Beschreibung
Comedy has been a constant presence in the history of Catalan theatre, but it is rarely recognized as a separate generic identity, worthy of academic study as a whole. This volume is the first concentrated attempt to analyse Catalan theatre under the comic lens, with essays in English and Catalan. It studies comic form, performative innovation, and socio-political function. As well as providing detailed analyses of figures excluded from standard accounts, it makes a strong case for the originality of many authors, directors, and actors. This is definitely another realm in which the Catalan contribution to European culture needs to be acknowledged and appreciated. Moreover, the book provides an exceptional platform on which theatre is considered - within the same project - from several regions where Catalan is spoken: Spanish Catalonia, the Valencia region, and different towns in French Catalonia. La hilaritat sempre ha tingut una presència molt important en levolució del teatre català, tot i que rarament ha comptat amb un estudi i reconeixement acadèmics. Aquest volum proposa una anàlisi de diverses formes dhumor de lescena catalana, amb una selecció dassaigs en anglès i català dexperts de diferents universitats. Shi examinen algunes propostes de comicitat, innovacions performatives i la projecció sociopolítica daquesta jocositat. També shi estudia loriginalitat dun conjunt dautors, directors i actors al marge de lhumor políticament correcte. Sens dubte, un altre àmbit, el de riure, en el qual cal reconèixer i posar en valor la contribució catalana a la cultura europea. El llibre constitueix un cas rar on es considera el teatre -dins dun mateix projecte- de diversos espais geogràfics on es parla català: Catalunya (sobretot Barcelona), el País Valencià i diferents pobles del Rosselló.
Autorenporträt
John London is Professor of Hispanic Studies and Director of the Centre for Catalan Studies at Queen Mary University of London. His books include Reception and Renewal in Modern Spanish Theatre (1997), Contextos de Joan Brossa (2010), and the edited volumes Theatre under the Nazis (2000) and One Hundred Years of Futurism (2017). He has translated for performance Catalan comedies by Juli Disla, Sergi Belbel, and Mercè Sarrias. Some of his own plays, such as Right (1999), The New Europe (2000), Nex (2005), and The Light Trail (2019), have attempted to incorporate humour, with uneven success. Gabriel Sansano is Professor of Catalan at the University of Alacant (Spain). He has held visiting posts in the UK and the USA and has published widely on Catalan theatre. His books include Un cabàs de rialles: entremesos i col·loquis dramàtics del segle XVIII (2009), and he has edited Teatre, passions i (altres) insolències: lectures sobre la dramatúrgia de Manuel Molins (with Francesc Foguet, 2008), the Diccionari de la literatura valenciana actual (1968-2000) (2002), La Festa d'Elx (2016), and Silenci, oblit i preservació de la memòria democràtica: una aportació interdisciplinària (2018).
