A Well-Versed Overview of Verse in Theatre

133 REVIEWS A WELL-VERSED OVERVIEW OF VERSE IN THEATRE DOI: h ps://doi.o g/10.14712/2571452X.2021.62.8 Kasia Lech. D ama u gy o Fo m: Pe o ming Ve se in Con empo a y Thea e. London: Rou ledge, 2021. 130 pp. ISBN 978-0-367-20193-7 (hbk), 978-0-429-26005-6 (ebk). Ve se ends o be some hing which is los in he shu le in con empo a y li e a y s udies. This holds doubly ue o e se in he hea e. Kasia Lech’s ecen book D ama u gy o Fo m he e o e ep esen s a genuine b ea h o esh ai . The book is pa o he Focus on D ama u gy se ies published by Rou ledge, wi h Magda Romanska, a leading igu e in he ield, as he se ies edi o . D ama u gy o Fo m is he se en h ou o a planned wen y- olume se ies.1 Lech eaches a Can e bu y Ch is Chu ch Uni e si y, bu is o iginally om Poland. She ecei ed he PhD om Uni e si y College Dublin. He in e na ional backg ound and expe ience make he an ideal in e p e e o he opic. Lech is also an ac o , puppe ee , and he execu i e edi o o he g ound-b eaking The Thea e Times po al, which al hough only ounded in 2016 by Romanska and Bea iz Cabu has al eady p o ed o be a majo playe on he in e na ional hea e scene, p o iding a o um o hea e schola s and goe s a ound he wo ld o sha e hei knowledge and expe ience. The mission is o, among o he hings, comba and coun e -balance he o e whelmingly wes e n and Anglo-Ame ican bias and pe spec i e o hea e schola ship in he pas . Lech’s D ama u gy o Fo m is i mly in line wi h his mission, anging o e no only a as ime pe iod, bu also ac oss cul u es and languages, wi h a ocus on no only B i ish and I ish plays and pe o mances, bu also a numbe o wo ks in Polish, Spanish, and a ange o addi ional languages and cul u es. She includes an ex emely eclec ic selec ion o bo h p ima y and seconda y ex s, ha king back o classical imes wi h Sophocles’ An igone, mo ing o Shakespea e, and leading all he way up o Lin-Manuel Mi anda’s smash hi Hamil on om 2015. The gen es o p ima y ex s included in he analysis a e also wide and anging: musicals, Hip Hop hea e, de ised pe o mance, digi al p ojec s, ansla ions, e c. Lech makes use o his a ied ange o ex s in o de o suppo a call o e se 1 Fo he i les in he se ies hus a , see h ps://www. ou ledge.com/Focus-on-D ama u gy/ book-se ies/RFOD. Re iews 134 d ama u gy in hea e o deal wi h opical issues o ou ime, including, among o he hings, pos -colonialism, eminism, acism, ma ginaliza ion, and much mo e. In he i s chap e , Lech makes ex ensi e use o Bakh in’s concep o he e oglossia in he analysis, as i e y much co esponds wi h he in e es in mul iplici y o oices and pe spec i es. In o de o p o ide a sound ounda ion o he la e analysis, he au ho discusses e se s uc u e including he lexical and hy hmical aspec s. She u he explo es he ole o he ac o speaking he lines and he pa icula i ies o hea e in connec ion wi h use o e se. Lech occasionally g ounds he analysis wi h conc e e examples o scanned e se in his chap e , making use o a poem by he I ish poe Ea an Boland and passages om he Polish playw igh s S anisław Wyspiański and Małgo za a Siko ska-Miszczuk. When p o iding examples om languages o he han English, he au ho always p o ides a e se ansla ion as well, ei he an o icial e sion o he own. Lech a gues o ce ully ha e se can se e o p omo e and celeb a e mul ilingualism and ansla ions o plays and poe y. O pa icula in e es in his espec a e he examples p o ided o ansla ions om I ish in o English and a emp s o ep oduce I ish me e in English. The second chap e looks a e se in ansla ions and adap a ions. I includes an analysis o Seamus Heaney’s The Bu ial a Thebes: Sophocles’ An igone, ansla ions o Polish plays by Adam Mickiewicz and S anisław Wyspiański in o English bo h s aged and di ec ed by he con empo a y di ec o Radosław Rychcik, and a ansla ion o Ped o Calde ón de la Ba ca’s La ida es sueño (Li e Is a D eam) om Spanish in o English. Each o he e se ansla ions b ea hes new li e in o he o iginal, add essing con empo a y issues in poli ics, gende and ace ques ions. Once again he au ho p o ides he eade wi h conc e e examples in o de o bols e he a gumen . In i id con as o popula expec a ions, e se is employed he ein in o de o explo e a ange o con empo a y, opical issues. The ollowing chap e en i led in e es ingly “(No-longe ) Ibsen’s ‘language o he Gods’” a emp s o show how e se in hea e can gi e oice o he ma ginalized and supp essed and se e as a means o p o es . The examples used he e a e wide- anging and p o oca i e, beginning wi h he con o e sial play 28 Days: The T agedy o a Mens ual Cycle by he young Russian playw igh Olga Shilyae a. In i id con as , in e ms o ime and place, Lech includes a leng hy analysis o a Polish s aging in ansla ion o Shakespea e’s The Tempes by Anna Augus ynowicz om 2016 which manages o add ess a numbe o p essing issues aced by Eu ope and Poland in pa icula . Lin-Manuel Mi anda’s smash hi ap-musical Hamil on is also discussed in some de ail, highligh ing he poli ical impac i has made, while a he same ime aking i o ask o i s ailu e o p o ide women cha ac e s wi h much o a oice. Re iews 135 In con as , Mo gan Lloyd Malcolm’s 2018 play Emilia, abou Shakespea e’s con empo a y and possible lo e , is p aised o i s exci ing empowe ing message abou women and emale a is s. The inal chap e ocuses on new, inno a e o ms o hea e and e se. The examples used once again span he globe wi h a special in e es in he use o ‘gig hea e’ and music on he s age. A leng hy discussion o he Polish playw igh Ma a Gó nicka’s expe imen al play HYMN TO LOVE o O ches a, S u ed-Animal Choi , and O he s om 2017 b ings he book o a i ing close. Lech makes use o he piece o encapsula e many o he hemes and opics discussed ea lie in he book and also poin s ou possible new di ec ions o wo ld hea e in he u u e. The s eng h o he book is also, pa adoxically, one o i s weaknesses. Lech co e s so much space and ime, ha occasionally he eade (speaking, o example, o mysel ) migh ha e di icul y keeping up. While I, on he one hand, app ecia e how he au ho makes ex ensi e use o bo h p ima y and seconda y ex s om Poland (he homeland and i s language), I wonde i i is no a bi s a ling o eade s who a e no amilia wi h he Polish app oach o he Sla ic adi ion in gene al. Also, would no he e be di e en issues in e se when compa ing English and, o example, Polish? Pe haps an in oduc ion o he Polish li e a y adi ion and c i ical app oaches could ha e been use ul. Ha ing said his, he au ho should be commended o b inging o he o e on much neglec ed schola ship which has un o una ely no ye been ansla ed in o English. On a pe sonal no e, I app ecia ed he inclusion and discussion o he wo k o he English poe and pe o me Kae Tempes in bo h chap e s h ee and ou , whose imp essi e use o e se has se ed as a powe ul oice o he cu en gene a ion and also undoub edly exposed young eade s and lis ene s o he inno a i e and p o oca i e uses o poe y and he spoken wo d. In conclusion, his book is o g ea alue o no only i s ideas and con en , bu also o pa ing a pa h o open up, o en e hnocen ic and closed-mind, schola ship o o he cul u es and languages han English. One can only help mo e o he same will ollow, no only om he pen o Kasia Lech, bu also by o he s inspi ed by he inno a i e app oach and ideas. Da id Li ings one Palacký Uni e si y, Olomouc