Giovanni's Room: Spaces and Identities
The Bookshop, our cultural living room on Leidseplein, is a place where art, music and literature come together in a dialogue about identity and expression. In this edition of Radical Space, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam organises a roundtable discussion in collaboration with Jaap Kooijman, associate professor in Media Studies and American Studies and academic director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) at the University of Amsterdam, about the stage adaptation of Giovanni's Room.
Location The Bookshop
Run time 90 minutes
Genre Perspective
Language English
Free admission, with registration
Spaces and Identities
"You are the one who keeps talking about what I want. But I have only been talking about who I want," Giovanni says to David in James Baldwin's novel Giovanni's Room (1956). This sentence highlights the issues about identities that are explicitly or implicitly addressed in the novel.
During this roundtable discussion, Nawal Mustafa (University of Amsterdam) and Monica Pearl (University of Manchester) delve deeper into the intersections of gender, race and sexuality. How does Baldwin use whiteness to explore male homosexuality? How does Paris act as a refuge from the social constraints of the US?
-|-
And how does this resonate today? Identity issues are more prominent than ever on the agenda, but also provoke debate. What does Giovanni's Room teach us about transcending identity, without losing its analytical importance?
The roundtable will be moderated by Jaap Kooijman (University of Amsterdam), in collaboration with ITA, and follows Eline Arbo's current stage adaptation of the novel.
Radical Space in The Bookshop
Where The Bookshop stands, there was once an entrance and staircase that gave the working class access to the cheapest seats at the top of our theatre. This separated them from the elite, who entered through the imposing main entrance on the other side of our building. These class divisions are not actively used now, of course, but could it be that legacies of this past live on in the way our sector functions? Radical Space, to be launched in January, aims to break these kinds of patterns. This programme includes workshops, performances and conversations that question class structures in our institutions. Our first editions will focus on the work of James Baldwin and his relationships with other artists and intellectuals of his time. His legacy allows us to re-imagine the theatre as a space for solidarity, coming home and healing.
The Bookshop
The Bookshop is ITA's new cultural living room on Leidseplein. This compact stage offers a space for innovation, reflection and new perspectives. Here, makers, performers and visitors meet for special programmes, from experiments to intimate performances. The Bookshop is a place for everyone, with a focus on accessibility and openness. It is a gift to the city, made possible by the support of more than 500 donors and various funds and partners.
