Postdramatic Theatre as/or Political Theatre
Representation, Mediatisation and Advanced Capitalism

An International Conference
at the
Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London

Wednesday, 21 to Friday, 23 September 2011

Co-Ordinators: Jerome Carroll and Steve Giles (Nottingham) and Karen Jürs-Munby (Lancaster)

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

10.00 Registration
10.30 Welcome and Introduction

10.45  Plenary Session: Postdramatic Theatre and Political Commitment I    
Antje Dietze (Leipzig): ‘Rocky Dutschke, '68': A Reassessment of Activism in Theatre
Cleo Jay (London): Morocco and the Arab Spring: Using Theatre as a Tool for Dissent

12.45  Lunch (own arrangements) 

14.15 Keynote Lecture
David Barnett (Sussex): Performing Dialectics in an Age of Uncertainity, or Why Post-Brechtian does not equal Postdramatic

15.15 Tea

15.45 Parallel Sessions: Politics of the No-Longer-Dramatic Text I
Dagmar Jaeger (Cambridge, MA): ‘I do not want theatre’: Elfriede Jelinek’s Postdrama
Hiltrud Arens (Montana): ‘Wandel, Wunde, Wunder’: Von Klängen, Sprachspielen und Windeiern. Auf den Spuren von Yoko Tawadas Theaterwelt

15.45 Postdramatic Theatre and Subjectivity I
Franziska Bergmann (Tübingen): Geschlecht im Neoliberalismus. René Polleschs Heidi Hoh arbeitet hier nicht mehr   
Peter Boenisch (Kent): Spectres of Subjectivity: Perceptions of Identity in Recent Dance Performance
Geoff Colman (London): The Necessary Uncertainties of the Postdramatic Identity

15.45 Postdramatic Theatre and the Politics of Perception I
Danae Theodoridou (Roehampton): What do We Talk About when We Talk About Politics? Towards a Re-Definition of the Political in Experimental Theatre
Piotr Woycicki (Lancaster): Politics of the Post-Cinematic

Thursday, 22 September 2011

09.30  Parallel Sessions: Postdramatic Theatre and the Crisis of Representation
Brandon Woolf (California): Revolution Now! Or Never? Towards a Postdramatic Politics
Bernadette Cronin (Cork): Postdramatic Theatre and Representing the Holocaust in the 21st Century

09.30  Postdramatic Theatre and the Politics of Perception 2
Julia Lee Barclay (London): Postdramatic Theatre and the Psychic Backstage
Theron Schmidt (London): Back-to-Back Theatre and the Politics of Appearance
Jerome Carroll (Nottingham): Phenomenological Theatre as an Alternative Prospect on the Dramatic/Postdramatic Divide

09.30  The Politics of Corporeality
Maya van den Heuvel-Arad (Amsterdam): Focalizing Bodies: the Body of the Performer as Visual Narrator and External Focalizer
Campbell Edinborough (Hull): Making Sense: Live Performance and the Cultivation of Sensuality in the Public Sphere
Raf Geenens (Louvain): Body-Exoticism

11.30  Keynote Lecture
Meg Mumford and Ulrike Garde (New South Wales): Postdramatic ‘Reality Theatre’: Approaches to Re-Presentational Art and Political Engagement in Contemporary Performance from Australia and Germany

12.30  Lunch (own arrangements)

14.00  Parallel Sessions: Postdramatic Theatre and Political Commitment 2
Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir (Iceland): The Best Party: Postdrama – Postpolitics?
Mateusz Borowski and Malgorzata Sugiera (Krakow): Political Fictions and Fictionalisations. History as Material for Postdramatic Theatre
András Nagy (Budapest): Postdramatic Plays and Stage in a Post-Traumatic Context: Central European Theatre’s Response to Historical Change

14.00  Politics of the No-Longer-Dramatic Text 2
Cristina Pinetti (Bergamo): Von der kollektiven zur privaten Dimension: Das Politische in Dea Lohers Dramen
Tomislav Zelic (Zadar): The Politics of Form in Heiner Müller’s History Play Germania Tod in Berlin
Olga Kekis (Birmingham): Taxidou’s Medea

14.00  Politics of Postdramatic Staging Practice I
Karen Jürs-Munby (Lancaster): Parasitic Politics? Elfriede Jelinek’s 'Secondary Drama' Abraumhalde and its Staging by Nicolas Steman
Alyson Campbell (Belfast): Beyond Signification but not Beyond ‘Significance’: an ‘Affective Approach’ to Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis in Performance

16.00  Tea

16.30  Keynote Lecture
Hans-Thies Lehmann (Kent/Berlin): A Future for Tragedy? Remarks on the Political, the Ideological and the Postdramatic

19.00  Conference Dinner at the Amalfi (optional)

Friday, 23 September 2011

10.00  Parallel Sessions: New Spaces of Post-dramatic Theatre
Christina Papagiannouli (London): Cyberian Chalk Circle: The Political Space of Cyberstage
Spyros Papaionnou (London): Towards a Silent Critique: The Promenade Theatre of Punchdrunk
Ana Tasic (Belgrade): Is the Image more Fascinating than Reality? Live Relay in Post-dramatic Theatre: Airport Kids by Stefan Kaegi, Eraritjaritjaka by Heiner Goebbels and Szardinia by Andras Urban

10.00 Postdramatic Theatre and Subjectivity 2
Seda Ilter (Sussex): New Subjectivities, New Dramaturgies: Re-Thinking Character/Actor in Relation to the Mediatised Subject
Lia W. Liang (Taiwan): Repositioning Differences: Political Tensions in La Dame aux Camélias (2011)

12.00 Lunch (own arrangements)

13.30 Parallel Sessions: Müller/Rancière
Karen Leeder (Oxford): ‘Die Zeit ist aus den Fugen’: Heiner Müller – Postdramatic, Post-Wende, Post-Humous
Michael Wood (Edinburgh): Performing the Subject: Heiner Müller’s Allein mit diesen Leibern on the Politics of the Postdramatic Theatre

13.30 Politics of Postdramatic Staging Practices 2
Inge Arteel (Brussels): Karnevaleske Ästhetik in Johan Simons Inszenierungen von Joseph Roth und Elfriede Jelinek
Katharina Kim Wolff (Hamburg/Oxford): Getriebenes Spiel als politische Versuchung – Elfriede Jelineks Kontrakte des Kaufmanns in der Textbearbeitungsmaschine Nicolas Stemanns
Johannes Birgfeld (Saarland): Jenseits ‘falscher Repräsentation’ – René Polleschs Konzept eines postdramatischen politischen Theaters und die Rolle des Publikums

15.30 Closing Discussion
16.00 End of Conference