Seminar 16:
Hamlet on 21st Century European Stages
Florence March (Montpellier)
TOPIC DESCRIPTION
This seminar purposes to question both Hamlet and the theoretical issue of appropriation through the prism of contemporary European stage adaptations of Shakespeare's famous play. Hamlet in performance will be considered as a complex object, calling for an interdisciplinary approach which combines textual and performance studies, theories of authorship and reception theories, Shakespearean and appropriation studies. Basing ourselves on video clips, we'll aim to transcend the dialectic of faithfulness or betrayal of the source text (Hutcheon) to consider the dialogic relationship between Shakespeare's plural text (Petersen) and the 21st century productions it has inspired. We'll explore the strategies used by contemporary artists to reinforce or debunk the mythical aura of the tragedy and the Shakespearean myth beyond it, as well as audiences' responses and modes of commitment to the shows.
The seminar will focus on the following aspects:
1. textual aspects that contribute to the adaptogeny of Hamlet,
2. performance strategies paradoxically aiming at forgetting and evoking Shakespeare (Brook),
3. reception issues: defining the zones of transaction in which the artists negotiate with the spectators' predetermined expectations, and the complex pact of performance that builds up between stage and audience when dealing with such a mythical text as Hamlet.
LITERATURE
Primary
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (any recent critical edition).
Secondary
Barker, Howard. « Murders and Conversations : the classical text and a contemporary writer », in Arguments for a Theatre, Manchester : Manchester University Press, (1989) 1997, pp. 153-157.
Barthes, Roland. "The Death of the Author" (1967), transl. Richard Howard. <http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/barthes06.htm>
Brook, Peter. Forget Shakespeare (1996), in Evoking (and Forgetting) Shakespeare, London: Nick Hern Books, (1998) 2002 (expanded edition), pp. 37-48.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation, New York: Routledge, 2006. Preface, pp. xi-xvi and chapter1: "Beginning to Theorize Adaptation", pp. 1-32.
Jauss, Hans Robert. « Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory », in Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, transl. Timothy Bahti, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1982, pp. 3-45.
March, Florence. "Shakespeare at the Festival d'Avignon : the Poetics of Adaptation of L. Lagarde (Richard III, 2007), T. Ostermeier (Hamlet, 2008) and I. van Hove (The Roman Tragedies, 2008)", Shakespeare en devenir – The Journal of Shakespearean Afterlives, 2010, <http://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=188>.
Rancière, Jacques. "The Emancipated Spectator", opening of the 5th international summer academy in Frankfurt on August 20, 2004 (moodle)
SCHEDULE
Session 1: Hamlet as an open text
Session 2: Forgetting and evoking Shakespeare in stage performances of Hamlet
Session 3: Zones of transaction and pact of performance
ASSESSMENT
T
The first seminar grade expresses the activity in the seminar discussion. It can range from 0 to 10, the pass limit is 5. The second seminar grade assesses the quality of paper proposals (300 words minimum), the share of the student in the preparation of the final presentation, its contents and standard. It can range from 0 to 15, the pass limit is 8. The final essay grade is expressed in points from 0 to 30, the pass limit is 15. Deadline for the submission of the essay: 15 July 2013. Length of the essay: 3000-4000 words. The maximum number of points acquired for the 2 seminars and an essay is 80 (25+25+30).
For the participation in a workshop 5 points are acquired (10 points for two workshops). For the the submission of an internship application 5 points are acquired and 10 points fort the shortlisting for the internship.
