This article seeks to outline and define a number of arresting tendencies in contemporary playwriting in the United States, particularly when it comes to the poetics of space. Starting from an ...analysis of theater centered on spatial modalities (Chaudhuri, Foucault, Brook, Schechner), I delineate five innovative trends in 21st-century theater, with regards to their use of material and metaphorical space. I begin with an exploration of multilingual space, broadening the stage world to accommodate otherness in the plays of Quiara Alegría Hudes, Nilo Cruz, Virginia Grise or Jeff Augustin. A second highlighted tendency emphasizes the instability of space and its liminal, porous quality in the works of Sarah Ruhl, Lindsey Ferrentino, Annie Baker and Sarah DeLappe. A third trend reframes and disrupts theatrical space, in palimpsestic and explosive ways (Lucas Hnath, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Young Jean Lee, Aleshea Harris), and a fourth further overturns this space in politically-charged, shocking reversals which threaten the audience’s comfort (Jeremy O. Harris, Young Jean Lee, Jackie Sibblies Drury). Finally, collaborative performance projects by Erika Chong Shuch and Andrew Schneider provide an opportunity to delve into paradoxically private, almost invisible forms of theater.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible premiered in France in 1954, when Raymond Rouleau directed a successful adaptation of it entitled Les Sorcières de Salem, penned by Marcel Aymé and starring Yves Montand ...and Simone Signoret. It was not uncommon at the time for renowned French artists to champion American art on stage – though perhaps their presence was also meant to compensate for any flaws, in the eye of critics who readily hinted at Europe’s superiority in terms of drama. This essay explores the French cast and crew’s interpretation of Miller’s play, and the conception of it which they presented to Parisian audiences. Looking at a combination of factors – the actors’ personalities, Rouleau’s realistic directing, Aymé’s efficient but ironic adaptation, and the press’s tendency to universalize The Crucible’s political stakes – I attempt to define the modalities of the play’s introduction in France, between enthusiasm and reluctance, recognition of its narrative qualities and distrust of its literary merits.
The Crucible d’Arthur Miller est créé en France en 1954, lorsque Raymond Rouleau dirige avec succès Yves Montand et Simone Signoret dans une adaptation de la pièce intitulée Les Sorcières de Salem, ...signée de Marcel Aymé. Il n’est pas rare à l’époque que de grands talents français montent sur scène pour défendre l’art américain ; ou peut-être pour pallier ses défauts aux yeux de la critique qui rappelle volontiers la supériorité européenne en matière d’art théâtral. Cet article se propose d’analyser la façon dont les artistes français interprètent l’œuvre de Miller et l’image qu’ils en construisent pour le public parisien. La personnalité des acteurs, les choix de mise en scène réalistes de Rouleau, l’adaptation tant efficace qu’ironique d’Aymé et la perception universalisante des enjeux politiques de l’œuvre permettent de définir les modalités d’importation de la pièce, entre enthousiasme et réticence, reconnaissance de ses vertus narratives et méfiance envers ses qualités littéraires.
While the metal bed was too modern to be Puritan, it seemed austere enough not to raise too many questions about the period in which the production had been set, until it was replaced by the set of ...the Proctor farm, also dark and sparsely furnished, but nonetheless featuring a kitchen sink, a coffee table, and a couch on which Mary Warren stood in defiance, pouring herself a glass of scotch and whipping out her cell phone as she told John she would no longer be ordered to bed. The modern technology having disoriented the audience and-somewhat heavy-handedly- emphasized the connection between the human errors of today and those of yesterday, act 3 then proceeded to turn back time once more, to the 1950s, by making the courtroom look openly like a picture from the HUAC hearings, with men in dark suits and an old-fashioned recording machine (judging by the reactions around me, the visual reference was lost to most of the French audience). ...the production was visually stunning, with striking lighting effects that could make a character appear or disappear, and beautiful tableaux-for instance when the villagers gathered around Betty's bed or when Mary shakily faced the other girls in the courtroom.
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