal dresses, which can still be observed today at the masquerade carnival games in Pernik. Today’s carnival traditions in Germany, especially in Cologne, preserve the old practices of street merrymaking but also develop the masquerade tradition in the direction of the contemporary and the topical.

Разбунтуваният човек и свободата в драматургията на Кирил Топалов, Драго Янчар и Миро Гавран

Author(s): Liudmila Mindova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

Through the works by three of the most prominent contemporary writers and dramatists of Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria the article presents the subjects of freedom and revolt (L’Homme revolte according to Camus) in the context of the change during the 1980s years of the 20th century in the literatures that fall under the political orbit of the Eastern Bloc. In the center of attention are mainly three plays: “Rebels” (1984) by the Croatian playwright Miro Gavran, “The Great Brilliant Waltz” (1985) by his Slovenian colleague Drago Jančar and “Come and see us” (1990) by the wellknown Bulgarian scholar and writer Kiril Topalov.

Драматургът Иван Вазов – развитие на възрожденската традиция

Author(s): Nikoleta Patova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

Tracing the personal development of Ivan Vazov as a playwright most clearly represents the processes of the development of Bulgarian drama and theatre from the 1880s to the early twentieth century. This article chronologically examines Vazov’s dramatic works, from ‘Russka’ to ‘Borislav’ and then ‘Ivaylo’, the creative efforts involved in their creation, their success on stage and their public and critical reception. A consistent analytical reading of the author’s plays allows us to see the way in which Vazov’s work established the in Bulgarian dramaturgy.

„Диалог на втора степен“. Драматичният дискурс в „Страхил страшен хайдутин“ на Петко Тодоров

Author(s): Elizaria Ruskova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The article draws on the concept of “second degree dialogue“, coined by Maeterlinck in his programmatic essay “The Tragical in Daily Life” to denote the dialogue between the consciousness and the subconscious of the protagonists in his plays. The present text examines the application of this principle in the dramatic discourse of the drama “Strahil Fearful Outlaw” by Petko Todorov in order to prove the closeness between the Bulgarian and Belgian modernist as well as the specific way in which the Bulgarian author develops this principle using the device of metatheatre.

Възкресението на „Архангел Михаил“ (От идея до премиера – разказ на един актьор, драматург и мечтател)

Author(s): Rumen Troev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

The article “The Resurrection of the Archangel Michael” describes the overall process of creating a theatrical performance, starting from the idea, going through all the necessary stages within a year to the premiere. In parallel with the theatrical process, an analysis of the dramaturgy and motivation of the group of young people who have decided to fight for their free creativity, despite the difficult times for art in our country, is made. The odyssey of the characters in the play shows how contemporary and topical the text turns out to be, although it was written more than 50 years ago, in times that are theoretically obsolete, but in practice continue, to one degree or another, to be part of our daily lives. The article aims to give a broader and more detailed view of the interaction of different arts, their use and management, so that they reach the audience. The story is from the face of an actor, philologist and co-producer who has personally participated in all the processes, which is what makes the article authentic and valuable, especially for readers who do not guess how a theatrical performance comes true.

Литературата и театърът: един за друг родени? (Анкета с театрали, проведена и коментирана от Людмил Димитров)

Author(s): Lyudmil Dimitrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

Опит за саморефлексия в ада. „При закрити врата“ от Жан-Пол Сартр

Author(s): Yoanna Yaneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 32/2024

This article analyzes a fragment of the play “No exit” (1944) by Jean-Paul Sartre. The main subject of this text focuses on the question of gazing into the eyes of the Other as a continuously repeated act not only for the purpose of self-knowledge, but also for the purpose of reaffirming a potential existence in hell. The aim of this play’s segment is to serve as an example through which to introduce the theory of existentialism using Plato’s ideas of looking into the eyes of the Other in the dialogue “Alcibiades”.

L’écrivain des images et ses hiéroglyphes picturaux: théorie et pratique de la création artistique chez Claude-François Ménestrier (1631–1705)

Author(s): Nikola Piperkov / Language(s): English,French Issue: 1/2024

The French Jesuit brother Claude-François Ménestrier (1631–1705) can be described as an image writer, a.k.a. iconographer (from gr. εἰκών, ‘image,’ and γράφειν, ‘to write’). He received commissions for ephemeral decorations, fireworks and grand décor ceiling paintings by the Archbishop of Lyon, the King of France and the Duke of Savoy for almost 50 years. Despite its great success, this practice remained very unusual in the 17th century, for Ménestrier did not know how to draw. His “pictorial” inventions were entirely dependent on ekphrastic instructions, meaning that in order to take real shape, his imagination required the intervention of a draftsman, a “pictorial hand.” This article highlights two problems inherent to this collaborative practice. The first one concerns the artistic collaboration itself, which was extremely complicated to organize and handle. The second one is about the conceptual gap that separates Ménestrier from his collaborators. He has a personal image theory in which pictorial compositions are described as “talking images,” “pictorial texts,” or “hieroglyphs.” In other words, Ménestier’s images are designed as tools for visual communication that have very little to do with the actual painting technique and very much with linguistics and semiotics.

Beauty between Space, Place, and Landscape

Author(s): Paolo Furia / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Notions of space and place are often used interchangeably in everyday speech, but they are distinguished both conceptually and historically. When put in relation to space and place, beauty reveals all its vitality and ties to socio-political issues, like: why do we consider a place beautiful and another place ugly? How do taste judgments about places influence planning, tourism, heritage policies, urban, and landscape architecture? I will develop my argument in four points. First, I will shortly pin down the main tenets of a concept of beauty that is inherently spatial, by rephrasing Roger Scruton’s insights on the beautiful and Ed Casey’s notion of ‘implacement’. Second, I will address the interconnection between the modern emergence of a quantitative and objectivist concept of space and a non-relational idea of beauty. Third, I will expose the relationship between the concept of place, idiographic and qualitative, and the emergence of a site-specific, phenomenologically based concept of beauty. In conclusion, I will show how non-relational conceptions of beauty risk to colonize aesthetic experience and I will take a stand for a relational conception of beauty against the risk of standardization of both landscape appreciation and planning.

Hiroshima’s Bag Lady

Author(s): Luciana Nunes Nacif / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

What is considered ugly, grotesque or unpleasant by the fashion world? The first collection presented by Rei Kawakubo in Paris was classified as offensive to Western aesthetic standards, for it questioned the French ideal of beauty and elegance. Through silhouettes covered in frayed, perforated and monochromatic fabrics, Kawakubo disrupted the established notion of the beautiful body, stripping it of the clichés of femininity, explicit sexuality and glamour. Under the lens of Vilém Flusser’s philosophy, the Japanese fashion designer created the new, the beautiful, that which is capable of expanding the parameters of the real.

The Essence of Perception - An Artist’s View

Author(s): Helga Griffiths / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

Helga Griffiths, a Germany-based multi-sense artist, explores the intersection of art, science, and technology through her innovative installations. Her work often incorporates olfactory elements to enhance the sensory experience and evoke memories and emotions. Griffiths' notable projects include "Observatorium," which used a device to release scents in sync with video scenes, and "Space Souvenirs," which created scents representing different planets. She has exhibited internationally, including at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and the Nevada Museum of Art. Her installations aim to expand perceptual horizons by transforming technical data into multi-sensory experiences. Griffiths' work emphasizes the subjective nature of smell and its powerful connection to memory and identity. She has received numerous awards and residencies, and her work is featured in several permanent collections and publications. Her recent projects include "18C Essence of Coal," which explores the transformation of coal and its symbolic significance.