The IATC's History:
Internationalism in a Time of Political Flux

by Roland Mehl

On 3 May 1926, the first international gathering of theatre critics took place in Paris, bringing together critics from 26 different countries. Organized by the Association of Professional French Theatre Critics and chaired by Julien Luchaire, director of the Institute for Intellectual Co-operation, the aim of this meeting was to study how criticism is organized in different countries and how to establish permanent links between the various critics’ associations.

Regular and ongoing communication was thus established among individual critics around the world, although this network was not formalised until thirty years later, on the occasion of the third Festival of Paris. This later became the Theatre of Nations, organized annually at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre by Armand Maistre (also known as A. M. Julien), and was without doubt the most important theatre event in the world.

On 7 June 1956, one hundred and twenty critics, representing thirty-four countries, attended the various performances, meetings, and colloquia organized by the Festival. The critics, like the participants from other theatrical disciplines – directors, designers, etc. – expressed the desire to form an association. The French government took an immediate interest in these proceedings. Guy Mollet, president of the French Council of Ministers, received the congress participants at the Hotel Matignon, the seat of government, while Guy Bordenave, Secretary of State for Arts and Letters, chaired the working sessions. A provisional secretariat was established for the association and given the task of drafting the organization’s statutes. Robert Kemp of the Académie française directed the secretariat along with five vice-presidents, each representing one of the association's constitutive languages (French, English, German, Spanish, and Italian), and six secretaries general.

The association's statutes were adopted the following year at a meeting held in Paris at the offices of the French Association. Three additional vice-presidents were appointed, representing the United States, Latin America, and Eastern Europe respectively, and André Boll became the sole secretary general. Membership dues of 15 Swiss francs were established for national sections and 10 Swiss francs for the members of the so-called "independent" section, consisting of critics not belonging to any national association.

The next meeting, organized by Francesco Callari and held in the Italian city of Bologna in 1958, was the first to take place outside Paris. Fourteen countries were represented, of which four were non-European — the USA, India, Cuba, and Brazil. At the third meeting, held in Paris in June 1960, professional debate became more serious. A colloquium was organized on the theme "The critic's position in the face of the evolution of performance, in the sense of so-called 'total theatre'." Twenty-four countries were represented, with Japan, Chile, Romania, and Sweden participating for the first time. A twenty-member board of directors was elected and a new secretariat was established under the direction of two "co-presidents" (who each served as president in succession), with Marcelle Capron of France taking up office immediately and Belgian critic Robert Chesselet following in 1962. André Boll continued as secretary general. In 1964 César Santelli, another Frenchman, succeeded Chesselet as president.

The next few years were devoted to consolidating the administration of the association. Although no general meetings were held for six years, the board of directors met frequently and productively. A newsletter was published twice a year to provide the members with regular information.

The new IATC really came into its own at the fourth congress. This took place in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, in 1966, as part of "Sterijino Pozorje," an international symposium on "Contemporary Drama and Theatre Criticism" at which a hundred or so delegates were present. The mandate of the IATC was reviewed and made more precise: its purpose would be to organize international colloquia, participate in meetings and festivals, disseminate ideas about the state of the theatre, publish an international theatre annual and a newsletter dedicated to facilitating communication between its members, and, finally, to train young critics. Poland’s Roman Szydlowski was elected the new president along with two vice-presidents, one English and one Italian, and two French secretaries general. It was decided that countries would no longer be represented by individual critics but, rather, by national associations constituted by the critics of each country. An executive committee of ten member countries was created, establishing what would thereafter be the association’s decision-making body.

In May 1967 London hosted the IATC congress. Representatives from thirty countries took part, including several new participants, such as Bulgaria, Hungary, the Ivory Coast, Niger, Tanzania, and the Soviet Union. Jean Darcante, secretary general of the International Theatre Institute, and Enrico Fulchignoni, UNESCO Director of Arts and Letters, attended the sessions and an international membership card was created and distributed to all members in good standing. From 29 to 31 May 1970, in Novi Sad, a symposium was held on the theme, "Theatre criticism and Contemporary Drama."

Since then, regular congresses have usually been held every two years in different regions. The congresses consist of the association’s general meeting as well as a symposium on a theme chosen by the host country.

The next congress was held in Hammamet, Tunisia, in 1971, with a symposium on "Third World Theatre" presided over by Cheli Klibi, the Tunisian minister of culture. In 1973, in Tampere, Finland, Roman Szydlowski was re-elected president and Armand Delcampe became secretary general. The theme for this congress was "Theatre Outside the Big Cities." In 1973 the IATC also welcomed a Mongolian delegation at the second Novi Sad symposium, from 25 to 27 April, on "Theatre as a Collective Act; Theatre and Self Management." Another symposium was held a few days earlier, on 22 and 23 April 1973 on " Theatre and audience."

Due to its participation in the Warsaw international symposium on "Theatre and Television," in 1971, and in the Novi Sad symposium in 1970, the IATC drawed the attention of UNESCO and became affiliated as a non-governmental organization benefitting under Statute B. Its head office was subsequently established in Paris.

From 26 to 28 April 1974, a symposium was held in Florence, in conjunction with the "Rassegna internazionale dei Teatri stabili", on the theme, "Asian Theatres: Gestual Communication, From Ritual to Rational; Political and Social Use of Tradition."

Warsaw hosted the June 1975 congress. It was at this conference that the important decision was made to organize training seminars for young critics, the first of which would take place in Novi Sad in 1978. Thirty countries participated in the Warsaw congress, for which the theme was "The Place of Theatre Criticism in Today’s World." The publication of an IATC annual in English and French was entrusted to the Polish section, who produced the annual from 1977 to 1980. At the 1977 congress, hosted by Greece and held in Athens, from 5 to 10 July, Yugoslavia’s Petar Selem was elected the new president. He stayed in office for three terms, in accordance with the articles of association. André Camp of France became secretary general. The 1979 congress was held in Vienna, Austria, on the theme "Popular Theatre Today." The same year, a symposium took place in Novi Sad, under the theme, "Acting and Theatrical Creation."

In 1981 the congress was held outside Europe for the second time, with 75 delegates meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel. This Middle East meeting, on the theme "Theatre and New Audiences," attracted first-time delegations from South Korea, Denmark, and Venezuela. Congress participants were received by the mayor of Tel Aviv, Mr. Lahat, and by Israel’s head of state, Itzhak Navon, at the presidential palace.

The critics’ training seminars continued, with growing success. The IATC also cooperated closely with other international organizations and was represented at events of FIRT, SIBMAS, ITI, ASSITEJ and OISTAT. On 25 February 1981, at the World congress of OISTAT, the IATC held a symposium on the theme, "Scenography and Theatre Criticism." The Mexican section took over publication of the international annual in 1981 and published a French/English/Spanish trilingual edition until 1983.

A symposium took place in Novi Sad from 29 to 30 May 1982, on the theme "The Performance and the Language of Criticism."

In 1983 the IATC congress was held across the Atlantic, in Mexico, and Ulf Birbaumer of Austria became the new president. Eight Latin American countries took part and a trilingual symposium was held on "Hostility in Theatre."

From 11 to 16 March 1985, a symposium was held in Moscow on the theme "The Social Role of Theatre Criticism." Then, from 27 to 28 May, there was a new symposium in Novi Sad on the theme "Criticism Within the Theatre and Out of the Theatre." The IATC returned to Europe, to Rome, for its 1985 congress, breaking with custom by meeting in November rather than in the spring. Ulf Birbaumer stepped down from the presidency and Great Britain’s John Elsom was elected to succeed him. French critic Georges Banu replaced André Camp as secretary general and Camp was named honorary secretary general. The theme for the congress was "The Language of Theatre in the Age of Mass Media." Belgium’s Carlos Tindemans took up the newly created position of director of Training Seminars.

The association also attracted much attention from 18 to 19 October 1986, by holding a public conference at London’s Young Vic Theatre on the question "Is Shakespeare Still Our Contemporary?" Jan Kott was the special guest and other influential speakers included Peter Brook, Alexander Anikst, and David Hare.

From 15 to 21 November 1987, what was then East Germany welcomed the association to Berlin on the occasion of the city’s 750th anniversary. Paul Korenhof of Holland was named treasurer by the executive committee. He succeeded Roland Mehl, who had occupied the post since 1967 and who was made an honorary member of the IATC. Still in 1987, a symposium was held from 24 to 27 March in Budapest, Hungary, on the theme, "Theatre and Journalism," and another one from 1 to 6 April in Tbilisi, Georgia, on the theme, "Training Theatre Critics."

An interesting conference was held on 23-24 April 1988 at the Young Vic, on "The End of the Absurd?," and featured speakers Eugene Ionesco and Martin Esslin. The following month in Novi Sad, on 28-29 May 1988, a symposium was organized on the theme, "Criticism and the Future of Theatre." Still in 1988, from 27 September to 2 October, a symposium was held in Moscow on the theme "Stanislavsky and World Theatre."

The 15th congress was scheduled to take place in 1989 in Buenos Aires but the Argentine section was unable to mount it at the intended time. The congress was deferred to the following year and was held in Lisbon in September 1990. It welcomed Australia to the association, thus establishing the IATC as a truly global organization with representation from all the continents. The symposium held within the framework of the congress dealt with "Theatre: a dialogue with reality." A symposium was held from 27 to 29 July 1990 in Bologna, on the theme, "The Talking Body — the Language of Dance and Theatrical Practice." A new symposium was held in Novi Sad on 1 and 2 June 1991, on the theme, "The Tower of Babel or the Global Village; Theatre as Transcultural Communication." Finally, another one was held in Rome that year, on the theme, "Ricerca di teatro."

In 1992 the IATC returned to Warsaw with a symposium on the controversial issue, "The Relation of Theatre to Politics." It was also decided to launch a quarterly journal, ProSpectus, and the first issue appeared just a few months later. The editorial work was taken on by Iphigenia Taxopoulou and Nick White. It continued for three years. Both the young critics’ seminars and the executive committee meetings showed the Eastern European sections to be extremely active. Carlos Tindemans succeeded John Elsom as president and Maria Helena Serôdio became secretary general.

The 1994 congress in Montevideo was the first to be held in South America. New statutes, better suited to the current organization of the association, were approved, making it possible for more than one section to exist within the same country. Georges Banu became the new president, and the Canadian Michel Vaïs (representing the Quebec section) became treasurer. A young critics’ seminar was held in Chicago that year, supervised by the UK’s Ian Herbert, the new director of training. This was the first young critics’ seminar held outside Europe and would be followed by a number of adventurous destinations, including Londrina (Brazil), Istanbul, Quebec City, and a second US seminar in Waterford, Connecticut.

From 15 to 25 October 1995, a symposium was organized in Moscow on the theme, "The Role of National Theatres in the Modern Theatrical Process."

In 1996 Finland hosted its second IATC congress, this time in Helsinki, on the hot topic, "Theatre and Journalism." Freddy Decreus of Belgium replaced Michel Vaïs as treasurer.

In September I997, the Slovak Section organised in Bratislava (Slovakia), in Vienna (Austria) and in Brno (Czech Republic) an international Symposium entitled : « Divadlo Bez Hranic », or « Theatre Boundless ». The proceedings have been published, in Slovak, French and English in the journal Slovenske divadlo, and may be consulted in the following web site: <http://nic.savba.sk/sav/inst/kadf/knihy/5.html>.

Most recently, at the 1998 congress in Gdansk, our Polish colleagues received delegates from 25 of the 46 countries spread over six continents that currently make up the IATC. The theme was "Theatre in Small Communities and the Problem of Cultural Identity." Michel Vaïs succeeded Maria Helena Serôdio as secretary general and France’s Irène Sadowska-Guillon succeeded Freddy Decreus as treasurer.

This history of our association shows that in spite of profound political and social changes in the world, the task of our organization has not changed: to gather critics, both journalists and academics, for an exchange of knowledge, experiences and opinions.

While the history of IATC can be seen as a reflection of the history of criticism itself, the rapid development of new media is likely to bring about momentous change in the conditions under which criticism is practised in the new century just beginning. In these circumstances, the need for a professional association which will maintain critical standards and values becomes greater than ever.
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