p-bar
The p-bar events shown here take place at the Rebenpark after the rehearsals at 21.00 h. Admission free.
18 April Chorus-body as scenic process. Images of body and society.
Greek tragedy was entwined with political every-day life, the rhetoric-argumentative modes of presentation of a society employing theatre as its main medium of reflecting the inner and outer crises of a world power in the making. The beginning and spatial focus of this theatrical form is the chorus. The lecture examines examples from the past 100 years in theatre history of different concepts of the chorus and their images of body and society.
Prof. Hajo Kurzenberger is Professor of Drama at the Stiftung Universit�t Hildesheim and director of the Institute of Media and Theatre. The theatre chorus has been the focus of his research and his work with students for many years. He works as dramaturge in Basle, Berlin, Zurich and Hamburg.
25. April Greek tragedy � critical memory of democracy
The classic tragedies were not theatre plays in the modern cultural sense, but tied into the cultural-political context of the autonomous city state. They are part of the public discussion about the problems that the young democracy has in justifying itself without a role model to take orientation from. The danger inherent in �anything is possible� appears for the first time in history and is immediately a focus of discussion. The tragedy becomes the memory of the origin and limits of the principle of freedom � this is where its critical potential lies even today.
Prof. Claus-Artur Scheier is Professor of Philosophy at the Universit�t Carolo-Wilhelmina in Braunschweig, focusing his research on Classical Philosophy and Arts Philosophy.
9. May �The Persians� � Time, story and memory
Aeschylos� �The Persians� is the only surviving Greek tragedy with a contemporary topic � the ruins left by the Persians were still visible when the play had its world premiere. In a �close reading� the lecture examines the particular time and narrative structures of the play and interprets the inherent reflection on memory.
Prof. Jonas Grethlein is Professor of Classical Philology at the Universit�t Heidelberg.
16. May A question of attitude: Brecht�s Lehrst�ck and Heiner M�ller�s language
Bertolt Brecht�s concept of the Lehrst�ck as a political and aesthetic rehearsal of attitudes and Heiner M�ller�s resisting and productively provocative theatre concept are the starting points for this lecture. Both authors demand a political attitude towards text and theatre and examine the possibilities and effectiveness theatre might have. The lecture examines the importance of these aspects today by looking at the Braunschweig production of �The Persians� based on Heiner M�ller�s text version und considering Brecht�s Lehrst�ck.
Prof. Florian Va�en is Professor of modern German Literature at the Universit�t Hannover and director of the drama course, he works in theory and practice with Brecht�s Lehrst�cke and Heiner M�ller�s synthetic theatre fragments.
23. Mai The citizen�s breath:
23. Mai The tragic chorus as an invention of a democratic community
Although the protagonists were professional actors, the chorus consisted of citizens. Those citizens chosen as chorus members were freed from any other of their political and military duties. Singing and dancing in a tragic chorus was considered political action, acting as a citizen, and not just the representation of the political in a mimetic distancing. Sophie Klimis in her lecture examines how the tragic chorus created society and looks at the chorus as a performative instrument shaping Athenic identity, which had a – visible and actual – ritual as well as educative effect in the communal performance.
Prof. Sophie Klimis is a lecturer in Classical Philosophy at the Facult�s Universitaires Saint Louis de Bruxelles. She uses interdisciplinary means to look at the reception and interpretation of classic myths and tragedies. She has recently published �Arch�ologie du sujet tragique�.
30. Mai Death and the people �
30. Mai the lamenting of military catastrophes from Ancient Greece until today
This lecture puts Aeschylos� play into its contemporary context, the consequences of a terrible international war, and examines the lasting effect the play has in modern performances due to the importance that the text gives to emotions such as pain, fear, desire for revenge � which have always been caused by military and civilian loss.
Prof. Edith Hall is Professor of Classics & Drama, Royal Holloway, University of London. In 1996 she translated �The Persians� into English. She has recently published �Cultural Responses to the Persian Wars: Antiquity to the Third Millennium�.
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