IFTR annual conference held in Stockholm 13-17 June 2016
The members of Performing Premodernity took part in the 2016 annual conference of the International Federation of Theatre Research which will be held in Stockholm.
The conference “Presenting the Theatrical Past. Interplays of Artefacts, Discourses and Practices” addressed questions concerning our relationship to theatre history, i.e. the relation between present and past. How and why do we deal with history? What do we do with history? To what extent is historical research an exploration of our present?
With its point of departure in the 250th anniversary of the Drottningholm Court Theatre, IFTR 2016 focused on critical perspectives on theatre history. The theatre of the past is accessible to us via historical objects, theoretical discourses and archive materials. But we can also experience it through performance practices that keep traditions alive or engage in re-enactments of theatre events and representations.
Critical investigation of historiographical issues in the field of Theatre Studies touches upon the interplay between theatrical artefacts, practices and discourses. In our view such historical artefacts in relation to theatre can be theatre sites/venues, historical objects (props, scenery, costumes), historical materials and documents, historical locations for re-enactments, etc. Practices comprise performances such as theatre, drama, dance, opera, performance, installation art, laboratory experiments, educational curricula etc. The notion of discourse relates to historical ideas as well as contemporary theories, questions of ‘historically informed productions’ (HIP) and historiographical concepts, reconstructions of past performances etc.
27th February 2016
