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This book investigates alternative ways of working between cultural, artistic, and intellectual spaces in an era when the reality of globalisation imposes on our world view. Essays by leading performance scholars in Australia, Japan and USA are inspired by the Journey to Con-Fusion project; a collaboration between Tokyo's 'Gekidan Kaitaisha' and Melbourne's 'Not Yet It's Difficult' performance groups. Discussed in Alternatives are issues of cultural politics; intercultural exchange; representation and interpretation of contemporary performance; dramaturgical analysis; and readings of performative sites. This book also includes a photo essay of Journey to Con-Fusion. In addition, this multidisciplinary volume offers analyses of outstanding examples of rarely seen Japanese and Australian performance. This material will be of vital interest to scholars working at the intersections of theatre and cultural studies. This study results from the fruitful collaboration between artists and scholars through alternative networks and cross-cultural partnership. It addresses wide-ranging contexts for the arts, and debates possibilities for far-reaching alternatives in an age of advanced capitalism and globalisation.
List of contents
Contents: Peter Eckersall/Moriyama Naoto: Introduction - Peter Eckersall: Trendiness and Appropriation? On Australian-Japan Contemporary Theatre Exchange - Edward Scheer: Dissident Vectors: Surrealist Ethnography and Ecological Performance - Kitano Keisuke: Intercultural Practices in the Field of Theatre: An Examination of Gekidan Kaitaisha's Performance in Hong Kong - Katherine Mezur: Cute Mutant Girls: Sweetness and Deformity in Contemporary Performance by Young Japanese Women - Rachel Fensham: Violence, Corporeality and Intercultural Theatre - Moriyama Naoto: A Phantom of Suburbia: Kawamura Takeshi's Hamletclone - Denise Varney: Rhizomatic Dramaturgy: Alternative Performance Practices - Takahashi Yuichiro: Exhibiting the Past: The Japanese National War Museum and the Construction of Collective Memory - Nishidô Kôjin (translated by Eglinton-Satô Mika): The Journey to Con-Fusion: Between Australia and Japan - Miyauchi Katsu: Journey to Con-Fusion: Photo Essay - Uchino Tadashi: Afterword: After 9.11.
About the author
The Editors: Peter Eckersall is Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Melbourne and dramaturg for NYID.
Uchino Tadashi is Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Tokyo.
Moriyama Naoto is Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the Kyoto University of Fine Arts and Design.
Report
«'Alternatives: Debating Theatre Culture in the Age of Con-Fusion' extends the horizon of theatre/performance studies, offering an opportunity to rethink assumptions about cross-cultural (art) exchanges between Australia and Japan.» (Yuji Sone, Performance Paradigm Journal)
«I recommend 'Alternatives' as an extremely readable and intellectually stimulating text, which makes a significant contribution to debates about intercultural theatre.» (Glenn D'Cruz, Australasian Drama Studies)
