29019 - History of Directing (1) (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

For the purposes of the Fundamentals of Theatre Directing (1) classes, the concept of theatre directing will be considered as potentially referring to all forms of live performance, including musical theatre. At the end of the course unit, the students will know: - the main theoretical and methodological aspects of directing, in connection with the artistic context of the theatre and with the framework of human sciences in general; - the main study tools with which to set up a research on a director's work; Moreover, they will be able to: - employ the language of directing effectively; - work out a mature and original critical thought on the art of staging and correctly carry out a research of their own, in the field of theatre directing, that makes use of various sources of information (documentary and not), intended to be presented either in writing or in spoken form.

Course contents

In the stormy years of exile, while experiencing the paradoxical and guilty life of the "refugee" in Scandinavia, before the Second World War forced him to leave Europe, Bertolt Brecht intervenes in the complicated querelle on the concept of realism, contesting in several places the ideas of György Lukács: Brecht reproaches him for not correctly taking into consideration the interdependent relationship that binds "form" and "reality". The aesthetic question, in that dark phase of the history of Europe, connects to a more general reflection on the function of artistic practice and, in the case of Brecht himself, of direction in front of the tragic distortions operating then on reality. So, at crucial moments, the choices of language and "rhetorical" strategies strongly take their role as means capable of putting events in a different light.
So if the director's job, in its brief and dazzling story, lives in a condition of almost "paradox of the author", at the same time exegete (of the text, of the actor, of space?) and creator, just of a editing work, the teaching of Theory of Direction (LM), entitled Interpret or generate? Direction to the test of "facts", this year intends to start from the unresolved question of "realism". Even just looking at the rest of the twentieth century, from the essay by Romain Rolland Le théâtre du peuple (1903), to the Piscator-Bühne inauguration with Oplà, we live by Toller (1927), or to the discontinuous and long agit-prop season in the German and Soviet area, but also thinking of the British "angry generation" or, to be in Italy, the satires of the early seventies of Fo and also the dramas-document of Luigi Squarzina and Vico Faggi (Cinque giorni al porto, 1969), it is clear that the relationship between direction and reality has been repeatedly at the centre of the stage practices of the past century. The discourse is then enriched if we focus quickly on today's context - think of cases such as Lola Arias or Milo Rau: the question of reality on stage has recently returned in vogue, among other things with strong forms of coexistence between proper spectacular composition and, to say it in the manner of Rimini Protokoll, very active in this sense, the "expert of everyday life".

Module I = first 30 hours

In the first module, after a brief introduction to the concept of direction, the analysis of the fundamentals of the directing language will be developed from a theoretical perspective, having particular attention to the relationship with the notion of realism / reality, taking as an example and point of comparison some significant experiences of the past and of today, who are based on the complex relationship between elements of reality and theatre. This is aimed to empirically give to the participants the knowledge of the fundamentals of the directing planning.

Module II = following 30 hours

In the second module of the course, attending students will be guided to develop an original directing project. Practical testing ground for students will be Mythologies, the essays of Roland Barthes (1957): a kaleidoscopic deconstruction, conducted by analysis of fragments, of the language of mass society, taken in its progressive phase. Starting from some cases analyzed by Barthes, students will be divided into groups and will be called to build their directing's plan.

Module I begins =30th January 2019, Aula Picchi (5 pm)

Module II begins =20th March 2019, Aula Cruciani (1 pm)

Lessons of module II in the days 21st and 22nd March and 3rd, 4th, 5th April will be held in theatre of Laboratori DMS in via Azzo Gardino 65/a.

 

The 6cfu course unit consists of module I, while the 12 cfu course unit consists of the two modules.

Readings/Bibliography

A) Compulsory reading list both for students who attend the lessons and for those who do not (attending the lessons means attending at least 80% of them):

6 cfu course unit (Module I)

All students (whether attending the lessons or not) are required to study:

- Annalisa Sacchi, Il posto del re: estetiche della regia teatrale nel modernismo e nel contemporaneo, Roma, Bulzoni, 2012;

- La regia teatrale in Italia, oggi. Per Luca Ronconi, ed. by Claudio Longhi, «Culture Teatrali», 2016, n. 26 (monographic number), pp. 7-218;

- Bertolt Brecht, Scritti teatrali [1962], Torino, Einaudi, 2001.

 

12 cfu course unit (Module I + Module II)

All students (whether attending the lessons or not) are required to study:

- Annalisa Sacchi, Il posto del re: estetiche della regia teatrale nel modernismo e nel contemporaneo, Roma, Bulzoni, 2012;

- La regia teatrale in Italia, oggi. Per Luca Ronconi, ed. by Claudio Longhi, «Culture Teatrali», 2016, n. 26 (monographic number), pp. 7-218;

- Bertolt Brecht, Scritti teatrali [1962], Torino, Einaudi, 2001.

- Roland Barthes, Miti d'oggi [1957], Torino, Einaudi, 2016.

- Bertlot Brecht, Scritti sulla letteratura e sull'arte, Torino, Einaudi, 1973 (chapter Sul realismo, pp. 169-237)

- Erich Auerbach, Mimesis. Il realismo nella letteratura occidentale [1946], Torino, Einaudi, 2000 (part I chapters 1 e 8, part II chapters III, V, VII e conclusione).

 

B) For both the 6 cfu course unit (Module I) and the 12 cfu one (Module I + Module II), both students who attend the lessons and students who do not are furthermore required to study a text of their choice among the following:

 1) André Antoine, I miei ricordi sul Teatro Libero, Roma-Milano, Mondadori, 1923;

2) Adolphe Appia, Attore, musica e scena: la messa in scena del dramma wagneriano, la musica e la messa in scena, l’opera d’arte vivente, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1975.

3) Antonin Artaud, «Il teatro e il suo doppio» con altri scritti teatrali, Torino, Einaudi, 1968;

4) Carmelo Bene e Giancarlo Dotto, Vita di Carmelo Bene [1998], Milano, Bompiani, 2008;

5) Eugenio Barba, La canoa di carta. Trattato di antropologia teatrale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1993;

6) Peter Brook, Lo spazio vuoto, Roma, Bulzoni, 1998

7) Romeo Castellucci, Chiara Guidi, Claudia Castellucci, Epopea della polvere: il teatro della Societas Raffaello Sanzio 1992-1999: Amleto, Masoch, Orestea, Giulio Cesare, Genesi, Milano, Ubulibri, 2001;

8) Jacques Copeau, Artigiani di una tradizione vivente: l'attore e la pedagogia teatrale, Firenze, La casa Usher, 2009.

9) Gordon Craig, Il mio teatro, ed. by F. Marotti, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1971;

10) Sergei M. Ejzenstejn, Il movimento espressivo. Scritti sul teatro, Venezia, Marsilio, 1998;

11) Jerzy Grotowski, Per un teatro povero, Roma, Bulzoni, 1970;

12) Tadeusz Kantor, Il teatro della morte, Milano, Ubulibri, 2000;

13) Louis Jouvet, Ascolta, amico mio, Roma, Bulzoni, 2007;

14) Hans-Thies Lehmann, Il teatro postdrammatico, Imola, CuePress, 2017.

15) Vselvod E. Mejerchol´d, L'attore biomeccanico, Milano, Ubulibri, 1993;

16) Vito Pandolfi, Spettacolo del secolo. Il teatro drammatico, Pisa, Nistri-Lischi, 1953;

17) Erwin Piscator, Il teatro politico, Torino, Einaudi, 1960;

18) George Pitoëff, Il nostro teatro, Roma, Bulzoni, 2009;

19) Il teatro di Trionfo, ed. by Franco Quadri, Milano, Ubulibri, 2002;

20) Luca Ronconi e Gianfranco Capitta, Teatro della conoscenza, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2012;

21) Luigi Squarzina, Il romanzo della regia: duecento anni di trionfi e sconfitte, Ospedaletto (Pisa), Pacini, 2005;

22) Konstantin Stanislavskij, Il lavoro dell'attore su se stesso, ed. by G. Guerrieri, prefazione di F. Malcovati, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2003;

23) Konstantin Stanislavsikij, Il lavoro dell'attore sul personaggio, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1988;

24) Giorgio Strehler, Per un teatro umano: pensieri scritti, parlati e attuati, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1974;

25) Evgenij B. Vachtangov, Il sistema e l’eccezione: taccuini, lettere, diari, Pisa, ETS, 2004.

26) Erika Fischer-Lichte, Estetica del performativo [2004], trad. di T. Gusman, Roma, Carocci, 2014.

 

For both the 6 cfu course unit (Module I) and the 12 cfu one (Module I + Module II), only students who attend less than 80% of the lessons are furthermore required to study a second text of their choice among the list above.

N.B.: any change of this programme must be discussed with the teacher.

 

Other materials can be put on-line after February 2019.

 

Who needs some knowledge about history of direction can read also:

- Roberto Alonge, Il teatro dei registi. Scopritori di enigmi e poeti della scena, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006;

- Il teatro di regia: genesi ed evoluzione (1870-1950) [2004], ed. by Umberto Artioli, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

- Mirella Schino, La nascita della regia teatrale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2003.

Teaching methods

The class will be structured as a seminar, with hours of lectures, followed by discussions with students, practical excercises, as well as presentations submitted by students on agreed themes. The presentations will serve as a starting point for the final verification. During the class, video projections from shows object of analysis will also be used.

Assessment methods

I module 6 cfu:

The final examination consists of:

1) an oral examination on the topics covered during the class and on the books read by the students among those quoted in bibliography;

2) the presentation of a written essay on a director as case of study, starting from one of the reading choices of the students, among those volumes quoted in bibliography. The essay should not exceed 20,000 characters (including spaces) and it should be delivered to the teacher, preferably by e-mail, at least two days before the date on which the student intends to take the final assessment.

The oral examination serves to evaluate the complex of knowledge and critical skills gained by the student, through attendance of the class and (/ or in the case of non-attending students) through reading the materials listed in the bibliography. At the same time the oral examination will serve as well to evaluate the grasp by the student of the main study tools useful to make a reflection on the issues regarding direction, as well as student's ability to place these issues within a broader theatrical horizon as well as within the general system of the humanities.

The written essay is aimed to assess the student's ability to grasp the crucial aspects of a director's work, knowing how to make critical and interpretive choices also in light of a wider historic-theatrical horizon and above all in relation to the state of direction in today's context.

The oral examination and written essay will be evaluated jointly and in a unified manner, as they are two modes to highlight, from the student, the knowledge accrued during the class and the ability to use them in an original way.

Note: if any of the contributions included in the bibliography have not been studied by the candidate (without a prior agreement with the professor) the test will be immediately interrupted and cancelled.

 

I+II modules 12 cfu:

The final examination consists of:

1) an oral examination on the topics covered during the class and on the books read by the students among those quoted in bibliography;

2) the presentation of a written essay on a director as case of study, starting from one of the reading choices of the students, among those volumes quoted in bibliography. The essay should not exceed 20,000 characters (including spaces) and it should be delivered to the teacher, preferably by e-mail, at least two days before the date on which the student intends to take the final assessment;

3) in the presentation of a project of direction developed during the course for students who attend or elaborated on a dramaturgical score to be agreed with the teacher for non-attending students, to be delivered to the teacher, preferably by e-mail, at least two days before the date on which the student intends to take the final assessment.

The oral examination serves to evaluate the complex of knowledge and critical skills gained by the student, through attendance of the class and (/ or in the case of non-attending students) through reading the materials listed in the bibliography. At the same time the oral examination will serve as well to evaluate the grasp by the student of the main study tools useful to make a reflection on the issues regarding direction, as well as student's ability to place these issues within a broader theatrical horizon as well as within the general system of the humanities.

The written essay is aimed to assess the student's ability to grasp the crucial aspects of a director's work, knowing how to make critical and interpretive choices also in light of a wider historic-theatrical horizon and above all in relation to the state of direction in today's context.

The project of direction is aimed to assess the acquisition and the ability to re-elaborate, by the student, the main knowledge of the language of direction, as well as the ability to develop an organic and complex thought with the language of directing. It is also aimed to assess the ability of the student to know how to compare with the material conditioning given to the director.

The oral examination, written essay and project of direction will be evaluated jointly and in a unified manner, as they are three modes to highlight, from the student, the knowledge accrued during the class and the ability to use them in an original way.

Note: if any of the contributions included in the bibliography have not been studied by the candidate (without a prior agreement with the professor) the test will be immediately interrupted and cancelled.

 

 

Teaching tools

Other teaching tools will be: proposals of vision of certain shows now in theatres of Bologna and of Italy (some prompts will be given during the class); the projection of video from important past stagings; the quote and/or making available to students of textual and/or iconographic materials in depth (in this case some indications will be given during the class).

Office hours

See the website of Giacomo Pedini