Author: martina

Our project aims at investigating the representation of cognitive disability in drama texts from the sixteenth century to today, with a focus on the reception of a few Shakespearean female characters: first and foremost, Ophelia, but also the Jailer’s Daughter in The Two Noble Kinsmen, Lady Macbeth and Cassandra. Historically, women have been discriminated against by patriarchal society; women who have cognitive disability have experienced a further exclusion from social accessibility. Their behaviours have been read as performances susceptible of being interpreted on the basis of a two-way transaction between the arts and the sciences.

Our methodology is interdisciplinary bridging different fields, including reception studies, disability studies, the history of European medicine, and the semiotics of theatre and drama. We will take into examination texts and materials belonging to multiple European countries. Accessing Ophelia will include the organisation of one-day seminars/conferences and lead to the publication of an edited volume and a number of articles. Moreover, on the basis of the experience gained by the participation in the subproject CEMP (Classical and Early Modern Paradoxes in England) within the previous Project of Excellence, we will create a digital database of texts which feature relevant interpretations of the cognitive disability of the Shakespearean dramatis personae (from eighteenth-century critics to modern neuroscientists), along with iconographic materials, historic audio recordings, silent films, etc.

Group leader: Emanuel Stelzer

Internal members:

• Silvia Bigliazzi
• Petra Bjelica
• Felice Gambin
• Cristiano Ragni
• Roberta Zanoni

External members:

• Clark Lawlor (Northumbria University, Letteratura inglese e Storia della medicina)
• Sandra Pietrini (Università di Trento, Storia del teatro)
• Anne Sophie Refskou (Aarhus University, Letterature comparate)
• Martina Zamparo (Università di Udine, Letteratura inglese)

Actions: WP 1.1, WP 1.3 

References: 

Kiefer, Carol Solomon, ed. 2001. The Myth and Madness of Ophelia. Amherst: Mead Art Museum, Amherst College. 
Peterson, Kaara L. & Deanne Williams, eds. 2012. The Afterlife of Ophelia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 
Rhodes, Kimberly. 2016. Ophelia and Victorian Visual Culture: Representing Body Politics in the Nineteenth Century. Abingdon & New York: Routledge.  
Showalter, Elaine. 1985. “Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism”. In Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, edited by Patricia Parker & Geoffrey Hartman, 77-94. New York and London: Methuen. 

In the context of a comprehensive and wide meaning of inclusion – characterised by the valorisation of every kind of diversity -, theatre and the performing arts have received an increasing attention within the interdisciplinary fields of Disability studies (in particular, Disability Theatre) and Accessibility studies. The concept of “inclusive theatre” (“inclusive theatre-making” Di Giovanni 2021) refers to a fully accessible theatre practice based on the active participation of every member of the company in as many phases of production as possible, from the creation to the reception of a show.

“Teatro a Rotelle” company (Theatre on Wheels) is composed by non-professional actors, mostly students, with different forms of ability and disability and it is supported by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. The company has already produced videos and plays which develop an inclusive theatre practice that has received numerous awards and critical attention (see publication “Inclusive theatre-making on the stage: the case of Rebekka Kricheldorf’s Homo Empathicus (2014)” on Intralinea, 2022).  

During the five-year period 2023-2028, the company “Teatro a Rotelle” aims to create a context of experimentation for an inclusive and accessible theatre experience for actors and audiences with the help of assistive software. 

To achieve this goal, an interdisciplinary collaboration between directors, technicians and theorists of inclusive theatre will be developed. 

2023-2024:

• Acquisition and implementation of assistive software and digital media;  
• Mapping and study of contemporary experiences of inclusive theater in different international contexts; 
• Creation of an inclusive theatre festival. 

2025-2027: 

• Production of the first inclusive work for both for actors and audience; 
• Creation of guidelines for an inclusive theatre; 
• Contribution to the theory of inclusive theatre within Disability studies. 

Group leaders: Manuel Boschiero and Massimo Salgaro

Internal members:

• Sidia Fiorato 
• Nicoletta Vicentini 
• Jana Karšaiová

External members:

• Claudia Olivieri (Catania) 

Actions: WP 1.1, 1.2, 1.4

Bibliography:

Kuppers, P (2001), Decontructing Images: Perfoming Disabilities. Contemporary Theatre Review, 11: 25-40.
Di Giovanni, E. (2022). Inclusive theatre-making: Participation, empowerment and well-being. inTRAlinea Special Issue: Inclusive Theatre: Translation, Accessibility and Beyond, Di Giovanni E., and Raffi F. (eds), https://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2609
Di Giovanni, E. (2021). Oltre l’accessibilità. I teatri inclusivi. Lingue e linguaggi 43: 15−31.
Boschiero M. and Karšaiová, J., Salgaro, M., Vicentini, N. (2022), Inclusive theatre-making on the stage: The case of Rebekka Kricheldorf’s Homo Empathicus (2014). inTRAlinea Special Issue: Inclusive Theatre: Translation, Accessibility and Beyond, Di Giovanni E., and Raffi F. (eds), https://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2593
Johnston, K. (2016) Disability Theatre and Modern Drama: Recasting Modernism. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.