Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Francophone theater'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 142 p. Includes abstract and vita. Advisers: John Conteh-Morgan and Karlis Racevskis, Dept. of Fench and Italian. Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-142).

L’apparition à partir des années 1950 de pièces afro-caribéennes qui mettent en scène la Révolution de Saint-Domingue se révèle pour le moins symbolique. Annoncées par la création de La Tragédie du roi Christophe d’Aimé Césaire par Jean-Marie Serreau et la troupe du Toucan, ces expressions théâtrales contribueront à définir un genre théâtral à part entière - celui du théâtre révolutionnaire afro-caribéen d’expression française - possédant ses propres traits définitoires et catégoriels, ses codes d’écriture, son rapport à l’histoire ou aux personnages historiques, et surtout sa finalité, sa fonction politique et populaire. L’articulation entre le choix du théâtre, le thème politique de la Révolution de Saint-Domingue et les enjeux de la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle constituera l’emblème du théâtre historique révolutionnaire tout à la fois politique et populaire
The appearance in the 50’ of afro-Caribbean’s pieces setting up the Dominican Revolution proves to be symbolic. Announced by the creation of La Tragedie du Roi Christophe from Aimé Césaire by Jean-Marie Serreau and the Toucan Troupe, these theatricals expressions will go towards defining a proper theatrical type- possessing his own characteristics, his writing codes, his connection with history and historical characters, and above all, his purpose, his finality : his political and popular function. The articulation between the choice of theater, the political theme of the Dominican Revolution and the stakes of the second half of the 20th Century will constitute the insignia of the historical revolutionary theater, both political and popular

Eighteenth-century opéras comiques often turn around moments of sympathy--moral and affective bonds through which the Enlightenment imagined a natural basis for the social order as well as the pleasures and transformative potential of art. Through musico-literary analysis informed by models of moral and aesthetic relationality that I derive from Dubos, Marivaux, Rousseau and Diderot, I argue that opéras comiques written and performed between 1835and the Revolution feature three distinct forms of sympathy: 1) a worldly-sensuous sympathy most typically found in the common subgenre of the sentimental pastorale and characterized by a happy blending of moral and sensual connections; 2) an amorous intersubjectivity found occasionally in sentimental comedies and characterized by a sometimes empowering, sometimes trying encounter with an other experienced as a site of subjective freedom; and finally 3) a sacrificial sympathy found most frequently in Michel-Jean Sedaine's sometimes pointedly anti-worldly, morally sober lyric dramas and characterized by an obstacle-triggered leap into an identificatory, affective imagination. Although there is much that distinguishes these forms of sympathy, they are all shaped by eighteenth-century empiricist assumptions as to the existence of a basic relationality between the self and his or her social environment and thus resist a standard critical model that sees such emotional ties as merely the effect of some more fundamental separation between self and other.

Dramaturge, metteur en scène, romancier, essayiste et peintre, Gao Xingjian, « artiste total », s’est affranchi dès 1983 des conventions théâtrales qui prévalaient en Chine. Il s’est imposé comme l’un des pionniers du théâtre et de la littérature d’avant-garde. Condamné pendant la campagne de répression « contre la pollution spirituelle », il a été interdit de publication. Exilé en France en 1987, il a dès lors créé des pièces en français, impliquant peu de personnages, entre farce et tragédie, exprimant souvent une vision de la vie désenchantée, dans un langage aléatoire mais équilibré, avec des décors minimalistes. Il excelle dans une forme de théâtre destiné uniquement à la représentation, où joue l’expérimentation scénique et corporelle. Notre thèse porte sur la forme et l’expérience de la représentation théâtrale, en examinant la façon dont Gao repousse les limites linguistiques ou visuelles pour parvenir à une conception dépouillée du drame. Procédant à l’analyse de ses dramaturgies, tout en nous appuyant sur ses écrits et ses peintures, nous verrons comment la représentation théâtrale s’agence entre visible et invisible, qui se situe au seuil de la conscience ou qui relève de l’esthétique — ceci, selon trois possibilités : le rapport acteur/spectateur, le texte lui-même, et la scène proprement dite. Tenant compte de l’épreuve existentielle de l’exil et du phénomène de bilinguisme perceptible dans l’écriture, nous traitons des idées de l’espace théâtral et de l’art dramatique, en suivant quatre orientations principales : la dramatisation, les modes de narration, la langue en tant que rupture dans le texte, et l’« incarnation » du personnage par l’acteur qui le joue
Playwright, theater director, novelist, essayist and painter — the multi/inter-disciplinary artist, Gao Xingjian first defied the theatrical conventions dominating China for more than fifty years with his absurdist play Bus Stop in 1983. Since then, he has established himself as one of China’s pioneering avant-garde playwrights and writers. Persecuted during the “Oppose Spiritual Pollution” campaign, he was banned from publication. After moving to France in 1987, he began writing plays in French, his adopted language. Relying on few characters, they probe drama between farce and tragedy, expressing a frequently disenchanted vision of life in seemingly random, yet measured, language with minimal decor. Experimenting with the scenic and the corporal, Gao excels in an organic theatre created solely for performance. Using the form and experience of a performance, this thesis explores how Gao revisits linguistic and visual boundaries in an effort to define “drama.” Analyzing his plays, as well as his other writings and paintings, we identify in his work a theatrical performance — visible and invisible, liminal or aesthetical — via three possibilities: actor/spectator, text, and stage. Considering exile and bilingualism in literature, we examine notions of theatrical space and drama that emerge from this study in four main approaches: dramatization, modes of narration, language as rupture in text, and character “enfleshed” by its actor

This study examines the reactions — both in real life and on social media — to two terrorist attacks in Paris: satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 and the Bataclan shooting in November 2015. Using Richard Sennett's Fall of Public Man and Antonin Artaud's Le théâtre et son double to explore these reactions as theater, this approach reveals the religious nature of supposedly secular reactions to religious extremism.

Choisir le genre dramatique de la tragédie, emblématique de la culture occidentale, pour représenter et accompagner les luttes de décolonisations de l’empire français peut sembler paradoxal. Bien au contraire, nous montrons que cette association d’un genre canonique et d’un sujet politique contestataire est féconde. À partir d’un corpus varié d’une trentaine de pièces écrites en français par des auteurs d’Afrique, de la Caraïbe et de Madagascar dans la deuxième moitié du xxe siècle (1942-1992), notre thèse identifie un phénomène théâtral que nous nommons tragédies de la décolonisation. Le genre de la tragédie permet d’une part de créer des mythes, de célébrer la grandeur des sociétés précoloniales et de mettre en avant les luttes anticoloniales. D’autre part, en tant que genre qui montre des défaites, la tragédie permet de dénoncer l’hypocrisie de la prétendue mission civilisatrice de l’Europe et de révéler les violences et les oppressions du système colonial et esclavagiste, à travers le point de vue de celles et ceux qui les subissent. La spécificité du genre dramatique invite également à interroger ses effets sur le genre social. Enfin, discutant certains biais dans la réception des pièces, nous montrons que le genre dramatique lui-même est renouvelé, notamment dans l’affirmation d’une fatalité qui n’est plus transcendante mais historique, et de laquelle il est possible de s’émanciper
It may seem paradoxical to choose the dramatic genre of tragedy to represent and support the struggles around the decolonization process of the French empire, as it is a symbol of western culture. However, we demonstrate in this thesis the relevance of this combination of a canonical genre with a protest topic. From the study of a diverse corpus of about thirty plays written in French by African, Caribbean, and Malagasy authors in the second half of the 20th century (1942-1992), we identify a theatrical phenomenon that we call "decolonization tragedies". On the one hand, the genre of tragedy allows to create myths, to celebrate precolonial societies and to highlight anti-colonial struggles. On the other hand, this genre allows to display defeats, which enables the indictment of Europe's self-proclaimed civilizing mission, and reveals the violence of the colonial and slavery system from the standpoint of those who suffer it. Moreover, the specific nature of tragedy encourages to examine its impact on gender. Finally, discussing some distortions in the reception of the plays allows us to show that the dramatic genre is being renewed through the affirmation of a destiny that is no longer transcendental, but historical, and from which one can emancipate oneself

Ma these :theatre et liberte en afrique noire francophone de 1930-1985 a 6 chapitres. Le 1er porte 1) sur la liberte au service du theatre qui s'est exprimee en europe par la revolution romantique et le nouveau theatre, en afrique par le theatre-ballet ,de participation, de recherche et le koteba 2) sur le theatre comme moyen pour denoncer une dictature 3) sur le theatre ideologique donc censurable par un regime meme liberal. Le 2eme porte sur les conquetes sociales (suppression du travail force ; du code de l'indigenat) - economiques (f. I. D. E. S pour le developpement de s t. O. M) -politiques (libertes d'association citoyennete francaise, assemblees des t. O. M , r. D. A) des deputes africains au parlement francais. Ainsi en 1960 ,les independances et en 1985 , la democratie avec des rates ici ou la. Le 3eme : le theatre et le combat pour l'emancipation sociale , culturelle et politique des africains au titre de la periode coloniale traite de la satire des moeurs-sociales. Le 4eme : le theatre des independances et le combat pour la liberte de 1958-1985 prend en compte 1) la creation theatrale de la guinee sous la 1ere et la 2eme republique 2) la creation theatrale d'autres pays d'afrique noire francophone qui traite de la satire des moeurs sociales et politiques des independances et de la rehabilitation des heros de la resistance a la colonisation. Le 5eme porte sur la production de cesaire en rapport avec les preoccupations de l'afrique et des auteurs de l'exil sud-sud (s koly et w. Liking) et sud-nord (a. T. Cisse, b. Sangare, t. E. A. Bisikisi). Le 6eme rend compte du theatreet de la liberte des dramaturges au plan economique, politique et esthetique. Les festivals en et hors de l'afrique et le concours theatral de r. F. I. Contribuent a l'elargissement de l'espace culturel francophone.

This study is primarily concerned with notions of identity and conceptions of development in Cameroonian village, city and national theatre performances, as well as audience responses to them. What I call 'Cultural Action Theatre' is different in many respects from Theatre for Development: the latter is dominated by theatre activists, is short-lived and involves enormous cost and organisation; the former is produced by members of a community, is long-lived and less costly. The messages in performances are analysed and given meanings by the audience, whose responses are determined by contemporary political events. These events also affect the nature of theatre performances. Performances suggest that Cameroonians are dissatisfied with the economic and political relationship between Anglophone and Francophone Cameroon and between Cameroon and developed countries. The study reveals that Cultural Action Theatre is used by oppressed people (e.g. women) to convey messages to their superiors (men, chiefs and politicians), and that oppressed groups produce more theatre than privileged groups. Disadvantaged Anglophone theatre practitioners use a direct style to convey practical problems whereas Francophones use a subtle style to express predominantly philosophical issues. This theatre deals with issues of local, regional and national identity and also with political leadership and morality. The choice of a particular language in any given performance is also crucial in engendering different cultural and political identities. This study argues that to mobilise people for action, a play must appeal to their sense of identity and to portray the advantages that would arise from their action. Theatre practitioners at all levels in Cameroon are concerned with different causes of national underdevelopment and hence conceive of the notion and the practice of development from different angles. The main body of the thesis is divided into two parts. The introduction to the thesis briefly describes the geography of Cameroon, the historical influences on the domains of education, society, economy and politics, and on the Anglophone and Francophone zones of Cameroon, and it discusses terminologies and concepts and my methodology. Part one consists of two chapters. Chapter one describes village performances in selected regions in Anglophone and Francophone zones. Chapter two is concerned with city performances in the respective selected zones. Part two, chapter 3-6, concentrates on national performances. Chapter three describes political leaders and development in Anglophone and Francophone National performances. Chapter four focuses on women and their role in national performances. Chapter five examines cultural and political identities in national performances. Chapter six is concerned with morality, ethics and national sentiments in national performances. The conclusion summarises my findings.

Cette thèse porte sur l’histoire de la discipline des études théâtrales (Theaterwissenschaft en allemand) en France et dans les deux Allemagnes, de 1945 jusqu’au début des années 2000. Elle interroge les conditions historiques et sociales qui permettent de comprendre son apparition et son développement. Mon hypothèse principale est que la constitution de cette discipline s’organise à la jonction du champ universitaire et du champ théâtral, et au croisement de logiques locales, nationales et internationales. À l’inverse des disciplines plus anciennes, les études théâtrales revendiquent en effet une plus grande ouverture vis-à-vis de logiques extérieures au monde académique, à la fois en termes de formations et de débouchés. Participant peut-être à la mise en crise contemporaine de l’« ordre disciplinaire », l’histoire de cette discipline doit ainsi être replacée dans les métamorphoses plus larges du théâtre et de l’université au cours de cette période – en particulier leurs internationalisations et leurs politisations respectives. Notre démarche repose sur la sociologie historique, qui a pour ambition de cumuler les méthodes de l’histoire et celles de la sociologie, afin de prendre en compte simultanément événements, histoire institutionnelle et analyse structurale. Sans pour autant abandonner les principes de la comparaison entre la France et les deux Allemagnes, la méthodologie doit également beaucoup à l’histoire croisée, qui nous permet de multiplier les échelles d’analyse sans présupposer a priori le cadre national de la discipline
This thesis is about the history of the discipline of theatre studies in France and in the two Germanies, from 1945 to the early 2000s. It examines the historical and social conditions in order to understand its emergence and development. My main hypothesis is that the creation of this discipline happened at the intersection of the academic and theatrical fields, and at the crossroads of local, national and international logics. Unlike older disciplines, theatre studies avows a larger openness vis-a-vis logics external to the academic world, both in terms of training and job prospects. Participating perhaps in the contemporary challenges to “disciplinary order”, the history of this discipline must also be resituated within the broader metamorphosis of theatre and the university over the course of this period. Our approach relies on historical sociology, whose aim is to bring together methods from history and sociology in order to simultaneously think about events, institutional history, and structural analysis. Without abandoning the basis for comparison between France and the two Germanies, our methodology also draws heavily from histoire croisée, which allows us to broaden the scope of our analysis without accepting at face value the national framework of the discipline
Diese Dissertation behandelt die Geschichte der Disziplin der Theaterwissenschaft in Frankreich und im geteilten Deutschland, von 1945 bis zum Beginn der 2000er Jahre. Sie untersucht die historischen und sozialen Bedingungen, die es ermöglichen, ihre Entstehung und Entwicklung zu verstehen. Die zentrale Hypothese ist, dass die Konstituierung dieser Disziplin durch die Verbindung des akademischen und theatralischen Bereichs und dem Zusammenwirken lokaler, nationaler und internationaler Logiken ermöglicht wurde. Im Gegensatz zu älteren Disziplinen beansprucht die Theaterwissenschaft in der Tat eine größere Offenheit gegenüber Logiken außerhalb der akademischen Welt, sowohl in Bezug auf Ausbildung als auch auf Karrierewege. Die Geschichte dieser Disziplin, die wohl an der gegenwärtigen Krise der "Disziplinarordnung" teil hat, muss daher in die breiteren Metamorphosen des Theaters und der Universität in dieser Periode - insbesondere in ihre jeweiligen Internationalisierungen und Politisierungen - eingeordnet werden. Der Ansatz dieser Dissertation basiert auf der historischen Soziologie, die darauf abzielt, die Methoden der Geschichte und der Soziologie zu kombinieren, um Ereignisse, die Institutionengeschichte und die Strukturanalyse gleichermaßen zu berücksichtigen. Ohne die Prinzipien des Vergleichs zwischen Frankreich und den beiden deutschen Staaten aufzugeben, verdankt die Methodologie auch viel der histoire croisée, die es erlaubt, die Skalen der Analyse zu multiplizieren, ohne a priori den nationalen Rahmen der Theaterwissenschaft vorwegzunehmen

A la croisée d’enjeux aussi bien philosophiques, politiques, qu’anthropologiques, cette thèse en études théâtrales vise à théoriser la notion de « drame figuratif » en analysant l’esthétique singulière que développe Kossi Efoui dans son œuvre dramatique. Dramaturge, philosophe et romancier, né en 1962 au Togo, Kossi Efoui annonce par ses positions politiques et ses partis pris poétiques, dès la pièce Le Carrefour, le tournant esthétique majeur que prendront les dramaturgies d’Afrique noire francophones et des diasporas au début des années 1990. Traversé par l’histoire coloniale et l’histoire des migrations, son théâtre interroge le corps diasporique et remet en question les déterminismes identitaires construits par le discours historique et l’essor du capitalisme depuis les traites négrières. Cette esthétique procède d’un geste théâtral qui relève d’une écriture de la figuration, et dont nous interrogeons le paradoxe afin d’en définir les modalités dramaturgiques. Car dans ce théâtre, le contenu discursif est marqué par une omniprésence du corps, alors que sa représentation fait l’objet d’une quête pour les personnages qui en sont le plus souvent dépourvus. Travaillée par divers modes de production du texte (intertextualité, transtextualité, fragmentation, décomposition, assemblage, geste du plateau) l’écriture dramaturgique opère toutes sortes de détours qui relèvent des univers du masque et des arts de la marionnette et explorent le corps scénique et les dispositifs théâtraux en vue d’un processus de résilience. En analysant cette dramaturgie du détour marionnettique nous questionnons la présence des corps et des voix dans le matériau textuel lui-même, leurs liens avec le plateau, et l’existence possible d’un geste plastique produisant une figure qui émanerait de l’écriture, pour prendre place sur « les lieux de la scène », selon la formule fétiche de Kossi Efoui. Le corps convoque ici des territoires d’ordre politique et se fait l’écho des traumas qui nous hantent et nous mettent collectivement à l’épreuve. En faisant de l’espace théâtral une interface mnémonique, l’écriture emprunte des voies de création transdisciplinaires qui renouvellent notre conception de la dramaturgie et déploient ce que nous identifions comme « une esthétique du drame figuratif »
At the crossroads of philosophical, political and anthropological issues, this dissertation in theatre studies aims to theorize the notion of "figurative drama" through analyzing Kossi Efoui's aesthetics in his dramatic work. A playwright, philosopher and novelist, born in 1962 in Togo, Kossi Efoui’s political and poetical choices foreshadowed, from his first play Le Carrefour, the major aesthetical turn taken by the dramaturgies of French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa and diasporas at the beginning of 1990s. Shaped by colonial history and the history of migrations, Kossi Efoui’s theater put the diasporic body in question, as well as the identities that were assigned by historical discourses and by the rise of capitalism since the time of the slave trade. This aesthetics is the result of a theatrical attitude based on a figurative writing. By questioning this paradoxical attitude, this dissertation shows how it is translated into dramaturgical choices. Indeed, in Kossi Efoui’s theater, on one side the body is everywhere in discourses, while on the other side it’s missing on stage: the characters are most often deprived of a body and looking for one. Shaped by various ways of producing text (intertextuality, transtextuality, fragmentation, decomposition, assembly, gesture of the stage) the dramaturgical writing makes a detour via the universe of the mask and the puppetry arts, thereby exploring the actor’s body and the theatrical devices in order to create a process of resilience. By analyzing this dramaturgical detour via puppetry, this dissertation questions the presence of bodies and voices in the textual material itself and their relationships to the stage. It formulates the hypothesis of an attitude, producing a figure that comes from the writing and takes its place on stage (on les lieux de la scène, as Kossi Efoui calls it). The body becomes a political territory and summons up haunting traumas that put the collectivity to the test. By using the theatrical space as a mnemonic interface, the writing takes trans-disciplinary creative paths, renews our conception of dramaturgy and produces what we identify as "an aesthetics of figurative drama"

I will build an argument utilizing the Hôtel de Soubise as a case study for the way in which the division between exteriors and interiors depicts the shifting cultural fabric of 18th-century French society.

This study compared and analyzed the premises of the three authors and their versions of the life of Joan of Arc. Their presentations enabled us to see the reasons of disparities among the authors' views. This study has shown that the philosophies of the three authors have different origins, differences which gave a unique slant to their individual interpretations. Their philosophical backgrounds were mainly obtained from diverse sources: published works, unpublished works, and personal interviews of my advisor with Andre Obey, one of the dramatists. We found in our research that the dramatists' theatrical works represented their own historical understanding of France's medieval heroine. They understood Joan of Arc's story in terms of their own existence and their own interpretations, which were different. The goal of this comparative study was reached through the juxtaposition of these differences. We concluded that each of the three authors had a unique experience. That uniqueness was articulated to rekindle the remarkable history of Joan of Arc. In 1750 J.-J. Rousseau advised that we should put a limit on theatrical art, because he said the theater perverts illusion. We used that advice as a yardstick to judge the three plays of the authors. That statement helped us to look at the work of these three playwrights as different chapters in the history of the life of Joan of Arc.

L’émergence de nouvelles dramaturgies africaines francophones depuis les années 1990 annonce un bouleversement dans le paysage littéraire africain. Cette génération d’écrivains contemporains de la diaspora africaine convoquent les notions de fragmentation, déplacement et instabilité qui suggèrent une reconfiguration du chaos dans la production littéraire africaine francophone depuis les indépendances. L’histoire des littératures africaines depuis l’indépendance en 1960 d’une majorité de pays africains colonisés, est marquée par le thème du chaos avec cependant des différences notables. En effet, entre les années 1960 et 1970, les écrivains du « désenchantement » dénoncent le chaos politique et social de l’Afrique à la suite des nouveaux gouvernements autoritaires de la post-indépendance. Les esthétiques théâtrales négro-africaines de la fin des années 1970 et 1980, élaborent en revanche une sortie du chaos africain à partir d’une revalorisation et contextualisation moderne des traditions et mythes africains. Les années 1990 marquent une rupture puisque les nouvelles écritures théâtrales africaines mettent en forme l’espace performatif d’un « chaos-monde » qui témoigne des réalités hybrides de la diaspora africaine à l’échelle locale et globale. Une lecture croisée des oeuvres théâtrales de cette génération dont font partie Caya Makhélé (Congo), Koffi Kwahulé(Côte d’Ivoire), Marcel Zang (Cameroun), José Pliya (Bénin), Kossi Efoui (Togo), et Dieudonné Niangouna (Congo) permet de mettre en lumière les nouvelles approches techniques et esthétiques d’un chaos énergétique. L’étude détaillée de ces nouvelles mises en forme du chaos engage la compréhension de l’enjeu diasporique et la perspective transnationale dans les dramaturgies contemporaines africaines
A new type of African Francophone theater has emerged since the 1990s, which announced a breaking point within the African literary landscape. This generation of contemporary writers from the African diaspora engages with notions of fragmentation, displacement, and instability that suggest a reconfiguration of chaos in Francophone African literary productionsince the Independences. The history of African literatures since 1960, when a large majorityof former African colonies became independent, is marked by the theme of chaos with significant differences. Indeed, between 1960 and 1970, writers of the « disenchantment »denounce social and political chaos in Africa following the emergence of new dictatorships inthe post-independence period, African theatrical aesthetics by the end of the 1970s andthrough the 1980s, on the contrary, work on an exit out of the African chaos from the perspective of revalorization, providing modern contextualizations for African myths andtraditions. Since the early 1990s a rupture is established within new African theater that creates a performative space of « chaos-monde », which manifests the hybrid reality of the African diaspora at local and global levels. By reading accross theatrical works by this generation that include Caya Makélé (Congo), Koffi Kwahulé (Ivory Coast), Marcel Zang(Cameroon), José Pliya (Benin), Kossi Efoui (Togo), and Dieudonné Niangouna (Congo), Ished light on the new techniques and aesthetics of an energetic chaos. A close examination ofthese new settings of chaos allows for a better understanding of the diasporic nature and transnational perspective from contemporary African theater

La thèse démontre l’impact du théâtre de Krejča sur l’évolution de l’art dramatique belge francophone. Elle scinde l’activité théâtrale de Krejča en Belgique en deux parties, chacune placée sous le sceau d’une réalité politique différente. La première correspond à un moment de détente dans le paysage politique tchécoslovaque et débute avant la création du Divadlo za branou. Assimilée à la seconde avant-garde théâtrale tchèque, elle inaugure aussi la série de succès internationaux de Krejča dans des pays non socialistes. La seconde période survient après la liquidation du Divadlo za branou par les autorités communistes tchécoslovaques et après le départ de Krejča en semi exil. Théâtralement, la Belgique francophone est alors en pleine émulation, qui s’observe notamment dans les propositions artistiques du « Jeune théâtre » (1976-1986).

L’arrivée de Krejča, dans les années 1960, sur la scène du Théâtre National de Belgique s’inscrit dans la dynamique des échanges théâtraux européens et dans une volonté diplomatique de rapprochement entre la Tchécoslovaquie et la Belgique. La thèse insiste sur ces rencontres entre les artistes belges francophones et les artistes internationaux car elles jouent un rôle fondamental, auquel prend part Krejča, dans l’histoire du théâtre belge de langue française. Fort de sa réappropriation de la tradition théâtrale tchèque et des concepts de Stanislavskij, Krejča est l’un des premiers à apporter en Belgique francophone un regard dépassant la dimension représentationnelle de la première lecture du texte et à proposer une alternative au manque laissé par le retard de l’avant-garde théâtrale belge francophone. Sa poétique, principalement influencée par le théâtre atelier d’E.F. Burian, le théâtre poétique de Frejka, le civilisme d’Hilar, les théories préfigurant la sémiologie théâtrale initiée par l’école de Prague et par les développements du « Mchat », rencontre un accueil mitigé parmi les journalistes polygraphes mais ne manque pas d’impressionner certains animateurs de la scène théâtrale belge à l’instar de Janine Patrick ou de Marc Liebens. Aussi trouve-t-elle notamment un prolongement dans le Théâtre du Parvis.

La thèse situe l’apport le plus évident de la poétique krejčaïenne en Belgique francophone dans le traitement dramaturgique, polyphonique et préfigurant le théâtre postdramatique, que le metteur en scène propose. A Louvain-la-Neuve, c’est à nouveau la puissance de la tradition tchèque et la conviction philosophique de Krejča qui impressionnent ses collaborateurs et se déclinent à travers les excroissances théâtrales francophones belges dont la plus manifeste est une expérience théâtrale, toujours en cours aujourd’hui :le théâtre de l’Éveil.

La dissertation délimite d’abord les spécificités de la poétique théâtrale de Krejča, puis, après une analyse des mises en scène de Krejča, elle retrace et détaille les diverses formes sous lesquelles son esthétique se manifeste :transmission d’un héritage théâtral (avant-garde historique tchèque, sémiologie théâtrale développée par l’Ecole de Prague) et littéraire (mise à l’honneur de Schnitzler et de Nestroy), prolongement de la recherche théâtrale jusqu’à l’approche postdramatique (révélation de la dramaticité des pièces de Tchékhov, importation du théâtre musical), regards dramaturgique et philosophique, écriture dramatique (influence sur l’écriture d'auteurs dramatiques, Krejča-personnage dans des pièces d’acteur)…

/ The thesis focuses on Czech theatre from first avant-garde to second avant-garde; mainly it is focusing on Otomar Krejča’s theatre and its relationship with Belgian theatre within the second Czech avant-garde theatre to the end of the Normalization.

Krejča worked an intensive part of his artistic life in Belgium. His Belgian theatrical activity can be divided into two distinct periods. The first one was coinciding with the foundation of his “Theatre Beyond the Gate” (Divadlo za branou) in Prague in 1965 and took place in the Belgian National Theatre in Brussels. Those years were squaring with Czechoslovakian destalinization and were particularly productive in the artistic field. In Brussels Krejča directed four plays: in 1965, Hamlet, in 1966, The Seagull, in 1970, Three Sisters, in 1978, Romeo and Juliet. The first three plays occurred before the Normalization and his departure in specific exile. The last one marked the beginning of his second period in Belgium, closely bound to Louvain-la-Neuve city. The two following Krejča’s productions were first created for the Festival d’Avignon: in 1978, Waiting for Godot and Lorenzaccio in 1979, before being performed at Atelier théâtral Jean Vilar in Louvain-La-Neuve. The three following plays were the last of Krejča’s Belgian works: Three Sisters in 1980, A. Schnitzler’s The Green Cockatoo in 1981 and Dostoevsky’s The Possessed adapted by Krejča himself in 1982.

In Belgium, the reception of his plays was mitigated. Duality between critics can be explained by Krejča’s new regard on plays, by Krejča’s use of dramaturgy. Krejča’s productions in Belgium were innovating because through dramaturgy they paved the way for something new :it was the end of a romantic Hamlet in the Shakespearian tradition and the end of Pitoëff’s aesthetic in Chechov’s productions.

Krejča’s work of art, impregnated by Czech tradition theatre of avant-garde, influenced his Belgian collaborators. Krejča was influenced by leaders in Czech first avant-garde theatre such as Burian, Frejka, theatrical theory of Honzl and Hilar’s theatre conception. When Krejča started to work in Belgium, the country was undergoing a theatrical revolution. At the end of the 1960s, French-speaking Belgium lived at the rhythm of its first avant-garde in staging. According to me, this fact is the main explanation to Krejča’s significance in French-speaking Belgium. Thanks to Krejča’s Belgian productions, a part of the first Czech theatrical avant-garde and the second Czech theatrical avant-garde penetrated in Belgium.

All of Krejča’s concepts (human beings, ethic of responsibility, importance of dramaturgy, personal appropriation of Stanislavski’s approach) slowly instilled French-speaking Belgian theatrical life. Sure an evident mark of continuity of his aesthetic cannot be seen in the long time, nevertheless Krejča’s influence was considerable and briefly materialized in many fields. It is obviously still vivid in the way some actors play, feel and teach theatre.

Doctorat en Langues et lettres
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In the period following the May 1968 protests, French women began to create theatre that highlighted women’s struggles. This study explores the dual influence of Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht on plays by Hélène Cixous, Simone Benmussa, and the Théâtre du Soleil led by Ariane Mnouchkine. Artaud argued that theatre should become a transformative experience through an explosion of sensory stimuli: music, light, noise, and imagery. Conversely, Brecht wanted to use theatre to revolutionize society and theorized that by maintaining historical and emotional distance between the audience and the play, spectators would be encouraged to think critically about the its significance and be compelled to action. The female playwrights and directors studied created powerful theatre by combining these ideas in a manner mimicking Julia Kristeva’s notion of subject formation. Kristeva proposes that the human subject is never stable. Instead, it oscillates between the non-discursive, emotion-filled state she labels the semiotic and the more language- and logic-propelled symbolic register. These two realms are in constant tension as the semiotic disrupts the logic of the symbolic and in turn, the symbolic strives to regulate the semiotic impulses. In this study, I argue that the ideas of Artaud are aligned with the semiotic while those of Brecht resemble the symbolic. In the plays examined, the non-linguistic elements of the design and mise-en-scène engage with the didactic aims of the playwrights and directors, causing the spectator to connect emotionally with the story while simultaneously reflecting on its real-world signification.

Circulation des produits culturels, uniformisation des cultures, diversité culturelle, américanisation des cultures. Telles sont les théories véhiculées par la mondialisation culturelle. Toutefois, l’histoire démontre que la théorie qui fait l’unanimité en passant par les Sciences économiques, le Management des entreprises et la Sociologie est : la circulation des produits culturels, des services et des biens économiques à l’échelle planétaire. Au regard de ce fait, nous avons voulu l’expérimenter en Sociologie et plus précisément dans le domaine du cinéma au Gabon. A cet effet, nous avons relevé par le biais des programmes cinématographiques des chaînes de télévision, de la salle de l’Institut Français du Gabon et des vidéoclubs qu’il existe un panorama de films mondiaux (Américains, Français, Nigérians, Ivoiriens, Mexicains et Gabonais etc) qui circulent dans ce marché. Par ailleurs, il était aussi capital pour nous, de démontrer que la population gabonaise ne subit pas la mondialisation culturelle. C’est de ce pas que l’étude de la culture du cinéma au Gabon trouve tout son sens. Cette étude a confirmé que les Gabonais s’attachent particulièrement aux films qui se rapprochent de leur société (faits sociaux et cultures traditionnelles). Ceci explique le fait que les cinémas ivoirien, latino-américain, nigérian et ghanéen soient les plus préférés. D’autres cinémas (à l’exemple du cinéma américain) sont également bien reçus. Fort de tout ce qui précède, nous pouvons affirmer que le Gabon est véritablement dans la mondialisation culturelle
Movement of cultural products, standardization of cultures, cultural diversity, Americanization of cultures. These are the theories which are conveyed by cultural globalization. However, History has shown that the theory which is approved unanimously by Economics, Corporate Management and Sociology is: the movement of cultural products, services and economic goods on a worldwide scale. For this reason, we wanted to experiment it in Sociology and more precisely in the area of cinema. For this purpose, we have noted down thanks to the cinema programmes of television channels, of the theatre room of the French Institute of Gabon, and of videoclubs that there is a panorama of world films (American, French, Ivoirian, Mexican, Gabonese, etc.) that are in circulation on the market. Furthermore, it was also important for us to demonstrate that the Gabonese people does not undergo cultural globalization. Therefore, the study of the cinema culture in Gabon makes sense. This study has confirmed the fact that the Gabonese are particularly interested in films which are close to their society (social facts and traditional cultures). This explains the fact that Gabonese people mostly prefer films from Ivory Coast, Latin American, Nigeria and Ghana. Other cinemas - the American one, for instance- are well accepted too. In light of this, we can say that Gabon is really in cultural globalization

All’incrocio tra questioni culturali, politiche e antropologiche, questa tesi analizza la trasposizione di un mito greco nell’universo africano. Si concentra, in particolare, sulla figura di Antigone e sulla sua rappresentazione, interrogando la produzione teatrale francofona contemporanea attraverso lo studio di dieci «Antigoni d’Africa», in un arco cronologico che va dalla fine degli anni Ottanta a oggi. Questo lavoro si basa su un corpus composto da riletture testuali, ma anche e soprattutto sulla ricerca di materiali peri-testuali (spettacoli, adattamenti, fotografie di spettacoli, progetti drammaturgici, interviste, ecc.), in gran parte inediti. Considerando gli spettacoli teatrali come oggetti artistici in cui si manifestano le relazioni tra culture e potere, questa tesi si interroga sul modo in cui la colonialità e il mondo contemporaneo influenzano la ripresa di un «classico» nel riverbero delle relazioni franco-africane. Rivolgendosi al teatro per ripensare l'insieme dei prodotti culturali in termini di performance e forme di dominazione, l’analisi del corpus mostra le relazioni tra creazione teatrale, istituzioni culturali e logiche economiche e politiche. L’analisi mostra, da un lato, i modi in cui le produzioni artistiche veicolano rappresentazioni che possono favorire l’elaborazione di un’estetizzazione della differenza, in particolare nelle forme dell’esotismo del corpo e dell’immaginario; dall'altro, mette in luce le strategie che consentono di contrastare le attribuzioni identitarie e di decostruire gli stereotipi relativi a questi quadri precostituiti e dominanti, sia per sovvertirli sia per reimpiegarli a fini «contro-esotici».
At the crossroads of cultural, political and anthropological issues, this thesis analyses the transposition of a Greek myth into the African universe. It focuses on the figure of Antigone and her representation, questioning contemporary Francophone theatrical production through the study of ten «Antigones of Africa», on a chronological arc going from the end of the 1980s to the present. This work is based on a corpus composed of textual re-readings, but also and above all on research into peri-textual materials (performances, adaptations, photographs, dramaturgical projects, interviews, etc.), most of which have never been published. Considering theatrical productions as artistic objects where the relations between cultures and power are manifested, this thesis questions the way in which coloniality and the contemporary world affect the revival of a «classic» in the reverberation of Franco-African relations. By turning to the theatre to rethink the whole of cultural products in terms of performance and forms of domination, the analysis of the corpus shows the relationships between theatrical creation, cultural institutions, and economic and political logics. The analysis shows, on the one hand, the ways in which artistic productions convey representations that can favour the fabrication of an aestheticization of difference, notably in the form of the exoticism of the body and the imaginary; on the other hand, it highlights the strategies that make it possible to thwart identity assignments and deconstruct stereotypes relating to these pre-established and dominant frameworks, either to subvert them or to redeploy them for «counter-exotic» purposes.
Située à la croisée d’enjeux aussi bien culturels, politiques, qu’anthropologiques, cette thèse analyse la transposition d’un mythe grec dans l’univers africain. Elle se concentre, en particulier, sur la figure d’Antigone et sa représentation, interrogeant la production théâtrale francophone contemporaine à travers l’étude de dix « Antigones d’Afrique », sur un arc chronologique allant de la fin des années 1980 à aujourd’hui. Ce travail porte sur un corpus composé de relectures textuelles, mais aussi et surtout de recherche de matériaux péri-textuels (performances, adaptations, photographies des spectacles, projets dramaturgiques, entretiens, etc.), pour la plupart inédits. Considérant les productions théâtrales en tant qu’objets artistiques où les relations entre cultures et pouvoir se manifestent, cette thèse interroge la manière dont la colonialité et le monde contemporain affectent la reprise d’un « classique » dans la réverbération des relations franco-africaines. En se tournant vers le théâtre pour repenser l’ensemble des produits culturels sous l’angle de la performance et des formes de domination, l’analyse du corpus montre les rapports entre la création théâtrale, les institutions culturelles et les logiques économiques et politiques. L’analyse montre, d’une part, les façons dont les productions artistiques véhiculent des représentations pouvant favoriser la fabrication d’une esthétisation de la différence, notamment sous les formes de l’exotisme des corps et de l’imaginaire ; elle souligne, d’autre part, les stratégies permettant de déjouer les assignations identitaires et de déconstruire les stéréotypes relatifs à ces cadres préétablis et dominants, soit pour les subvertir, soit pour les redéployer à des fins « contre-exotiques ».

Cette thèse de doctorat, intitulée « Les frontières de l’exil : figures et territoires de l’étranger», vient questionner les notions de frontière et d’exil dans les périodes postcoloniale et post-Shoah. Ces notions sont ici caractérisées comme des territoires à la fois spirituels, politiques, symboliques, et économiques, dans lesquels une expérience de la domination est vécue, souvent subie, par des individus ou des groupes stigmatisés par leur origine ethnique, leur sexe, leur culture, ou leur condition socio-économique notamment. En me rattachant à superstructuration politique, culturelle, et historique de cette expérience de la domination, Selim Rauer tente de montrer comment, dans les ères postcoloniale et post-Holocauste, une économie mondialisée recrée ou intensifie en fait le concept de « zone (s) » - telle qu’il a été défini par Frantz Fanon dans Les damnés de la terre, 1961 – générant ainsi des centres et des marges permettant d’établir des espaces culturels et géographiques procédant d’une généalogie raciale, sexuelle venant soutenir des dynamiques économiques qui dérivent de la théologie politique, comme c’est le cas du néolibéralisme et de l’ultralibéralisme aujourd’hui. La figure de l'ennemi (ou celle de l'adversaire) est au cœur de ce système de pensée. L’ennemi est une représentation biopolitique et théologique essentielle dans une réflexion productive liée à l’altérité, à la figure multiforme de l'étranger, à travers laquelle une conception spécifique de la frontière peut être établie comme limite ou division, plutôt que comme trait d'union. Cette réflexion procède de la lecture et de l’analyse d’un corpus littéraire français et francophone alliant à la fois le roman, le drame, le récit et l’essai de 1945 à aujourd’hui. Les œuvres de ce corpus littéraire sont issues d’écrivains tels que Jean Genet (1910-1986), Patrick Modiano (1945), Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989), Koffi Kwahulé (1956), Marie NDiaye (1967), Wajdi Mouawad (1968), et Léonora Miano (1973). Chacune de leurs œuvres regroupées ici donne à voir une certaine expérience du pouvoir, de l’aliénation, de la souveraineté et de la biopolitique dans un cadre éthique et morale qui inévitablement met en lumière et sonde le « mal ». Un mal qui, comme l'a exprimé Rüdiger Safranski, dérive d’une certaine pratique de la liberté (Le Mal, ou le théâtre de la liberté, 1997/1999)
This doctoral dissertation, entitled The Borders of Exile: Figures and Territories of Foreignness, reinterprets the notion of the border as an expanding territory of estrangement and seclusion in the aftermath of colonialism and the Shoah, in an era characterized by global market economies. While allegedly situated beyond racial and sexual hegemonic claims, Selim Rauer shows how this globalized economy, in fact, recreates or intensifies a concept of “zone(s)” --as defined by Frantz Fanon in Les damnés de la terre, 1961--that draws centers and margins, and establishes sites of domination structured by a historical and political unconscious. At the core of this unconscious lies the figure of the enemy or the adversary. The latter is an essential biopolitical and theological representation of otherness and foreignness through which a specific border definition can be established as limit rather than hyphen. Thus, in this project, Rauer scrutinizes a multidimensional literary corpus comprised of works by figures such as Jean Genet (1910-1986), Patrick Modiano (1945), Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989), Koffi Kwahulé (1956), Marie NDiaye (1967), Wajdi Mouawad (1968), and Léonora Miano (1973), each of whose works investigate a certain definition and practice of power and sovereignty as part of an ethical and moral reflection on “evil,” or as Rüdiger Safranski defined it, as the moral and ethical burden that accompanies the practice of freedom (Evil, or the Drama of Freedom, 1997)

In this thesis I will discuss the influence of Sartrean themes found in Jean-Paul Sartre’s plays: No Exit (Huis clos), Les Mouches (The Flies), and Dirty Hands (Les Mains sales), on the theater of Alfonso Sastre, particularly in the plays: Death Squad (Escuadra hacia la muerte), and In the Net (En la red). In No Exit, the famous quote “Hell is other people,” sets the standard for what type of discussion Sartre initiates in his theater. I will compare the historical context and the Hells that Sartre and Sastre both experienced during their time as active playwrights and how this influences the Hellish environments the two playwrights create for their characters in each of their plays. Following this study of context, I will compare the diabolical atmospheres created in the plays, how they are created and their impacts on the characters and text.

La thèse propose une lecture comparée de l’emploi du grotesque dans les théâtres français, polonais, belge francophone, germanophone, italien et espagnol. L’analyse comparée des écritures dramatiques comme du discours littéraire permet de dégager les spécificités du grotesque et de sa réception dans les diverses aires culturelles. La première partie est consacrée à la mise en place théorique de la notion dans les arts, des arts décoratifs à l’art dramatique, de la Renaissance au vingtième siècle. Une attention particulière est portée à la danse grotesque, jusque-là peu étudiée, ainsi qu’aux divergences entre les discours critiques occidental et oriental. La seconde partie constitue le cœur du travail par l’étude comparée des procédés grotesques selon trois axes : la déformation, la démesure et l’hybridité. Celle-ci permet de mettre en valeur les fonctions dramatiques de l’emploi de la marionnette et de la pantomime ainsi que l’inspiration des arts du cirque, de la foire et du cabaret. La troisième partie analyse l’hypothèse du genre dramatique grotesque en Europe au vingtième siècle. Une fois établi le cadre théorique de la réflexion sur le genre et au regard de la production dramatique la plus contemporaine, l’étude s’achève sur la détermination de la place du grotesque dans la création artistique comme dans la critique littéraire actuelle. En remettant en cause la périodisation traditionnelle du théâtre européen du siècle dernier, la thèse entend rendre sa place au grotesque dans la critique dramatique contemporaine comme mise en forme du difforme
This thesis proposes a comparative reading of the use of grotesque in French, Polish, French-speaking Belgian, German-speaking Italian and Spanish theatre so as to determinate the specificities of the grotesque and its reception in different cultural areas. It focuses in the first part on the theory of the notion in arts, from decorative to dramatic art, from Renaissance to the twentieth century. Special attention is given to the grotesque dance, which has been thus far insufficiently studied, and to the discrepancies between western and eastern critical discourses. The comparative analysis of the grotesque is conducted along three axes: deformation, excessiveness and hybridity. It emphasises the function of marionette, pantomime and the inspiration of circus, carnival and cabaret. The last part of the thesis concentrates on the hypothesis of a grotesque dramatic genre in Europe in twentieth century. Once established the theoretical basis of the reflexion upon genre, and in view of contemporary dramatic production, the thesis closes with the determination of the place of the grotesque in the creation and in the criticism. By calling into question traditional periodisation of European twentieth theatre, this thesis aims at giving its place to the grotesque in contemporary dramatic criticism as the shaping of the misshapen

Gabriel Astruc (1864-1938), a French impresario of Jewish background, is mostly known for his collaborative work as an impresario with Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes. His role within Parisian musical culture at the fin de siècle, however, was much broader. He was a critic, creator of a leading periodical, producer of musical and circus events, music publisher, and associate of many important cultural figures of his day. Although Astruc has been mentioned in scholarly literature, his multifaceted activities have never been carefully studied. Following the revisionist initiatives of previous scholars (e.g., Pasler, Huebner, Garafola, Fauser), this project offers a new understanding of Parisian cultural life between 1880 and 1913. Rather than focusing on valued composers such as Debussy or selected avant-garde repertoire, this dissertation considers the panoramic perspective of the Parisian cultural milieu as understood by a well-positioned impresario who participated in diverse, but often intersecting, music circles. It reveals rich interconnections between Astruc’s entrepreneurial, managerial, and publishing endeavors that linked private fêtes and soirées that he produced in elite homes with his ambitious concert series, La Grande Saison de Paris, 1905-1913 – organized through his firm La Sociéte Musicale – and with compositions and contents published in Musica, the magazine he co-founded in 1902. It questions Astruc’s aesthetic preferences and argues that he helped to shape Parisian culture through the promotion, publication, and programming of balanced, eclectic repertoire of new and old, national and international, and light as well as weighty works. This study also chronicles the development of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Astruc’s culminating project that was intended to embrace symphonic, operatic, and chamber performance and to experiment with new juxtapositions and integrations of the arts. Research for this dissertation centered on a compilation and a comparative analysis of wide-ranging materials found in Astruc’s collections at the Archives Nationales and New York Public Library. Unlike earlier studies of fin-de-siècle Paris, this project utilizes previously unexamined publications, musical criticism, published literature, and manuscript material, all originating from or related to Astruc’s diverse activities and observations.

This dissertation investigates the notion of bourgeoisification, the bourgeois, and the bourgeoisie in African Francophone literature of the colonial and post-colonial periods. The origins of the African bourgeoisie can be traced to the Western colonialist project. Three institutions have been especially implicated in its creation: the Western colonial educational system, commercial activities, and the modern town and the trend toward urbanization. These three came together to engender new forms of human relationships in Africa. Such relationships destabilized and tended to displace, the traditional family and communal structures, as well as the caste system. In this new society which would be marked by extreme alienation, new human types were born: the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' The 'haves,' who constitute the center bolt of the present study, we can characterize as the African bourgeoisie My project is not intended as a critique of the bourgeoisie and its discursive practices. Rather, it is a critical analysis of the representation of the bourgeois(ie). Therefore, any less-than-positive picture of the class and/or its members that may seem to emanate from my analysis should be understood as a reflexion of a generally negative pattern of representation in the texts under consideration. My real goal is to examine the strategies used by certain novelists and playwrights in their efforts to paint a portrayal of the class and its members. Furthermore, my analysis of such strategies will help to reveal each writer's attitudes toward the class, for it is my view that representation of any universe of discourse is never an entirely innocent activity. My study will also provide a historiographical perspective not only on the origin and development of the bourgeoisie in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa, but also on the evolution of its figurations in literary texts My dissertation is divided into four chapters. In Chapter I, I examine the issue of the literary invention of the African bourgeoisie and its relationship to the reality that it draws upon as well as points to. I focus mainly on the use by African writers of such devices as metaphor as a privileged instrument of representation. Chapter II considers another side of invention, that is historical invention. It focuses on the French colonial school as the birthplace of what later came to be known as the Sub-Saharan bourgeoisie. Chapter IV studies the elaboration in certain novels of what I call an African discourse of transgression. It puts into deeper perspective the bourgeoisification of lower castes in the colonial school and the impact this has on contemporary African political reality. Chapter III presents a case study of a specific bourgeois type: the arriviste. This is the type most encountered in African anti-bourgeois literature, and widely considered to be a negative presence on the African sociopolitical and economic scene. An important aspect of this chapter is the making of the bourgeois arriviste in Africa
acase@tulane.edu

French Canadian playwright Joseph Armand Leclaire (1888-1931) was very well known and respected in his time. Although he wrote over thirty plays, lyrics to several songs and an abundance of political poems, most of his work has been lost and Leclaire himself seems to have been forgotten. Several of his plays were produced at the time they were written, including his 1916 play La petite maîtresse de l'école (later published in 1929 as Le petit maître d'école), but none have been presented postumously nor have any been translated. This M. F. A. thesis presents the first ever translation and adpatation of Leclaire's play, titled in English as The Little Schoolmaster. The first half of the thesis provide historical context for the play's significance, as well as information about Armand Leclaire and the changes he made to his own work between the original 1916 version and the 1929 published version. The thesis then analyses the creative acts of translation and adaptation, proposing a new model of translation for a linguistically rich audience. Through this new model of translation-adaptation for a bilingual spectrum, the thesis concludes by demonstrating that dramaturgy can serve as a dynamic instrument for communities to engage in the exploration of bilingual and bicultural identity.

v anglickém jazyce This thesis deals with the dramatic production of Francophone African authors and the translation of their texts into Czech. The theoretical part briefly describes the history of African drama and its specific elements. The following chapters examine the perception of this specific genre in Europe - especially in France and the Czech Republic. The thesis also documents the history of the Czech festival Africa in Creation, which has been held in Prague in the first decade of the new millennium. During its existence, it presented many African authors. Later, their plays were translated into Czech within the series The Contemporary play, published by the Arts and Theatre Institute. From the point of view of translatology, the study focuses on the general theory of the drama translation (based on the theories of translation from the 2nd part of the 20th century, especially the Czech model of Jiří Levý) and the post-colonial and cultural translation theories. In general, the aim of the study is to define the problems which the translator could be faced with translating the text from the culture which is diametrically different from the target one. Based on this theoretical ground, a critical analysis has been made in order to examine three plays by African playwrights and their Czech...