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Theatre, Performance and Cognition: Languages, Bodies and Ecologies (Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues)
by Rhonda Blair Amy Cook Nicola Shaughnessy John LutterbieTheatre, Performance and Cognition introduces readers to the key debates, areas of research, and applications of the cognitive sciences to the humanities, and to theatre and performance in particular. It features the most exciting work being done at the intersection of theatre and cognitive science, containing both selected scientific studies that have been influential in the field, each introduced and contextualised by the editors, together with related scholarship from the field of theatre and performance that demonstrates some of the applications of the cognitive sciences to actor training, the rehearsal room and the realm of performance more generally.The three sections consider the principal areas of research and application in this interdisciplinary field, starting with a focus on language and meaning-making in which Shakespeare's work and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia are considered. In the second part which focuses on the body, chapters consider applications for actor and dance training, while the third part focuses on dynamic ecologies, of which the body is a part.
Theatre, Performance and Commemoration: Staging Crisis, Memory and Nationhood (Cultural Histories of Theatre and Performance)
by Claire Cochrane Bruce McConachieHow does the act of performance speak to the concept of commemoration? How and why does commemorative theatre operate as a conceptual, historical and political site from which to interrogate ideas of nationalism and nationhood? This volume explores how theatre and performance create a stage for acts of commemoration, considering crises of hate, nationalism and migration, as well as political, racial and religious bigotry. It features case studies drawn from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The book's four parts each explore commemoration through a different theoretical lens and present a new set of dramaturgies for research and study. While Section 1 offers a critical survey of 20th- and 21st-century discourses, Section 2 uncovers the commemorative practices underpinning contemporary dramaturgy and applies these practices to plays and performance pieces. These include works by Martin Lynch, Frank McGuinness, Sanja Mitrovic, Theater RAST, Les SlovaKs Dance Collective, Estela Golovchenko, Wajdi Mouawad, Áine Stapleton, CoisCéim, ANU Productions, Aubrey Sekhabi, and Indian and African dance practices. The final sections investigate how individual and collective memory and performances of commemoration can become tools for propaganda and political agendas.
Theatre, Performance and Commemoration: Staging Crisis, Memory and Nationhood (Cultural Histories of Theatre and Performance)
by Claire Cochrane Bruce McConachieHow does the act of performance speak to the concept of commemoration? How and why does commemorative theatre operate as a conceptual, historical and political site from which to interrogate ideas of nationalism and nationhood? This volume explores how theatre and performance create a stage for acts of commemoration, considering crises of hate, nationalism and migration, as well as political, racial and religious bigotry. It features case studies drawn from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The book's four parts each explore commemoration through a different theoretical lens and present a new set of dramaturgies for research and study. While Section 1 offers a critical survey of 20th- and 21st-century discourses, Section 2 uncovers the commemorative practices underpinning contemporary dramaturgy and applies these practices to plays and performance pieces. These include works by Martin Lynch, Frank McGuinness, Sanja Mitrovic, Theater RAST, Les SlovaKs Dance Collective, Estela Golovchenko, Wajdi Mouawad, Áine Stapleton, CoisCéim, ANU Productions, Aubrey Sekhabi, and Indian and African dance practices. The final sections investigate how individual and collective memory and performances of commemoration can become tools for propaganda and political agendas.
Theatre, Performance, and Memory Politics in Argentina
by B. WerthSince Argentina's transition to democracy, the expression of human fragility on the stage has taken diverse forms. This book examines the intervention of theatre and performance in the memory politics surrounding Argentina's return to democracy and makes a case for performance's transformative power.
Theatre, Performance and Technology: The Development and Transformation of Scenography (Theatre and Performance Practices)
by Christopher BaughChris Baugh explores how developments and changes in technology have been reflected in scenography throughout history. Taking into account the latest research, his new edition examines moving light technologies, the internet as a platform of performance, urban scenography and how scenography has developed as a collaborative practice.
Theatre, Performance and Technology: The Development and Transformation of Scenography (Theatre and Performance Practices)
by Christopher BaughChris Baugh explores how developments and changes in technology have been reflected in scenography throughout history. Taking into account the latest research, his new edition examines moving light technologies, the internet as a platform of performance, urban scenography and how scenography has developed as a collaborative practice.Chris Baugh explores how developments and changes in technology have been reflected in scenography throughout history. Taking into account the latest research, his new edition examines moving light technologies, the internet as a platform of performance, urban scenography and how scenography has developed as a collaborative practice.
Theatre, Performance, and the Historical Avant-garde (PDF)
by Gunter BerghausThis comprehensive study traces the origins of European modernism in nineteenth-century Paris, then branches out to examine four major movements of the theatrical avant-garde that sprung from this epicenter in the early twentieth-century: Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Constructivism.
Theatre/Performance Historiography: Time, Space, Matter
by Michal Kobialka Rosemarie K. BankHow do the ethical implications of writing theatrical histories complicate the historiographical imperative in our current sociopolitical context? This volume investigates a historiography whose function is to be a mode of thinking and exposes the inner contradictions in social and ideological organizations of historical subjects.
Theatre, Politics, and Markets in Fin-de-Siècle Paris: Staging Modernity (Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History)
by S. CharnowSince the Enlightenment, French theatre has occupied a prominent place within French thought, society and culture, but as a subject of study it has remained a purview of theatre historians, literary scholars and aestheticians. They focus on the emergence of the modern theatre as change generated from within bourgeois literary drama but ignore theatre as a complex social practice. Theatre, Politics, and Markets in Fin-de-Siècle Paris investigates the dynamic relationships among the avant-garde, official culture and the commercial sphere, arguing against the neat divide of 'high' and 'low' culture by showing how cultural forms of varying social origins influenced each other.
The Theatre Practice of Tadashi Suzuki: A critical study with DVD examples (Performance Books)
by Paul AllainA lively, critical study of one of the most important innovators,thinkers and directors in contemporary world theatre: Tadashi Suzuki,complete with practical Suzuki Method actor-training examples on a DVD.For over forty years Tadashi Suzuki has been a unique and vitalforce in both Japanese and Western theatre, creating and directing manyinternationally acclaimed productions including his most famousproduction, The Trojan Women, which toured throughout theworld. An integral part of his work has been the development andteaching of his rigorous and, for some, controversial training system,the Suzuki Method, whose principles have also been highly influentialin modern theatre. Dr Paul Allain, an experienced practitioner of the SuzukiMethod re-evaluates Suzuki's work, giving a lucid overview of hisdevelopment towards and international theatre aesthetic. He examinesSuzuki's collaborators, the importance of architectuire and environmentin his theatre and his impact on performance all over the world.
The Theatre Practice of Tadashi Suzuki: A critical study with DVD examples (Performance Books)
by Paul AllainA lively, critical study of one of the most important innovators, thinkers and directors in contemporary world theatre: Tadashi Suzuki. This book explores Suzuki's theatre practice and contains a DVD with practical Suzuki Method actor-training examples.For over forty years Tadashi Suzuki has been a unique and vital force in both Japanese and Western theatre, creating and directing many internationally acclaimed productions including his most famous production, The Trojan Women, which toured throughout the world. Dr Paul Allain, an experienced practitioner of the Suzuki Method, re-evaluates Suzuki's work, his development towards an international theatre aesthetic and his impact on performance all over the world. The DVD covers an actor training session (featuring both novices and an experienced practitioner with over ten years of Suzuki training) showing the physical moves. "Captures aspects of Suzuki's work with an insider's grasp of theatre-making - an informative and inspirational read" From the foreword by Katie Mitchell.
Theatre Praxis: Teaching Drama Through Practice (New Directions in Theatre)
by Christopher McCulloughThis collection of essays is in no way an attempt to instruct people in ways to teach Drama. Nor is it homogeneous in its range of arguments. What is attempted is a lively discourse on a variety of practices that, by recognising their clearly rooted and often diverse ideologies, we may term praxis. The challenge here is that no practice may claim an ideological innocence, appealing to some vague transcendental natural state of existence. One of the problems when we encounter practical work in the context of the university Drama department is its uneasy relationship with the more conventionally accepted disciplines. Often the answer has been in the form of a retreat into subjectivity and mystery; denying the place of practice in the material world. Each of the essays in this volume challenges that perception, but all of them challenge it in very different ways. What they do have in common is a rejection of the idea that learning is a passive activity.
Theatre Props and Civic Identity in Athens, 458-405 BC
by Rosie WylesThis book answers the question 'How did Athenian drama shape ideas about civic identity?' through the medium of three case studies focusing on props. Traditional responses to the question have overlooked the significance of props which were symbolically implicated in Athenian ideology, yet the key objects explored in this study (voting urns and pebbles, swords, and masks) each carried profound connections to Athenian civic identity while also playing important roles as props on the fifth-century stage. Playwrights exploited the powerful dynamic generated from the intersection between the 'social lives' (off-stage existence in society) and 'stage lives' (handling in theatre) of these objects to enhance the dramatic effect of their plays as well as the impact of these performances on society.The exploration of the 'stage lives' of these objects across comedy, tragedy, and satyr drama reveals much about generic interdependence and distinction. Meanwhile the consideration of iconography representing the objects' lives outside the theatre sheds light on drama's powerful interplay with art. Essential reading for scholars and students of ancient Greek history, culture, and drama, the innovative approach and insightful analysis contained in this volume will also be of interest to researchers in the fields of Theatre Studies, Art History, and Cultural Studies.
Theatre Props and Civic Identity in Athens, 458-405 BC
by Rosie WylesThis book answers the question 'How did Athenian drama shape ideas about civic identity?' through the medium of three case studies focusing on props. Traditional responses to the question have overlooked the significance of props which were symbolically implicated in Athenian ideology, yet the key objects explored in this study (voting urns and pebbles, swords, and masks) each carried profound connections to Athenian civic identity while also playing important roles as props on the fifth-century stage. Playwrights exploited the powerful dynamic generated from the intersection between the 'social lives' (off-stage existence in society) and 'stage lives' (handling in theatre) of these objects to enhance the dramatic effect of their plays as well as the impact of these performances on society.The exploration of the 'stage lives' of these objects across comedy, tragedy, and satyr drama reveals much about generic interdependence and distinction. Meanwhile the consideration of iconography representing the objects' lives outside the theatre sheds light on drama's powerful interplay with art. Essential reading for scholars and students of ancient Greek history, culture, and drama, the innovative approach and insightful analysis contained in this volume will also be of interest to researchers in the fields of Theatre Studies, Art History, and Cultural Studies.
Theatre & Protest (Theatre And)
by Lara ShalsonHow does protest engage with theatre? What does theatre have to gain from protest? Theatre and protest are often closely interlinked in the contemporary cultural and political landscape, and the line between protest and performance can be difficult to draw. Yet this relationship is also beset with doubts about theatre’s capacity to intervene in the social world. This fresh and insightful text thinks through the intersections and tensions between theatre and protest. Exploring the cross-fertilization of international theatre and protest across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Lara Shalson illuminates how and why these two are mutually influencing and enriching forms.
Theatre & Protest (Theatre And)
by Lara ShalsonHow does protest engage with theatre? What does theatre have to gain from protest?Theatre and protest are often closely interlinked in the contemporary cultural and political landscape, and the line between protest and performance is often difficult to draw. Yet this relationship is also beset with doubts about theatre's capacity to intervene in the social world. This fresh and insightful text thinks through the intersections and tensions between theatre and protest. Exploring the cross-fertilization of international theatre and protest across the 12th and 21st centuries, Lara Shalson illuminates how and why these two are mutually influencing and enriching forms.
Theatre: The Rediscovery of Style and Other Writings
by Michel Saint-DenisMichel Saint-Denis was one of twentieth century theatre’s most influential directors and theorists. This book combines his seminal Theatre: The Rediscovery of Style with material from Training for the Theatre, newly edited to create a work which moves seamlessly from theory to practice. Theatre: The Rediscovery of Style collects five of Saint Denis’ key lectures, given during his time in America, and perfectly encompasses his synergy of classical theatre and modern realism Training for the Theatre is a key practical resource for actors, directors and teachers alike. It covers crucial areas such as understanding a play’s context, training schedules, improvisation and dealing with stage space, as well as a section on Saint-Denis’ use of masks in actor training Theatre: The Rediscovery of Style and Other Writings benefits from Jane Baldwin’s new biographical introduction and annotations, that put Saint-Denis into context for a contemporary audience. It brings a wealth of inspirational material both to the rehearsal space and the classroom.
Theatre Responds to Social Trauma: Chasing the Demons (Routledge Series in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Theatre and Performance)
by Ellen W. KaplanThis book is a collection of chapters by playwrights, directors, devisers, scholars, and educators whose praxis involves representing, theorizing, and performing social trauma.Chapters explore how psychic catastrophes and ruptures are often embedded in social systems of oppression and forged in zones of conflict within and across national borders. Through multiple lenses and diverse approaches, the authors examine the connections between collective trauma, social identity, and personal struggle. We look at the generational transmission of trauma, socially induced pathologies, and societal re-inscriptions of trauma, from mass incarceration to war-induced psychoses, from gendered violence through racist practices. Collective trauma may shape, protect, and preserve group identity, promoting a sense of cohesion and meaning, even as it shakes individuals through pain. Engaging with communities under significant stress through artistic practice offers a path towards reconstructing the meaning(s) of social trauma, making sense of the past, understanding the present, and re-visioning the future.The chapters combine theoretical and practical work, exploring the conceptual foundations and the artists’ processes as they interrogate the intersections of personal grief and communal mourning, through drama, poetry, and embodied performance.
Theatre Responds to Social Trauma: Chasing the Demons (Routledge Series in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Theatre and Performance)
This book is a collection of chapters by playwrights, directors, devisers, scholars, and educators whose praxis involves representing, theorizing, and performing social trauma.Chapters explore how psychic catastrophes and ruptures are often embedded in social systems of oppression and forged in zones of conflict within and across national borders. Through multiple lenses and diverse approaches, the authors examine the connections between collective trauma, social identity, and personal struggle. We look at the generational transmission of trauma, socially induced pathologies, and societal re-inscriptions of trauma, from mass incarceration to war-induced psychoses, from gendered violence through racist practices. Collective trauma may shape, protect, and preserve group identity, promoting a sense of cohesion and meaning, even as it shakes individuals through pain. Engaging with communities under significant stress through artistic practice offers a path towards reconstructing the meaning(s) of social trauma, making sense of the past, understanding the present, and re-visioning the future.The chapters combine theoretical and practical work, exploring the conceptual foundations and the artists’ processes as they interrogate the intersections of personal grief and communal mourning, through drama, poetry, and embodied performance.
Theatre-Rites: Animating Puppets, Objects and Sites
by Liam Jarvis Sue BuckmasterTheatre-Rites are regarded as pioneers in the field of object-led and site-specific performance, creating ground-breaking work for family audiences since 1995. This book marks the company’s 25th anniversary, offering the first in-depth exploration of artistic director Sue Buckmaster’s visionary practice, in which anything can be animated. This book draws on original research, including five years of in-depth interviews between its authors, images from Theatre-Rites’ archive and Buckmaster’s private collection, detailed observations from the company’s professional training workshops and personal reflections on past productions. A timely and compelling advocacy for the importance of high-quality experimental arts provision for young audiences is made, distilling learning from decades of the company’s professional activities to motivate and empower the next generation of object-led theatre-makers. Theatre-Rites: Animating Puppets, Objects and Sites is an invaluable resource for any puppeteer, actor, dancer, visual artist, poet or student interested in expanding their understanding of how to incorporate puppetry and/or symbolic objects as metaphors in their work.
Theatre, Sacrifice, Ritual: Exploring Forms of Political Theatre
by Erika Fischer-LichteIn this fascinating volume, acclaimed theatre historian Erika Fischer-Lichte reflects on the role and meaning accorded to the theme of sacrifice in Western cultures as mirrored in particular fusions of theatre and ritual. Theatre, Sacrifice, Ritual presents a radical re-definition of ritual theatre through analysis of performances as diverse as: Max Reinhardt's new people's theatre the mass spectacles of post-revolutionary Russia American Zionist pageants the Olympic Games. In offering both a performative and a semiotic analysis of such performances, Fischer-Lichte expertly demonstrates how theatre and ritual are fused in order to tackle the problem of community-building in societies characterised by loss of solidarity and disintegration, and exposes the provocative connection between the utopian visions of community they suggest, and the notion of sacrifice. This innovative study of twentieth-century performative culture boldly examines the complexities of political theatre, propaganda and manipulation of the masses, and offers a revolutionary approach to the study of theatre and performance history.
Theatre, Sacrifice, Ritual: Exploring Forms of Political Theatre
by Erika Fischer-LichteIn this fascinating volume, acclaimed theatre historian Erika Fischer-Lichte reflects on the role and meaning accorded to the theme of sacrifice in Western cultures as mirrored in particular fusions of theatre and ritual. Theatre, Sacrifice, Ritual presents a radical re-definition of ritual theatre through analysis of performances as diverse as: Max Reinhardt's new people's theatre the mass spectacles of post-revolutionary Russia American Zionist pageants the Olympic Games. In offering both a performative and a semiotic analysis of such performances, Fischer-Lichte expertly demonstrates how theatre and ritual are fused in order to tackle the problem of community-building in societies characterised by loss of solidarity and disintegration, and exposes the provocative connection between the utopian visions of community they suggest, and the notion of sacrifice. This innovative study of twentieth-century performative culture boldly examines the complexities of political theatre, propaganda and manipulation of the masses, and offers a revolutionary approach to the study of theatre and performance history.
Theatre Sciences: A Plea for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Theatre Studies
by Eli RozikTraditional theatre semiotics promoted a scientific approach to theatre studies, albeit viewing semiotics as the unique discipline of research. Theatre Sciences: A Plea for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Theatre Studies suggests instead a multi-disciplinary approach, including the following theoretical disciplines: narratology, mythology, pragmatics, ethics, theatre irony, theory of genres, aesthetics, semiotics, theory of non-verbal figures of speech, rhetoric, psychoanalysis, reception theory, history, and sociology -- with semiotics being only one among equals. These disciplines are presented from the perspective of their possible contributions to a sound methodology of theatre-texts analysis. Traditional theatre semiotics, moreover, holds the view that the actual performance on stage is the genuine text of theatre, instead of the play-script. Despite this paradigmatic shift, however, this viewpoint has failed to produce commendable analyses of such texts. The alternative presupposition put forward in this volume entails a series of novel perceptions of the theatre-text and its possible impact on the experiencing spectator, whose role in reading, interpreting and experiencing the theatre-text is not less crucial than that of the text itself. This view presupposes that the theatre-text is a description of a fictional world generated by the theatre medium. The author also contests the age-old view that a theatre/fictional-text reflects a simple narrative structure, and suggests instead a complexity that consists of seven layers: personified, mythical, praxical, naive, ironic, modal and aesthetic -- with each one of them re-structuring the previous layer. Professor Rozik also presents and describes a semiotic layer that lends communicative capacity to the description of a fictional world, and two additional metaphoric and rhetoric layers, which structure the theatre experience. The underlying purpose is to illustrate the application of the aforementioned disciplines to these fictional layers, and eventually their joint application to entire theatre / fictional texts. Organisation of the book reflects the structure of a university course.
Theatre, Social Media, and Meaning Making
by Bree HadleyThis book offers the first broad-based survey of the way artists, audiences and society at large are making use of social media, and how the emergence of social media platforms that allow two-way interaction between these groups has been held up as a ‘game changer’ by many in the theatre industry. The first book to analyse aesthetic, critical, audience development, marketing and assessment uptake of social media in the theatre industry in an integrated fashion, Theatre, Social Media and Meaning Making examines examples from the USA, UK, Europe and Australasia to provide a snapshot of this emerging niche within networked, telematic, immersive and participatory theatre production and reception practices. A vital new resource for the field, this book will appeal to scholars, students, and industry practitioners alike.
Theatre Sound
by John A. LeonardTheatre Sound includes a brief history of the use of sound in the theatre, discussions of musicals, sound effects, and the recording studio, and even an introduction to the physics and math of sound design. A bibliography and online reference section make this the new essential work for students of theatre and practicing sound designers.