Amfiteater Journal of Performing Arts Theory
\nInternational Symposium<\/p>\n
5 and 6 October 2023
\nSlovenian Theatre Institute, Ljubljana<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 1961, George Steiner finally buried the tragedy. After several centuries of crisis and the slow death of the once most prestigious drama genre, even the staunchest defenders of the traditional division of genres finally had to admit that the Aristotelian dichotomy no longer exists on modern stages. The process of its theoretical abolition (in theater practice, of course, the division was never completely consistent), which was first started by the romantics in their reaction to classicism, was completed by the last of the modernists, the absurd dramatists. By emphasizing tragicomedy and grotesque, the binary opposition tragedy-comedy, which with its iconography has even become the most recognizable visual symbol of the theater, was successfully put into the dustbin of literary history.<\/p>\n
However, even a very superficial look at the theater repertoires of the third millennium quickly shows that at least comedy survived the attempt to abolish it. Although in the postmodern environment it is supposed to be replaced by more elusive genre texts, comedy, even that which is described in the theater papers without an adjective and is only interested in entertaining the audience, still regularly appears on the stage. Moreover, in many respects comedy has remained more or less unchanged since the first plays of Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence. Even avant-garde authors and experimental theaters, for example Charles Ludlam or 26000 couverts, return again and again to well-tested comic characters and forms. Does this mean that there is no symmetry in dramatic genres?<\/p>\n
If Jacques Derrida is right when he says that "texts without genre do not exist" and immediately adds that "such participation does not mean belonging", then the tenacity of comedy could be explained simply as a consequence of the fact that, in principle, it is only interested in participation \u2013 the participation of the audience with laughter \u2013 and that he never strives to belong. Comedy is a genre that exists only in the here and now, which its viewers can only fully understand in a certain historical moment and cultural context. In all other cases, he necessarily adapts: either to language differences or to a foreign environment and new social conditions. And that is precisely why it is so well prepared for survival. While even such popular and important literary genres as tragedy or epic have slowly lost their validity and often eventually even disappeared, comedy continues to successfully defy the pressures of development.<\/p>\n
This year's Amphitheater Symposium will therefore primarily be interested in the following research questions:<\/p>\n
\u2022 How did theater comedy react to the emergence of new media (film, radio, television, internet)?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What's really new in new forms of comedy like sketch, standup, and improv?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Is comedy necessarily liberating, or is it actually always defending mediocrity?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Did the decline of modern rationalism and Enlightenment ideas affect the development of comedy?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Will the culture of cancellation ("cancel culture") also succeed in canceling the sense of humor?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Can comedy survive a stage crash?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How does comedy deal, or should it deal, with difficult topics and content?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How is social criticism and\/or political activism manifested through comedy?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Does the comic subject change or remain static?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Normalization of comic characters in modern drama<\/p>\n
\u2022 Types of comedians in modern Slovenian comedy<\/p>\n
\u2022 Intimate and social in contemporary Slovenian comedy<\/p>\n
\u2022 Philosophical and sociological views on comedy<\/p>\n
\u2022 How is the attitude towards the body and the physical manifested in grotesque theatre\/drama?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What is the modern grotesque?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Is there still an interest in the grotesque today or is it a category committed to romantic (Wolfgang Kayser) and (post)modernist understanding of the world (carnivalism - Bakhtin)?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
PROGRAMME<\/strong><\/p>\n 10.00<\/p>\n Welcome addresses: Ga\u0161per Troha, PhD<\/strong>, SLOGI<\/p>\n 10.20 11.10: discussion<\/p>\n 11:30 a.m.: coffee break<\/p>\n 11.45 Lyudmil Dimitrov<\/strong><\/span>: Chekhov: the birth of comedy from the living corpse of tragedy<\/em><\/p>\n Mateja Pezdirc Bartol<\/strong><\/span>: Gender stereotypes in contemporary Slovenian comedy<\/em><\/p>\n Toma\u017e Topori\u0161i\u010d<\/strong><\/span>: Paratactic absurdism and (no longer) dramatic comedy from Jesih to Semeni\u010d and beyond<\/em><\/p>\n 12.45: discussion<\/p>\n 13.15: lunch<\/p>\n 15.00 Radka Kunderov\u00e1<\/strong><\/span>: Numb laughter? Comedy and politics in Peter L\u00e9blo's staging of Our Bullies<\/em><\/p>\n Ga\u0161per Troha<\/strong><\/span>: Socially critical potential of comedy on the example of ecological themes<\/em><\/p>\n Ana Kocjan\u010di\u010d<\/strong><\/span>: Edmond Audran:<\/em> La Mascotte (<\/em>Lucky girl), an operetta that became a modern commedia dell'arte under the direction of Bratko Kreft (1905\u20131996)<\/em><\/p>\n Martina Pe\u0161taj, Benjamin Zajc<\/strong><\/span>: Comedy in art for children and young people: how children and young people perceive and respond to humour<\/em><\/p>\n 16.20: discussion<\/p>\n 16.45: coffee break<\/p>\n 17:00-18:30 10.00 10.50: discussion<\/p>\n 11.10: coffee break<\/p>\n 11.30 Jakob Ribic<\/strong><\/span>: Brecht and comedy<\/em><\/p>\n Ma\u0161a Radi Buh, Nik \u017dnidar\u0161i\u010d<\/strong><\/span>: Where are the boundaries? \u2013 cancel culture ("cancel culture") and comedy<\/em><\/p>\n Samo Oleami<\/strong><\/span>: Improvisational comedy beyond unification on the lowest common denominators - the practice of Maja Dekleva Lapajna<\/em><\/p>\n 12.30: discussion<\/p>\n 13.00: closing discussion of the symposium<\/p>\n <\/p>\nThursday, October 5, 2023<\/h5>\n
\norder prof. Toma\u017e Guben\u0161ek<\/strong>, UL AGRFT<\/p>\n
\nPlenary lecture<\/strong>
\nLada \u010cale Feldman<\/strong><\/span>: Alceste \u00e0 bicyclette and Moli\u00e8re's Melancholic Comedy - Rejuvenation or Shutdown?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nFirst session<\/strong>
\nModerator: Maja Murnik<\/p>\n
\nSecond session<\/strong>
\nModerator: Jure Gantar<\/p>\n
\nRoundtable on comedy with guests<\/strong>: Gregor Moder<\/strong><\/span>, Iva \u0160. Glossary<\/strong><\/span>
\nModerator: Jakob Ribi\u010d<\/p>\nFriday, October 6, 2023<\/h5>\n
\nPlenary lecture<\/strong>
\nJure Gantar<\/strong><\/span>: Anatomy of a fiasco<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThird session<\/strong>
\nModerator: Ga\u0161per Troha<\/p>\n