Internationalist Theatre

Internationalist Theatre is a London theatre company founded by South African Greek actress Angelique Rockas in September 1980.^[1] The company was originally named New Internationalist Theatre,^[2]^[3] with an intention to pursue an internationalist approach in its choice of plays as well as "a multi-racial drama policy, with an even mix of performers drawn from different cultural groups", The Stage, April 1981.^[1]^[4]

The theatre has received coverage from stage papers around the world.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] It received charity status in 1986.^[10]

Performances

The Internationalist Theatre has put on plays by Jean Genet (The Balcony),^[11] Griselda Gambaro (The Camp),^[12]^[13]^[14] Brecht (Mother Courage and Her Children),^[15]^[16] Luigi Pirandello (Liolà),^[17]^[18]^[19] Tennessee Williams (In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel),^[20]^[21] August Strindberg (Miss Julie)^[22] and Maxim Gorky (Enemies).^[23] Their critical reception was generally favourable,^[11]^[24]^[20]^[25]^[26]^[27] although not universally. Time Out magazine disliked their production of Mother Courage: "the casting only inspires a whole host of irreverent questions: what on earth, say, is an American sergeant doing in seventeenth century Europe? And how did a Pakistani chaplain get into the Swedish army?" ^[28] an example of the resistance to diversity casting at this point of time to a theatre first of a multi-racial Mother Courage production. The Pakistani actor referred to by Malcolm Hay was the veteran Asian Parsi actor Renu Setna. The Financial Times found Liolà`s multi-national casting problematic: "do we really need this peculiar medley of Italian accents for the English premiere? The problem is compounded by the commitment ... to a multi-national cast ... English, German, Sicilian, and Italian actors produce widely differing versions of the Latin lilt"^[29]

References

^ ^a ^b Robert Conway (1988). British Alternative Theatre Directory. J. Offord. pp. 27–28. ISBN 9780903931380.
^ British Theatre directory. Vance-Offord (Publications) Limited. 1990. p. 336. ISBN 9781870323055 – via books.google.co.uk.
^ "easydb.archive". archiv.adk.de. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
^ Stage Editorial (9 April 1981). "Multi-racial Genet". The Stage – via Internet Archive.
^ Dimitris Gionis (August 1992). "Interview Eleutherotipia Greece Angelique Rockas" – via Internet Archive.
^ Ari Papadopoulos (July 1993). "Angelique Rockas 1005". National Herald USA – via Internet Archive.
^ Luis Carlos Emmerich (July 1992). "Vogue Mexico Interview Angelique Rockas Multi Faceted Actress Spanish and English". Vogue Mexico – via Internet Archive.
^ "Angelique Rockas: bold theatre pioneer". The South African. 10 August 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2016.
^ Evangelos Kordakis. "Angelique Rockas". hellenism.net. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
^ Charity Commission (1986). "Internationalist Theatre granted Charity status" – via Internet Archive.
^ ^a ^b "Why An International Theatre". BBC French. 30 June 1981 – via Internet Archive.
^ Ann Morley-Priestman (19 November 1981). "British Newspaper archive scan of The Stage review of The Camp 10/12". The Stage – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Results for 'the stage 19 november 1981 the camp new internationalist ann morley priestman' | Between 1st Jan 1950 and 31st Dec 1999 | The Stage | Publication | British Newspaper Archive".
^ Notes: The Camp Reviews by BBC Mundo, Spare Rib, Morning Star, Vogue México y Latinoamérica, Time Out https://archive.org/details/bbclatinamericanreviewelcampo1_202001
^ "The Stage "Art of Keeping Alive" Mother Courage".
^ The Evening Standard review https://archive.org/details/standardlettingmothertaketheloades1982may062440000
^ Harold Atkins (28 July 1982). "Deceit in a Sicilian village". The Daily Telegraph – via Internet Archive.
^ Nicolas de Jongh (28 July 1982). "LIOLA". The Guardian.
^ "Results for 'pirandello liola bloomsbury theatre 1982 the stage ' | British Newspaper Archive".
^ ^a ^b Anderson, Lindsay (5 May 1983). "In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel" – via flickr.com.
^ Ann Nugent (14 July 1983). "British Newspaper Archive The Stage Battle forRiches". The Stage – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
^ Michael Robinson (2008). An International Annotated Bibliography of Strindberg Studies section 12 1378. ISBN 9780947623821 – via books.google.co.uk.
^ Theatre Record (March 1985). "Theatre Record Play index 05/p.0261 'Enemies ' 74/1207" (PDF). Theatre Record – via .doollee.com.
^ "piace a Londra Liolà in teatro". Corriere della Serra. 20 July 1982 – via Internet Archive.
^ RB Marriott (2 February 1984). "Review of Miss Julie". The Stage – via Internet Archive.
^ Tom Vaughan (26 March 1985). "Review of Enemies". The Morning Star – via Internet Archive.
^ "Results for 'enemies by maxim gorky 1985 the stage ann pennington' | British Newspaper Archive".
^ "Time Out review of Mother Courage by Malcolm Hay 13 May 1982. Issue 611,pg. 69".
^ "Liola FT Review Internationalist Theatre Committed to International Casting July 1982".

External links

Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv Akademie der Künste Mother Courage and Her Children
The records of Internationalist Theatre, London, 1983-1985; New Internationalist Theatre, London, 1981-1982 are held by the British Library.
Archived 2020-11-19 at the Wayback Machine Index to Pirandello Studies, University of Dublin , Vol 3 (1983), Liola p. 100-102
[1] Practitioner focus: Angelique Rockas | Drama And Theatre
[2] Internationalist Theatre in Academia.edu