Kasia Lech – författare

Dramaturgy of Form examines verse in twenty-first-century theatre practice across different languages, cultures, and media. Through interdisciplinary engagement, Kasia Lech offers a new method for verse analysis in the performance context.The book traces the dramaturgical operation of verse in new writings, musicals, devised performances, multilingual dramas, Hip Hop theatre, films, digital projects, and gig theatre, as well as translations and adaptations of classics and new theatre forms created by Irish, Spanish, Nigerian, Polish, American, Canadian, Australian, British, Russian, and multinational artists. Their verse dramaturgies explore timely issues such as global identities, agency and precarity, global and local politics, and generational and class stories. The development of dramaturgy is discussed with the focus turning to the new stylized approach to theatre, whose arrival Hans-Thies Lehmann foretold in his Postdramatic Theatre, documenting a turning point for contemporary Western theatre.Serving theatre-makers, scholars, and students working with classical and contemporary verse and poetry in performance contexts; practitioners and academics of aural and oral dramaturgies; voice and verse-speaking coaches; and actors seeking the creative opportunities that verse offers, Dramaturgy of Form reveals verse as a tool for innovation and transformation that is at the forefront of contemporary practices and experiences.

Dramaturgy of Form examines verse in twenty-first-century theatre practice across different languages, cultures, and media. Through interdisciplinary engagement, Kasia Lech offers a new method for verse analysis in the performance context.The book traces the dramaturgical operation of verse in new writings, musicals, devised performances, multilingual dramas, Hip Hop theatre, films, digital projects, and gig theatre, as well as translations and adaptations of classics and new theatre forms created by Irish, Spanish, Nigerian, Polish, American, Canadian, Australian, British, Russian, and multinational artists. Their verse dramaturgies explore timely issues such as global identities, agency and precarity, global and local politics, and generational and class stories. The development of dramaturgy is discussed with the focus turning to the new stylized approach to theatre, whose arrival Hans-Thies Lehmann foretold in his Postdramatic Theatre, documenting a turning point for contemporary Western theatre.Serving theatre-makers, scholars, and students working with classical and contemporary verse and poetry in performance contexts; practitioners and academics of aural and oral dramaturgies; voice and verse-speaking coaches; and actors seeking the creative opportunities that verse offers, Dramaturgy of Form reveals verse as a tool for innovation and transformation that is at the forefront of contemporary practices and experiences.

This Element explores how women theatre artists in Ukraine and Poland - separately and together - respond to their dynamically shifting socio-political realities after the early 2010s events: the pro-European Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the traditionalist, anti-European governance in Poland, both of which ignited mass women's protests. Engaging with diverse works - new writing, adaptations of classics, musicals, puppetry, and devised productions - Feminist Imagining features artists that explore the connections between patriarchy-rooted violence, gendered nationalism, women's reproductive rights, and decolonial critique. These underpin their transcultural and intersectional alliances and their proposals for concrete scenarios that redefine the past, present, and future, creating specific feminist imaginaries and epistemologies situated in Central-Eastern Europe. The Element captures the feminist turns in Polish and Ukrainian theatres, highlighting the practices of women artists from the so-called Eastern Europe, whose voices have long been nationally and internationally silenced.

This Element explores how women theatre artists in Ukraine and Poland - separately and together - respond to their dynamically shifting socio-political realities after the early 2010s events: the pro-European Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the traditionalist, anti-European governance in Poland, both of which ignited mass women's protests. Engaging with diverse works - new writing, adaptations of classics, musicals, puppetry, and devised productions - Feminist Imagining features artists that explore the connections between patriarchy-rooted violence, gendered nationalism, women's reproductive rights, and decolonial critique. These underpin their transcultural and intersectional alliances and their proposals for concrete scenarios that redefine the past, present, and future, creating specific feminist imaginaries and epistemologies situated in Central-Eastern Europe. The Element captures the feminist turns in Polish and Ukrainian theatres, highlighting the practices of women artists from the so-called Eastern Europe, whose voices have long been nationally and internationally silenced.

Multilingual Dramaturgies provides a study of dramaturgical practices in contemporary multilingual theatre in Europe. Featuring interviews with international theatremakers, the book gives an insight into diverse approaches towards multilingual theatre and its dramaturgy that reflect cultural, political, and economic landscapes of contemporary Europe, its inhabitants, and its theatres. First-hand accounts are contextualized to reveal a complex set of negotiations involved in the creative and political tasks of staging multilingualism and engaging the audience, as well as in practical issues like funding and developing working models. Using interviews with practitioners from a diverse range of theatrical backgrounds and career levels, and with various models of financial support, Multilingual Dramaturgies also offers an insight into different attitudes towards multilingualism in European theatres. The book illuminates not only the potential for multilingual dramaturgies, but also the practical and creative difficulties involved in making them. By bringing the voices of artists together and providing a critical commentary, the book reveals multilingual dramaturgies as webbed practices of differences that also offer new ways of understanding and performing identity in a European context. Multilingual Dramaturgies sheds light on an exciting theatre practice, argues for its central role in Europe and highlights potential directions for its further development.Winner of The Janovics Center Award for Outstanding Humanities Research in Transnational Film and Theatre Studies, BEST BOOK IN THEATRE STUDIES 2024.