Mass Theatre in Inter-War Europe

Thomas Crombez is affiliated Researcher at the University of Antwerp and teaches Philosophy of Art and Theatre History at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and Philosophy at Sint Lucas Antwerpen. Luk Van den Dries is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Antwerp.

• ContentsThomas Crombez & Frank PeetersA New Genre for a New Audience. IntroductionThe Lion of Flanders in Antwerp, 9 July 1938Dynamics and DominationPolitics and PathosThree Parameters of Socio-TheatricalityParticipants and SpectatorsMass Spectacle in Soviet RussiaThe Soviet Example as a Model for EuropeChoral Drama in the Weimar RepublicIdeological Diversity and the Question of TechniqueMass Spectacle and Public SpaceRe-theatricalizing the TheatreJan Oscar de Gruyter's Open-air Theatre ProjectConquering Public SpaceAd van der Logt & Thomas CrombezMapping Mass Spectacle in Flanders and the NetherlandsSocialist Lay Theatre in the Netherlands Traditional Workers' Theatre in the Netherlands The Development of Lay Theatre Labour Day Celebrations The Reception of Socialist Mass Spectacle Communist Choral Drama and Mass Spectacle in the Netherlands National Socialist Spectacles in the Netherlands The Land Days of the National League for Agriculture and Society The Cultic Plays The Catholic Movement in the Netherlands The Grail Movement The Grail Spectacles Other Catholic Mass Spectacles Socialist Groups in Flanders King Labour (1932) The Moral Education of Youth The Catholic Movement in Flanders The Modernization of Catholicism Modernist Catholic Theatre Theatre and the Return to Christianity Flemish Polemics on the History of Choral Drama The Praxis of Liturgical Drama Case Studies Frank PeetersNational Feasts in the Long Nineteenth Century The Feasts of the Revolution The Feast of the Constitution (1793) The Feasts Revisited: Firmin Gémier Staging the Great Moments of History Evelien JonckheereDisciplined Freaks and Redskins. The Ghent Performances of the AmericanMass Spectacles Barnum and Bailey (1901) and Buffalo Bill (1906) Mass Spectacle A Well-Disciplined Organization The Exhibitionary Complex The Society of the Spectacle Conclusion Ad van der LogtThe Machine on Stage. Two Expressionist Mass Spectacles in the Netherlands Gas I by Georg Kaiser D 16 MM by Mannus Franken Conclusion Staf Vos'Variations on a Cosmic Rhythm'. Collective Movement between Dance, Sport and Politics From Solo Presentation to the Collective Experience Lea Daan and the Desire of an Organic Community Red Movement Choirs Catholic Movement Choirs Conclusion Karel VanhaesebrouckHerman van Overbeke and the Open-Air Theatre in Ghent.Between Scenic Innovation and Medieval Traditionalism 127Mass Spectacle in Flanders 127The Sint-Baafs Play 128The Middle Ages as a Construction of the Imagination 132The Green Theatre in Citadel Park 135Luk Van den DriesThe Pilgrimages of the Yser (1948-1970) Mass Singing and Speeches The Problem of Youth A Cumbersome Flagship Renewal New-style Pilgrimage Abbreviations Bibliography Index of persons Colophon

Mass theatre in interwar Europe is in zijn geheel een mooie publicatie, die slaagt in het opzet dat de redacteurs vooropstellen: een duidelijk beeld geven van dit fenomeen in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Het uitgebreide bronnenmateriaal biedt een goede kijk op die historische periode en de toenmalige theaterpraktijk die zeer sterk verbonden was met de politieke en sociale omwentelingen.Karel Pletinck, Universiteit Antwerpen, Forum+, maart 2015, jaargang 22, nr. 1