Studies in International Performance Published in association with the International Federation of Theatre Research General Editors: Janelle Reinelt and Brian Singleton Culture and performance cross borders constantly, and not just the borders that define nations. In this new series, scholars of performance produce interactions between and among nations and cultures as well as genres, identities and imaginations. Inter-national in the largest sense, the books collected in the Studies in International Performance series display a range of historical, theoretical and critical approaches to the pan- oply of performances that make up the global surround. The series embraces ‘Culture’ which is institutional as well as improvised, underground or alternative, and treats ‘Performance’ as either intercultural or transnational as well as intracultural within nations. Titles include: Khalid Amine and Marvin Carlson THE THEATRES OF MOROCCO, ALGERIA AND TUNISIA Performance Traditions of the Maghreb Patrick Anderson and Jisha Menon (editors) VIOLENCE PERFORMED Local Roots and Global Routes of Conflict Elaine Aston and Sue-Ellen Case STAGING INTERNATIONAL FEMINISMS Christopher B. Balme PACIFIC PERFORMANCES Theatricality and Cross-Cultural Encounter in the South Seas Matthew Isaac Cohen PERFORMING OTHERNESS Java and Bali on International Stages, 1905–1952 Susan Leigh Foster (editor) WORLDING DANCE Karen Fricker and Milija Gluhovic (editors) PERFORMING THE ‘NEW’ EUROPE Identities, Feelings and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest Helen Gilbert and Jacqueline Lo PERFORMANCE COSMOPOLITICS Cross-Cultural Transactions in Australasia Milija Gluhovic PERFORMING EUROPEAN MEMORIES Trauma, Ethics, Politics Helena Grehan PERFORMANCE, ETHICS AND SPECTATORSHIP Susan C. Haedicke CONTEMPORARY STREET ARTS IN EUROPE Aesthetics and Politics Judith Hamera DANCING COMMUNITIES Performance, Difference and Connection in the Global City Ketu Katrak CONTEMPORARY INDIAN DANCE New Creative Choreography in India and the Diaspora Sonja Arsham Kuftinec THEATRE, FACILITATION, AND NATION FORMATION IN THE BALKANS AND MIDDLE EAST Daphne P. Lei ALTERNATIVE CHINESE OPERA IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION Performing Zero Peter Lichtenfels and John Rouse (editors) PERFORMANCE, POLITICS AND ACTIVISM Carol Martin (editor) THE DRAMATURGY OF THE REAL ON THE WORLD STAGE Carol Martin THEATRE OF THE REAL Christina S. McMahon RECASTING TRANSNATIONALISM THROUGH PERFORMANCE Theatre Festivals in Cape Verde, Mozambique and Brazil Yana Meerzon PERFORMING EXILE, PERFORMING SELF Drama, Theatre, Film Lara D. Nielson and Patricia Ybarra (editors) NEOLIBERALISM AND GLOBAL THEATRES Performance Permutations Alan Read THEATRE, INTIMACY AND ENGAGEMENT The Last Human Venue Ashis Sengupta (editor) MAPPING SOUTH ASIA THROUGH CONTEMPORARY THEATRE Essays on the Theatres of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka Marcus Tan ACOUSTIC INTERCULTURALISM Listening to Performance Joanne Tompkins UNSETTLING SPACE Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre Denise Varney, Peter Eckersall, Chris Hudson and Barbara Hatley THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC Regional Modernities in the Global Era Maurya Wickstrom PERFORMANCE IN THE BLOCKADES OF NEOLIBERALISM Thinking the Political Anew S. E. Wilmer (editor) NATIONAL THEATRES IN A CHANGING EUROPE Evan Darwin Winet INDONESIAN POSTCOLONIAL THEATRE Spectral Genealogies and Absent Faces Studies in International Performance Series Standing Order ISBN 978–1–403–94456–6 (hardback) 978–1–403–94457–3 (paperback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Royal Court: International Elaine Aston and Mark O’Thomas © Elaine Aston & Mark O’Thomas 2015 Foreword © Elyse Dodgson 2015 Preface © Stephen Daldry 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-0-230-31948-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-137-46182-7 ISBN 978-1-137-48772-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137487728 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Aston, Elaine. Royal Court: international / Elaine Aston, Mark O’Thomas. pages cm 1. Royal Court Theatre. 2. English Stage Company. 3. Playwriting–Study and teaching (Higher)–Great Britain. I. O’Thomas, Mark. II. Title. PN2596.L7R5155 2015 792.09421'34—dc23 2014037976 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. Contents List of Illustrations vii Series Preface x Preface by Stephen Daldry xi Foreword by Elyse Dodgson xiii Acknowledgements xvii 1 Royal Court: International – Histories and Contexts 1 George Devine and the English Stage Company 4 Gaskill and after 7 Stafford-Clark: the ‘Thatcher years’ 11 Stephen Daldry – founding the International Department 13 The Rickson years: a commitment to internationalism 17 Dominic Cooke: keeping borders open 22 Vicky Featherstone: looking ahead 25 2 International Workshops and Residencies 28 Shock of the new 29 ‘Cool Britannia’ 31 The Royal Court international workshops – beginnings 32 Developing the international workshop: ‘What is a play? Who are we now?’ 35 Global partners and the development system 39 The International Residency 41 Emerging writers in emerging markets 45 The role of translation 46 3 Conversations 57 Conversation with Indhu Rubasingham 60 Conversation with Marius von Mayenburg 69 Conversation with Sasha Dugdale 77 Conversation with Marcos Barbosa 84 Conversation with Dominic Cooke 92 Conversation with Anupama Chandrasekhar 101 Conversation with Mark Ravenhill 109 v vi Contents 4 International Plays and UK Receptions 126 NEWS: forming a horizon of international expectation 128 Focus on Germany 132 Russia’s new drama 136 From Brazil to Cuba and on to Mexico, Colombia and Chile 141 Looking to Eastern Europe 148 ‘Which country are we in?’ – Iran, Near East, North Africa and Nigeria 151 Coming full circle – India 153 5 International Impact and Legacies 157 International workshop legacies: Russia, Brazil and India 159 Individual pathways: Sigarev, Barbosa, Chandrasekhar 168 Writing across borders: I Come From There and Feast 171 International impact on British playwrights 179 ‘Over There’ – concluding reflections 183 Afterword 185 Vicky Featherstone Timeline: Royal Court International (1989–2013) Compiled by Elaine Aston and Elyse Dodgson 187 Notes 197 Bibliography 208 Index 218 List of Illustrations 1 Workshops 1 Harold Pinter addressing the 1991 International Summer School. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 51 2 Caryl Churchill and Stephen Daldry at the 1997 International Summer School. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 51 3 International Summer School, 1998. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 52 4 Dominic Cooke with the first Indian writers group in Bangalore, 2001. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 53 5 David Greig, Rufus Norris, and Marina Barham of Al Harah Theatre; workshop in Bethlehem, 2001. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 53 6 Playwrights’ workshop, Kampala, Uganda, 2001. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 54 7 Playwrights’ workshop, Escambray, Cuba, 2005. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 54 8 First workshop in Damascus for playwrights from the regional project involving seven countries in the Arab World, 2007. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 55 9 New Plays from the Arab World presented in New York at the Martin E. Segal Center in 2010. Photo: Courtesy of Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Archives, Photo by Frank Hentschker 55 10 Palestinian playwrights group in Beit Jala, 2013. Photo: Courtesy of Elyse Dodgson 56 11 Zimbabwe playwrights talking about The Djinns of Eidgah, South Africa, 2014. Photo: Coutesy of Elyse Dodgson 56 2 Productions 12 Melanie Ramsay as Edith Mole in Mr Kolpert, David Gieselmann, 2000. Photo: courtesy of Royal Court Theatre.