Academic interest in hysteria has burgeoned in recent decades. The topic has been probed by feminist theorists, cultural studies specialists, literary scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, medical and art historians, as well as novelists. The hysteric is construed as a powerless, voiceless subject, marginalised by the forces of the patriarchy that have been the root cause of their distress, dissembling, and disablement.

In Performing Nerves, Anna Furse interweaves her artistic and academic practice, drawing on her own performance texts to explore four different versions of debilitating hysteric suffering. Each text is extensively annotated, revealing the dramaturgical logic and, in turn, the historical, medical, and cultural contexts behind their protagonists'' illnesses, which are argued as environmentally caused in each case. This unique, reflective insight into a playwright and director’s craft offers not only an account of how mental suffering can manifest in different contexts and times, from the 19th century to today, but also a breadth of access to the ideas that can motivate creative research.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars of theatre studies, performance studies, dramaturgy, 20th-century history, gender studies, and medical humanities.

Academic interest in hysteria has burgeoned in recent decades. The topic has been probed by feminist theorists, cultural studies specialists, literary scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, medical and art historians, as well as novelists. The hysteric is construed as a powerless, voiceless subject, marginalised by the forces of the patriarchy that have been the root cause of their distress, dissembling, and disablement.

In Performing Nerves, Anna Furse interweaves her artistic and academic practice, drawing on her own performance texts to explore four different versions of debilitating hysteric suffering. Each text is extensively annotated, revealing the dramaturgical logic and, in turn, the historical, medical, and cultural contexts behind their protagonists'' illnesses, which are argued as environmentally caused in each case. This unique, reflective insight into a playwright and director’s craft offers not only an account of how mental suffering can manifest in different contexts and times, from the 19th century to today, but also a breadth of access to the ideas that can motivate creative research.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars of theatre studies, performance studies, dramaturgy, 20th-century history, gender studies, and medical humanities.

Surveying how Performance as a form has evolved as a distinct artistic sector to where it is today, Performance Making: a pedagogy for precarious times provides insight into the impact the artform has had across the creative sector and argues for its defence in higher education today.

Drawing on over 40+ years’ worth of experience as artist and academic, Anna Furse interrogates the ways in which the practice of Performance is truly interdisciplinary, offering a specific creative and critical practice approach. Chapters address the neo-liberal turn and its effect on culture; the history of the emergence of the genre within Performance Studies; the underlying political and cultural message of Performance as independent and necessary; wider philosophical and critical theoretical thinking that can support innovation within the field; and the key principles in the creation of live work such as space, site, scenography, the body, collaboration, and composition. Each chapter includes an essay, case studies, and exercises, empowering students to apply critical thinking to their own work.

Focusing on developing creative-critical methodologies in Performance Making at postgraduate level for international cohorts, this textbook will equip students, instructors, and practitioners to contextualise and enrich their Performance practice and leadership.

Surveying how Performance as a form has evolved as a distinct artistic sector to where it is today, Performance Making: a pedagogy for precarious times provides insight into the impact the artform has had across the creative sector and argues for its defence in higher education today.

Drawing on over 40+ years’ worth of experience as artist and academic, Anna Furse interrogates the ways in which the practice of Performance is truly interdisciplinary, offering a specific creative and critical practice approach. Chapters address the neo-liberal turn and its effect on culture; the history of the emergence of the genre within Performance Studies; the underlying political and cultural message of Performance as independent and necessary; wider philosophical and critical theoretical thinking that can support innovation within the field; and the key principles in the creation of live work such as space, site, scenography, the body, collaboration, and composition. Each chapter includes an essay, case studies, and exercises, empowering students to apply critical thinking to their own work.

Focusing on developing creative-critical methodologies in Performance Making at postgraduate level for international cohorts, this textbook will equip students, instructors, and practitioners to contextualise and enrich their Performance practice and leadership.

Academic interest in hysteria has burgeoned in recent decades. The topic has been probed by feminist theorists, cultural studies specialists, literary scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, medical and art historians, as well as novelists. The hysteric is construed as a powerless, voiceless subject, marginalised by the forces of the patriarchy that have been the root cause of their distress, dissembling, and disablement.

In Performing Nerves, Anna Furse interweaves her artistic and academic practice, drawing on her own performance texts to explore four different versions of debilitating hysteric suffering. Each text is extensively annotated, revealing the dramaturgical logic and, in turn, the historical, medical, and cultural contexts behind their protagonists'' illnesses, which are argued as environmentally caused in each case. This unique, reflective insight into a playwright and director’s craft offers not only an account of how mental suffering can manifest in different contexts and times, from the 19th century to today, but also a breadth of access to the ideas that can motivate creative research.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars of theatre studies, performance studies, dramaturgy, 20th-century history, gender studies, and medical humanities.

Academic interest in hysteria has burgeoned in recent decades. The topic has been probed by feminist theorists, cultural studies specialists, literary scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, medical and art historians, as well as novelists. The hysteric is construed as a powerless, voiceless subject, marginalised by the forces of the patriarchy that have been the root cause of their distress, dissembling, and disablement.

In Performing Nerves, Anna Furse interweaves her artistic and academic practice, drawing on her own performance texts to explore four different versions of debilitating hysteric suffering. Each text is extensively annotated, revealing the dramaturgical logic and, in turn, the historical, medical, and cultural contexts behind their protagonists'' illnesses, which are argued as environmentally caused in each case. This unique, reflective insight into a playwright and director’s craft offers not only an account of how mental suffering can manifest in different contexts and times, from the 19th century to today, but also a breadth of access to the ideas that can motivate creative research.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars of theatre studies, performance studies, dramaturgy, 20th-century history, gender studies, and medical humanities.

Surveying how Performance as a form has evolved as a distinct artistic sector to where it is today, Performance Making: a pedagogy for precarious times provides insight into the impact the artform has had across the creative sector and argues for its defence in higher education today.

Drawing on over 40+ years’ worth of experience as artist and academic, Anna Furse interrogates the ways in which the practice of Performance is truly interdisciplinary, offering a specific creative and critical practice approach. Chapters address the neo-liberal turn and its effect on culture; the history of the emergence of the genre within Performance Studies; the underlying political and cultural message of Performance as independent and necessary; wider philosophical and critical theoretical thinking that can support innovation within the field; and the key principles in the creation of live work such as space, site, scenography, the body, collaboration, and composition. Each chapter includes an essay, case studies, and exercises, empowering students to apply critical thinking to their own work.

Focusing on developing creative-critical methodologies in Performance Making at postgraduate level for international cohorts, this textbook will equip students, instructors, and practitioners to contextualise and enrich their Performance practice and leadership.

Surveying how Performance as a form has evolved as a distinct artistic sector to where it is today, Performance Making: a pedagogy for precarious times provides insight into the impact the artform has had across the creative sector and argues for its defence in higher education today.

Drawing on over 40+ years’ worth of experience as artist and academic, Anna Furse interrogates the ways in which the practice of Performance is truly interdisciplinary, offering a specific creative and critical practice approach. Chapters address the neo-liberal turn and its effect on culture; the history of the emergence of the genre within Performance Studies; the underlying political and cultural message of Performance as independent and necessary; wider philosophical and critical theoretical thinking that can support innovation within the field; and the key principles in the creation of live work such as space, site, scenography, the body, collaboration, and composition. Each chapter includes an essay, case studies, and exercises, empowering students to apply critical thinking to their own work.

Focusing on developing creative-critical methodologies in Performance Making at postgraduate level for international cohorts, this textbook will equip students, instructors, and practitioners to contextualise and enrich their Performance practice and leadership.