A01=E. Susanna Weygandt
activism
aural
Author_E. Susanna Weygandt
authoritarianism in Russia
Belarus
Category=ATD
Category=ATY
Category=DD
Category=NHD
censorship in Russia
cultural politics
cultural politics in Russia
documentary drama
drama studies
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
Ivan Vyrypaev
Kirill Serebrennikov
Mikahil Durnenkov
New Drama
New Dramatists
performance studies
Polina Agureeva
post-Soviet
postdramatic theater
Putin's Russia
Russia
Russian culture
Russian dissent
Russian drama
Russian performance
Russian theater
Russophone
sonic
Teatr.doc
theater studies
Ukraine
Product details
- ISBN 9780299351403
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 18 Feb 2025
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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New Drama—a collection of actors, directors, and playwrights in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus—is one of the most active and vibrant artistic movements in the Russophone world today yet remains understudied in the West. E. Susanna Weygandt demonstrates that the major innovation of New Drama is a sonic turn, an aesthetic development that moves away from traditional, Stanislavskian embodied performance to something almost purely aural. New Drama, which began in the tumult following the collapse of the Soviet Union and continues even in an increasingly censorious Russia today, emphasizes contemporary social issues and privileges disadvantaged voices, using documentary modes to literally bring the voices of the dispossessed to the ears of the audience members.
As a result, the Russophone New Dramatists speak dissent and dramatize resistance. Ultimately, they shift theatrical productions from something constrained and limited, in both place and time, to an ephemeral but unbounded gateway for social activism. The sonic stage thus effectively functions as a social forum, transposing action from the actors to the audience. From Metaphor to Direct Speech therefore contributes to cultural as well as performance studies, offering a compelling look not just at developments in theatrical modes but also at dissent and cultural aesthetics in Russia today.
As a result, the Russophone New Dramatists speak dissent and dramatize resistance. Ultimately, they shift theatrical productions from something constrained and limited, in both place and time, to an ephemeral but unbounded gateway for social activism. The sonic stage thus effectively functions as a social forum, transposing action from the actors to the audience. From Metaphor to Direct Speech therefore contributes to cultural as well as performance studies, offering a compelling look not just at developments in theatrical modes but also at dissent and cultural aesthetics in Russia today.
E. Susanna Weygandt, a visiting assistant professor of Russian at Sewanee: The University of the South, is a coeditor (with Maksim Hanukai) of New Russian Drama: An Anthology. Her research has been published in the Russian Review, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, TDR: The Drama Review, and elsewhere.
