The study examines the work of André Benedetto, both as writer and as director of the Nouvelle Compagnie/Théâtre des Carmes at Avignon from 1961 till 1991. It seeks to elucidate his major concerns and offer a critical assessment of his techniques and achievements as a dramatist and man of the theatre. To these ends, it traces, largely chronologically, the evolution of his career through a number of clearly-defined stages. Chapter 1 describes the company's earliest work, showing how by 1966 Benedetto had defined his position to the left of the established practices of mainstream decentralised theatre in France. Chapter 2 shows him beginning to establish his own distinctive dramatic voice with plays such as <I>Napalm</I> in 1967, while Chapter 3 analyses the impact of the events of May 1968 on Benedetto's writing during that year. Chapter 4 discusses his cycle of theatrical Marxist parables between 1969 and 1972. Chapter 5 looks at the group of plays concerned with the problems of Occitania between 1973 and 1975. Chapter 6 is concerned with Benedetto's work outside the normal structures of the theatre - work on the street, in Festivals, and in collaboration with groups outside the theatre - between 1968 and 1976. Chapter 7 discusses the brief hiatus in Benedetto's evolution that occurred in 1975-77. Chapter 8 shows how he fused the twin poles of community theatre and Occitanist subject-matter in a series of large-scale projects between 1977 and 1981. Chapter 9 examines the major change in orientation that occurred in his work in the early 1980s, which appeared to show a switch away from political theatre to more introspective work. Chapter 10 examines the plays written between 1987 and 1991, in which his ability to deal with complex political and social issues is consolidated around a more mature artistic vision.

The central argument of this thesis is that Hugo, Musset and Maeterlinck each had a conception of theatre and performance that can now be considered 'modem'. The thesis is original because it reads these nineteenth-century playwrights' visions through performance. It contributes to knowledge of the subject by revealing the significance of the active audience for all three, applying the hitherto-neglected methodological approach of theatre semiotics combined with phenomenology. Each dramatist's ideal audience is found to have an embodied, sensory response and to often experience discomfort' This thesis further contributes to existing knowledge by tracing comparisons between these three very different playwrights, and by referring to productions of their plays in order to cast light on issues such as dialogue, corporeality and decor. An Introduction contextualises the main lines of inquiry of the thesis and sets out the methodology, and is followed by three chapters. Chapter one considers Hugo's modem vision of the stage, and is based on his Romantic plays (1829-1834). Chapter two is concerned with Musset and the modernity of his Spectacle dans unfauteuil (Prose) (1834). Chapter three concentrates on the avant-gardevision of Maeterlinck, a Belgian Symbolist, and examines his 1889-1894 plays from a performance perspective. Within each chapter, the emphasis is on elements of the playwright's dramaturgy that pertain to the form of the dramatic text and that implicate the audience. Relevant stagings and other archival material relating to performance are used, alongside semiotic and phenomenological analysis, in order to increase understanding of Hugo, Musset and Maeterlinck's dramatic skills and the modernity of their visions. The Conclusion highlights key areas that have been explored, draws comparisons with postnineteenth- century theatre theorists and practitioners, such as Brecht, Strindberg, Beckett and lonesco, and reveals links between the three playwrights discussed.

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The work in this thesis stemmed from my desire to answer these questions: 1. How and why Samuel Beckett's oeuvre is thought to correspond with some of the ideas or concepts of Buddhism? 2. Why are the Thai authorised translation and the Thai productions of Waiting for Godot not successful in Thailand and in what ways? 3. How can Waiting for Godot be translated and/or adapted into the Thai culture so as to preserve the Beckettian effects and how can such effects be conveyed to Thai audiences? The study includes both theoretical and performance components. Regarding the performance, I play the role of the play's tradaptor and director, recontextualising Waiting for Godot into a Thai Buddhist context and directing the play on the Thai stage. The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter provides background information on the academic studies of and religious perspectives on Beckett's work. In the second chapter, the analyses and comparisons between Beckett's dramas and Buddhist dharma, notably his theatrical devices and vipassanii meditation, are examined. The third chapter explores the historical reception of the play in the world and in Thailand, as well as examines the difficulties in translating the play. The fourth chapter addresses the significant approaches to tradapting the play, while the audience feedback analysis and the commentaries are presented in the fifth chapter. This thesis is accompanied by two DVDs, which feature the practical component of the thesis, i.e. a recording of the performance and the annotated adapted script of the play.

This study analyses the careers of Racine, Quinault and Boursault to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies authors in seventeenth-century France employed to promote their careers. The literary, social, economic and political context in which they worked is explored by building on key biographical works and on studies of l’âge classique. The professional status of a writer is examined, developing work by Alain Viala. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of forms of capital provides a framework to analyse the writers’ pursuit of capital during their careers. Building on research by Erving Goffmann and Stephen Greenblatt, the authors’ use of self-fashioning is explored, as is their manipulation of their images as honnêtes hommes and hommes de lettres. The impact of patronage in enabling authors to ensure financially sustainable careers and the ways they appealed to potential patrons is examined. Research by Sharon Kettering and Peter Shoemaker, among others, is extended by the application of theories of patronage to the practice of the case study authors. This thesis develops research into literary polemics with a particular focus on the deliberate employment and strategic manipulation of controversy for self-promotion, illustrated by disputes engaged in by the three authors. The methods writers employed to gain professional legitimacy through the institutions of the monarchy, the Académie française and the literary salons are scrutinised and the impact of changes in the theatre-going public is reviewed. The research concludes that, at this period, writing could provide a viable career and offer opportunities for social advancement, but the findings demonstrate that successful writers needed to manage their careers strategically. They had to be versatile in their writing to respond to public tastes, sensitive to expectations of behaviour in order to obtain patronage and accumulate capital and willing to adopt a range of techniques of self-promotion to build and secure their reputations.

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