History & Criticism

After '89 takes as its subject the dynamic new range of performance practices that have been developed since the demise of communism in the flourishing theatrical landscape of Poland. After 1989, the theatre has retained its historical role as the...

During the mid-19th century, the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner sparked an impulse toward German cultural renewal and social change that drew on religious myth, metaphysics, and spiritualism. The only problem was that their works were...

The book contains three accounts of five public speeches and conversations with the public of two outstanding figures of theatre and performance, Jerzy Grotowski and Ludwik Flaszen, from 1993 to 1997. Their speeches concern their output and their current...

A century ago this year, productions of W. B. Yeats's The Countess Cathleen and Edward Martyn's The Heather Field inaugurated the Irish Literary Theatre, which was to take its name from its home in Abbey Street, Dublin. Despite riot, fire, and critical...

Theatre of the Ridiculous is a significant movement that highlighted the radical possibilities inherent in camp. Much of contemporary theatre owes this form a great debt but little has been written about its history or aesthetic markers. This book...

Acting the Essence examines the theory, practice, and history of the art of the performer from the perspective of its inner nature as work on oneself, within, around, and beyond the pedagogy of the actor.Ref lecting primarily on the legacy of Jerzy...

This foundational study offers an accessible introduction to Native American and First Nations theatre by drawing on critical Indigenous and dramaturgical frameworks. It is the first major survey book to introduce Native artists, plays, and theatres...

Why is it that in going to see plays we are also touched or moved by them, and is there more than metaphor involved in such claims? Considering these and other questions, this book examines a range of contemporary performance works in which performers...

An articulate, exceptionally researched study of Chinese theater." - ChoiceBook InformationISBN 9780824812201Author Colin MackerrasFormat PaperbackPage Count 252Imprint University of Hawai'i PressPublisher University of Hawai'i Press

A celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Bush Theatre Two new plays, Mackerel Sky by Hilary Fannin and Caravan by Helen Blakeman, are accompanied by highlights and reminiscences from Bush writers, actors and directors including Alan Plater, Dominic...

A celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Bush Theatre Two new plays, Mackerel Sky by Hilary Fannin and Caravan by Helen Blakeman, are accompanied by highlights and reminiscences from Bush writers, actors and directors including Alan Plater, Dominic...

This volume examines the development and nature of the theatre in Wales since the late 1970s. The essays cover such topics as: the belated recognition of drama in Wales; the continuing presence of a lively amateur stage; and Wales's particular...

No medieval writer reveals more about early English drama than John Lydgate, Claire Sponsler contends. Best known for his enormously long narrative poems The Fall of Princes and The Troy Book, Lydgate also wrote numerous verses related to theatrical...

Arguing that the cultures of small nations offer vital insights into the way people relate to national identity in a globalized world, Theatre and Performance in Small Nations features an array of case studies that examine the relationships between...

A Journey of Art and Conflict is a deeply personal exploration of David Oddie's attempts to uncover the potential of the arts as a resource for reconciliation in the wake of conflict and for the creative transformation of conflict itself. It began when...

Grace, Beauty and Banjos takes us down a bizarre byway of Music Hall retrospection. The biographical sketches describe the likes of The Only Clock-Eyed Lady in the World, or Mr & Mrs Nemo''s Impalement Act.'Book InformationISBN 9781840020083Author...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780802150301Author Antonin ArtaudFormat PaperbackPage Count 176Imprint Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly PressPublisher Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly...

The volume reveals an astonishing richness in the theatrical approaches to Ibsen across the world: it considers political theatre, institutional 'high art', theatre for development, queer and transgender theatre, Brechtian techniques, puppetry,...

Richard Schechner, Lee Breuer, and Anne Bogart share a spirit of profound adventure and that adventure is the redefinition of theatre itself. They are rare hybrids; the confluence of their theatrical roles as directors, scholars, theorists and teachers...

This volume assesses the work of Meredith Monk, Richard Foreman, and Robert Wilson, three artists who have revolutionized the craft of directing and the art of theatre in both related and unique ways. Though their early artistic backgrounds differ,...

This volume chronicles the lives and artistry of Elia Kazan, Jerome Robbins, and Lloyd Richards. Their commitment to staging new works, which often focused on the experiences of immigrant and working-class families, significantly expanded the scope and...

This volume assesses the contributions of David Belasco, Arthur Hopkins, and Margaret Webster, whose careers shaped the artistic and specialist identity of the Broadway director. Their work spans almost a century and captures the rapidly changing social...

This volume focuses on three artists who embrace media and technology as essential elements of their theatrical expression: Elizabeth LeCompte, Ping Chong, and Robert Lepage. Diverse in their aesthetic interests, they nevertheless share an approach to...

George Abbott, Vinnette Carroll, and Harold (Hal) Prince were trailblazing figures who helped shape and define the Broadway musical over the course of the 20th century. Their careers expanded the boundaries of the genre, highlighting the critical role...

This volume assesses the accomplishments of three mid-20th-century, North American stage directors: Harold Clurman, Orson Welles, and Margo Jones. Though their theatre-making endeavours were distinct, each produced work that challenged preconceived...

Noël Coward combines a fresh appraisal of major plays by one of the twentieth century’s most popular dramatists, with an account of critical and theatrical responses to his life and work.For almost the entirety of the Twentieth Century, Noël Coward was...

Noël Coward combines a fresh appraisal of major plays by one of the twentieth century’s most popular dramatists, with an account of critical and theatrical responses to his life and work.For almost the entirety of the Twentieth Century, Noël Coward was...

Originally published in 1937 and reprinted as a fourth edition in paperback in 1979, this is a history of dress in England from the Norman Conquest to the mid-20th century. Despite being an excellent resource for the student or designer, this book also...

Originally published in 1958, this book deals with the details of dress – formal and informal – from the time of Charles II to the end of the eighteenth century. Most of the illustrations are taken from existing garments preserved in private collections...

This volume provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the rich traditions of noh, traditional Japanese dance-drama, both in Japan and abroad. Drawing from up-to-date, specialized scholarship in Japanese, and also from across contemporary...

This book identifies and theorises mess in contemporary performance and argues that mess offers a site from which subjects might mobilise and find agency, even as the complexity (and indeed messiness) of everyday life conditions and contains.Using a...

Rabindranath Tagore (1861‒1941) was a prolific playwright with more than thirty plays to his credit. He is also known for his life-long, passionate engagement with theatre, first at Jorasanko and then at Santiniketan, in multiple roles as actor,...

Storytelling and performance have been at the centre of Black traditions for as long as Black existence.From griots and underground raves to protests and defiant speeches, Black performance translates across time, space and memory. In the UK, a growing...

This handbook provides a detailed exploration of the rich and diverse theatrical work produced by women in the first two decades of 21st-century British theatre. The book explores key issues and methodologies relevant to women working in the UK’s...

Published here in its entirety in English, Artaud’s Revolutionary Messages collects Antonin Artaud’s political, aesthetic and philosophical writings during his travels to Mexico in 1936. Written around the same time as his seminal work The Theatre and...

Applied Theatre: Voice is a unique exploration of the conceptual and practical understandings of voice in relation to applied theatre. Voice is fundamental to much practice that takes place in applied and community performance and is regularly the go-to...

This significant contribution to the study of the live and recorded broadcasting of stage plays focuses on National Theatre Live a decade after its launch in 2009. Assessing livecasting through the concepts of spectacle, materiality and engagement, it...

What is the relationship between theatre and class? How has this relationship developed over time, from the age of empire to the advent of social democracy and on to contemporary times? What impact has late capitalism had on the theatre industry? What...

Postmodern theatre is dead. A new theatre is rising – one that combines the well-worn postmodern aesthetics of irony, detachment, and deconstruction with a paradoxical interest in authenticity, engagement, and re-construction. Whilst recent scholarship...

The first English-language translation of the 1968 activist play about inequality and access to education In The Inheritor, surrealist imagery and experimental forms convey the uncanny experience of attending an institute of higher education...