This thesis closely examines the utilisation of dramatic characters’ comments on matters of literary and theatrical criticism. This phenomenon shaped a trend in European theatre during the first half of the twentieth century, and Egyptian theatre in the second half of the century. My main hypotheses are, firstly, that dramatic characters’ comments on literary and theatrical matters of criticism respond to specific problems that challenge theatre practice. Thus, my reading of literary and theatrical criticism within the dramatic texts studied in my thesis focuses on this criticism’s reformative function to rectify the crisis that faces theatre practice in general, rather than playwrights’ individual motives, such as responding to their critics. Secondly, socio-political, economic, and cultural aspects shape historical circumstances, which influence the current state of the theatre industry. Therefore, although Egyptian plays are noticeably influenced by European metatheatre, Egyptian playwrights utilise these borrowed techniques to highlight specific problems of Egyptian theatre such as the corrupt administration of governmental theatre and censorship. Finally, while Egyptian plays exploit European metatheatrical techniques, Egyptian playwrights claimed their works as a revival of intrinsically anti-illusionist traditional forms of entertainment such as the shadow play and Karagöz. This claim reflected increasing calls for pure Egyptian theatre, as part of the anti-Western jingoistic discourse of the political regime of the 1950s. In order to examine these assumptions, my theoretical approach draws from the fields of metatheatrical studies; literary and performance studies of parody and intertextuality; the history of European and Egyptian theatre; sociological, political and cultural studies; theories of modern criticism, and critical reviews. My contribution to the field of metatheatrical studies is in highlighting the reformative function of literary and theatrical criticism, whether as a discourse or a metatheatrical device, within a group of European plays that belong to different movements of the avant-garde during the first half of the twentieth century. More significantly, my study investigates the same phenomenon in Egyptian plays that, since the 1980s, have gradually been marginalised as fringe theatre and neglected by academic studies.

This examination of the most popular plays of Rodolfo Usigli, Salvador Novo, and Emilio Carballido shows their concern with Mexico's social problems--especially as evidenced by their representation of contemporary social classes through characterization. Treating socio-political and sexual problems with special emphasis upon psychology, Usigli combines melodramatic reality and imagination. Psychoanalysis is also important in Novo's characterizations; his themes and characters express a social criticism which often becomes a malicious satire of Mexican life. Carballido's symbolic surrealism creates an atmosphere of fantasy, with scenic neo-realism representing everyday life, bourgeois ideas, and the Mexican psychology.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], iv, 57 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-57).

One spring afternoon in 1631, the Norwich Society of Florists held a feast to celebrate and display its exquisite flowers. The celebration included an entertainment written just for the occasion—Ralph Knevet's quirky play about a war among flowers. Early modern florists were not the sort of people who sold cut flowers in shops; rather, they were experts in floriculture who applied this knowledge to cultivate new flowers. Norwich was already renowned for its gardens, but flowers soon became even more significant. Rhodon and Iris was performed just before tulipomania, a frenzy of tulip cultivation lasting from c.1634 – 1637. During this period, florists grew elaborate multi-coloured flower bulbs that sold for extremely high prices. In other words, the florists' feast and Knevet's play emerged when flowers were important to the economy and identity of Norwich. My thesis presents an open-access, digital critical edition of Rhodon and Iris encoded in TEI-P5. This edition offers an old-spelling transcription of the 1631 playbook, a modernized text with annotations, and a critical introduction. Responding to the need for more editions of non-canonical early modern plays, my research widens the otherwise Shakespeare-centric canon and helps make more early modern drama accessible to student readers. Rhodon and Iris also merits critical attention on its own grounds: an example of Caroline occasional drama, the play experiments with convention and offers a rare glimpse into the Society of Florists. My thesis approaches the play with special interest in editorial praxis, ecotheory, and the history of floriculture. The florists' feast delighted audiences and participated in a tradition of floral celebrations—one reaching, at least, from the ancient Roman ludi Florales to the modern Netflix series The Big Flower Fight. / Graduate / 2021-06-26

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / The role of the Canada Council and the Canadian Regional Theatre System in promoting and fostering English-Canadian playwrights and Canadian drama has been a source of considerable controversy but little sustained study since the middle 1960s. This dissertation examines that role through the crucial years from the creation of the Canada Council in 1957 until 1975 when the Council began to lose any real independence as an agency of cultural policy. It begins by examining the state of Canadian theatre in the postwar years prior to the creation of the Council and adumbrates the cultural/political forces that led to that creation: particularly rising Canadian nationalism and the power of the Canadian cultural elite. The confluence of these two forces in the form of the Massey/Levésque Commission sets the stage for the establishment of the Canada Council and, I will argue, also sets in place the basic philosophy of the Council towards theatre repertoire and the place of the English-Canadian playwright within the regional system. Chapter Three details the founding of the Council and its development of policies and practices that were intended to promote Canadian drama within the newly developing Canadian theatre system and then speculates on their likelihood of success. Chapter Four examines the realities of theatre economics in order to asses the impact of Canada Council (monetary) practices in the creation of the regional system and its use of Canadian plays. Chapter Five examines in detail the activities of the Council from its inception until 1969 and shows the very real gap between enunciated policies and actual practices in the development of the regional system particularly as it. affects the use of indigenous artistic material. I will contend that the result of Canada Council approaches and practices (intentional or not) in scholarship and funding, and particularly in the area of direct commissions, was the neglect of the Canadian dramatist in favour of a repertoire of foreign material. Furthermore, the focus of the Canada Council on two conflicting goals, the growth of regional theatres and a conservative fiscal policy aimed at reducing or controlling deficits, exacerbated this neglect. The consequences of this neglect are dealt with in Chapter Six with a discussion of the reaction of cultural nationalists, increasingly dissatisfied with Council practices, that led to the creation and promotion of the alternative theatre movement which produced the first concrete steps in the development of an indigenous drama. Since the alternative theatre movement, in its advocacy and encouragement of Canadian playwrights, occupied the role that the Canada Council was intended to fill, Chapter Six compares the funding patterns that helped set it in place (specifically the Local Initiatives Programs and Opportunities for Youth) with the funding patterns of the Council. I will suggest that these two programs (although not designed for that purpose) were much more successful than the policies and practices of the Canada Council in promoting English-Canadian plays, and specify the reasons why this was so. The dissertation concludes with some speculation on future possibilities in the study of Canadian plays based on their origin within an 'alternative' theatre structure rather than within the mainstream regional system and sums up how the development of the Canadian regional system was, in many ways, accomplished at the expense of the Canadian dramatist. / Le rôle du Conseil des Arts du Canada et du Réseau canadien du théâtre régional de promouvoir et d'encourager les dramaturges canadiens-anglais et le théâtre canadien a été une source de controverse considérable mais pas une source d'études depuis le milieu des années 1960. Cette dissertation examine ce rôle à travers les années cruciales à partir de la création du Conseil des Arts du Canada en 1957 jusqu'en 1975 lorsque le Conseil commence à perdre toute véritable indépendance en tant qu'agence de politique culturelle. Je débute en examinant l'état du théâtre canadien dans les années d'après-guerre avant la création du Conseil et je discute des forces culturelles/politiques qui ont conduit à cette création : surtout le nationalisme canadien montant et le pouvoir de l'élite culturelle canadienne. La confluence de ces deux forces sous la forme de la Commission Massey/Lévesque met en scène l'établissement du Conseil des Arts du Canada et met aussi en place la philosophie de base du Conseil envers le répertoire théâtral et la place du dramaturge canadien à l'intérieur du réseau régional. Le troisième chapitre raconte en détail la fondation du Conseil et le développement de ses politiques et pratiques prévues pour promouvoir le théâtre canadien à l'intérieur du nouveau T- réseau de théâtre canadien et ensuite s'interroge sur leur chance de réussite. Le quatrième chapitre examine les réalités financières du théâtre afin d’évaluer l'impact des pratiques (monétaires) du Conseil des Arts du Canada dans la création du 'réseau régional et son usage des pièces de théâtre canadiennes. Le cinquième chapitre examine en détail les activités du Conseil à partir de sa création jusqu'en 1969 et démontre l'écart réel entre les politiques énoncées et les pratiques réelles dans le développement du réseau régional, particulièrement lorsque cet écart touche l'utilisation de matériau artistique indigène. Je vais soutenir que le résultat des approches et des pratiques (intentionnelles ou non) du Conseil des Arts du Canada en bourse et en financement, et plus particulièrement dans le domaine des commissions directes, se traduit en une négligence du dramaturge canadien en faveur d'un répertoire étranger. De plus, l'intérêt du Conseil des Arts du Canada pour deux objectifs conflictuels, la croissance des théâtres régionaux et la politique fiscale conservatrice visant à réduire ou à contrôler les déficits, aggrave cette négligence. Les conséquences de cette négligence sont étudiées dans le sixième chapitre avec une discussion de la réaction des nationalistes culturels, de plus en plus insatisfaits avec les pratiques du Conseil, qui a conduit à la création et la promotion d'un mouvement de théâtre alternatif qui fit les premiers pas concrets vers le développement d'un théâtre indigène canadien. Puisque le mouvement de théâtre alternatif, dans son soutien et son encouragement des dramaturges canadiens-anglais, a occupé le rôle que le Conseil devait remplir, le sixième chapitre compare le modèle de financement qui a aidé à son établissement (plus spécifiquement l'établissement des Programmes d'initiatives locales (Local Initiatives Programs) et Opportunités pour les jeunes (Opportunities for Youth)) aux modèles de financement du Conseil. De plus, je vais suggérer que ces deux programmes (même s'ils ne sont pas créés dans ce but) ont eu beaucoup plus de succès que les politiques et les pratiques du Conseil des Arts du Canada dans la promotion des pièces de théâtre canadiennes et je vais spécifier les raisons de ce succès. Je conclu la dissertation avec une hypothèse sur les possibilités futures dans l'étude des pièces de théâtre canadiennes basée sur leur origine à travers une structure théâtrale 'alternative plutôt qu'à travers un système régional de la culture prédominante et je résume comment le développement du Réseau régional canadien a été, de plusieurs façons, accompli au détriment du dramaturge canadien.