Fritz Bennewitz in India: Intercultural Theatre with Brecht and Shakespeare

by Joerg Esleben, Rohmer Rolf (With), David G. John (With)

Overview

This volume offers the first comprehensive analysis of the work of East German theatre director Fritz Bennewitz in India between 1970 and 1994. Joerg Esleben has gathered together many of Bennewitz’ own writings, most published for the first time, in which he reflects on his production of plays by Bertolt Brecht, Shakespeare, Goethe, Chekhov, and Volker Braun. By translating these writings into English, the editors have provided unprecedented access to Bennewitz’ thinking about intercultural work in India.  This material is illuminated by explanatory annotations, contextualized commentary, and critical perspectives from Bennewitz’s former colleagues in India and other leading scholars. Through its kaleidoscope of perspectives, Fritz Bennewitz in India offers a significant counter to dominant models of Western theatrical interculturalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487510909
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	01/06/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Joerg Esleben is an associate professor and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Ottawa.

Rolf Rohmer is a Professor Emeritus of Theatre at Leipzig University.

David G. John is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Waterloo as well as the founding director of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies.

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: Fritz Bennewitz on his Work in India

Chapter 1: The 1970s – Brechtian Experiments

Chapter 2: The Early 1980s – Firsts, Lows, and Highs

Chapter 3: The Mid-1980s – Brecht and the Bard in Bhopal 

Chapter 4: The Late 1980s and Early 1990s – Gaining a Village, Losing a Country 

Part II: Perspectives on Fritz Bennewitz in India

Chapter 5: Perspectives from Bennewitz’s Partners in India

Chapter 6: Essays on Bennewitz in India

Chronology of Bennewitz’s stays and projects in South Asia and his Indian projects in Germany

Glossary of Theatre Terms, Institutions, and Cultural References

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Vasudha Dalmia

"Fritz Bennewitz's work was a major contribution to Indian theatre and his letters are a valuable testimony and record of it. The translators have performed a wonderful feat in translating the original German into sensitive and highly readable English prose."

Aparna Dharwadker

“The narrative that unfolds in Fritz Bennewitz in India documents major cross-cultural collaborations, and is a much-needed counterpoint to other forms of Euro-American interculturalism.”

Editorial Reviews

"…[offers] detailed instances of how a Western director might think about working in rehearsal across cultural difference."

—Ric Knowles, University of Guelph, University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018

"This exhaustively researched book by Joerg Esleben and his group represents the culmination of efforts to document and evaluate Bennewitz’s multifaceted work in India."

—Vera Stegmann, Lehigh University, German Studies Review, vol 42 no 1, February 2019

"The narrative that unfolds in Fritz Bennewitz in India documents major cross-cultural collaborations, and is a much-needed counterpoint to other forms of Euro-American interculturalism."

—Aparna Dharwadker, Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Fritz Bennewitz’s work was a major contribution to Indian theatre and his letters are a valuable testimony and record of it. The translators have performed a wonderful feat in translating the original German into sensitive and highly readable English prose."

—Vasudha Dalmia, Professor Emerita of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

From the Publisher

"This exhaustively researched book by Joerg Esleben and his group represents the culmination of efforts to document and evaluate Bennewitz's multifaceted work in India."

German Studies Review, vol 42 no 1, February 2019 - Vera Stegmann

"...[offers] detailed instances of how a Western director might think about working in rehearsal across cultural difference."

University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018 - Ric Knowles