This thesis is a socio-political analysis of the United Kingdom’s contemporary national identity, as expressed through an intercultural examination of eight Anton Chekhov’s productions presented in the country between 2009 and 2011, characterised by their aesthetic and socio-political diversity. The introduction presents a theoretical exploration and definition of the notions of interculturalism and national identity, which serve as the theoretical pillars of this work. A historical contextualisation summarises the reception, assimilation and reinterpretation processes of British Chekhovian discourses from the early 20th century onwards, as well as the urban and regional transformations that the country experienced during the same time frame. The first chapter explores traditional views of national identity through the analysis of double-bill performances, connecting Chekhov’s pieces to ‘national’ works by Terence Rattigan and William Shakespeare. The second chapter discuses international discourses and their influence in the creation of local imaginaries, using foreign Chekhovian productions presented on the British stage to scrutinise reception processes, importation models and the power of sponsors and festivals. The third chapter approaches Scottish and female discourses, emphasising their ‘otherness’ and value in the construction of more plural notions of national identity, through rewritings of the Russian author done by playwrights born and raised within the UK. The fourth chapter reflects on politically progressive and intercultural understandings of nation through new British experimental performances inspired by Chekhov’s iconographies and symbolisms. Finally, the conclusion re-examines Chekhovian dramaturgy, national identity and interculturalism, proposing an abstract outline to understand processes of reception, assimilation and/or reinterpretation of foreign dramatic discourses within any given geographical construct, and highlighting the importance of building a plural and hybrid post-Brexit British society, focused on a constant intercultural negotiation between superimposing cultural forces.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis addresses the composition of the indentities through the performances produced in the celebrations of chapel in the town of Silveira Martins, located into the Fourth Colony of Italian Imigration in the Rio Grande do Sul. Celebration of chapel is an expression that denote into the own group events that happen in communities from the rural zone, place that have just a space like a little church and a hall, these events happen to honor the patron saint from this comunity. Spaces like these became privilege for the research becouse of limitation of his territory made by italians immigrants during the XIX century, combined to the growth of the memories to rebuild a colonial past and based in a mythical origin. The quest of this work is to map the celebrations of chapel and then take for the analysis five of them, also other two festive events, with the intention to make a local festive table contemplating the daily dimension. Is understood that a festive moment, that symbolize and enlarge the elements of the daily, become a product of it. The fundamentations for this research is based on the discussions about the identity, using mainly concepts about the ethnic and cultural identity contemplating studies about the identity quest front the globalization process. The analysis table is compost for the ethnographic method, as well as, analysis of the performances, mainly corporal, understood as expressive and communicative acts. Although records were used audiovisual bolstered the descriptions and analysis of aspects observed in the field. Thus, it is found that the festivals of Chapel have a multitude of related identity, such as customs, traditions, beliefs, values, habits, modes of knowledge and practices that make up the sense of identity among the group and allow to identify it as belonging to an ethnic identity. These related identity could be observed in the performances of individuals who produce the festival and among its participants. It s possible to say that te celebrations of chapel trigger strategically and resignify belonging to the italian ethnic indentity, highlighting the festival itself as a cultural performance. However, this membership iss seen as contrastive. / Esta dissertação aborda a composição de identidades através das performances produzidas nas Festas de Capela no município de Silveira Martins, pertencente à Quarta Colônia de Imigração Italiana do Rio Grande do Sul. Festa de Capela é uma expressão que indica entre o próprio grupo manifestações festivas que ocorrem nas comunidades da zona rural, espaço que agrega as edificações de uma pequena igreja e de um salão, sendo que, esta festa presta homenagem ao santo padroeiro daquela capela. Estes espaços se tornam privilegiados para a pesquisa pela compreensão de sua delimitação territorial em vias da colonização por imigrantes italianos no século XIX, juntamente com a emergência de memórias que reconstroem um passado colonial e fundamentam-se numa origem mítica. Este estudo buscou mapear as Festas de Capela elegendo para análise cinco delas, além de outras duas manifestações festivas diversas, a fim de compor um quadro festivo local e contemplar a dimensão do cotidiano. Entende-se que o momento festivo, por simbolizar e exaltar elementos do cotidiano, se torna uma produção deste. A fundamentação para esta pesquisa ancora-se nas discussões sobre identidade, recorrendo principalmente às noções de identidade étnica e cultural e contemplando discussões que abrangem a questão identitária frente aos processos de globalização. O quadro de análise é composto pelo método etnográfico, bem como, pela análise de performances, principalmente corporais, entendidas como atos expressivos e comunicativos. Ainda foram utilizados registros audiovisuais que ampararam as descrições e análises de aspectos observados em campo. Assim, pôde-se verificar que as Festas de Capela apresentam uma multiplicidade de referentes identitários como costumes, tradições, crenças, valores, práticas alimentares, modos de saberes e fazeres que compõem o sentido de identidade entre o grupo permitindo identificá-lo como pertencente à identidade étnica italiana. Estes referentes identitários puderam ser observados nas performances dos indivíduos que produzem as festas e entre seus participantes. É possível afirmar que as Festas de Capela acionam de forma estratégica e ressignificam a pertença à identidade étnica italiana, evidenciando a própria festa como uma performance cultural. Entretanto, este pertencimento é visto de forma contrastiva, operando-se negociações entre identificações. Revela-se, assim, a Festa de Capela como um espaço privilegiado para o encontro entre indivíduos e confrontações identitárias, com predominância de elementos e significados vinculados à italianidade.

This thesis presents research on an amateur composer-oriented Bach choir. Its main purpose is to study the development of musical identities and musical preferences of choir members as they take shape through the collective learning process of rehearsing and performing large-scale choral music. The study analyses how the choral participation and performance creates a certain type of ‘choral capital’ (a combination of social and cultural capital within the choral setting) and how the choristers reconstruct and relate to the composer (J.S. Bach) by creating ‘choral identities’ linked to the composer-orientation of their choir. This study is based on an interdisciplinary approach, seeking concepts and ideas from different fields of study – primarily sociology and music sociology (music in everyday life and the concepts of social and cultural capital in the amateur choral setting) but also music psychology regarding concepts of musical and vocal identities, history of music (especially Bach scholars, previous biographical writings about J.S. Bach), music and education (choral singing as informal music education) and interdisciplinary studies on music, health and well-being. The methodological approach of this research consists of a grounded theory based, single case study where the case was the Croydon Bach Choir in London performing J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, using participant observation (where I sang with the choir for one semester) and qualitative interviews as main research methods and gathering demographic background data on choir members via paper-based survey. Whereas significant research on music performances has been conducted, so far choral research, where the direct participation of the researcher as a member of the choir is used as one of the main research methods, is still quite rare. Results indicate that participants develop socio-musical identity both through their choral participation in general, performance experiences and early music consumption in the family household and the emphasis of the importance of choral singing as a fulfilment instead of pursuing a professional career. Through choral singing, participants developed ‘choral capital’ through a) the effects of collective learning on their musical taste and preferences (thus broadening their musical taste and preferences and reconstructing the composer) and b) the well-being factor of collective singing and communal learning through the process of rehearsing and performing the Mass in B Minor. Furthermore, findings indicated that participants construct Bach as a genius and a devout Lutheran, an image that relates to the romantic image of Bach presented in the late 19th – early 20th century biographical writings on the composer. Thus in general, their choral activities form a valuable addition to their social and cultural capital (´choral capital´), which they use as a source of well-being in everyday life. In addition, participants create a certain ‘choral identity’ by relating to the composer-orientation of their choir; the promotional label of Bach as a synonym for quality choral singing and the emphasis of challenging repertoire.