ONSTAGE Theatre Database

Project coordinated by Frans Blom

Onstage is an online database for questions about the repertoire, performances, popularity and revenues of the cultural program in Amsterdam’s public theatre during the period 1637 - 1772. All data provided in this system links to archival source materials in contemporary administration.

Reconsidering National Plays in Europe

Project coordinated by Suze van der Poll and Rob van der Zalm

This volume frames the concept of a national play. By analysing a number of European case studies, it addresses the following question: Which play could be regarded as a country's national play, and how does it represent its national identity? The chapters provide an in-depth look at plays in eight different countries: Germany (Die Räuber), Switzerland (Wilhelm Tell), Hungary (Bánk Bán), Sweden (Gustav Vasa), Norway (Peer Gynt), the Netherlands (The Good Hope), France (Tartuffe), and Ireland.

The publication is based on a master course at the University of Amsterdam on "National Theatre" from 2013-2016, coordinated by Suze van der Poll.

Text, Performance, and the Production of Knowledge

Conference of the research group HTR

An international conference by the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH), research group Historical Theatre Research

Organized by Elke Huwiler, Suzanne Kooloos and Jan Lazardzig

Edition of Swiss Early Modern Play

Project coordinated by Elke Huwiler

Together with Heidy Greco-Kaufmann, University of Berne, Elke Huwiler edited the "Bruderklausenspiel" of Sarnen, a play from 1601 which displays the life of the Swiss saint Niklaus von Flüe (1417-1487). The play consists of 11.370 verses and was performed on the marketplace of Sarnen, the capital of the canton Obwalden, during two days in September 1601.

Festschrift on Medieval and Early Modern Theatre

Publication by Elke Huwiler, Elisabeth Meyer and Arend Quak

The Festschrift in honor of Carla Dauven-van Knippenberg contains 13 articles of well-known researchers in the field of Medieval and Early Modern Theatre. It includes theoretical observations and analysis of specific plays. In accordance with Dauven-van Knippenberg’s own line of research, the articles are interdisciplinary and not limited to German Studies.

Technologies of Theatre

Publication by Jan Lazardzig and Hole Rößler

So far unnoticed by historians of theatre and performance, the early seventeenth-century codex iconographicus 401 (Bavarian State Library), attributed to Joseph Furttenbach, offers new insight to the transfer of mechanical knowledge and theater technology. Besides an English translation of Furttenbach’s manuscript (originally written in German language), this volume collects studies at the intersection of theater, architecture, and technology, proposing an innovative approach to the historiography of early modern theater.

Gender Codes at the Age of Enlightenment

Review by Claudia Daiber

Claudia Daiber reviewed the Habilitation submitted in 2011 to the University of Vienna by Beate Hochholdinger-Reiterer with the title: Kostümierung der Geschlechter. Schauspielkunst als Erfindung der Aufklärung. Göttingen: Wallstein 2014. The work analyses how gendered codes made their way into the the language of theatre historiography in the age of enlightenment and beyond. The review is written in the German language and available at querelles-net, an online review magazine for women and gender research, promoted by the Freie Universität Berlin. 

Text, Performance, and Production of Knowledge

Joint workshop of the research group HTR

The theatre has always been a platform for the transfer of knowledge, opinion, and understanding. In theatre people reflect on their identity as individuals or as a community. This workshop focused on the question what sorts of knowledge are generated in theatre and through what processes this knowledge is transferred to the audience. In different historical periods various cognitive aspects of theatre have been highlighted, such as affect in relation to morality or collective consciousness. In all time, theatre makers have proved to be very inventive in their play with genre conventions to bring their messages across.

Passion Plays during the Reformation

PhD Project by Claudia Daiber

Claudia Daiber is starting up a PhD project about the genre of the passion play under the influence of the Protestant Reformation. The main focus of the study will be on the evocation of the public sphere in the passion play by performative text. Questions triggered by this focus include the performative depiction of the human being, quasi-institutional acting and speech in the public sphere. The cases which will be used to research these issues are the "Lucern Easter Play" (1545-1616), the "Zurich Passion Play" (1545) and the "Christus Patiens" (1606) by Hugo Grotius.

Edition of "Abele spelen" in Middle Dutch and Modern High German

Project coordinated by Joris Reynaert, Carla Dauven-van Knippenberg and Elke Huwiler

The "Abele spelen" are four Middle Dutch non-religious plays from the 15th century, each followed by a farce, collected in the famous manuscript collection "Hanschrift-Van Hulthem". The plays will be translated into Modern High German for the first time and are due to be published in 2016 in the series BIMILI as the ninth of twelve volumes of Modern High German translations of Middle Dutch texts.