27110 - History of Directing

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student: - knows the history of the theories and poetics that have crossed the theatre performance in the twentieth century, with particular attention to the elements that help to define the notion of stage direction and its protagonists; - has skills on historical and theoretical knowledge tools to read and analyze a theatre performance in its set of scenic components.

Course contents

Landscapes of humans and no-human atmospheres

Last product of the modern age (before its terrible collapse with two world wars), the theatrical direction marks its history in the arc of the unstable Twentieth Century, never ending up crystallizing in a single form. It is no coincidence that the different ways in which direction can be understood and done continue to be the subject of discussion, as well as the historiographic question about its emergence or birth between the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries - with hypotheses which range from the art of factory to the affirmation of a primacy of the scene on the page (not without, however, passing through the strenuous defense of dramaturgical will against dominance of the "grandattore"). In short, the direction is delivered to us, in this 21st Century, like a nebula alive of practices and, sometimes, of brilliant theoretical intuitions.
It is therefore difficult to divide the history of direction from the theatrical one as a whole, at least for the last one hundred and fifty years. Having to navigate in a stormy and highly populated sea, full of actors, writers, musicians and visual artists, we try to give ourselves a route remaining around the experience of one of the most important directors between Europe and USA in the last sixty years: Robert Wilson.
This year's teaching is titled Landscapes of humans and no-human atmospheres: starting from the study of some Wilson's works (from Einstein on the beach with Philip Glass to Brecht-Weill's Threepenny Opera, passing through Müller's Hamletmaschine and collaborations with Tom Waits and Arvo Part), important cases of stagings in the second half of the Twentieth century will be discussed, looking at scenic creations as well as interpretations. The discussion will be also helped by the comparison with productions of others directors such as Peter Brook, Luca Ronconi, Patrice Chéreau and Eimuntas Nekrošius.

First module: during the first thirty hours, the main historiographical and technical questions will be addressed, with particular attention to the birth of the direction between the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries and its progressive success in the first half of the twentieth century. Analysis of specifical stagings (with images, texts and videos) and theoretical, historical and stylistic reflections will be conducted, naturally focused for the development of the discourse in the second module.

Second module: in the second thirty hours, it will be held most of the seminar work with the students, who, divided into several groups, will deepen some aspects and works of Robert Wilson, presented by the teacher with the use of texts, videos and images, as well as comparisons to other contemporary staging.

Non-attending students are required to agree on a program with the teacher (they are considered not attending students present at less than 80% of lessons).

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):

• L. Mango, Il Novecento del teatro. Una storia, Roma, Carocci, 2019.

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

• M. Shevtsova, Robert Wilson, London-New York, Routledge, 2007 (capp. 1 e 2).

• G. Stein, Drammi [1935], in Ead., Opere ultime e Drammi, Macerata, Liberlibri, 2010, pp. 3-28.

• Euripide, Le Baccanti, in E. Sanguineti, Teatro antico. Traduzioni e ricordi, a cura di F. Condello e C. Longhi, Milano, BUR, 2006.

• W. Shakespeare, Amleto, a cura di A. Lombardo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1995.

• B. Brecht, Opera da tre soldi, a cura di C. Vigliero, Torino, Einaudi, 2002.

• S. Beckett, Giorni felici, Torino, Einaudi, 1961.

• H. Muller, Hamletmaschine, in Id., Teatro 2, tr. di S. Vertone ed E. Niccolini, Milano, Ubulibri, 2001.

Some changes in this bibliography will be possible after the beginning of lessons.

 

B) Students who attend less than 80% of the lessons are furthermore required to study a second text of their choice among the list above:

• R. 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], a cura di U. Artioli, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

• F. Perrelli, La seconda creazione. Fondamenti della regia teatrale, Torino, Utet, 2005.

• L. Squarzina, Il romanzo della regia. Duecento anni di trionfi e sconfitte, Ospedaletto di Pisa (PI), Pacini, 2005.

 

NOTE: Any changes to this program must be agreed with the teacher.

 

Some possible other writings will be available as an attachment on these pages after the start of the course.

 

Teaching methods

The course will start on Wednesday 23rd September and it will end on Friday 4th December.

Lectures will be scheduled on Wednesday (5-7pm), Thursday (11am-1pm) and Friday (11am-1pm).

The week 2-8th November will be a teaching pause.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the current health emergency, the course will be carried out with the following teaching method:

• blended 1: the teacher will carry out part of the course in remote; while for part of the teaching the students will alternate in presence for classroom activities. It will always be possible to connect in remote and follow live lectures in the classroom via TEAMS platform.

In particular, the entire first week of lessons will be carried out in remote: Wednesday 23rd, Thursday 24th , Friday 25th, Wednesday 30th September and Thursday 1 and Friday 2 October.
In order to define in detail the calendar of lessons in attendance and in remote, the help of students is fundamental: students are asked to connect themselves during the first week of lessons, making known the numbers of those present and thus organizing the rest of the teaching.

Whenever possible, the teacher will limit the use of lessons in remote, for now provided for a maximum of 40% of the lesson hours. These are days hypothesized today in remote:
- 23, 24, 25, 30 September;
- 1, 2, 14, 15 and 16 October;
- 11, 12 and 13 November.
The rest of the lectures will be in attendance at Aula Ferrero.
It is recommended to look at the teacher's page once a week, for the necessary calendar updates during the teaching period.

Due to the needs imposed by the health situation, the teaching will include a series of lectures and, when in class, a seminar work of discussions and studies with the attending students, appropriately divided into groups during the first week of remote lessons.

Compatibly with the health situation, it is also possible to attend at theatrical performances scheduled during the lessons.
Finally, as possible, directors/playwrights/actors will be invited for short testimony speeches.

Assessment methods

The final examination will consist of:

1) an oral discussion that will focus on the topics covered in class and on the volumes indicated in the bibliography;

2) a presentation of a written essay that starts from one of the topics discussed in class, with a length of about 10,000 characters (including spaces) to be delivered to the teacher by e-mail at least two days before the final examination. For both attending and non-attending students, the subject of the essay must be agreed in advance with the teacher.

The oral discussion is aimed to evaluate the critical and methodological abilities developed by the student, who will be invited to confront with the texts read with during the course. Particularly the candidate's abilities valued will be: 1) safely discussing of the various contributions indicated in the bibliography, 2) interpreting with pertinence the different moments of development of the language of stage direction, understood in its unfolding in time, 3) analyzing a show with coherence.

The evaluation of the written essay is aimed to verify the student's ability to elaborate an independent investigation in the context of the history of stage direction and to set the results in writing.

The oral discussion and the written essay will be evaluated jointly as expressions of different ways and skills of the same knowledge of the history of stage direction.
If one or more plagiarisms are found inside the written essay, the final examination cannot take place.

NOTE: the ascertainment of the fact that any of the texts included in the bibliography has not been studied by the student (without prior agreement with the teacher) determines the immediate cancellation of the examination.

Teaching tools

Iconographic and video materials will be screened during the lessons. Additional text materials will always be read during the course of lessons. Shows and similar will be proposed to the students, as well as the relative calendar and the modalities of participation, during the lesson period.
It is obvious that the attendance to shows and performances will be considered in relation to the present health alarm.

Office hours

See the website of Giacomo Pedini