Samuel Beckett Working Group, National University of Ireland, Galway 12-16 July 2021 The Samuel Beckett Working Group will be meeting at the IFTR International Federation for Theatre Research Annual

The theme for IFTR 2021, Theatre Ecologies, carries over from 2020, therefore papers are welcome for the working group that respond to this. As with previous years, the working group will also continue to provide an open forum for work dealing with any aspect of Beckett's theatre. Participants are welcome to respond the questions that were posed in last year’s call for papers, but are by no means limited to these:

In what ways is the natural world evoked in Beckett’s work and what modes of eco-dramaturgy are evident within practical approaches to Beckett’s theatre?

How can Beckettian performance practices unveil or unpack issues around the environment, climate change and sustainability?

What are the ecologies -- in all senses of the word – of local and international Beckett performance practices?

What are the politics of intercultural exchange and sustainability when it comes to Beckett’s work around the world?

How does the contemporary staging of Beckett’s drama tackle the issue of ecological catastrophe?

The working group welcomes submissions that are drawn from projects or work in development that is unrelated to the conference theme, or that takes that theme in directions not anticipated here.

 

If you are interested in joining the Working Group ‘in’ Galway, please do get in touch; Abstracts should be submitted through the IFTR’s online system, managed by Cambridge Journals. Details will be posted on the IFTR website (https://www.iftr.org/). You need to submit a title and a short abstract (no more than 300 words) by 31 January 2021.  

For more information please contact the convenor Dr Trish McTighe (t.mctighe@qub.ac.uk)

Papers are to be distributed by 30 June 2021.

For information about the general conference, please check the IFTR website. Please also check for updates on the Samuel Beckett Working Group page [https://www.iftr.org/working-groups/samuel-beckett]

We greatly look forward to welcoming you to Virtual-Galway!

Please note that papers to be presented at the Working Group are distributed and read by all the participants ahead of the meeting. At the Working Group sessions presenters give short résumés of their work, followed by a lengthy discussion period (each presenter has 30 to 45 minutes in all, depending on the number of presenters). This is an extremely effective method, which allows ideas to be discussed, debated and evaluated, with participants suggesting directions for the presenters’ work-in-progress. It is the Working Group’s aim to make good papers great! There is limited space for presenters; there will also be a limited space for auditors, who would also be sent the papers to read, and be encouraged to engage in the discussions during the sessions.