Performing «Polishness»
Abstract
This article is a review of Dariusz Kosiński’s Performing Poland: Rethinking Histories and Theatres (Aberystwyth 2019). The author points out that the book is an attempt at introducing several centuries of Polish theatre and performance to an international reader. It is divided into five sections which overlap chronologically, altogether creating a comprehensive presentation of Polish theatre. These sections are: theatre of festivities, theatre of fundamental questions, national theatre, political theatre, and theatre of the cultural metropolis. The author, however, draws attention to a problematic issue in Kosiński’s approach. Throughout the book he emphasizes the role of theatre and performance in asserting Polish national identity while ignoring the complex, multi-faceted character of any national identity.
Keywords:
history of theater in Poland, national theater histories, national identityReferences
Kosiński, Dariusz. Performing Poland: Rethinking Histories and Theatres. Translated by Paul Vickers. Aberystwyth: Instytut Teatralny and Performance Research Books, 2019.
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Authors
S.E. WilmerSWILMER@tcd.ie
Trinity College Dublin Ireland
Professor Emeritus at Trinity College Dublin, where he has been Head of the School of Drama, Film and Music. He has been a Visiting Professor at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. He is also a playwright. His research interests include: historiography of national theaters, staging and performing identities, philosophical aspects of theater and drama. He is the author of Performing Statelessness in Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Theatre, Society and the Nation: Staging American Identities (Cambridge University Press, 2002); The Dynamic World of Finnish Theatre (Like Press, 2006). His edited and co-edited books include National Theatres in a Changing Europe (Palgrave Mcmillan 2008), Interrogating Antigone in Postmodern Philosophy and Criticism (Oxford University Press, 2010); Deleuze and Beckett (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015); Resisting Biopolitics: Philosophical, Political and Performative Strategies (Routledge 2016), Deleuze, Guattari and the Art of Multiplicity (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
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