R E C O N S I D E R I N G N A T I O N A L

P L A Y S I N E U R O P E

Edited by Suze van der Poll

& Rob van der Zalm

Reconsidering National Plays in Europe

Suze vanderPoll • Rob vanderZalm

Editors

Reconsidering

National Plays in

Europe

ISBN 978-3-319-75333-1 ISBN 978-3-319-75334-8 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75334-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938801

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the

Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specically the rights of

translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on

microlms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,

electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now

known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this

publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specic statement, that such names are

exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information

in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-

lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the

material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The

publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-

tional afliations.

Cover illustration: Alexander Mørk-Eidem’s staging of Peer Gynt, National Theatre.

Photo: Gisle Bjørneby, 2014

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer

International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature.

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Editors

Suze vanderPoll

University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Rob vanderZalm

University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

In memory of our former professors Egil Törnqvist (1932–2015) and Rob

Erenstein (1939–2017)

vii

Though the concept ‘national play’ has since long been used to describe

plays such as Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, Herman Heijerman’s The Good Hope and

Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell, the term, different from for example ‘national the-

atre’, has not found its way into dictionaries. Neither has it been the object

for research in the academic world. Taking a closer look at use of the word

in descriptions in the aforementioned plays, shows it has been used to

indicate that these plays not only have been rooted deeply in the cultural

memory of respectively Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland, but—

over the course of time—have been regarded as representations of the

nation and its national identity.

This volume seeks to frame the concept of a national play, and examines

what qualies as a national play and how it functions over the course of

time in society, by providing an in-depth look into specic plays in eight

specic countries. The focus is on Europe, a continent with a rich theatri-

cal history, but also a continent in which national culture and national

identity have been object for contention and debate since long. The selec-

tion of the specic countries is motivated partly by the expertise of the

contributors, and partly by the editors’ wish to represent both ‘old’ and

‘new’, large and small nations from different European areas, EU and

non-EU, as well as dominant and recessive theatre cultures. The eight

countries presented are Germany/Die Räuber (Friedrich Schiller, 1781),

Switzerland/Wilhelm Tell (Friedrich Schiller, 1804), Hungary/Bánk Bán

(József Katona, 1819), Sweden/Gustav Vasa (August Strindberg, 1899),

Norway/Peer Gynt (Henrik Ibsen, 1867), The Netherlands/The Good

About the book

viii ABOUT THE BOOK

Hope (Herman Heijermans, 1900), France/Tartuffe (Molière, 1669). In

the last chapter, about Ireland, a cluster of plays is being analysed.

By closely examining the relation between those plays and the nation,

and the way stagings of these dramatic texts constitute, respond to, reect

and articulate changes in the imagination of national identity and the

nation-state itself, it is shown that theatre has undoubtedly retained its

ability to function successfully as a social platform for a nation’s self-

articulation. By providing (critical) reections on elements considered to

be ‘essential’ characteristics of a nation and its identity—such as landscape

and folklore—the plays examined here have over a longer period of time

stimulated an audience to re-consider and re-evaluate those characteris-

tics. Although we are perfectly aware that since the nineteenth century

theatre as an art form has lost its dominant position in society, and no

longer can be regarded as a mass medium, an analysis of the relation

between plays and nations can be helpful to a better understanding of

both these plays and national identity, especially so at a time when the

concept and future of the nation-state are being challenged and—at the

same time—re-considered.

Contents

1 Introduction 1

Suze van der Poll and Rob van der Zalm

2 Schiller’s Die Räuber: “Der Ort der Geschichte ist

Teutschland” 21

Kati Röttger

3 Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell: TheNational Play ofSwitzerland? 53

Elke Huwiler

4 Bánk Bán: TheHungarian National Play 85

Krisztina Lajosi

5 Strindberg’s Gustav Vasa and thePerformance ofSwedish

Identity– fromCelebration toIntrospective Critique 119

Erik Mattsson and Egil Törnqvist

6 Peer Gynt: Norway’s National Play 155

Suze van der Poll

x CONTENTS

7 A (Dutch) Tale oftheSea: The Good Hope byHerman

Heijermans 185

Rob van der Zalm

8 Molière’s Tartuffe andFrench National Identity:

Reconguring theKing, thePeople andtheChurch 211

Matthijs Engelberts

9 Theatre asaMoral Institution: Twentieth- Century

Ireland 245

Joep Leerssen

10 Epilogue 267

Suze van der Poll and Rob van der Zalm

Index 273

Matthijs Engelberts is Assistant Professor in the Department of

Romance Languages and Cultures at the University of Amsterdam and

specializes in modern and contemporary French literature and culture,

including its relations to other (national) cultures. He has published

extensively on Samuel Beckett, cinema and the relation of literature to c-

tion in other media, such as live performance. Engelberts is a member of

the editorial board of Samuel Beckett Today/aujourd’hui; member of the

advisory board of Journal of Beckett Studies (Edinburgh University Press);

and president of the executive board of Stichting Romanisten aan

Nederlandse Universiteiten (SRNU)

Elke Huwiler is Assistant Professor in the Department of German

Literature at the University of Amsterdam. She is the coordinator of the

interdisciplinary research group “Historical Theatre Research”. Her

research interests include mediality, performativity, media history and the-

ory, as well as intermedial narratology. Huwiler is currently doing research

in the eld of historical performance studies, specializing on 16th and

17th century Swiss Theatre.

Krisztina Lajosi-Moore is Assistant Professor in the Department of

European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She holds a PhD in

cultural history from the University of Amsterdam. Her dissertation exam-

ined the role of operas in nation-building movements in East-Central

Europe. She is the coordinator of a research project supported by the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences exploring the transna-

tional ramications of European national styles in music. Her latest

notes on Contributors