Dances in the park: The pre-history of the Maynardville Open Air Theatre

There is a popular belief that Cape Town’s Maynardville Theatre was founded in 1955, and first used in 1956, as the brainchild of the two professional actresses Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson. While this is true of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park productions over the years, the use of Maynardville as a performance venue dates back to 1950 and the efforts of Margaret Molteno, the Athlone Committee for Nursery School Education and the University of Cape Town Ballet Company. This article traces the evolution of the popular theatre venue from the first production of a triple bill (comprising Les Sylphides, St Valentine’s Night and Les Diversions) in a makeshift theatre in the Maynardville Park grounds in 1950, to the introduction of Shakespeare in 1956, and ultimately the outdoor theatre of today with its annual Shakespeare and ballet productions. The Shakespearean history is already well-documented, so this article focuses more specifically on the somewhat forgotten role played by ballet productions in that history. The article includes a short history of the original property and the creation of the public park, as well as a full list of the ballets and plays performed at Maynardville since 1950.

Recovering Roman London

This chapter presents a short history of relevant archaeological research in London. It traces a long story of discovery that was born of seventeenth-century antiquarianism, stimulated by opportunities for discovery in rescue archaeology during Victorian rebuilding in the City of London, and came to maturity in England’s post-war development-led urban archaeology. This historiographic review explains how archaeological research has been organized in London, and how opportunities for study are a product of programmes of urban regeneration. The complex dialogue between archaeologists and developers has made a major contribution to the study and management of historic urban landscapes. It is explained that many hundreds of archaeological excavations have taken place in London over the last 400 years, but that many of the more important results remain relatively inaccessible.

COMMENTARY ON THE UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION OF “INNER EXPERIENCE” BY GEORGES BATAILLE

The commentary is devoted to the Ukrainian translation of «Inner Experience» work by Georges Bataille, the famous French intellectual of the twentieth century. The paper outlines a short history of publications and extensions of «Inner Experience», which is a certain difficulty for the translator and the initial condition for incomplete translation of the work, which was not published in full while its author was alive. The paper is devoted to analysis of the key philosophical terms, the translation of which was problematic: in particular, such concepts as «angoisse» (anxiety), «supplice» (torment), «communication» (communication), «discourse» (discourse), «esprit» (mind),» entendement (understanding), «intelligence» (intelligence), «savoir» (knowledge), «connaissance» (knowledge), «ipse» (not translated) and «ipseité» (self). The concept of «anguish» provides an opportunity to fit Bataille into the existing existentialist-phenomenological tradition (understanding «anguish» as the «anxiety», a key concept in Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre works). The concept of supplice is also rich in connotations: it is primarily about the experience of the crucified Christ at the moment of his cry «in eli lama sabachtani» («why have you forsaken me?»). Bataille refers to this biblical story in order to illustrate the inner experience, but not of Christ himself, but of the Christian, who is filled with the Savior’s suffering, both physical and spiritual. Emphasis was placed on anti-discoursiveness and poeticism as key characteristics of Bataille’s writing, which also contributed to the complication of such a task as the translation of the work «Inner Experience». It is stated that both the translator and the reader of «Inner Experience» should come to terms with the style of wasting words, terms, and connotations in this work. This sacrifice was performed by Bataille repeatedly, and not aimlessly: after all, a new generation of philosophers (among whom J. Baudrillard, J. Derrida, J. Kristeva and M. Foucault) found in him a source of inspiration.