Call for Articles and Essays

Guest Editor: Octavian Saiu

The relationship between theatre and music is as old as both these art forms. To look into their time-honored connection is to highlight the sense of what it means to experience human creativity in its most enchanting and possibly most meaningful form. With time, both theatre and music moved beyond the aesthetic and became areas of debate, subjectivity and criticism. They have welcomed questions about the fundamental aspects of society and culture, in an unparalleled way. This process has intensified with the advent of modernity: from Wagner’s gesamtkunstwerk to contemporary musical, from Grotowski’s aspiration towards the perfect embodiment of sound to current explorations in musical anthropology, the appeal of a complex, total performance that integrates music and theatricality has not ceased to appeal to artists, scholars and audiences alike.

So, what is the relationship between these two complex universes in the twenty-first century, a century of unprecedented changes?  How is this relationship affected by the new technology and the new media? To what extent is it influenced by the current social, economic or political developments of the world?

This special issue of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques will examine the theatricality of music and will investigate the musicality of theatre, focusing on the following themes, among others:

  • the dynamics between theatre and music, in the East and in the West
  • the architecture of sound in contemporary performance 
  • the new theatricality of opera
  • the transnational aesthetics of the musical
  • the soundscape of performing arts
  • the musical and the postmodern/posthuman industry
  • theatre criticism and music criticism: similarities and differences
  • the contemporary musical: advertising, marketing, and tourism

We invite critics, scholars and researchers from around the world to contribute to a special issue of the journal dedicated to the aesthetics, meanings and social implications of music in theatre and, equally, of theatre in music. The issue is interdisciplinary. Therefore, we welcome contributions from a range of disciplines, including performance, music, cultural studies, sociology, philosophy and journalism.

Length: Maximum 3.500 words
Language: English or French
Deadlines for proposals: 15 September 2019
Submissions in the form of completed articles should be sent by early March 2020
Revisions will be due by late April 2020
Publication date: late June 2020
Style: MLA (8th edition) – Find the Guide online here. Alternatively, see here.

NOTE

All contributions should be sent to Prof. Octavian Saiu (octavian_saiu@yahoo.com)

BIO

Octavian Saiu, Adjunct Secretary General of IATC and President of the Romanian Section – Theatre Studies of IATC, holds a PhD in Theatre Studies and another one in Comparative Literature. He has published articles in several international journals, as well as eight books on theatre. He received the Critics’ Award in 2010 and the Award of the Union of Theatre Artists (UNITER) in 2013. Actively involved in various international festivals around the world, he has chaired talks and seminars at Edinburgh International Festival and Sibiu International Theatre Festival, among others. His most recent publication in English is the monograph, Hamlet and the Madness of the World (2016).

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Permissions: Critical Stages publishes writings that have not been previously published in English or French. Permission to reprint articles is granted with the requirement to include “First published in Critical Stages,” along with other citation information and the web address of the journal.

Photos: Photos (JPEG) and other types of illustrations are encouraged. The position of the photo should be designated in the article. All necessary permissions for images should be provided. These can be in the form of an e-mail from the company, or documentation that you have procured the images from an official website. Note: If the performance the author attended is other than the opening night, please include mention of the actual date in the text itself. General information regarding the production, however, should match the date recorded in national and international databases.

Photo Captions: Each photo of a performance needs a caption including title of the performance; names of playwright, director, company, venue, the date of the première, and photo credits.  Names of actors (clockwise from top left) can also be added.

Author Information: Author’s name, photo, e-mail address, and professional affiliation, and short profile should be given with your submission, separately from the article file. Only the article title should appear at the head of the article file.

Quick Style Sheet for Critical Stages/Scènes critiques for English and French language texts is available here.

Writers of English or French as a second language are encouraged to seek help of professional proofreaders before sending their submissions for consideration. 

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