Theatermachine
Tadeusz Kantor in Context
Published on 30. April 2020
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-8101-4025-7 (ISBN)
Description
Theatermachine: Tadeusz Kantor in Context is an in-depth, multidisciplinary compendium of essays about one of the most influential theater artists of the twentieth century. Hans-Thies Lehmann's theory of postdramatic theater and developments in critical theory-particularly Bill Brown's thing theory, Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, and posthumanism-serve to provide a previously unavailable vocabulary for discussion of Kantor's theater.
Drawing on diverse approaches, the contributors write about Kantor from both global and local perspectives: as an exemplar of "postdramatic tragedy"; in relationship to Jewish culture and Yiddish theater; through the prism of postmemory and trauma theory; and in relation to Japanese, German, French, Polish, and American avant-garde theater. This comprehensive anthology arrives at a time when we grapple with the materiality of our modern lives-AI, technobjects, and algorithms-and might thus also be better poised to understand the materiality that permeates Kantor's theater.
Theatermachine argues that while confronting the twentieth century's most pressing, but least comfortable, questions-those of a human's worth, dignity, essence, and purpose-Kantor might also have been, unwittingly, a harbinger of the twenty-first century's political, ethical, aesthetic, and critical discourse.
Drawing on diverse approaches, the contributors write about Kantor from both global and local perspectives: as an exemplar of "postdramatic tragedy"; in relationship to Jewish culture and Yiddish theater; through the prism of postmemory and trauma theory; and in relation to Japanese, German, French, Polish, and American avant-garde theater. This comprehensive anthology arrives at a time when we grapple with the materiality of our modern lives-AI, technobjects, and algorithms-and might thus also be better poised to understand the materiality that permeates Kantor's theater.
Theatermachine argues that while confronting the twentieth century's most pressing, but least comfortable, questions-those of a human's worth, dignity, essence, and purpose-Kantor might also have been, unwittingly, a harbinger of the twenty-first century's political, ethical, aesthetic, and critical discourse.
Reviews / Votes
"This groundbreaking collection of beautifully edited essays is impressive in both scope and depth. The book deftly interweaves Kantor's Polish, Jewish, international, and theoretical roots, thus illuminating essential connections between each in thrilling new ways."- Dassia Posner, author of The Director's Prism: E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Russian Theatrical Avant-Garde"A unique collection, full of splendid writing and vivid insight, destined to become an essential resource on one of the twentieth century's seminal experimental theater artists."- Jonathan Kalb, Hunter College, the author of Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon Theater
"An invaluable and much needed collection on the incomparable Kantor-his work, his life, his theatrical prescience. Kantor confronted the twentieth century in profound ways that changed the future of theater. This volume approaches his methods and means through twenty-first century lenses that Kantor's own work might be said to have forecast-post-dramatic theory, new materialism, thing theory, and posthumanism. As such, Theatermachine expands our understanding not only of the theater artist but of theory and practice that would follow."- Rebecca Schneider, Brown University, the author of Performing Remains: Art and War in Times of Theatrical Reenactment
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Evanston
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
14 black & white images
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
825 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8101-4025-7 (9780810140257)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Magda Romanska is an associate professor in the department of performing arts at Emerson College and the author of Post-traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and Kantor.
Kathleen Cioffi is a theater historian who specializes in Polish theater. She is the author of Alternative Theatre in Poland, 1954-1989.
Kathleen Cioffi is a theater historian who specializes in Polish theater. She is the author of Alternative Theatre in Poland, 1954-1989.
Content
Introduction
Kantor: A Short Biography
Part I: Kantor in Theory
Tadeusz Kantor and Modernism
Tadeusz Kantor's Objects: Materialism of the Encounter
Human/Object/Thing: Kantor's Puppets and Bio-objects
Crushed People: Kantor and Trauma Theory
Kantor and the Theatre of Postmemory
Postdramatic Tragedy: Notes on the Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor
Kantor and the Posthuman Stage
Part II: Kantor, Locally
Transgression and Eschatology in the Work of Tadeusz Kantor
Possessed by the Traumatic Past: Postmemory and S. An-sky's Dybbuk in Kantor's Dead Class
Tadeusz Kantor and Bruno Schulz
Kantor and Witkacy: Childish Games with Death
Witkacy's and Gombrowicz's Influence on the Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor
Kantor's and Grotowski's Poor Theatre
Imagining a Future that Never Was: Tadeusz Kantor's Symbiotic Jewish-Polish Stage
Kantor and Slobodzianek: The Dead Class and Our Class
From Tadeusz Kantor's Anatomy Lesson to the Autopsy in Polish Contemporary Art
Part III: Kantor, Globally
Kantor and Early Twentieth Century European Avant-Garde Directors
Tadeusz Kantor and the German Bauhaus: From Technological to Metaphysical Utopia.
Kantor and Japan
On the Reception of Tadeusz Kantor's Work in Germany
Kantor and the Contemporary European Avant-Garde: Marthaler, Perceval, and Hermanis
Kantor and the Contemporary French Avant-Garde
Kantor, Pina Bausch, and Dance Theatre
Kantor and the American Avant-Garde
Contributors
Kantor: A Short Biography
Part I: Kantor in Theory
Tadeusz Kantor and Modernism
Tadeusz Kantor's Objects: Materialism of the Encounter
Human/Object/Thing: Kantor's Puppets and Bio-objects
Crushed People: Kantor and Trauma Theory
Kantor and the Theatre of Postmemory
Postdramatic Tragedy: Notes on the Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor
Kantor and the Posthuman Stage
Part II: Kantor, Locally
Transgression and Eschatology in the Work of Tadeusz Kantor
Possessed by the Traumatic Past: Postmemory and S. An-sky's Dybbuk in Kantor's Dead Class
Tadeusz Kantor and Bruno Schulz
Kantor and Witkacy: Childish Games with Death
Witkacy's and Gombrowicz's Influence on the Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor
Kantor's and Grotowski's Poor Theatre
Imagining a Future that Never Was: Tadeusz Kantor's Symbiotic Jewish-Polish Stage
Kantor and Slobodzianek: The Dead Class and Our Class
From Tadeusz Kantor's Anatomy Lesson to the Autopsy in Polish Contemporary Art
Part III: Kantor, Globally
Kantor and Early Twentieth Century European Avant-Garde Directors
Tadeusz Kantor and the German Bauhaus: From Technological to Metaphysical Utopia.
Kantor and Japan
On the Reception of Tadeusz Kantor's Work in Germany
Kantor and the Contemporary European Avant-Garde: Marthaler, Perceval, and Hermanis
Kantor and the Contemporary French Avant-Garde
Kantor, Pina Bausch, and Dance Theatre
Kantor and the American Avant-Garde
Contributors