Theatre academic, researcher and critic, Radka Kunderová is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Institute of Theatre Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin. She worked as the Head of the Institute for Theatre Research and an Assistant Professor at the JAMU Theatre Faculty in the Czech Republic.

Her research has focused on the relationship between theatre and society. She has published studies on the shifts in the authoritative discourse in the Czech theatre during the Perestroika period, on hierarchies among the national theatre discourses during the Cold War, and on artistic research. Her international academic and research collaborations include Centre for Performance Research, Copenhagen International Theatre,Freie Universität Berlin and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

As a theatre critic, she has written aboutthe work of She She Pop, Krystian Lupa, Nicholas Hytner, or Lucia Repašská, and has been an external editor of the Svět a divadlomagazine. 

Research Project

Redefining the Agency: Post-1989 Crises of the Czech and Former East German Theatre

This project explores the process of redefiningtheatre’s function during transformations of social and political discourses. By comparingCzech and former East German theatre after 1989 as a case study, the research reflects upon the inter-relation between the arts and society in times of profound social and political changes.

The research proceeds along the intersection of theatre studies, media studies and political history, discussing the notion of agency and exploring its potential for theatre scholarship. Thus introducingan innovative historiographical and theoretical approach to examination of the relationship between theatre and society. 

Prior to and through 1989, theatre enjoyed an exceptionally influential position inboth countries. The situation in the early 1990s, however, has frequently been labelled as a “crisis” of theatre. “Theatre ReDefined” re-evaluates existing scholarship and introduces new insights concerning the dynamic processes of the early 1990s, particularly from 1990–1995, a time of fundamental societal transformation. The developments in theatre are investigated at the institutional as well as aesthetic level, and especially close attention is paid to the theatre’s relationship to the state.  

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 837768.

More information about “Theatre ReDefined”: www.theatre-redefined.org

Recommended Publications

• Ibs, T., Umbrüche und Aufbrüche: Transformationen des Theaters in Ostdeutschland zwischen 1989 und 1995. Berlin: Theater der Zeit, 2015.
• Jennicke, S., Theater als soziale Praxis: ostdeutsches Theater nach dem Systemumbruch. Berlin: Theater der Zeit, 2011.
• Machalická, J., “Czech Theater from 1989 to 1996: Discovering Terra Incognita,” in K. Stefanova, (ed.) Eastern European Theatre After the Iron Curtain, Routledge, 2000, pp. 43‒59.