Study Day 17 October 2014

"Scotland and Russia: Performance Since 1900" is the inaugural event of the "Scotland and Russia: Cultural Encounters in the Twentieth Century" project dedicated to exploring the history of cultural exchange between the two countries over the last hundred years.

Scotland and Russia have a long tradition of mutual engagement and influence, going back to the Middle Ages and still thriving today; and nowhere is the strength of these links more apparent than in the worlds of theatre and music. The day-long event at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities will feature talks by leading performance scholars and practitioners, including directors and musicians, and will conclude with a recital of folk and classical music at the Reid Concert Hall, free and open to the public.

Programme:

10:00 Welcome – Anna Vaninskaya

10:05 – 11:30 Session 1: Theatrical encounters 1

Olga Taxidou, ‘The Moscow Hamlet and the Cranach Hamlet: Edward Gordon Craig, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Stage Design and Book Design’

Nicola McCartney, ‘Class Act: Social Theatre and Novii Drama in Russia and the UK’

Ksenija Horvat, ‘Russian Soul and Scottish Demotics: Revisionist Characterisation and Transformative Cultural Reading in Liz Lochhead's Adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee break

11:45 – 1:15 Session 2: Theatrical encounters 2

Robert Leach, ‘Vladimir Mayakovsky, The Bedbug and The Bathhouse, and Ewan MacColl, Uranium 235: Modernist Theatre, Politics and Science’

Rania Karoula, ‘Theatrical Experimentation, Political Engagement and Popular Tradition: The Blue Blouse Group and John McGrath’

Claire Warden, ‘From Motherwell to Moscow: Joseph Macleod’s Theatrical Travels and Transnational Modernist Performance’

1:15 – 2:15 Lunch

2:15 – 4:00 Session 3: Musical encounters

Stuart Eydmann, ‘Midnights in Moscow: Scottish Music in Russia during the 20th Century Folk Revival’

Ewan McVicar, ‘“Come aa ye freendly fowk tae Perm”: Traditional Scottish and Operatic Russian Song and Story Exchanges and Adventures on the River Kama, leading to performance tours in Siberia and Scotland’

Alexandra Smith, ‘The unusual 1938 version of Joanna Baillie’s and Beethoven’s Irish Party Song and its popularity in the Soviet Union in the 1930s-1940s’

Christina Guillaumier and Fiona Noble, ‘The Russian connection: Erik Chisholm and the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music’

4:00 – 4:45 Reception

5:00 – 6:30 Reid Concert Hall Recital Glasgow Concerts in the 1930s: Performing Russian Music in Scotland