Table Of ContentPerformance,
Subjectivity,
Cosmopolitanism
Yana Meerzon
Performance, Subjectivity, Cosmopolitanism
“In Performance, Subjectivity, Cosmopolitanism Yana Meerzon sets the cosmopoli-
tan subject centre-stage and examines its philosophical origins, its importance in
the contemporary political context of the global rise of demagoguery and right-
wing nationalism, and its signifi cance in the contemporary theatre. This rigorous
and scholarly work extends Meerzon’s existing published research on exilic perfor-
mance to examine what she names as today’s ‘theatre of cosmopolitanism’. Defi
ning this theatrical form as originating ‘at two axes of meaning: as a social phe-
nomenon and as an aesthetic condition’, the book draws on a rich and complex
range of sources to offer an impassioned argument for the continuing value of
cosmopolitanism and the cosmopolitan subject in uncertain times.”
—Dr Lisa Fitzpatrick, Senior Lecturer in Drama, University of Ulster, UK
“This is an erudite and detailed study of cosmopolitan theatre, covering a range of
performances from the Global North. Meerzon reviews the meaning and function
of the fi gure of the ‘traveller’ in the twenty-first century in order to think about
subjectivity and the ethical potential of theatre at a time of global upheaval. Timely
and necessary.”
—Marilena Zaroulia, Lecturer in Performance Arts, The Royal Central
School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UK
Yana Meerzon
Performance,
Subjectivity,
Cosmopolitanism
Yana Meerzon
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Canada
ISBN 978-3-030-41409-2 ISBN 978-3-030-41410-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41410-8
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
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To Irina, Dmitri, Alexander, and Eugenie
A
cknowledgements
This project took its inspiration from the conference Local Cosmopolitanisms/
Cosmopolitismes locaux that took place in Fall 2014 at the University of
Ottawa. Later I discussed my ideas with many colleagues and friends, both
in Canada and internationally, to whom I am extremely grateful for their
insights, suggestions, critical thoughts, and interest in this topic. This list
includes Patrice Pavis, Freddie Rokem, Janelle Reinelt, Peter Boenisch,
Christopher Balme, Steve Wilmer, Joerg Esleben, Veronika Ambros, Tibor
Egervari, Ric Knowles, Inge Arteel, Guy Cools, Josette Ferral, Judith
Rudakoff, Margherita Laera, R. Darren Gobert, Magda Romanska,
Szabolcs Musca, and Silvija Jestrovic, among many others.
As I worked on this book, I participated in projects and partnerships
that are particularly echoed in these pages. They include my work with
Katharina Pewny on theatre and multilingualism (2018, 2019) and my
two-volume publication on theatre and immigration in Canada (2019),
generously supported by Roberta Barker, as well as my collaboration with
David Dean, Natalia Vesselova, and Daniel McNeil on the project
Performance, Migration and Stereotypes. A Connection Grant from the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada supported
several initiatives related to this project, including the 2017 international
conference, the collection of articles entitled Migration and Stereotypes in
Performance and Culture (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), and this volume.
J. Douglas Clayton’s hard work on the style of this book was invaluable.
During the many hours we spent discussing this project, I came to think
of him as a true collaborator if not co-author of this manuscript. Aisling
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Murphy helped with the final touches of the manuscript, looking after
technical aspects of preparing this text for publication.
This book would not have emerged without the generous help of the
artists to whom it is dedicated. I am forever grateful to the many perform-
ers, writers, directors, designers, dramaturgs, and managers of the various
companies, with whom I corresponded, spoke, and shared my ideas
regarding theatre and cosmopolitanism. The map of my encounters is
truly international, if not global. A special thank you goes to many kind
people, although here I can name only some of them. They include Art
Babayants, Ken Cameron, Una Memisevic, Tim Carlson, Candice
Edmunds, Mani Soleymanlou, Natasha Davis, Anton de Groot, Anita
Majumdar, David Herd, Dragan Todorovic, Charlotte Bongaerts, Lars
Boot, Elke Janssens, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, James Long, Maiko Yamamoto,
An-Marie Lambrechts, Lily McLeish, Karthika Nair, Damien Jalet, Anna
Pincus, Julia Wieninger, Fleur Palezzi, and Charlotte Farcet.
I have presented materials related to this work at many conferences,
including the International Federation for Theatre Research (2014,
2018), the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (2017, 2018), and
the European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance
(2018, 2019), as well as gave keynote lectures and invited talks at Ghent
University, Kent University, Northwestern University, University of
Amsterdam, University of Toronto, Masaryk University, McMaster
University, and Concordia Universities.
Some of my ideas that appear in this book were previously published in
the journals Theatre Research in Canada (2015), Modern Drama (2018),
and Ottawa Hispanic Studies (2018) and the book Performing Exile:
Foreign Bodies edited by Judith Rudakoff (2017).
My special thanks go to my family, who were simply stoic in supporting
this project. Without their patience, understanding, and belief, this book
would have never come to life.
c
ontents
1 Setting the Stage: Performing the Divided Self of a New
Cosmopolitanism 1
Part I Encounters in Language 33
2 Dramaturgies of the Self: Staging the Décalage of
Vernacular Cosmopolitanism 35
3 ‘Speaking in Tongues’: Staging Hospitality of (Non)
Translation 75
Part II Encounters in Body 115
4 Dramaturgies of the Body: Staging Stranger- Fetishism in a
Cosmopolitan Solo Performance 117
5 Staging Cosmoprolis: Constructing the Chorus Play 155
ix
x CONTENTS
Part III Encounters in Time, Space, and History 195
6 Dramaturgies of the Gaze: On the Intimate Realities of
Cosmopolitanism 197
7 Staging Affective Citizenship: Constructing Communities
of Hope 237
8 To Be a Cosmopolitan: Concluding Remarks 275
Index 285
CHAPTER 1
Setting the Stage: Performing the Divided
Self of a New Cosmopolitanism
Today, as the French philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky argues, we have
entered a new phase of Modernist culture: it is now characterized by the
exigencies of hyper. ‘Hyper capitalism, hyperclass, hyper-power, hyper-
terrorism, hyper-individualism, hypermarket, hypertext’ (Lipovetsky
2004, 155) are directly connected to the economic practices of late capi-
talism. Global wars, the information overload, the acceleration of time,
and the malady of hyper-consumption all result in the processes of con-
structing, deconstructing, and reconstructing subjectivity. ‘The hyper-
modern individual’—Lipovetsky writes—‘lives a life characterized by
flexibility, adaptability, and a demand of continuous improvement, both in
the work place and throughout his/her general life’ (153). For this indi-
vidual, the global supermarket and the workplace have turned into places
of worship.
Bojana Kunst arrives at similar conclusions, declaring, ‘contemporary
society places great emphasis on creativity, imagination, and dynamism’,
so that the only tangible product of late capitalism is ‘models of subjectiv-
ity’ (2015, 19). Kunst examines the role played by the performing arts in
re-fashioning this subjectivity. In response to her own question of ‘how
and what does art actually produce in contemporary capitalism?’ (17),
Kunst suggests that the only commodity created by the performing arts is
the artist at work (19).
Using these statements as a starting point, I seek in this book to analyse
how this new subjectivity is constructed and staged in the theatres of
© The Author(s) 2020 1
Y. Meerzon, Performance, Subjectivity, Cosmopolitanism,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41410-8_1
