KDS | Theatralia 2023/1: The Roaring Twenties: Theatre of the Early 2020s

When we think of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ we think of speakeasies, flappers, and jazz. The 2020s were nothing like the 1920s and would most probably be remembered in the years to come as the time of pandemic, isolation, and masks. But does it mean the 2020s were not ‘roaring’?

The English-language issue edited by Dr. Eva Šlaisová, an independent theatre researcher, and Prof. Martin Revermann of the University of Toronto, Canada, looks into the specificity of ‘The Roaring 2020s’ theatre and performance and its relationship to previous artistic and historical periods and works, as well as presents our 2020s interpretation of historical periods and movements.

For instance, Nenad Jovanović’s study ‘Playing For and Against the Microphone: The Theatrical Soundstage, the Cinematic Meeting Interface’ searches for a parallel between early 1920s talkies and the ‘Zoom-style’ theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nenad Jovanović continues the topic in his review of the book Performance in a Pandemic (2021) edited by Laura Bissell and Lucy Weir.

Yana Meerzon in her article ‘Playing a Tyrant – Rethinking an Autocrat in Asya Voloshina’s Antigona : Redukciia’, focuses on the parallels between Voloshina’s and Bertolt Brecht’s adaptations of this famous Sophocles’ play.

Martin Revermann’s interview with Spyridon Kotsovilis describes the Trojan Women project (2021–2022), an innovative interdisciplinary approach to teaching an International Relations Course developed by a group of collaborators during the pandemic.

Šárka Havlíčková Kysová looks at the theory of scenography in the work by Vladimír Jindra, a Czechoslovak theoretician, from the perspective of current multimodal and cognitive approaches in studying works of art in her article ‘Presages of Contemporary Theatre Studies Theories in Vladimír Jindra’s Structuralist Theory of Scenography’. She also reports about the interpretation of Stanislavsky’s legacy as discussed at the the symposium The S Word: Stanislavsky’s Last Words... (11–13 November 2022, Prague).

Theatralia once again became the platform for sharing new archival discoveries with our readers! In this issue, Gabriella Reuss introduces an unknown manuscript of Sándor Hevesi’s 1923 production of The Taming of the Shrew and Eva Šlaisová translates parts of previously unknown diaries of Czech theatre and film director and theoretician, Jindřich Honzl. Andrea Jochmanová continues to educate the readers about the prominent figures of the Soviet era theatre in Czechoslovakia by introducing Czech stage and costume designer Inez Tuschnerová this time.

And finally, as the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is approaching, we invite you to check out publications nominated for the Best Publication Award at Prague Quadrennial 2023. Visit PQ webpage to find out more about the event (https://pq.cz/) and do not miss the presentation of Theatralia by Šárka Havlíčková Kysová at the event itself! Theatralia presentation will happen as part of the round table discussion dedicated to PQ Knowledge Exchange Platform on 17 June 2023 at 10 am.

Take a closer look at Theatralia 1/2023 at our updated and more user-friendly page: https://journals.phil.muni.cz/theatralia. You can also purchase a copy through Muni Shop or directly from the Department of Theatre Studies (Gorkeho 57/7, 602 00 Brno, Building G).