Description
The so-called "archival twist" in cultural studies, media studies and the philosophy and sociology fields has affected Shakespearean studies (see Alan Galey, The Shakespearean Archive, 2014; Barbara Hodgdon, Shakespeare, Performance and the Archive, 2016; Anthony Guneratne, "The Greatest Shakespeare Film Never Made: Textualities, Authorship, and Archives" (2016); Thomas Cartelli, Reenacting Shakespeare in the Shakespeare Aftermath, 2019; Judith Buchanan, "Collaboration with the Dead, Playing the Shakespeare Archive", 2020, et.) and, to a large extent, to theatre (see The Archive and the Repertoire by Diana Taylor, 2003), film and media studies. Likewise, said shift has served as inspiration for artistic creation (see Athanasios Velios, "Creative Archiving: A Case Study from the John Latham Archive", 2011). This phenomenon has been accentuated, without doubt, by the emergency of an incontrollable media apparatus which (at least in appearance) defies all laws of the archive known to date as the social machine for recording the activity of bodies. The repositories where information about adaptation of modern European theatre is collected are developed through initiatives such as BRITISH UNIVERSITIES FILM AND VIDEO COUNCIL (SHAKESPEARE), SHAKESPEARE IN FRANCOPHONIA, CIRCE: EARLY MODERN THEATRE ON SCREEN, MIT GLOBAL SHAKESPEARES, etc. Nonetheless, many adaptation listings remain scattered in specific bibliographies about Golden Age authors on screen (see Alba Carmona Lázaro, "La comedia áurea en el lienzo de plata: análisis de la recepción de la comedia nueva a partir de sus reescrituras fílmicas", 2018), non-shakespearean authors (see Pascale Aebischer, Screening Early Modern Drama, 2013), in institutional repertoires (RTP ARQUIVOS, Radio Televisión Española, British Film Institute, etc.), etc. in a full-swing archival abundance.As archival studies demonstrate, the archive's function is not limited to the recollection of documentary records. In the case of theatre, much less is it limited to the mere creation of repertoires nor the simple record of scenic works for their pristine preservation in institutional funds (see Pascale Aebischer, Susanne Greenhalgh and Laurie Osborne, Shakespeare and the 'Live' Theatre Broadcast Experience, 2018; John Wyver, Screening the Royal Shakespeare Company, 2019). Moreover, the archive constitutes an object of study. It also constitutes a perspective of critic study of numerous cultural products (also including the media ones) (see Michel Foucault, Les mots et les choses, 1966; L'archéologie du savoir, 1969, etc.). Lately, the archive is also manifested as series of fragments, rests and traces which help media creation. This necessarily impacts the audiovisual adaptation of Modern Age Theatre on screen (see Víctor Huertas-Martín, "Hamlet Goes Legit: Archaeology, Archive and Transformative Adaptation in Sons of Anarchy (FX 2008-2014)", 2022). Not only is it apparent that contemporary adaptations collect rests of older audiovisual and theatre adaptations through transmedia (see Sarah Hatchuel, "The Shakespearean Films of the 90s: Afterlives and transmedia in the 21st century", 2015). It is also clear that new techniques of media register, or of media creation based (partly) on documentary record (see Catherine Russell, Archiveology (Walter Benjamin and Archival Film Practices), 2018), the shift of staging to the screen (digital theatre, streaming, new ways of sharing theatre provoked by Covid-19), the reformulation of staging in new forms of audiovisual narratives, etc. These works have given rise to creative experimentation (see Martin Pogačar, Media Archaeologies, Micro-Archives and Storytelling (Re-presenting the Past), 2016), through which staging by means of intermediality mechanisms, simulation and recreation of theatre and cinematography have been rescued (and brought back to life) (see Silents Now and Wooster Group's Shakespearean productions).
Nonetheless, the existing record of Modern Age Theatre on screen is, to this date, partial. Numerous Modern European Theatre adaptations are left without audiovisual realization. See cases such as Macbeth (Dir. Laurence Olivier, scripts discovered in 2013), Galopa y corta el viento (Eloy de la Iglesia y Gonzalo Goicoechea, 1981 y 1986), El mejor mozo de España (Guillermo Fernández Shaw y Eduardo M del Portillo), as well as productions that are not distributed (see Trevor Nunn's Voltpone, 2015, which is hidden in the drawer to this date awaiting for the possibility of distribution), are destroyed, lost or, at least, the existence of a copy remains to be discovered. (see The Real Thing at Last, by J. M. Barrie, 1916). Many audiovisual adaptations of Modern Age Theatre have not been considered by each of their respective discipline's critics (see the nearly 50 Modern Portuguese theatre adaptations which have not been studied to this day and the few existing studies about Modern Age French Theatre on screen). How important are the recovery and liberation of these records when it comes to rethinking the legacy of Modern Age European Theatre on screen? If total recovery of these products in their audiovisual realization was not possible, which type of documentary footprint is left in records that let us revive and reconsider the adapted work in the present? Which restauration, writing and rewriting mechanisms do we have to protect, preserve, and reactivate this theatre-audiovisual legacy? What can we learn of works which, against all odds, knew how to overcome censorship mechanisms? (see Laura Campillo Arnaiz and Elena Bandín Fuertes, "Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain", 2022).
Lastly, based on assumptions similar to those of Jacques Derrida (see Mal d'Archive, 1994), or more recent ones (see Andrés Maximiliano Tello, Anarchivismo (Tecnologías políticas del archive), 2018), how does the recovery of records contribute to the consideration of social function of audiovisual adaptations? Is it possible to think of Modern Age Theatre archives as mechanisms for giving voice to subaltern groups that have been silenced? Could we consider archival recovery as a form of aesthetic, cultural, social, political, and artistic activism? What role does archival recovery play in serving social justice's interests towards which archival theory leans? What role do translation and plurilingualism play in the audiovisual creation of Modern Age theatre? Can the Modern Age European theatre on screen encourage the creation of bonds between European countries - cradle of Modern Age Theatre - and the international spheres' environments, through mechanisms such as translation, coproduction, distribution in different spaces and exhibition circuits? What role do films and audiovisual adaptations play, for answering these questions, that only tangentially appropriate the legacy of Modern Age Theatre by means of techniques such as framed theatre, biopics, quotations, allusions or the borrowing of plots, characters, situations and recognizable motifs from Modern Age theatre? (see Xavier Pérez and Jordi Balló, El mundo, un escenario, 2015).
The "II CIRCE CONFERENCE: archives, subalternity and social justice in the adaptation of early modern theatre (film, television, multimedia and staging)" will be held online on the 21st and 22nd of November 2024, at the Facultat de Filologia, Traducció y Comunicació at Universitad de Valéncia. We will treat, among others, the following topics:
Film, television and multimedia records, and Modern Age European theatre adaptations.
The archives as audiovisual and/or scenic creation and adaptation.
Subalternity in audiovisual adaptations of modern theatre plays.
Archive materials and Modern Age theatre audiovisual adaptations.
Emancipation, activism, and social justice in audiovisual adaptations of Modern Age European theatre plays.
Comparative approaches to audiovisual adaptations of modern theatre plays.
Translation of theatrical texts into the audiovisual medium.
Transfers between the stage, the screen, and other artistic mediums in the adaptation of modern European theatre.
Documentary sources as materials for the adaptation and staging of Modern Age European theatre.
European theatre traditions obscured by adaptation studies.
Censored and/or not realized audiovisual adaptations of modern European theatre.
Collaborations between professionals, scholars, and professors for the disclosure of Modern Age theatre on screen.
Others
Proposals and presentation deadlines
From the organizing committee we invite you to participate by submitting communications that will not be longer than 20 minutes, in English or Spanish. Authors would need to submit:
Name and Surname
Affiliation
Abstract proposal (250 words)
Language: English, Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese
Biography of 100-150 words
The final deadline for reception of proposals is July 31st, 2024. We will confirm the acceptance of communications from September 10th, 2024, through email. Please send proposals to: [email protected].
Publishing of communications
A selection of the presented communications will be published in a collective volume or on a journal.
Inscription fees
Free participation.
Invited speakers
XAVIER PÉREZ TORIO (Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona) in conversation with RAFAEL MALPARTIDA (Universidad de Málaga)
MARÍA ROSA ÁLVAREZ SELLERS (Universitat de València)
ELENA BANDÍN FUERTES (Universidad de León)
| Period | 1 Jun 2024 → 22 Nov 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Degree of Recognition | International |