CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Wierenga, Marieke |
|---|---|
| Title | Staging feminism(s) in Vienna's contemporary theatre scene: a case study of Die Wand//Wandbefall at Volkstheater Wien and Keeping Up With The Penthesileas at Kosmos Theater |
| Summary | Theatre in Western Europe has historically been a male-dominated and white industry and profession. The recent decades have seen growing criticism and resistance to gender inequality in the theatre landscape whilst concurrently, the rise of feminist plays reflects a global discourse on feminism in popular culture, particularly salient within the German-speaking theatre sphere. This thesis explores the manifestation of feminist strategies and debates in contemporary Viennese theatre, examining not only the thematic content of plays but also how respective productions convey their specific perspectives on ‘feminist theatre’ through an adaptation to and transformation of material/spatial, social and historical conditions to stage feminist content and gendered bodies. The plays discussed are Die Wand//Wandbefall at Volkstheater Wien (director: Olivia Axel Scheucher) and Keeping Up With The Penthesileas at Vienna’s feminist Kosmos Theater (director: Anna Marboe). Departing from Western conventional views of theatre as mere entertainment, this study positions it as a site for education, critique, and social transformation. Methodologically, it combines performance and narrative analysis, participant observation, audience reflection through autoethnographic vignettes, a focus group discussion, and interviews with creatives. Drawing on theories of feminist authorship and spectatorship and concepts surrounding gender, bodies and gaze, this thesis investigates how the discussed productions engage with and challenge the marginal position of feminist perspectives and gender norms in a Western theatre context and how the creatives define their own version(s) of ‘feminist theatre’. This includes the confrontation of historical biases and risks of further perpetuating stereotypes in a field that struggles to overcome its white, patriarchal history on stage and behind the scenes. |
| Supervisor | Yoon, Hyaesin (CEU); Alexandrova, Boriana (York) |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/wierenga_marieke.pdf |
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