Internationalist Theatre

Renu Setna as Chaplain, Josephine Welcome as Kattrin, Margaret Robertson as Mother Courage, in Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht, Internationalist Theatre

Internationalist Theatre is a London theatre company founded by South African Greek actress Angelique Rockas in September 1980. ^[1] The company was originally named New Internationalist Theatre, ^{[2] [3]} with an intention to pursue an internationalist approach in its choice of plays as well as "a multi-racial drama policy, with an even mix of performers drawn from different cultural groups", The Stage , April 1981. ^{[1] [4]}

The theatre has received coverage from stage papers around the world. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]} It received charity status in 1986. ^[10]

Performances

The Internationalist Theatre has put on plays by Jean Genet ( The Balcony ), ^[11] Griselda Gambaro ( The Camp ), ^{[12] [13] [14]} Brecht ( Mother Courage and Her Children ), ^{[15] [16]} Luigi Pirandello ( Liolà ), ^{[17] [18] [19]} Tennessee Williams ( In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel ), ^{[20] [21]} August Strindberg ( Miss Julie ) ^[22] and Maxim Gorky ( Enemies ). ^[23] Their critical reception was generally favourable, ^{[11] [24] [20] [25] [26] [27]} although not universally. Time Out magazine disliked their production of Mother Courage: "the casting only inspires a whole host of irreverent questions: what on earth, say, is an American sergeant doing in seventeenth century Europe? And how did a Pakistani chaplain get into the Swedish army?" ^[28] An example of the resistance to diversity casting at this point of time to a theatre first of a multi-racial Mother Courage production. The Pakistani actor referred to by Malcolm Hay was the veteran Asian Parsi actor Renu Setna. The Financial Times found Liolà`s multi-national casting problematic: "do we really need this peculiar medley of Italian accents for the English premiere? The problem is compounded by the commitment ... to a multi-national cast ... English, German, Sicilian, and Italian actors produce widely differing versions of the Latin lilt." ^[29]

Angelique Rockas as Carmen with Okon Jones in Genet's The Balcony, Internationalist Theatre

The Historical-Political Dimension of the work of Internationalist Theatre

The theatre's political works include:

• Griselda Gambaro`s The Camp (October,1981), an anti-junta protest play which "relentlessly exposes and explores the psychology of fascism ... draws its political parallels by reference to Nazi concentration camps". Argentina at the time of Gambaro writing this play was ruled by a Junta and Gambaro was in Exile in Spain. <sup>[14]</sup>
• Jean Genet, The Balcony (July 1981): "a comment on power and political manoeuvre ... While the ruling classes, the icons and figureheads fiddle, society burns around them" . The performance coincided with the outbreak of the Brixton Riots in London. <sup>[30]</sup>
• Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children (1982 May)" "whose attack on the practice of war could not- with south atlantic news filling the front pages- have been more topical...prompted the questions it should." (Falklands War) <sup>[31] [32]</sup>
• Maxim Gorky, Enemies, (March 1985)``One critic saw a parallel between the workers' uprising in Enemies and the Miners' Strike that had been running in the UK since 1984, saying, " it is about the miners strike " UK miners' strike (1984–85). Gorky`s "pseudo-populism" is done away with in this production by the actors speaking "without distinctive accents and consequently without populist sentiment." ^{[33] [34]}

See also

• Intercultural theatre
• Political drama

References

1. Robert Conway (1988). British Alternative Theatre Directory. J. Offord. pp. 27–28. ISBN   9780903931380.
2. British Theatre directory. Vance-Offord (Publications) Limited. 1990. p. 336. ISBN   9781870323055 – via books.google.co.uk.
3. "easydb.archive". archiv.adk.de. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
4. Stage Editorial (9 April 1981). "Multi-racial Genet". The Stage– via Internet Archive.
5. Dimitris Gionis (August 1992). "Interview Eleutherotipia Greece Angelique Rockas" – via Internet Archive.
6. Ari Papadopoulos (July 1993). "Angelique Rockas 1005". National Herald USA– via Internet Archive.
7. Luis Carlos Emmerich (July 1992). "Vogue Mexico Interview Angelique Rockas Multi Faceted Actress Spanish and English". Vogue Mexico– via Internet Archive.
8. "Angelique Rockas: bold theatre pioneer". The South African. 10 August 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2016.
9. Evangelos Kordakis. "Angelique Rockas". hellenism.net. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
10. Charity Commission (1986). "Internationalist Theatre granted Charity status" – via Internet Archive.
11. "Why An International Theatre". BBC French. 30 June 1981 – via Internet Archive.
12. Ann Morley-Priestman (19 November 1981). "British Newspaper archive scan of The Stage review of The Camp 10/12". The Stage. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
13. "Results for 'the stage 19 november 1981 the camp new internationalist ann morley priestman' | Between 1st Jan 1950 and 31st Dec 1999 | The Stage | Publication | British Newspaper Archive". Archived from the original on 21 August 2018.
14. "Press File: 'The Camp' by Griselda Gambaro , Reviews 11 pages" – via Internet Archive.
15. "The Stage "Art of Keeping Alive" Mother Courage".
16. Mother Courage review by The Standard, Christopher Hudson , retrieved 14 March 2025
17. Harold Atkins (28 July 1982). "Deceit in a Sicilian village". The Daily Telegraph– via Internet Archive.
18. Nicolas de Jongh (28 July 1982). "LIOLA". The Guardian.
19. "Results for 'pirandello liola bloomsbury theatre 1982 the stage ' | British Newspaper Archive".
20. Anderson, Lindsay (5 May 1983). "In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel" – via flickr.com.
21. Ann Nugent (14 July 1983). "British Newspaper Archive The Stage Battle forRiches". The Stage– via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
22. Michael Robinson (2008). An International Annotated Bibliography of Strindberg Studies section 12 1378. ISBN   9780947623821 – via books.google.co.uk.
23. Theatre Record (March 1985). "Theatre Record Play index 05/p.0261 'Enemies ' 74/1207" (PDF). Theatre Record– via .doollee.com.
24. "piace a Londra Liolà in teatro". Corriere della Serra. 20 July 1982 – via Internet Archive.
25. RB Marriott (2 February 1984). "Review of Miss Julie". The Stage– via Internet Archive.
26. Tom Vaughan (26 March 1985). "Review of Enemies". The Morning Star– via Internet Archive.
27. "Results for 'enemies by maxim gorky 1985 the stage ann pennington' | British Newspaper Archive".
28. "Time Out review of Mother Courage by Malcolm Hay 13 May 1982. issue 611,pg. 69" – via Internet Archive.
29. "Liola FT Review Internationalist Theatre Committed to International Casting July 1982".
30. Press File:The Balcony Internationalist Theatre , retrieved 14 March 2025
31. "Drama: The Quarterly Theatre Review". 1981.
32. "Press File: 'Mother Courage ' reviews in 10 pages" – via Internet Archive.
33. Press File: Reviews of 'Enemies' by Maxim Gorky directed by Ann Penington in 12 pages , retrieved 14 March 2025
34. imported from Enemies Play- Wikiedia

External links

• Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv Akademie der Künste Mother Courage and Her Children
• The records of Internationalist Theatre, London, 1983-1985; New Internationalist Theatre, London, 1981-1982 Archived 8 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine are held by the British Library.
• Archived 2020-11-19 at the Wayback Machine Index to Pirandello Studies, University of Dublin , Vol 3 (1983), Liola p. 100-102
• Practitioner focus: Angelique Rockas | Drama And Theatre Practitioner focus: Angelique Rockas | Drama And Theatre
• Internationalist Theatre Internationalist Theatre in Academia.edu
• `Liola ` performance on Pirandello Society