Arguments for a Historical Examination of the Discourse of Theatre and Film Criticism

Authors

  • Miruna Runcan Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Keywords:

theatre, Critical discourse, history, rethorics

Abstract

Paradoxically, historical studies of performing arts seem to have seldom approached the manner of development of critical discourses; and this, despite the  fact that the basic subject matter that comes to the aid of historiographers interested in arts (fewer and fewer of them can be seen in the academic  environment of my activity) is given by critical discourses: leading articles, essays, reviews, investigative pieces, feature reports and interviews from this or  that time. Very few researchers seem to have raised valid questions about the relationship between (artistic, theatrical…) creation and the critical discourses  meant to represent and assess it. A simple web search including the keywords “theatre”, “history”, “theatre criticism”, “rhetoric” will expose the austerity of  this field: such austerity may seem unfathomable, since, both from the viewpoint of the history of performing arts and from the viewpoint of the history  of aesthetic, social, philosophical or political ideas, interactions are essential and their dynamics is almost impossible to ignore. This is why this article seeks  to emphasize a number of primary themes, each of them potentially representing individual research stages that deserve subsequent systematic development.

Author Biography

Miruna Runcan, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Miruna Runcan is a writer, a theatre critic and a Professor PhD of the Theatre and  Television Faculty at "Babes Boyai" University Cluj, Romania. Co-founder (with C.C.  Buricea-Mlinarcic) of Everyday Life Drama Research and Creation Laboratory (awarded with a  three-year National Grant for Research in 2009). Author of The Romanian Theatre Model, Bucharest: Unitext Publisging House, 2001; The  Theatricalisation of Romanian Theatre. 1920- 1960, Cluj: Eikon  Publishing House, 2003; For a  Semyothics of the Theatrical Performance, Cluj: Dacia Publishing  House, 2005; The Sceptical’s  Spectator’s Armchair, Bucharest: Unitext Publishing House, 2007;  The Universe of Alexandru Dabija’s  Performances, Limes Publishing House and Camil Petrescu  Foundation, Bucharest 2010; Bunjee- Jumping. Short Stories, Cluj: Limes Publishing House, 2011;  Enlove with Acting: 12 Actor’s Portraits,  Bucharest: Limes Publishing House and Camil  Petrescu Foundation, 2011; Signore Misterioso: An  Anathomy of the Spectator, Bucharest: Unitext,  2011; Theatre Criticism. Whereto? Cluj University Press,  2015; Odeon 70 – An Adventure in  Theatre History, Bucharest, Oscar Print, 2016.

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Published

2022-01-28

How to Cite

Runcan, M. (2022). Arguments for a Historical Examination of the Discourse of Theatre and Film Criticism. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai - Dramatica, 62(2), 9–22. Retrieved from https://dramatica.ro/index.php/j/article/view/198