Theatre and Film

Are theatre and film two parallel art forms, with differing methods and similar goals? Or is film the natural successor to theatre — taking over from it in the age of mediation — while theatre remains bound to liveness and shared presence? Theatre and Film explores the rich entanglement of these two disciplines, from the origins of film technologies in the nineteenth century, through the high point of their overlap in the mid-twentieth century, into the world of post-film digital media today.Following a broadly chronological narrative, this book offers a kaleidoscopic and international view of the many ways in which the relationship between theatre and film has been configured across Europe, China, Africa and the US. How has the highly contested ideal of “realism” played out in different times and places? How did Hollywood’s Method acting style become dominant? How has the rise of video changed the relationship between theatre and film?Aimed at students and practitioners in both disciplines, Theatre and Film explores what happens when a film appears onstage, when theatre appears onscreen, and when theatre and film are braided together in ever more complex ways.