MA S. Performance/Culture/Media (Summer School) (S. Wilmer ) - Theatre and Asylum Seekers. Performing stories of Utopia and Refuge

Dozent:innen: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Stenzel; Dr. Stefanie Husel
Kurzname: Perf/Cult/Media
Kurs-Nr.: 05.155.635
Kurstyp: Seminar

Inhalt

The topics of leaving home, of homelessness, and of looking for a better place to live are crucial to Attic Theatre. As Hikesia cannot be described without a strong reference to mainly religious practices of un/doing borders and generating temenoi (,places a-sylum‘), it is all but surprising that many of the ancient Greek tragedies dealing with asylum seekers involve religious beliefs and devotional practices. But Attic Comedy is a paradigmatic place negotiating utopian and dystopian ways of leaving home as well. Especially plays which provide stage journeys of anabasic/katabasic nature (e.g. ,Birds‘, ,Peace‘ or ,Frogs‘), have been brought to (post)modern theatrical life for they are dealing with precarious political situations.
In our seminar, we will focus not only on the plays themselves and theoretical readings on hospitality, but also on the role of theatre in general and specific theatres, festivals and theatrical events in current debates on immigration and political utopianism (e.g. Berlin theatres and the Berliner Theatertreffen to become active in the debate about immigration at the moment, scenic negotiations of European Utopias and Eu/Utopia in general). Europe comes into sight as a place of longing or a merely abstract ideal of freedom, equality and solidarity.
For close reading and discussion we suggest texts by Derrida and Levinas on hospitality and a couple of Greek tragedies and Comedies as well as contemporary adaptations: ,The Suppliants‘ by Aeschylus / ,Die Schutzbefohlenen‘ by Elfriede Jelinek (productions by Nicolas Stemann, Michael Thalheimer etc.), Aischylos‘ ,The Children of Heracles‘ (e.g. production by Peter Sellars), Aristophanes‘ ,Birds‘, ,Peace‘, or ,Frogs‘. A glance at the modern Greek reception of ,Birds‘ after WW II could be interesting in terms of transformations of the utopistic impact Aristophanes himself provides (e.g. the 1959 production by Karolos Koun/Athens, negotiating the political situation in post-war Europe/Greece, or a recent Greek/German co-production ,Utopia in Progress‘, dealing with the current European financial crisis).

Termine

Datum (Wochentag)	Zeit	Ort
16.07.2015 (Donnerstag)	09:30 - 17:00	Info-Box, Kreuzung Jakob-Welder-Weg/Johannes-von-Müller-Weg
17.07.2015 (Freitag)	09:30 - 13:00	Info-Box, Kreuzung Jakob-Welder-Weg/Johannes-von-Müller-Weg
17.07.2015 (Freitag)	14:30 - 17:00	00 143 Linke Aula 1312 - Aulagebäude/Mensa I