The Repertory Theatre - CFP Extended Deadline

[Erin Hurley, Prof.]

Reminder : Extended Deadline - 29 September 2007

Call for papers for the international conference of the Quebec Society for Theatre Research (Société québécoise d'études théâtrales [SQET])

The Repertory Theatre: Realms of Memory, Realms of Creation

Montreal, Quebec
29-30-31 May 2008

Co-ordinated by Jeanne Bovet (Université de Montréal) and Yves Jubinville (Université du Québec à Montréal)
In collaboration with Louis Patrick Leroux (Université Concordia) and Brigitte Prost (Université de Rennes 2)

As a dramatic and theatrical heritage, the repertoire is as much of interest to theatre practice as it is to theatre history and criticism.  It is a forceful indicator of theatre's cultural functions, whether it operates in the modes of revival, rereading, reconstruction, or appropriation.  At once an institution of memory and crucible of creativity, it illuminates the relations theatrical production weaves with contemporary reality as well as to the tradition which lays the groundwork for artistic practice.  By allowing the theatre to deepen "the definitions of its exercise and its identity" (Biet and Triau), the repertoire participates in theatre's "survival".  

Organized by the Société québécoise d'études théâtrales, this conference on the repertoire understands repertory in its twinned aspects : site of memory and site of creation.  Open to practitioners and theorists of theatre, it is as interested in national repertoire (notably Quebecois, French, English, American) as it is in international repertoire.  Without firmly excluding other performing arts (dance, opera), the conference aims to explore and confront the varied issues associated with repertory theatre via three large themes.  

1.	Definitions of Repertory/Repertoire 

The imprecision of the very idea of repertoire/repertory is a telling sign of the tensions at the base of the artistic and social discourses that give it value.  To sketch the contours of the phenomenon, one might consider addressing the following questions: where does the repertory begin and end; what repertoire is at issue: ancient, modern, contemporary, personal, national, international and for which stage (which public); should a "repertory play" be distinguished from a "classic"; what are the respective roles of the dramatic text and the mise en scène in the constitution of the repertoire?  If the repertoire is renewed from one period to the next, must we conclude that its definition can only be a fluctuating one?  

2. 	The Repertoire in Collective Memory

Whatever their figures and manifestations (topographical, monumental, symbolic, functional, etc.), sites of memory (lieux de mémoire) actualize the past in and by the present.  Moreover, a site of memory designates everything in a culture that makes the residues of the past significant to the present.  The reminder of the repertory in performance attests to a dynamic commerce with collective memory, which manifests itself in the reactivation of memory in changing and ritualized forms of theatrical action and discourse.  From this vantage, one might investigate the different ties between repertoire and memory as so many strategies to appropriate the past.  This aspect of the reflection raises multiple considerations:  the rootedness of the repertory in a national tradition (mythology); the status of the repertoire in a post-national (multicultural) and post-colonial context; the repertoire's heritage value and heuristic value for the community (the public, theatre practitioners, the media, educational or scholarly publics, etc.).  In addition, it is important to examine the prevailing cultural, social, and economic dynamics in different deployments of the repertoire and in the mechanisms of the repertoire's renewal across generations.

3. The Repertoire as Creative Material and Creative Issue

Finally, beyond its memorial value, the repertory proves itself a formidable laboratory of exploration and creation for theatre artists.  As such, it seems essential to examine its place in the careers of artists (authors, directors, actors) and of troupes or places of performance, in a way that grasps the impact of this link between past and present, memory and invention on theatrical creation.  Usually associated with the scenic revolutions of the post-war period (Vilar, Vitez, Strehler, Stein), the artistic work of the repertoire may also strive to recover the past's codes, as certain contemporary attempts at historical reconstruction attest.  One might thus consider the variety of uses and appropriations of the repertory by practitioners from a number of angles:  modes of enunciation (translation, adaptation, rewriting, production by cycle, etc.); dramaturgical and scenic choices (archeology, historicism, updating, technologising).  This part of the reflection might be organized around case studies of creators, collectives, and companies.  

Paper proposals (250 words) accompanied by a short biography (100 words) should be submitted in English or French by September 29, 2007 to both conference convenors:
jeanne.bovet at umontreal.ca
jubinville.yves at uqam.ca



_________________________________
Erin Hurley
Assistant Professor of English
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke Street West
Montréal, Qc  H3A 2T6
(514) 398-6573
 
 

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