Books

This book provides key critical tools to significantly broaden the readers’ perception of theatre and performance history: in line with posthuman thought, each chapter engages Actor-Network Theory and similar theories to reveal a comprehensive range of human and non-human agents whose collaborations impact theatre productions but are often overlooked. The volume also greatly expands the information available in English on the networks created by several Argentine artists. Through a transnational, transatlantic perspective, case studies refer to the lives, theatre companies, staged productions, and visual artworks of a number of artists who left Buenos Aires during the 1960s due to a mix of personal and political reasons. By establishing themselves in the French capital, queer playwright Copi and directors Jorge Lavelli, Alfredo Arias, and Jérôme Savary, among others, became part of the larger group of intellectuals known as “the Argentines of Paris” and dominated the Parisian theatre scene between the 1980s and 90s. Focusing on these Argentine artists and their nomadic peripeteias, the study thus offers a detailed description of the complexity of agencies and assemblages inextricably involved in theatre productions, including larger historical events, everyday objects, sexual orientation, microbes, and even those agents at work well before a production is conceived.

“A rich, engaging and beautifully written exploration of stagings produced by Argentines who chose to settle in Paris in the 1960s. Boselli’s monograph is not simply a repositioning of iconic directors such as Jorge Lavelli, Jérôme Savary, and Alfredo Rodríguez Arias, but also an exploration of a wider group – including artist and playwright Copi, costume designer Juan Stoppani, set designer Roberto Platé, and performers Facundo Bo, Marucha Bo, and Marilú Marini — as a means of exploring the different networks through which they collaborated. In tracing the ventures these artists generated, this important monograph asks pertinent questions about nationhood, exile, intercultural collaborations, non-human agents, global and local exchange, and the political, social and cultural agents that shaped their navigation of intersecting cultural spaces.”
Maria M. Delgado, Professor, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

“Spanning two hemispheres and two mega-cities, Stefano Boselli’s pioneering book manages to map, with great precision and inclusivity, the complex exchanges that make TransAtlantic cultures possible and sustainable. Adapting and refining the foundational principles of actor-network analysis, Boselli captures the creative and political transactions connecting Argentinian playwrights, directors, and performers living in France to funding resources, human and non-human agencies, policies, fashion, or set designers. What’s truly significant about Boselli’s research is that he manages to keep all these elements not only together —which is already quite a feat—but also in perpetual motion (as they are experienced and assembled). His meticulously detailed presentation of both the macro and micro factors involved, and his vision of intercultural relations as a flowing process that is constantly redressing its own forms posits the possibility of a richer methodological template breaching the gaps between sociology, performance studies, affect studies, and theater historiography. Last but not least, his book proposes a dynamic approach to diaspora studies, showing that geography is defined by our collaborations as much as by the lands we leave behind or the new lands we inhabit.”
Leo Cabranes-Grant, Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara

“As its title anticipates, Boselli’s book leverages ANT (actor-network theory) to navigate the rhizomatic network of Argentine theatre luminaries in the City of Light from the 1960s to the 1990s. Through meticulous research spanning France and Argentina, Boselli unveils the intricate associations among playwrights, directors and performers, encompassing a diverse array of agents – from designers to large cultural phenomena, as well as illnesses, wine and neighborhoods. […] Boselli seamlessly transitions from artistic (voluntary) decisions to the material conditions of production, weaving in the influence of non-human agents that often go unnoticed. […] aside from shedding new light on Copi, Actor-Network Dramaturgies: The Argentines of Paris is perhaps the most comprehensive study to date about Savary and TSE. […] Boselli challenges usual conventions about who are thought to play central roles in our critical narratives. […] The book serves as a bold experiment in applying ANT, inviting readers to engage with theatre – and the world – in a novel light, showcasing the productivity of this critical approach.”
Germán Garrido, Associate Professor, City University of New York.
Book review in Theatre Research International 49, no. 3 (October 2024): 340–41.