Collected volume of studies on the stage representation of Jews in European theatre between 1830 and 1940. The way in which Jews are represented on the stage stretches between the poles of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism on the one side and Jewish renaissance and Zionism on the other. The individual studies all consider the boundary conditions given by cultural and mental history. This volume is the first attempt to view both the spoken word and musical theatre from this point of view.

In the course of the 20th century there was a growing discrepancy between literary dramatics and the modern stage which led to serious dislocations. Nowadays we are faced with a multiplicity of theatrical texts which can no longer be described using the categories of a poetology of drama a " including its epic extensions, nor can they be explained exclusively from the changes and conditions of stage aesthetics. The relationship between drama and the theatre is in a state of flux and constantly requires innovation from both sides.

Various approaches to staging Goethe's AFaustA undertaken in the 1990s are discussed here in a series of individual analyses. Following on from an engagement with the play from a largely ideology-critical perspective in the preceding decades, the decisive new frame of reference, notably amongst the representatives of Regietheater (productions by Wolfgang Engel, Einar Schleef, Christoph Marthaler), proves to be the question of (theatre-)historical reception. In complete contrast to this - and to one another - are (a) Stephan MA1/4ller's Zurich version of AFaust IIA and its total preoccupation with shifts of perception, and (b) Peter Stein's mammoth, programmatic attempt to achieve textual fidelity by staging every single syllable of the play uncut. In his Milan version, Giorgio Strehler essays an interpretation of AFaustA as the expression of a common European heritage. By contrast, the 'outside perspective' represented by AFaustus in Africa!A (Handspring Puppet Company Johannesburg, William Kentridge) casts a radical culture-critical light on Europe.

Music theatre represents a provocative challenge both for drama studies and musicology. Methodologically, analytically, and also historiographically, the blend of singing, language, voice, acting, body, and movement on the stage poses problems, particularly as the majority of historical theatre forms (Posse, operetta, revue, modern alienation theatre, etc.) are situated somewhere between the two poles of 'pure' opera and drama. Tackling these problems on an interdisciplinary plane is doubly urgent as they open out on the pressing issues involved in extending the purview of traditional drama research to encompass such aspects as a cultural history of voice and body, perceptual relations, and the way these are affected by different media.

Theatre relations between Poland and Germany since the war have developed in a variety of different ways. The reasons for this are to be sought in the association of the two German states with different political power blocs up to 1989, Austria's special status within Europe, and the specific cultural development undergone by Poland within the eastern political system. Also of crucial importance are factors rooted in varying developments in theatre history, e.g. the Polish avant-garde's orientation to the west initiated by Mrozek and Gombrowicz, the traditionally intensive links with Austria, and the worldwide significance accorded to Polish directors and drama theorists in the wake of Grotowski and Kantor. While there have been detailed records of the literary connections between the two countries covering the last 10 years or so, the 1996 conference the present volume stems from was devoted entirely to the identification of specifically theatrical factors providing new insights into the Central European theatre landscape in the second half of the 20th century.

In the last ten years, George Tabori (* 1914) has been one of the dramatic authors most frequently performed this century in Germany and also one of the most sought-after directors in German-speaking theatres. This contrasts with the neglect he has been accorded in literary and drama studies. Only very recently has there been any notable change in this situation. This volume sets out to record and contribute to the ongoing discussion of Tabori's achievements, both his stage productions and his own plays, on the subject of the shoah. A comparative angle is also taken on his work, examining and discussing the significance of his theatrical style for contemporary drama with reference to authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett and Peter Weiss.

The analyses in this volume represent a continuation of those presented in -Theatralia Judaica I- on the Jewish contribution to central European theatre from the beginnings of Jewish emancipation to the advent of National Socialism. Since 1945 Jewish-German theatre relations have been marked by the Shoah and its aftermath. In the German-speaking countries the re-establishment of a theatrical culture was notable from the outset for the significant contribution made by Jewish authors and theatre artists, while in Israel the experiences of the immediate past found expression in the various forms of the Hebrew theatre tradition. Since the mid fifties there has been an increase in contacts and reciprocal relations. As shown by events such as the Fassbinder affair in Frankfurt and the reception of Sobol's work, the recurrent concern has been to address essential questions pertaining to the relationship between the two countries."