Theatre studies Books

Book SynopsisCovid-19 has been described as a digital pandemic'. But who might the characterisation of the pandemic as digital' leave behind? This timely book reconsiders the pandemic as postdigital', examining tensions between a growing postdigital attitude of disenchantment with digital technologies and the increasing reliance on adapted modes of online practice mid-lockdown in both performance-making and healthcare.What emerged amidst the pandemic restrictions was a theatre that was unable to show its face, instead adapting into a variety of covid-safe' remote forms of engagement, from Zoom plays' to self-generating experiences sent by post. This book explores the ways that both performances and healthcare practices found proxies for direct touch and face-to-face encounters, deconstructing the way that care and resilience were spectacularized by political actors online.Liam Jarvis and Karen Savage explore aspects of care in relation to technology, spectacle and fTrade ReviewAs theatre and performance struggle to emerge in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Postdigital Performances of Care provides a distinct lens through which to review our collective experiences and to reimagine possibilities for the future. Critical, insightful and compassionate throughout, the book reflects on the many meanings of care and challenges us to reconsider the "new normal". The authors present a compelling provocation for the field and how we might rethink performance itself in the current context. * Sarah Bay-Cheng, York University, Canada *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Series Editors’ Preface Opening Provocation: Soft Spaces; Hard Edges By Proto-type Theater Introduction: A ‘Postdigital Pandemic’? Chapter 1: Spectacles of Resilience: Postdigital Online Theatre & Mid-pandemic Resilience A Postdigital Attitude: Blind Spots in Digital Culture Vacant Theatres as Nightingale Courtrooms Theatre as Social Services: Slung Low & Holbeck Food Bank Chapter 2: Theatre’s ‘Loss of Face’: The Levinasian Problem of Face-to-Face Encounters Mid-pandemic Ambivalent Otherness: Face Ethics Mid-lockdown Patching into the Past: Coney’s Telephone Lockdown as a Hotel Room Without a Door: Thaddeus Phillips’ Zoo Motel Chapter 3: The Spectacularization of Care Online Performing Handshakes: From Defiant Gestural Retail Politics to ‘Bioweapon’ Performing Applause: From Doorstep Clapping to Anti-Hero Worship Resilience Optics: Surveillance Technologies as Care Symbols in ‘Drone Captain Tom’ Chapter 4: Digital Care & Pandemic Care Ethics in Post-internet Cultures: ‘Caring about’ & ‘Caring for’ ‘Caring About’ Expanded: Webs of Interdependencies What Counts as ‘Digital Care’? Care as ‘Virtue Signaling’ on Social Media? Detached Touch: ‘Posting About’ as ‘Caring About’? Care and Memory in Miguel Angel Muñoz and Luisa Cantero's 100 Days with Tata Regressing in Care: Russell Howard’s Home Time Theatre as Care Package: Nightcap’s Handle With Care Chapter 5: Digital Twins, Avatars & the Metaverse AI-generated Avatars on Lensa Avatar Band Members in Aespa The Metaverse Conclusion: Meta-Resilience & the ‘New Normal’ Endnotes References Index

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Book SynopsisPractical, positive and uplifting, the advice in this book is designed to lead to the best outcomes possible for you, the actor, making the transition from craft to career. The reader is given insight into the various types of casting directors across the industry and how that practical knowledge can benefit you and increase your chance of success. While providing an in-depth insight into the role of the casting director, this book explains the jobs of all the other people involved in the casting process including producers, network executives, writers and how they influence casting decisions. As the collected wisdom Merri Sugarman's 20+ years of experience in different aspects of professional casting within television, film and theater, this book is a treasure trove of advice to help the actors and those who support them in their career goals, learn what it takes to be a pro. For those who choose to make their craft a career, it's an invaluable resource.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction: My path from actor to casting director Chapter 1: What exactly does a casting director do? Chapter 2: How to begin Chapter 3: Where to live and why there? Chapter 4: Your two different day jobs Chapter 5: Unions: when it's time to join Chapter 6: Representation and submissions Chapter 7: Pictures, resumes, reels and websites Chapter 8: The self-tape and virtual audition Chapter 9: The casting director and audition process Chapter 10: In the audition room Chapter 11: Auditions: Being prepared Chapter 12: Curious kids Chapter 13: Where do I find the work? Chapter 14: Booking it - or not Chapter 15: The first day of school Chapter 16: Networking Chapter 17: Continuing education Chapter 18: Alternate career path Chapter 19: That's a wrap Chapter 20: Casting in a post-pandemic world Appendix 1: Useful resources Appendix 2: Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisTheatre was at the very heart of culture in Graeco-Roman civilizations and its influence permeated across social and class boundaries. The theatrical genres of tragedy, comedy, satyr play, mime and pantomime operate in Antiquity alongside the conception of theatre as both an entertainment for the masses and a vehicle for intellectual, political and artistic expression. Drawing together contributions from scholars in classics and theatre studies, this volume uniquely examines the Greek and Roman cultural spheres in conjunction with one another rather than in isolation.Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: institutional frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and knowledge transmission.Trade ReviewThis book surely makes a significant contribution to the study of the theatrical experience of ancient Greeks and Romans … Scholars from classics, theatre history, or performance studies can find fresh and compelling interventions in this collection. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Introduction: Cultural History and the Theatres of Antiquity Martin Revermann, University of Toronto, Canada 1 Institutional Frameworks: Enabling the Theatrical Event Martin Revermann, University of Toronto, Canada 2 Social functions? Making the Case for a Functionless Theatre Sean Gurd, University of Missouri, USA 3 Sexuality and Gender: Off-Stage and Centre-Stage Ian Ruffell, University of Glasgow, UK 4 The Environment of Theatre: Experiencing Place in the Ancient World David Wiles, University of Exeter, UK 5 Circulation: Theatre as Mobile Political, Economic and Cultural Capital Patrick Hadley, University of Utah, USA 6 Interpretations: the Stage and its Interpretive Communities Martin Revermann, University of Toronto, Canada 7 Communities of Production: Pied Pipers and How to Pay Them; or, the Variegated Finance of Ancient Theatre Jane Lightfoot, University of Oxford, UK 8 Genres: Drama and Its Many Unhappy Returns Donald Sells, University of Michigan, USA 9 Technologies of Performance: Machines, Props, Dramaturgy Peter von Möllendorff, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany (translated from German by Martin Revermann) 10 Knowledge Transmission: Ancient Archives and Repertoires Johanna Hanink, Brown University, USA Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisJody Enders is Distinguished Professor of French and Theatre at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.Trade ReviewNot since the Cambridge History of American Theatre (1998–2000) has a multiauthored theatre history been as anticipated as Bloomsbury’s A Cultural History of Theatre… Having read all six volumes (1,636 pages), I can testify to the magnitude of their accomplishment. A Cultural History of Theatre is a profound reconsideration of how we understand theatre, its myriad social contexts, and the cultural work it accomplishes… the product of intellectual labor and creativity, and its accomplishments are many. A landmark work in theatre and social history, it illuminates theatre through the lens of culture, and culture through the lens of theatre. * Theatre Survey *All six volumes are aesthetically attractive, with well-chosen cover illustrations in color and numerous halftones throughout. Page layouts with wide margins, good paper, subtitles, generous bibliographies, notes, and index all add to the appeal. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Editor’s Acknowledgements Introduction: Medieval Theatre Makes History Jody Enders, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA 1. Institutional Frameworks Seeta Chaganti, University of California, Davis, USA, Noah Guynn, University of California, Davis, USA and Erith Jaffe-Berg, University of California at Riverside, USA 2. Social Functions Kathleen Ashley, University of Southern Maine, Portland, USA 3. Sexuality and Gender Sharon Aronson-Lehavi, Tel-Aviv University, Israel 4. The Environment of Theatre Laura Weigert, Rutgers University, USA 5. Circulation: A Peripatetic Theatre Claire Sponsler, University of Iowa, USA 6. Interpretations Glending Olson, Cleveland State University, USA 7. Communities of Production Bruce R. Burningham, Illinois State University, USA 8. Repertoire and Genres Donnalee Dox, Texas A&M University, USA 9. Technologies of Performance Katie Normington, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK 10. Knowledge Transmission: Media and Memory Carol Symes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisKim Solga is is Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at Western University, Canada. Her books include Performance and the City (2009), Performance and the Global City (2013), Violence Against Women in Early Modern Performance (2009), and A Cultural History of Theatre: The Modern Age (Methuen Drama, 2017).Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Editor’s Acknowledgements Introduction: The Impossible Modern Age Kim Solga, Western University, Canada 1 Institutional Frameworks: Theatre, State, and Market in Modern Urban Performance Michael McKinnie, Queen Mary University of London, UK 2 Social Functions: Consumers and Producers Nicholas Ridout, Queen Mary University of London, UK 3 Sexuality and Gender: New Stories and New Spaces on the Modern Stage Kirsten Pullen, Texas A&M University, USA 4 The Environment of Theatre: ‘Home’ in the Modern Age Kim Solga, Western University, Canada and Joanne Tompkins, The University of Queensland, Australia 5 Circulations: Visual Sovereignty, Transmotion, and Tribalography Jill Carter, University of Tornoto, Canada, Heather Davis-Fisch,University of the Fraser Valley, USA and Ric Knowles, University of Guelph, Canada 6 Interpretations: The Stakes of Audience Interpretation in Twentieth-Century Political Theatre Dassia N. Posner, Northwestern University, USA 7 Communities of Production: A Materialist Reading with an Offstage View Christin Essin,Vanderbilt University, USA and Marlis Schweitzer, York University, Canada 8 Genres and Repertoires: Redressing the Nation in Ireland and Japan Michelle Liu Carriger,University of California, Los Angeles , USA and Aoife Monks, Queen Mary University of London, UK 9 Technologies of Performance: Machinic Staging and Corporeal Choreographies Ashley Ferro-Murray, University of California, Berkeley, USA and Timothy Murray, Cornell University, USA 10 Knowledge Transmission: Media and Memory Sarah Bay-Cheng, Bowdoin College, USA Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDrawing on thirty years of making theatre with objects, this field-defining book maps the terrain of applied puppetry.Through a range of case studies both personal and practical, Matt Smith offers a reflective and engaging study which provides makers, thinkers and students alike with a toolkit for thinking about and making puppetry in community settings.Through eight chapters, Smith muses on the nature of creativity, explores approaches to puppetry through ecology, and considers how puppets and objects affect the act of making and in turn how they affect those who make, use and experience them in performance.Along the way, Applied Puppetry offers practical exercises in theatre-making, demonstrates the political power of puppetry beyond borders, and interrogates the limitations and possibilities of puppetry and object theatre in local communities, volatile contexts and difficult circumstances.

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Book SynopsisFew institutions have as profound an impact on the American theatrical landscape as the Tony Award-winning Williamstown Theatre Festival, located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. New Plays from Williamstown Theatre Festival 2015-2021 provides a sample of the dozens of plays that have been created and/or premiered at the Festival during the Artistic Directorship of Mandy Greenfield. In addition to stories that shine a light into new or underexplored corners of the human condition, these plays frequently feature complex and boundary-pushing central roles for women actors. These six plays are manifestations of living, American playwrights grappling with and breathing dramatic life into the conflicts and questions at the heart of who we were, who we are, and who we will become. These plays imagine and interrogate pieces of the human experience we are still in the midst of unpacking and understanding.Complete with introductions by each of the authors reflecting on their work, these hTrade ReviewThe quality shines through in this selection. * British Theatre Guide *Table of Contents1. Introduction by Mandy Greenfield 2. Brief History of Williamstown Theatre Festival 3. Note from Martyna Majok COST OF LIVING by Martyna Majok 4. Note from Anna Ziegler ACTUALLY by Anna Ziegler 5. Note from Sylvia Khoury SELLING KABUL by Sylvia Khoury 6. Note from Bess Wohl GRAND HORIZONS by Bess Wohl 7. Note from Dominique Morisseau PARADISE BLUE by Dominique Morisseau 8. Note from Harrison David Rivers WHERE STORMS ARE BORN by Harrison David Rivers

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Book SynopsisTheatre and Medicine offers a tour of this interdisciplinary terrain. Organized into four distinct topics, each represents crucial ways of understanding the theatre-medicine relationship. From discussions on the somatic underpinnings of the body that medicine and theatre take as their subject through to the historical association of theatre and contagion, and the pervasive role of doctors and the practitioners of alternative medicine in Western theatre and role of patients on and off stage. Together, this brief study considers the institutional contexts of theatre's medical performances in the early twenty-first century.Trade ReviewTheatre & Medicine is compelling in its tracing of Western critical discourses on the human body and how it performs. Its readable prose, effective case studies, and length make Theatre & Medicine an accessible and relevant introductory text for students in the medical humanities and theater studies. * Journal of Medical Humanities *Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Bodies 3. Contagion 4. Practitioners and Patients 5. Institutions 6. Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisFiona Wilkie is Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton, UK, and author of Performance, Transport and Mobility.Table of ContentsIntroduction Mobile Work Narratives of Theatre Travel Touring Circuits, Networks and Routes Staging Journeys Conclusion: Travelling Well Further reading

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Book SynopsisThe greatest American dramatist of our age - Evening Standard In this second volume of collected works, four of Arthur Miller's stage plays from the sixties and seventies are brought together in a new edition. Taking up the theme of individual responsibility from his earlier work, this volume also contains an introduction from Miller himself, along with two of his screenplays. One of Miller's most personal plays, After the Fall (1964) takes place almost entirely inside the mind of the play''s protagonist, who is often read as a stand-in for the playwright himself, and touches on themes of the Holocaust, McCarthyism and inherited sin. This was followed by Miller''s largely forgotten masterpiece, Incident at Vichy (1964): a prescient examination of the evil that exists in us all, inspired by a real-life incident in France in which a Gentile gave a Jew his identity pass during a check. The Price followed in 1968, a touching and farcical presentTrade ReviewThe greatest American dramatist of our age * Evening Standard *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Arthur Miller After the Fall (1964) Incident at Vichy (1964) The Price (1968) The Creation of the World (1972) The Misfits (1957) Playing for Time (1980)

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Book SynopsisMulti-award-winning Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley has been making waves since the early 2010s with his vivid storytelling and searing honesty, creating plays acutely concerned with society and community, and deeply enmeshed in Scotland''s local political context. Tracking the evolution of Hurley''s work from his early solo shows to his later large-cast plays and featuring an introduction by Scottish theatre critic Joyce McMillan, this is an exciting collection showcasing one of the UK''s most exciting creators of politically-engaged theatre. The plays collected are:Hitch (2010): a previously unpublished solo show about Hurley''s hitchhiking trip to the 2009 G8 meeting in L''Aquila, exploring the meaning of political protest.Beats (2012): a coming-of-age story exploring the aftermath of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act outlawing raves. It was adapted into a film in 2019, garnering nominations for BIFA Best Debut Screenplay and WGGB Best Screenplay.Heads Up (2016): Trade ReviewGripping, truthful and engaged … Mouthpiece reaffirms Kieran Hurley’s place as a hugely talented playwright for today. * The Stage on Mouthpiece *A tremendous piece of storytelling that takes us back to 1994… One of the best shows of the Edinburgh Festival last year. * The Guardian on Beats *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Joyce McMillan Plays 1. Hitch 2. Beats 3. Heads Up 4. Mouthpiece 5. The Enemy

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Book SynopsisHow does tourism impact theatre? How do theatrical ways of seeing, knowing, and acting shape tourism? How do economic and political processes like colonization or neoliberalization influence them both? And what is the future of these twinned global leisure industries?Theatre and tourism are kindred practices. Both engage their patrons in experiences of temporary escape to distant places, times, or different lives. Both stage expressive, communicative, embodied encounters in real time and space. Tourism and theatre are both sites of public pedagogy, cultural diplomacy, and cosmopolitan consciousness, promising pleasure and knowledge from the spectacle of others and elsewheres. This concise study explores the historical and contemporary entanglement of theatre and tourism, and speculates about the future as emerging technologies reshape both industries, offering new experiences of presence, embodiment, and mobility.Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Theatrical Tourism 3. Touristic Theatre 4. Staging Culture

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Book SynopsisNational Theatre Connections 2023 draws together ten new plays for young people to perform, from some of the UK''s most exciting and popular playwrights. These are plays for a generation of theatre-makers who want to ask questions, challenge assertions and test the boundaries, and for those who love to invent and imagine a world of possibilities.The plays offer young performers an engaging and diverse range of material to perform, read or study. Touching on themes like climate change, politics, toxic masculinity and gang culture, the collection provides topical, pressing subject matter for students to explore in their performance.This 2023 anthology represents the full set of ten plays offered by the National Theatre 2023 Festival, as well as comprehensive workshop notes that give insights and inspiration for building characters, running rehearsals and staging a production.Trade ReviewWhether you are looking to stage a full production, explore different styles of text and performance in a lesson or find some starting points for textual analysis and discussion, this folio has a resource that could prove useful. * Drama & Theatre *Table of Contents Connections Producer Introduction Introduction by Ola Animashawun Connections 2023 Synopses (Circle Dreams Around) The Terrible, Terrible Past by Simon Longman Cast size: flexible, with a suggested minimum cast size of eight; Recommended for ages 14+ Innocent Creatures by Leo Butler Cast size: minimum of eight; Recommended for ages 15+ Is My Microphone On? by Jordan Tannahill Cast size: minimum of seven, no maximum; Recommended for ages 13+ Is This Good Enough? by Avaes Mohammad Cast size: Flexible cast size, with 30 named characters; Recommended for ages 13+ Model Behaviour by Jon Brittain Cast size: nine; Suitable for all ages Old Times by Molly Taylor Cast size: 14; Recommended for ages 14+ Samphire by Shamser Sinha Cast size: twenty-one characters, recommended minimum cast size of twelve; Recommended for ages 16+ Strangers Like Me by Ed Harris Cast size: minimum of 15; Recommended for ages 14+ The Heights by Lisa McGee Cast size: 14 named characters, minimum cast size of eight; Recommended for ages 13+ Tuesday by Alison Carr Cast size: 9 – 50, any gender; Suitable for all ages.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisKimberly Shire is Associate Professor of Theatre at Carroll College, US. She has been training actors for 25 years as a high school teacher, children's theatre artistic director, college acting professor and theatre director.

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Book SynopsisThe Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation explores the dynamics of adapted Shakespeare across a range of literary genres and new media forms. This comprehensive reference and research resource maps the field of Shakespeare adaptation studies, identifying theories of adaptation, their application in practice and the methodologies that underpin them. It investigates current research and points towards future lines of enquiry for students, researchers and creative practitioners of Shakespeare adaptation. The opening section on research methods and problems considers definitions and theories of Shakespeare adaptation and emphasises how Shakespeare is both adaptor and adapted. A central section develops these theoretical concerns through a series of case studies that move across a range of genres, media forms and cultures to ask not only how Shakespeare is variously transfigured, hybridised and valorised through adaptational play, but also ho

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisA far-reaching and engaging overview of the role of narrative in dance and theatre performance, bringing together chapters written by an international range of scholars and subsequently creating a critical dialogue for approaching this fundamental topic within performance studies. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples of a variety of different performance genres, the book will provide a method for exploring the context of a particular form or artist and enhance students' ability to critically reflect on performance.Trade ReviewUnlike many anthologies, this collection is hard to put down. Reading the work of these scholar-artists cover to cover brings one into a conversation that is vital and necessary and deeply rewarding. * Ray Miller, Appalachian State University, USA *This book asks a lot of essential questions. It asks that we reflect on narratives written on and in bodies, that we challenge narratives of cultural, historical and political identification and it questions how narratives of creativity might appropriate, subvert and re-write those stories. * Louie Jenkins, University of Chichester, UK *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors 1. Introduction (B.Sellers-Young & J.R.McCutcheon) PART I: PERFORMING NARRATIVE IDENTITY IN CULTURE 2. The Zar: Enactment of Social Drama in the Southern Sudan (B.Sellers-Young) 3. Maranga Mai (J.Greenwood) 4. Her-stories in Indonesian Dance Drama (K.Foley) 5.Decolonizing Techno-Art (P.Pilar) PART II: POPULARIZING PERFORMANCE 6. Steps in Time: The Evolving Role of Dance in the Broadway Musical (M.J.Lodge) 7. The Multiple Narratives of Cirque du Soleil (K. Lavers & L.P.Leroux) 8. Personal Agency and Community Empowerment: Moth Style Engagement (J.Halebsky) 9. Narrating and Negotiating Identity in World of Warcraft (J.Osborn) PART III: ROCKING THE BOAT: REVOLUTIONARY INTEGRATIONS 10. Ellen Lauren: The Art of Extreme Acting, An Interview (S.T.Cummings) 11. People Like Us: Revolutions in Australian Theatre (J-A.Long) 12. Jacques Lecoq: This Theatre Called My Body (N.Pascetta) 13. Pina Bausch: Narrative, Gender, Reception (J.R.McCutcheon) 14. Narrative Pivots: Text and Movement in Crystal Pite's Dance-Theatre (P.Dickinson) 15. Narrative Futures: Community, Technology and Globalization (B.Sellers-Young & J.R.McCutcheon).

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Book SynopsisExplores Aristophanic comedy and traces key features through Greek and Latin literature

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Book SynopsisScript Analysis for Theatre: Tools for Interpretation, Collaboration and Production provides theatre students and emerging theatre artists with the tools, skills and a shared language to analyze play scripts, communicate about them, and collaborate with others on stage productions. Based largely on concepts derived from Stanislavski''s system of acting and method acting, the book focuses on action - what characters do to each other in specific circumstances, times, and places - as the engine of every play. From this foundation, readers will learn to distinguish the big picture of a script, dissect and ''score'' smaller units and moment-to-moment action, and create individualized blueprints from which to collaborate on shaping the action in production from their perspectives as actors, directors, and designers. Script Analysis for Theatre offers a practical approach to script analysis for theatre production and is grounded in case studies of a range of the most stuTrade ReviewScript Analysis for Theatre provides excellent techniques developed over a lifetime of work with actors, directors, designers, in the classroom and on stage. The book is seasoned, smart and practical, equipping students with an essential toolbox for engaging with scripts. * Jim Volz, Professor of Theatre History at California State University at Fullerton, USA *I am deeply impressed by the precise way in which it fuses a broad theoretical understanding of drama with the practical analysis of texts, and have little but praise for it. I am very familiar with the range of existing script analysis texts, and this is one of the few I would consider assigning in full to an undergraduate script analysis class. * Art Borreca, Iowa Playwrights Workshop, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Iowa, USA *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Introduction 1 The World of the Play Given circumstances Previous action Dramaturgy The writing of the play and order of scenes Character Environment 2 Structure and Action Point of attack Number of scenes Number of locations Number of characters Number of plots Type of causality Actions and objectives 3 Process Core action Avant-garde 4 Blueprints Given circumstances blueprint Character blueprint Relationship blueprint Structure blueprint Environment blueprint Appendices A. Action Verbs B. Sample Scores Select Bibliography Index Biographical

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Book SynopsisContextualizes Sabha Theatre historically, politically, and aesthetically, revealing how it expresses a Tamil Brahmin identity that is at once traditional and modern.Honeymoon Couples and Jurassic Babies is the first in-depth study of Sabha Theater, a type of Tamil-language popular theater that started in Chennai (Madras) in the period following India''s independence, thriving especially between 1965 and 1985. Breaking new ground in the study of stage and performance, this interdisciplinary book presents a complex view of a significant genre, using historical research and ethnographic information obtained through interviews with performers, writers, and audience members, as well as observations of rehearsals, performances, and television and film shootings. This careful coverage not only contextualizes Sabha Theatre historically, politically, and aesthetically within the wider history of the Tamil stage and a performance scene that includes classical dance and mass media but also reveals how its plays express a Tamil Brahmin identity that is at once traditional and modern. Analyzing what particular plays mean to the specific, urban, elite Brahmin community that produces and consumes them, Kristen Rudisill examines humor that reveals a complex Brahmin identity and surveys markers of moral superiority.

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Book SynopsisArguably Brecht''s greatest play, A Life of Galileo charts the seventeenth century scientist''s extraordinary fight with the church over his assertion that the earth orbits the sun.The figure of Galileo, whose heretical' discoveries about the solar system brought him to the attention of the Inquisition, is one of Brecht's more human and complex creations. Temporarily silenced by the Inquisition's threat of torture, and forced to abjure his theories publicly, Galileo continues to work in private, eventually smuggling his work out of the country.Brecht''s beautiful depiction of the explosive struggle between scientific discovery and religious fundamentalism is captured masterfully in this new translation by RSC writer-in-residence, Mark Ravenhill.Trade ReviewRavenhill has more to say, and says it more refreshingly and wittily, than any other playwright of his generation * Time Out *There are few stage authors writing more interestingly than Mark Ravenhill . . . He is . . . a searing, intelligent, disturbing sociologist with a talent for satirical dialogue and a flair for sexual sensationalism. * Financial Times *The real pleasure of ... Mark Ravenhill's slimmed-down translation lies in the absolute clarity with which [he] put[s] Brecht's masterpiece before us ... the real joy lies in seeing Brecht's timeless debate about scientific morality rendered with such pellucid swiftness. -- Michael Billington * Guardian *Lively and ultimately moving ... Ravenhill’s nifty and highly theatrical script, which pares down Brecht’s sometimes interminable speeches while retaining their essence -- Charles Spencer * Telegraph *A sharp new adaptation by Mark Ravenhill that emphasises the dark comedy and diversely rich theatrical inventiveness in a piece that Brecht kept revising -- Paul Taylor * Independent *

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Book SynopsisStephen Guy-Bray is Professor and Head of the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Canada.Martin Wiggins is a Fellow of The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK.Table of ContentsIntroduction A Note on the Text Further Reading Edward II

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Book SynopsisThe Actor's Business Plan is a self-directed practical guide for actors graduating from formal training programs, as well as for those already in the business whose careers need to move ahead more successfully. Using the familiar language of acting training, the book offers a method for the achievement of dreams through a five-year life and career plan giving positive steps to develop a happy life as an actor and as a person. It assists performers to flourish using the same kind of business/career planning that is a necessary part of life for entrepreneurs and business people. This introduction to the acting industry provides essential knowledge not only for how the business actually works, but also describes what casting directors, agents, and managers do, demystifies the role of unions, discusses how much things cost, and offers advice on branding and marketing strategies. It differs from other such handbooks in that it addresses the everyday issues of life, money, and jobs thTrade ReviewSince actors spend much more time seeking and preparing for roles than actually acting, a career in acting should be viewed as a business. An actor, like any other professional, needs career plans, which pretty much sums up the main message of this work by veteran actor, director/producer, and agent Brody. Individual chapters cover the development of a five-year plan to achieve one's goals, getting an agent, and trying to land a job in a desired theater. Also covered are topics such as taking coaching classes, trying out for roles, handling life-plan obstacles (e.g., student debt), and dealing with business expenses (e.g., headshots, union fees, relocation expenses, or health insurance), along with tips on how to make contacts and write query letters or resumés. There is a section on what casting directors, agents, and managers actually do. The second half of the book focuses on the major acting centers of the country: Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and the Washington, DC-Baltimore area. For each of these areas, the author provides a selection of agents, casting directors, photographers, drama schools, management, and theater companies with contact information. Summing Up: Recommended. All audiences. -- C. E. King, Iowa State University * CHOICE *The book promises to be an extremely practical and helpful guide for the young actor embarking on a professional acting career . . . I wish such a book existed when I was graduating -- Lucien Douglas, Head of Acting, University of Texas, Austina smart approach, and one that I think will make the information very accessible to young professionals in the industry * Melia Bensussen, Chair, Performing Arts Department, Emerson College, Boston *Since actors spend much more time seeking and preparing for roles than actually acting, a career in acting should be viewed as a business. An actor, like any other professional, needs career plans, which pretty much sums up the main message of this work by veteran actor, director/producer, and agent Brody. Individual chapters cover the development of a five-year plan to achieve one's goals, getting an agent, and trying to land a job in a desired theater. Also covered are topics such as taking coaching classes, trying out for roles, handling life-plan obstacles (e.g., student debt), and dealing with business expenses (e.g., headshots, union fees, relocation expenses, or health insurance), along with tips on how to make contacts and write query letters or resumés. There is a section on what casting directors, agents, and managers actually do. The second half of the book focuses on the major acting centers of the country: Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and the Washington, DC-Baltimore area. For each of these areas, the author provides a selection of agents, casting directors, photographers, drama schools, management, and theater companies with contact information. Summing Up: Recommended. All audiences. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Chapter 1: Dreams for Your Life Play Chapter 2: Given Circumstances of Your Life Play: Obstacles Chapter 3: Your Life Play’s Five Year Plan: Objectives, Events, Tactics, Beats, and Tasks Chapter 4: Making Your Five Act Life Plan Happen Chapter 5: Handling the Obstacles in your Life Play Chapter 6: Access to the Fulfillment of your Life Plan Chapter 7: The Cast of your Life Play: Casting Directors, Agents, and Managers; Who They Are and What They Do Chapter 8: Building a Character: Type versus Brand Chapter 9: Doing Your Life’s Play, Action! Chapter 10: Your Life Play’s Experience: Resumes Chapter 11: The Album of Your Life Play: Pictures, Reels, and Websites Chapter 12: Learning Your Lines and Showing up for Your Life Play: Auditions Chapter 13: The Location of Your Life Play: Markets Appendix: Resources and Recommended Reading

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Book Synopsis1967. Kenneth and Sandra know the world is changing. And they want some of it.Love, Love, Love takes on the baby boomer generation as it retires, and finds it full of trouble. Smoking, drinking, affectionate and paranoid, one couple journeys forty-years from initial burst to full bloom. The play follows their idealistic teenage years in the 1960s to their stint as a married family unit before finally divorced and, although disintegrated, free from acrimony. Their children, on the other hand, bitterly rail against their parents'' irresponsibility and their relaxed, laissez-faire attitude.This play by Olivier award-winning writer Mike Bartlett questions whether the baby boomer generation is to blame for the debt-ridden and adrift generation of their children, now adults but far from stable and settled.This edition features an introduction by James Grieve, who directed Love, Love, Love at the Royal Court, London.Trade ReviewTerrific dialogue and acute observations as it takes its protagonists from falling in love in 1967 to suburban squabbles in 1990 to retirement in 2011 * The Times *

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Book SynopsisA fabulous, darkly funny and ultimately devastating novel set between a London film set and a villa in the south of France - a mix of Vertigo and Jonathan Coe.Trade ReviewThis theatrical thriller by actor David Thewlis is darkly comic, beautifully written and full of surprises. -- Sara Lawrence * DAILY MAIL *A riotously good novel, witty and earnest, brimming with sharply drawn characters and creeping suspense. David Thewlis is a fabulous writer. * Anna Bailey, Sunday Times bestselling author of TALL BONES *Really funny. David is a great writer. * Paula Hawkins, Good Housekeeping *A deliciously smart, hilarious human drama with the pace and intrigue of a gripping thriller. One of the year's most memorable novels. * B P Walter, author of the Sunday Times bestseller THE DINNER GUEST *A thriller that Hitchcock fans will love. * SHEERLUXE *PRAISE FOR DAVID THEWLIS'S PREVIOUS NOVEL:'Thewlis has taken the turn-of-the-millennium London art scene and eviscerated it and the resulting gore makes for wonderful entertainment... This is a funny and successful satire of the contemporary art world, but at its core, it is a novel about the over-indulged and fragile artist's ego, about insecurity, about the darker layers of human relationships... Hilarious and horror-filled' Francesca Segal, Observer'Exquisitely written with a warm heart and a wry wit... Stunning' Elle'A fine study in character disintegration and a very funny satire on the contemporary art world' David Baddiel, The Times'A queasily entertaining carnival of art and self-destruction' FT'Thewlis has a driving, spiky prose style and a way with blackly comic scenarios' New Statesman'Thewlis has an eye for grotesque minutiae and, unsurprisingly for an esteemed actor, a real feel for dialogue and wordplay' The List'Thewlis...has successfully transferred his talents to the page, displaying a sharp ear for dialogue and a scabrously satiric prose style' Daily Mail'[Thewlis] great debut novel is a wry account of a spoilt middle-man's collapse' InStyle'This laugh-out-loud, darkly intelligent debut suggests that Thewlis might meet with considerable success should he decide to quit acting and take up the pen full-time... Readers who have mourned the end of Sue Townsend's wonderful, long-running Adrian Mole series will find solace of a sort here, as will anyone who enjoys a thought-provoking skewering of modern art by a knowledgeable writer and an inescapably doomed but appealing hero' Publishers Weekly'This is far more than an actor's vanity project: Thewlis has talent' Kirkus'David Thewlis has written an extraordinarily good novel, which is not only brilliant in its own right, but stands proudly beside his work as an actor, no mean boast' Billy Connolly'I laughed and laughed until I read my own name amongst the carnage of Thewlis's unfortunate characters. This book is a disgrace - it's mean, cruel and refreshingly cynical' Jake Chapman

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Book Synopsis Many of Bob Dylan''s most well-known works date from the 1960s, and can be seen as critical indicators of the changes in American society then and since. This book explores the unthreading of ideas about masculinity, femininity, sexuality, and identity through the lens of some of Dylan''s most popular love songs. The author revealingly employs specific aspects of cultural theory to explore the appeal of Bob Dylan''s music both now and during the time it was written.

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Book SynopsisA beguiling exploration of the last Habsburg monarchs' grip on Europe's historical and cultural imagination. In 1919 the last Habsburg rulers, Emperor Karl and Empress Zita, left Austria, going into exile. That same year, the fairy-tale opera Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow), featuring a mythological emperor and empress, premiered at the Vienna Opera. Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal and German composer Richard Strauss created Die Frau ohne Schatten through the bitter years of World War I, imagining it would triumphantly appear after the victory of the German and Habsburg empires. Instead, the premiere came in the aftermath of catastrophic defeat. The Shadow of the Empress: Fairy-Tale Opera and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy explores how the changing circumstances of politics and society transformed their opera and its cultural meanings before, during, and after the First World War. Strauss and Hofmannsthal turned emperors and empresses into fantastic fairy-tale characters; meanwhile, following the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy after the war, their real-life counterparts, removed from political life in Europe, began to be regarded as anachronistic, semi-mythological figures. Reflecting on the seismic cultural shifts that rocked post-imperial Europe, Larry Wolff follows the story of Karl and Zita after the loss of their thrones. Karl died in 1922, but Zita lived through the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the Cold War. By her death in 1989, she had herself become a fairy-tale figure, a totem of imperial nostalgia. Wolff weaves together the story of the opera's composition and performance; the end of the Habsburg monarchy; and his own family's life in and exile from Central Europe, providing a rich new understanding of Europe's cataclysmic twentieth century, and our contemporary relationship to it.Trade Review"In Larry Wolff's brilliant telling, an opera's fairy-tale empress and a real-life Habsburg empress come to embody the phantom political culture of an empire that to this day maintains a powerful hold over Central and Eastern European institutions and imagination."—Pieter M. Judson, author of The Habsburg Empire: A New History"This alluring and original work of history explores the parallel lives of a twentieth century opera, the twilight of the Habsburg Empire, and its last emperor and empress. Politics is woven into the opera's creation and its later life. In this brilliant book, art imitates life, and life art, through mirror images, shadows and the unexpected destinies of historic personages."—Leon Botstein, Bard College"Larry Wolff's dual biography of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's fictional empress (The Woman without a Shadow, premiered in 1919) and the last Habsburg empress Zita, who lived until 1989, is a silver rose of a book—a brilliant account of an imperfect operatic masterpiece, its allegorical investments, and its call for the repopulation and humanization of Europe in the wake of World War I."—Michael P. Steinberg, author of The Afterlife of MosesTable of ContentsIntroduction: Pulling Roots 1. Giving Language Time 2. The Transported Word: Wheatley's Part 3. Voices of the Ground: Blake's Language in Deep Time 4. Radical Diversions: Wordsworth's Overgrowth 5. The Primitive Today: Thoreau in the Wild Conclusion: Deracination

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Book SynopsisIn Corrosive Solace, Daniel O’Quinn argues that the loss of the American colonies instantiated a complex reorganization in sociability and politics in the British metropole that has had long-lasting effects on British national and imperial culture, which can be seen and analyzed within its performative repertoire. He examines how the analysis of feeling or affect can be deployed to address the inchoate causal relation between historical events and their mediation. In this sense, Corrosive Solace’s goals are twofold: first, to outline the methodologies necessary for dealing with the affective recognition of historical crisis; and second, to make the historically familiar strange again, and thus make visible key avenues for discussion that have remained dormant. Both of these objectives turn on recognition: How do we theorize the implicit affective recognition of crisis in a distant historical moment? And how do we recognize what we, in our present moment, cannot discern? Corrosive Solace addresses this complex cultural reorientation by attending less to “new” cultural products than to the theoretical and historical problems posed by looking at the transformation of “old” plays and modes of performance. These “old” plays—Shakespeare, post-Restoration comedy and she-tragedy—were a vital plank of the cultural patrimony, so much of O’Quinn’s analysis lies in how tradition was recovered and redirected to meet urgent social and political needs. Across the arc of Corrosive Solace, he tracks how the loss of the American War forced Britons to refashion the repertoire of cultural signs and social dispositions that had subtended its first empire in the Atlantic world in a way more suited to its emergent empire in South Asia.Trade Review"The significance of O’Quinn’s argument is its ability to link the everyday and the personal with the social, the political, and the cultural. At the level of both form and content, O’Quinn attempts to understand the implications and potentialities of affective recognitions, aesthetic mediations, formal transformations, and generic innovations in all their urgency and topicality, as a response to a cultural need to adapt to a period of turbulent transition instigated by historical crises. The argument progresses from issues of embodiment to questions of consciousness to transformations in processes of socialization to explain the emergence of systemic norms. It effectively reconciles phenomenological investigations with structuralist manifestations, offering a forensic cultural analysis of affect and affective sociability. " * Studies in Romaticism *"Corrosive Solace represents an authoritative statement on the importance of the theatre to what Daniel O’Quinn characterizes as the ‘post-American condition,’ i.e., how society, politics, and culture in Britain dealt with the loss of the American colonies and within a few short years, a new imperial dispensation, looking toward India and the threat of Napoleon in Europe. The book traces in fine detail ‘what it feels like’ to experience the pressure of historical change without being able to articulate or fully encompass what that change means. It is thoroughly and admirably interdisciplinary, seamlessly integrating approaches from theatre history, performance studies, cultural studies, affect theory, and social and political history to produce concentrated but still lucid readings of a number of key texts, performers, and events. Together these readings make for a new history of the 1780s and 1790s, especially in relation to the history of the broader politico-cultural role of the patent theatres, that will radically alter how we view these crucial decades." * —Gillian Russell, University of York *

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Book SynopsisLove’s Victory by Lady Mary Wroth (1587–1651) is the first romantic comedy written in English by a woman. The Revels Plays publishes for the first time a fully-authorised, modern spelling edition of the Penshurst manuscript, the only copy of the play containing all five acts, handwritten by Wroth and privately owned by the Viscount De L’Isle. Edited by Alison Findlay, Philip Sidney and Michael G. Brennan, their critical introduction provides details of Wroth’s remarkable life and work as a member of the Sidney family, tracing connections between Love’s Victory, her prose and poetry and her family’s extensive writings. The editors introduce readers to the influence of court drama on Love’s Victory and offer a new account of the play’s stage history in productions from 1999–2018. Extensive commentary notes guiding the modern reader include explanatory glosses, literary references and staging information.

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Book SynopsisThe aesthetic exception theorises anew the relation between art and politics. It challenges critical trends that discount the role of aesthetic autonomy, to impulsively reassert art as an effective form of social engagement. But it equally challenges those on the flipside of the efficacy debate, who insist that art’s politics is limited to a recondite space of ‘autonomous resistance’. The book shows how each side of the efficacy debate overlooks art’s exceptional status and its social mediations. Mobilising philosophy and cultural theory, and employing examples from visual art, performance, and theatre, it proposes four alternative tests to ‘effect’ to offer a nuanced account of art’s political character. Those tests examine how art relates to politics as a practice that articulates its historical conjuncture, and how it prefigures the ‘new’ through simulations capable of activating the political life of the spectator.Trade Review'Starting with a seemingly simple question ‘Can art be political?’, this book opens a Pandora’s box that reveals the paradoxical nature of the relationship between art and life, the impossibility of taxonomy of political theatre, on the one hand, and its potential as a hermeneutical tool, on the other, and when it comes to postdramatic theatre and theory – nothing is anymore as it seemed before … The depth of analysis is impressive, whenever we feel we have reached a conceptual stable ground, Fisher probes further and invites us to question deeper!'Silvija Jestrovic, University of Warwick'Fisher is a joy to read! He writes with clarity and urgency but without oversimplification and gratuitous polemic. He draws on the whole toolkit of interdisciplinary thought and covers a vast terrain in contemporary theatre, but he never relies on jargon and avoids any form of superficiality … with cautious optimism, [he] takes the lead of key artists and heads out towards new horizons of possibility, en route, he has revitalized our understanding of both politics and aesthetics.'Nikos Papastergiadis, University of Melbourne -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction The horizon of the aestheticPart I The aesthetic exception1 The paradox of the aesthetic exception2 Crossing the threshold3 The institution of art: critical and theoretical reflectionsPart II Political art after the communicative turn4 The classical debate revisited: Sartre, Brecht, Adorno5 Art of the communicative turn: Habermas and the political6 What is the proper way to display a US flag? – the work of “dissensual speech” in artPart III Taxonomy of the political theatre7 Foundational problems and problems of foundation8 Displacement effects: Althusser’s “Brecht” and the theatre of the conjuncture9 Activist theatre of the conjuncture: the case of Janam and the street theatre in India10 The “closure” of the political theatre and the critique of post-dramatic reason11 The political theatre redefined12 The theatre of the planetary conjuncture: Milo Rau’s Congo Tribunal13 On taxonomic strategiesIndex

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Book SynopsisHyde Park is a striking Caroline example of London city comedy. This critical edition unpicks its valuable insights into the shifting nature of the genre and early modern conceptions of London and courtship. -- .

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Book SynopsisThe feast of Corpus Christi, celebrated annually on Thursday after Trinity Sunday, was devoted to the Eucharist, and the normal practice was to have solemn processions through the city with the Host, the consecrated wafer that was believed to have been transformed into the true body and blood of Jesus. In this way the "cultus Dei" thus celebrated allowed the people to venerate the Eucharistic bread in order that they might be stimulated to devotion and brought symbolically, even mystically into a relationship with the central moments of salvation history. Perhaps it is logical, therefore, that pageants and plays were introduced in order to access yet another way of visualizing and participating in those events. Thus the "invisible things" of the divine order "from the creation of the world" might be displayed. The York Corpus Christi Plays, contained in London, British Library, MS. Add. 35290 and comprising more than thirteen thousand lines of verse, actually represent a unique survival of medieval theater. They form the only complete play cycle verifiably associated with the feast of Corpus Christi that is extant and was performed at a specific location in England.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction The York Corpus Christi Plays 1. The Creation of the Angels and the Fall of Lucifer 2. The Creation through the Fifth Day 3. The Creation of Adam and Eve 4. The Prohibition of the Tree of Knowledge 5. The Fall 6. The Expulsion from the Garden 7. Sacrificium Cayme et Abell 8. The Building of Noah's Ark 9. The Flood 10. Abraham and Isaac 11. Pharaoh and Moses 12. The Annunciation to Mary and the Visitation 13. Joseph's Troubles about Mary 14. The Nativity 15. The Offering of the Shepherds 16. Herod Questioning the Three Kings and the Offering of the Magi 17. The Purification of the Virgin 18. The Flight to Egypt 19. The Massacre of the Innocents 20. Christ and the Doctors 21. The Baptism of Christ 22. The Temptation in the Wilderness 22A. The Marriage in Cana 23. The Transfiguration 23A. The Feast in Simon's House 24. The Woman Taken in Adultery and the Raising of Lazarus 25. The Entry into Jerusalem 26. The Conspiracy 27. The Last Supper 28. The Agony and Betrayal 29. The Trial before Cayphas and Anna 30. The First Trial before Pilate 31. The Trial before Herod 32. The Remorse of Judas 33. The Second Trial before Pilate 34. The Road to Calvary 35. Crucifixio Christi 36. Mortificacio Christi 37. The Harrowing of Hell 38. The Resurrection 39. The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalen 40. The Travelers to Emmaus 41. Doubting Thomas 42. The Ascension 43. Pentecost 44. The Death of Mary 44A. The Funeral of the Virgin ("Fergus") 45. The Assumption of the Virgin (Thomas Apostolus) 46. The Coronation of the Virgin 47. Doomsday Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Appendix: Notes on the Dialect of the York Corpus Christi Plays by Paul A. Johnston, Jr. Bibliography Glossary

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Book SynopsisThe theatre is an essential art form that is forever evolving. A well-written play can make us laugh, cry, cringe, or reflect. It can confirm what we already know, or it can introduce us to new worlds. It can relax us, or incite us to action. Writing for the Stage – A Playwright’s Handbook is a step-by-step guide to dramatic writing. Drawing on proven methods and professional insights, this book explores the mechanics of playwriting and the skills needed to create a compelling story. It aims to help readers understand the art and craft of writing for the stage and avoid some of the pitfalls. Topics covered include defining a play; starting points; the importance of structure; the first draft and rewrites; placing the work and negotiating rehearsals and, finally, the playwright in a devising context.

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Book SynopsisThis is a comprehensive study of the impact of censorship on theatre in twentieth-century Spain. It draws on extensive archival evidence, vivid personal testimonies and in-depth analysis of legislation to document the different kinds of theatre censorship practised during the Second Republic (1931–6), the civil war (1936–9), the Franco dictatorship (1939–75) and the transition to democracy (1975–85). Changes in criteria, administrative structures and personnel from these periods are traced in relation to wider political, social and cultural developments, and the responses of playwrights, directors and companies are explored. With a focus on censorship, new light is cast on particular theatremakers and their work, the conditions in which all kinds of theatre were produced, the construction of genres and canons, as well as on broader cultural history and changing ideological climate – all of which are linked to reflections on the nature of censorship and the relationship between culture and the state.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of illustrations List of abbreviations Introduction 1. The Evolution of Theatre Censorship in Spain from the 1830s to the 1930s 2. Un teatro de ida y vuelta: All Change and No Change in the Second Republic and the Civil War Case Study: Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús, by Vicente Mena Pérez 3. The Franco Dictatorship: Censorship as ‘Propaganda’, ‘Education’ and ‘Information’ Case Study: La casa de Bernarda Alba, by Federico García Lorca 4. The Pervasiveness of Censorship during the Dictatorship: Right-Wing Triumphalism, Commercial Theatre, Revistas and Catalan Theatre Case Study: La Infanzona, by Jacinto Benavente 5. The Realist Generation: A Spotlight on the Margins of Society Case Study: Escuadra hacia la muerte, by Alfonso Sastre 6. Experimental, Avant-Garde and Independent Theatre: Pushing the Boundaries Case Study: Castañuela 70, by Tábano and Las Madres del Cordero 7. The Censorship of Foreign Theatre: From Taming the Text to Disruptive Drama Case Study: El círculo de tiza caucasiano, by Bertolt Brecht 8. Dénouement: Dismantling the Apparatus during the Transition to Democracy Case Study: La torna, by Els Joglars/Albert Boadella Conclusion Bibliography: Archival sources Legislation Other sources Index

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Book SynopsisThe book offers an introduction to adaptations between stage and screen, examining stage and screen works as texts but also as performances and cultural events. Case studies of distinct periods in British film and theatre history are used to illustrate the principle that adaptations can't be divorced from the historical and cultural moment in which they are produced and to look at issues around theatrical naturalism and cinematic realism. Written in a refreshingly accessible style, it offers an original analysis with emphasis on performance and event. It opens up new avenues of exploration to include non-literary issues such as the treatment of space and place, mise en scène, acting styles and star personas. The recent growth of digital theatre is examined to foreground the 'events' of theatre and cinema, with phenomena such as NT Live analysed for the different ways that 'liveness' is adapted. Adapting Performance Between Stage and Screen explores how cultural values can be articulated in the act of translating between mediums. The book takes as its subject the interaction between film and theatre and argues that, rather than emphasising differences between the two mediums, the emphasis should be placed on elements that they share, in particular the emphasis on performance and the participation in an event. It uses a number of case studies to show how this relationship is affected by changes in technology – the coming of film sound, the invention of live-casting – and in the nature of the event being offered to particular audiences. These examples, ranging from the well-known to the obscure, are all treated with relevant and knowledgeable analysis and a strong and appropriate sense of context. The book offers a welcome overview of previous work in this area and demonstrates the importance of basing analysis on historical context, as well as giving new insights into some familiar examples. Discussion ranges from Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock to Robert Lepage and Ivo van Hove. There are detailed analyses of Alfie, Gone Too Far and Festen as well as authoritative analyses of NT Live performances and British New Wave cinema. The book will be of primary interest to academics, researchers, teachers and students working in adaptation studies, film studies and theatre studies. Written in an accessible style it will appeal to teachers and students on A-level, undergraduate and postgraduate film, theatre, media and cultural studies courses. The chapter on digital theatres will add to the growing body of literature in this area and appeal to students and academics working on digital cultures and new media. Live screenings of theatre events are becoming more widely available and increasingly popular, including some of the productions discussed. There is potential interest for a general audience interested in British films, theatre and actors.Trade Review'Building productively on previous scholarship while also taking adaptation studies in fruitful new directions, Adapting Performance between Stage and Screen offers an accessible and incisive consideration of its topic. Lowe confidently navigates the many permutations of the relationship between cinema and theatre and meticulously explores how this has played out in the particularly intertwined British variation on the theme. Very worthwhile reading for anyone interested in British film, British theatre and their deep interconnectivity, this is a performance that definitely deserves its own round of applause.' -- Melanie Williams, Journal of British Cinema and Television'As an introduction to this new approach, Lowe leaves us with a number of potential avenues for future exploration and academic research. Although there are a few suggestions listed in the book, such as a re-examination of the films of Basil Dean, further analysis of the theatre-to-cinema live broadcast and the investigation of stage productions of British film, this method will provide the inspiration for further academic analysis in both theatre and film studies. Lowe’s accessible writing style makes this not only an informative but also a pleasurable read for everyone with an interest in performances on either stage or screen.' -- Georgia Brown, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and TelevisionThe author offers very good readings and analysis of a wide range of texts from well-known classics to more obscure works, spanning the popular, the populist and the avant-garde. It is thrilling to read a book that can discuss Steven Spielberg or Alfred Hitchcock in one place and Robert Lepage or Ivo van Hove in another ... It is an exciting volume that plugs an important gap in current cross-media scholarship. -- Richard Hand, Professor of Media Practice at the University of East Anglia and Editor of the Journal of Adaptation in Film & PerformanceThis book offers an original analysis which emphasizes performance and event (rather than literary texts) as the basis for analyzing different examples of adaptation. In terms of case studies, it offers interesting and worthwhile insights into some quite familiar material but also takes on relatively new examples of the exchange between theatre and film in its discussion of live-casting and the recent dominance of staged films in British theatre … an excellent account of an important topic. -- Christine Geraghty, Professor of Film and Television, University of Glasgow,Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Practices Chapter 1: Stage to Screen Adaptation and Performance/Production: Space, Design, Acting, Sound Chapter 2: Screen to Stage Adaptation: Theatre as Medium/Hyper-Medium Chapter 3: Stage to Screen Adaptation and the Performance Event: Live Broadcast as Adaptation Part Two: Histories Chapter 4: The Introduction of Sound and ‘Canned’ Theatre Chapter 5: The British New Wave on Stage and Screen Chapter 6: Staging ‘British Cinema’ Conclusion

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Book SynopsisA tweet by American actor and activist Alyssa Milano, sent on October 15, 2017, opened the floodgates to an outpouring of testimony and witnessing across the Twitterverse that reverberated throughout social media. Facebook status lines quickly began to read “Me too,” and #MeToo was trending. That tweet re-launched the ‘me too’ movement, which was started in 2006 by Tarana Burke. Performing #MeToo: How Not to Look Away does not attempt to deliver a comprehensive examination of how #MeToo is performed. What it does aim at presenting is a set of perspectives on the events identified as representative of the movement through a lens or lenses that are multinational, as well as work and analysis from a variety of time periods, written in a diversity of styles. By providing this means of engaging with examples of the many interpretations of and responses to the #MeToo movement, and by identifying these responses (and those of audiences) as provocations, of examples of how not to look away, the collected chapters are intended to invite reflection, discussion and, hopefully, incite action. It gives writers from diverse cultural and environmental contexts an opportunity to speak about this cultural moment in their own voices. There is a wide geographical range and variety of forms of performance addressed in this timely new book. The international group of contributors are based in the UK, USA, Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Canada, India, Italy and South Korea. The topics addressed by writers include socially engaged practice; celebrity feminism, archive and repertoire; rape/war; misogynistic speech; stage management and intimacy facilitation; key institutions’ responses; spatial practices as well as temporal ones; academic call-outs; caste/class; political contexts; adaptation of classic texts; activist events; bouffon (a clown technique) and audience response Forms of performance practice include applied theatre, performance protest, verbatim, solo performance, institutional practice, staging of plays, street responses, academic, adaptation of classic text, play reading events and the musical. Although there is much to read in the media and alternative media on the #MeToo movement, this is the first attempt to analyse the movement from and in such diverse contexts. Bringing together twelve writers to speak about works they have either performed, witnessed or studied gives the reader a nuanced way of looking at the movement and its impact. It is also an incredible archive of this moment in time that points to its importance. Suitable for use in several graduate and undergraduate courses, including performance studies, feminist studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, environmental or liberal studies and social history. Essential reading for theatre workers, academics, students, and anyone with an interest in feminism, contemporary theatre or human rights. For artists considering projects that include the themes of #MeToo, and for producers and directors of such projects looking for good practices around how to create environments of safety in their organizations, as well as those who wish to organize communities of artists. For anyone interested in learning more about how to support the movement, or an interest in the specific social narratives told in each individual chapter. For women, feminists and anyone with an interest in the issues.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Judith Rudakoff “Vital Acts of Transfer”: #MeToo and the Performance of Embodied Knowledge Shana MacDonald Bite the Bullet: The Practice of Protest as a Coping Mechanism Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga Resisting Theatre: The Political in the Performative Effie Samara Supporting Brave Spaces for Theatre-Makers Post-#MeToo: A Chicago-Based Study on Rehearsing and Performing Intimacy in Theatre Susan Fenty Studham We Get It: Calling Out Sexism and Harassment in Australia’s Live Performance Industry Sarah Thomasson Toward the Origin of Performing #MeToo: Franca Rame’s The Rape as an Example of Personal and Political Theatre/Therapy Laura Peja and Fausto Colombo The Royal Court in the Wake of #MeToo Catriona Fallow and Sarah Jane Mullan Dissident Solidarities: Power, Pedagogy, Care Swati Arora Conversations with Noura: Iraqi American Women and a Response to A Doll’s House Mary P. Caulfield #MeToo Theatre Women Share Their Stories Yvette Heyliger Les Zoubliettes: Raging through Laughter—a Feminist Disturbance Sonia Norris “I’m the person to speak about myself”: Self-Declaration, Reversal of Power, and Solidarity in The Red Book Yuh J. Hwang Appendix: A Primer on the International #MeToo Movement Elise A. LaCroix Biographies of Contributors

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Book SynopsisTheatre for Lifelong Learning: A Handbook for Instructorsis a step-by-step guide for anyone interested in teaching theatre courses for older adults. It provides syllabi, discussion questions, resource lists, classroom management strategies, and activities. 7 b&w illus.

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Book SynopsisApplied Theatre is recognized as the key text inthe field of applied theatre and has been adoptedby teaching programs around the world. Recipientof the Distinguished Book Award from theAmerican Alliance for Theatre Education in 2010. Third edition includes refreshed case studies, providing exemplars for the practice of applied theatre.

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Book SynopsisWelcome to The Empire theatre1922. When Jack Treadwell arrives at The Empire, in the middle of a rehearsal, he is instantly mesmerised. But amid the glitz and glamour, he soon learns that the true magic of the theatre lies in its cast of characters - both on stage and behind the scenes.There's stunning starlet Stella Stanmore and Hollywood heartthrob Lancelot Drake; and Ruby Rowntree keeps the music playing, while Lady Lillian Lassiter, theatre owner and former showgirl, is determined to take on a bigger role. And then there's cool, competent Grace Hawkins, without whom the show would never go on . . . could she be the leading lady Jack is looking for?When long-held rivalries threaten The Empire's future, tensions rise along with the curtain. There is treachery at the heart of the theatre and a shocking secret waiting in the wings. Can Jack discover the truth before it's too late, and the theatre he loves goes dark?Musical theatre legend Michael Ball brings his trademark warmth, wit and glamour to this, his debut novel.Enjoy the show!The Empire was a Sunday Times No. 3 bestseller for w/c 24/10/2022' Trade ReviewA fantastic book. Brilliant -- Don Black

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Book SynopsisA critical analysis of UK performance company Bodies in Flight's work and collaborative methodology, including archival images, text extracts, reflections by collaborators, arts professionals, performance scholars, providing a context for small-scale performance making and insights into devising methods and key questions.120 b&w, 14 col. illus.

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Book SynopsisOur most brilliant, fearless and creative women directors open the door on their craft, discussing their work in the theatre in intimate and illuminating detail. Through a series of fascinating conversations with many of the leading talents working on British stages, Running the Room explores what it takes to succeed in the field, and how each director approaches the work in their own way. Each interview focuses on a particular facet of the director's practice, examining not just the 'how' – how to talk to actors, how to create the right rehearsal environment, how to handle cuts and previews, how to work with a living playwright – but also the 'why': why certain approaches work better than others, why there's no 'right' way to direct a play, and why work in theatre anyway? As this passionate, inspiring book shows, there are myriad ways to be a theatre director. For aspiring or current directors, it will give you the confidence to be uniquely yourself, develop your own approach, and create the work you want to make. For creatives in other disciplines, it will provide insight into directors' processes, along with examples of successful collaboration. And for anyone who loves theatre, this is an unparalleled first-hand account of how brilliant theatre is made – direct from those making it. With contributions from: Natalie Abrahami • Annabel Arden • Milli Bhatia • Carrie Cracknell • Tinuke Craig • Marianne Elliott • Nadia Fall • Yaël Farber • Vicky Featherstone • Jamie Fletcher • Sarah Frankcom • Emma Frankland • Rebecca Frecknall • Debbie Hannan • Tamara Harvey • Natalie Ibu • Ola Ince • Lynette Linton • Nancy Medina • Katie Mitchell • Rachel O'Riordan • Emma Rice • Indhu Rubasingham • Jenny SealeyTrade Review'An excellent book' -- Lyn Gardner * The Stage *'A goldmine of insight on the multifarious art of directing, the skill of leadership, and the joys and challenges of constructing a career in theatre as a woman… the list of interviewees reads like a who’s who of influential directors… brims with fascinating discussions of creative practice, illuminating discourse on running buildings and companies, and thought-provoking comments on contemporary theatre' -- Fergus Morgan * The Crush Bar *'A candid, in-depth record of conversations about art and life... a source of inspiration... a lot of valuable material for budding directors and readers of all genders' * Broadway World *'A treasure trove of the various forms of practice when running a rehearsal room, but also allows a glimpse into who each interviewee is... a book of both reflection and passion... an absorbing read, accessible in its structure yet of use to professionals working in theatre' * LouReviews *

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