What Do Theatre Autobiographies Conceal?

Authors

  • Rikard Hoogland Department of Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v29i1.103309

Keywords:

Repertoire, archive, autobiography, embodiment, self-representation, Ranft

Abstract

Autobiographies by actors and directors are considered to be somewhat of an unreliable source of information where research on theatre history is concerned. Researchers have made a great deal of effort to validate facts in autobiographies, but then have often neglected other forms of information that the written source gives. In this article, four different autobiographies are analysed with a specific focus on autobiographical strategies (Gardner), the embodied act of writing (Schneider), Hegemonic processes in society (Bratton), and audiences (Singleton). The article discusses if it is possible to place autobiographies in both the repertoire and the archive in Taylor’s sense, and if they can be seen as a possible link between them.

Author Biography

Rikard Hoogland, Department of Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University

Rikard Hoogland is senior lecturer in Theatre studies at Stockholm University. He received his PhD in 2005. He also teaches the subject Cultural Policy. He has published in peer reviewed journals – Peripeti, the Nordic Journal of Culture Policy – and in anthologies published by Cambridge Scholars, Cambridge University Press, Ohlms, Palgrave, and Rodopi. He has been a visiting scholar at Freie Universität, Berlin. He is also part of the research project Turning Points and Continuity: The Changing Roles of Performance in Society 1880- 1925, financed by the Swedish Research Council.

References

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Postlewait, Thomas 1989. “Autobiography and Theatre History”. In Thomas Postlewait & Bruce A. McConachie (eds.). Interpreting the Theatrical Past: essays in the Historiography of Performance. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

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Singleton, Brian 2010. ”Narratives of nostalgia. Oriental evasions about the London stage”. In Charlotte M. Canning & Thomas Postlewait (eds.). Representing the past. Essays in performance historiography. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

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Taylor, Diana 2003. The archive and the repertoire: Performing cultural memory in the Americas. Durham/London: Duke University Press.

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Turning Points and Continuity

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Published

2018-01-27

How to Cite

Hoogland, R. (2018). What Do Theatre Autobiographies Conceal?. Nordic Theatre Studies, 29(1), 64–80. https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v29i1.103309

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017): Turning Points and Continuity. Reformulating Questions to the Archives

Section

Articles thematic section

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