Reconsidering National Plays in Europe [Hardcover]

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 R?uber, Friedrich Schiller), Switzerland (Wilhelm Tell, Friedrich Schiller), Hungary (B?nk B?n, J?zsef Katona), Sweden (Gustav Vasa, August Strindberg), Norway (Peer Gynt, Henrik Ibsen), the Netherlands (The Good Hope, Herman Heijermans), France (Tartuffe, Moli?re), and Ireland. This collection is especially relevant at a time of socio-political flux, when national identity and the future of the nation state is being reconsidered.

1. Introduction; Suze van der Poll & Rob van der Zalm.- 2. Schillers Die R?uber: Der Ort der Geschichte ist Teutschland; Kati R?ttger.- 3. Schillers Wilhelm Tell: The National Play of Switzerland?; Elke Huwiler.- 4. B?nk B?n: The Hungarian National Play; Krisztina Lajosi.- 5. August Strindbergs Gustav Vasa  Swedens National Drama?; Egil T?rnqvist & Erik Mattsson.- 6. Peer Gynt  Norways National Play; Suze van der Poll.- 7. A (Dutch) Tale of the Sea. The Good Hope by Herman Heijermans; Rob van der Zalm.- 8. Moli?res Tartuffe and French National Identity: Reconfiguring the King, the People and the Church; Matthijs Engelberts.- 9. Theatre as a Moral Institution: 20th-Century Irelandl£Ù