First adventure to final flight: the theatre of Tristan Tzara

O'Neill, Erica Kate (2020) First adventure to final flight: the theatre of Tristan Tzara. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Abstract

To date, little research has been carried out on the complete theatrical works of Tristan Tzara; this thesis aims to provide a comprehensive discussion of Tzara’s works for the stage. In addition to analysing each of Tzara’s plays, I will consider actions performed by Tzara and the Paris dadaists at their theatrical events, to demonstrate the variety of performed gestures practiced during the Paris Dada period (1920-1923). I will then determine how Tzara’s playwriting developed after Dada during the surrealist period, and towards the end of his theatrical career when he was not formally associated with any specific avant-garde movement. In particular, this thesis addresses three key research questions. What was distinctive about Tzara’s approach to theatre as his career developed? To what extent were Tzara’s dadaist and surrealist principles embodied in his subsequent period in Paris both during and after his relations with the surrealist group? What are the implications for subsequent theatre and performance practice in light of Tzara’s innovations? In addressing this final question, I will show how Tzara’s works for the stage anticipate certain tendencies that would become formalised by theatre practitioners such as Bertolt Brecht (alienation/distancing effect) and, more crucially, how Tzara’s theatre foreshadows the Theatre of the Absurd, which developed on Parisian stages in the decade after the performance of Tzara’s final play.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts
Supervisor's Name: Hopkins, Professor David and Heinrich, Professor Anselm
Date of Award: 2020
Depositing User: Theses Team
Unique ID: glathesis:2020-82387
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2021 10:02
Last Modified: 01 Apr 2022 14:47
Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.82387
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/82387

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