Theatre And – serie

How can an understanding of theatre in the city help us make sense of urban social experience?Theatre& the City explores how relationships between theatre, performance and the city affect social power dynamics, ideologies and people's sense of identity. The book evaluates both material conditions (such as architecture) and performative practices (such as urban activism) to argue that both these categories contribute to the complex economies and ecologies of theatre and performance in an increasingly urbanised world. Foreword by Tim Etchells.

What happens to politics when it takes the form of theatre? How has theatre both exploited and undermined politics both in society and on the stage?Theatre & Politics explores the complex relationship between theatre and politics, questioning some of the assumptions that often arise when they are brought together. Challenging ideas about 'entertainment' and 'communication', the book draws on a broad range of key writing from Plato to Rancière, and theatrical examples from Shakespeare and his adaptors through Peter Handke to debbie tucker green.

Act of violence or show of strength? In a world of spectacular suffering and power plays – large and small – what is theatre's role in protecting human dignity?With its impassioned plays, inspired activism and outspoken artists, the theatre has long provided a venue for promoting and practising human rights; but is this always to the good? Today the relationship between theatre and human rights is not only vital, but complex and contested. Drawing on an international range of examples, this short, sharp and timely book outlines the key features of the debate and offers a critical take on where it should go next. Foreword by Rabih Mrove.

What do we mean when we talk about bodies in theatre? And how does theatre affect the way we think about the human body?Bodies are vital elements of theatre production and spectatorship. But the body is not just physical, it is also conceptual. Drawing on many examples from contemporary performance, Theatre & the Body is a provocative starting point for understanding the surprisingly complex relationship between theatre and the body. Concise and clear, this book explores the revealing tensions between the body, bodies, language, representation and movement in the theatre. Foreword by Marina Abramovic.

What is ethics and what has it got to do with theatre? Drawing on both theoretical material and practical examples, Ridout makes a clear and compelling critical intervention, raising fundamental questions about what theatre is for and how audiences interact with it.

What is globalization? What role is there for the theatre in a globalizing world?This original and provocative book explores the contribution that theatre has made to our slowly evolving consciousness of our world as a whole. Drawing on sources from Aeschylus to The Lion King, Chekhov to Complicite, tragedy to advertising, the book argues for theatre's importance as a site of resistance to the ruthless spread of the global market. Foreword by Mark Ravenhill.

How does a tragedy arouse pity and fear? How do music and lighting set a mood or convey an emotional tone for an audience? Why does theatre move us? Theatre & Feeling explores the idea that, for many people, theatre is a passion. It provides an intellectual framework for the range of emotional experience engendered by the theatre, establishing a base-line for further thinking and practice in this rich and emergent area of inquiry. Moving across western dramatic theory and theatre history, the book demonstrates the centrality of feeling to the theatre. Foreword by Anne Bogart.

What motivates theatre-makers who work in education? How can theatre respond to young people's experiences of living in a globalised world?Theatre & Education provides an insight into the energy, passion and values that have inspired the most inventive theatre-makers who work with young people in educational settings. It charts early debates that motivated twentieth-century radical theatre-makers to work with young people, and offers an analysis of contemporary practices. It argues that the aesthetic principles and educational ideals that inform theatre and education drive at the heart of why theatre matters. Foreword by Edward Bond.

How has theatre engaged with the nation-state and helped to formulate national identities? What impact have migration and globalisation had on the relationship between theatre and nation?Theatre & Nation explores how theatre institutions, playwrights, theatre-makers and performance artists engage with the nation, nationalism and national identity in their work.The book argues that theatrical representations of the nation are constantly in flux and that the way theatre engages with the nation changes according to different geographical, political, economic, social and cultural circumstances. Foreword by Nicholas Hytner.

Theatre and architecture are seeming opposites: one a time-based art-form experienced in space, the other a spatial art experienced over time. The book unpicks these assumptions, demonstrating ways in which theatre and architecture are essential to each other and contextualizing their dynamic relationship historically and culturally.

Theatre & Sexuality explains the critical validity of using sexuality as a lens for examining theatre's creation and reception. The book offers clear introductions to sexual identity politics, ways of 'reading' sexuality on stage and a select history of LGBTQ theatre, including a reading of Split Britches/Bloolips' production Belle Reprieve.

This provocative book meets the supposedly 'live' practices of performance and the 'no-longer-live' historical past at their own dangerous crossroads. Focussing on the 'and' of the title, it addresses the tangled relations between the terms, practices, ideas, and aims embedded in these compatriot - but often oppositional - arts and acts of time.

Theatre & the Visual argues that theatre studies' preoccupation with problems arising from textual analysis has compromised a fuller, political consideration of the visual. Johnson examines the spectator's role in the theatre, exploring pleasure, difficulty and spectacle, to consider the implications for visual experience in the theatre.

Theatre and Prison investigates how theatre-makers stage critical questions about the use of prison in society. Using examples from popular culture, dramatic texts and applied theatre it analyses how theatre and performance reveals economies of punishment, affects penal reform and both challenges and participates in narratives of reformation.

All performance depends upon our abilities to create, perceive, remember, imagine and empathize. This book provides an introduction to the evolutionary and cognitive foundations of theatrical performing and spectating and argues that this scientific perspective challenges some of the major assumptions about what takes place in the theatre.

Examining the relationship between theatre and photography, this book shows how the two intertwine and provide vantage points for understanding each other. Joel Anderson explores the theory and practice of photographing theatre and performance, as well as theatre and photography's mutual preoccupation with posing, staging, framing, and stillness.

Theatre and Prison investigates how theatre-makers stage critical questions about the use of prison in society. Using examples from popular culture, dramatic texts and applied theatre it analyses how theatre and performance reveals economies of punishment, affects penal reform and both challenges and participates in narratives of reformation.

Lourdes Orozco considers different representations of animals in performance; suggesting that all animals have the ability to make us question the human, and its relationship to the other. She examines ways in which animals challenge theatre's ability to make meaning, and considers the surrounding ethical, political and social issues.

What is ethics and what has it got to do with theatre? Drawing on both theoretical material and practical examples, Ridout makes a clear and compelling critical intervention, raising fundamental questions about what theatre is for and how audiences interact with it.

What is globalization? What role is there for the theatre in a globalizing world?This original and provocative book explores the contribution that theatre has made to our slowly evolving consciousness of our world as a whole. Drawing on sources from Aeschylus to The Lion King, Chekhov to Complicite, tragedy to advertising, the book argues for theatre''s importance as a site of resistance to the ruthless spread of the global market. Foreword by Mark Ravenhill.

Act of violence or show of strength? In a world of spectacular suffering and power plays – large and small – what is theatre''s role in protecting human dignity?With its impassioned plays, inspired activism and outspoken artists, the theatre has long provided a venue for promoting and practising human rights; but is this always to the good? Today the relationship between theatre and human rights is not only vital, but complex and contested. Drawing on an international range of examples, this short, sharp and timely book outlines the key features of the debate and offers a critical take on where it should go next. Foreword by Rabih Mrove.

What does theatre do for – and to – those who witness, watch, and participate in it?Theatre & Audience provides a provocative overview of the questions raised by theatrical encounters between performers and audiences. Focusing on European and North American theatre and its audiences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it explores belief in theatre''s potential to influence, impact and transform. Illustrated by examples of performance which have sought to generate active audience involvement – from Brecht''s epic theatre to the Blue Man Group – it seeks to unsettle any simple equation between audience participation and empowerment. Foreword by Lois Weaver.

What motivates theatre-makers who work in education? How can theatre respond to young people''s experiences of living in a globalised world?Theatre & Education provides an insight into the energy, passion and values that have inspired the most inventive theatre-makers who work with young people in educational settings. It charts early debates that motivated twentieth-century radical theatre-makers to work with young people, and offers an analysis of contemporary practices. It argues that the aesthetic principles and educational ideals that inform theatre and education drive at the heart of why theatre matters. Foreword by Edward Bond.

What happens to politics when it takes the form of theatre? How has theatre both exploited and undermined politics both in society and on the stage?Theatre & Politics explores the complex relationship between theatre and politics, questioning some of the assumptions that often arise when they are brought together. Challenging ideas about ''entertainment'' and ''communication'', the book draws on a broad range of key writing from Plato to Rancière, and theatrical examples from Shakespeare and his adaptors through Peter Handke to debbie tucker green.

How can an understanding of theatre in the city help us make sense of urban social experience?Theatre& the City explores how relationships between theatre, performance and the city affect social power dynamics, ideologies and people''s sense of identity. The book evaluates both material conditions (such as architecture) and performative practices (such as urban activism) to argue that both these categories contribute to the complex economies and ecologies of theatre and performance in an increasingly urbanised world. Foreword by Tim Etchells.

What do we mean when we talk about bodies in theatre? And how does theatre affect the way we think about the human body?Bodies are vital elements of theatre production and spectatorship. But the body is not just physical, it is also conceptual. Drawing on many examples from contemporary performance, Theatre & the Body is a provocative starting point for understanding the surprisingly complex relationship between theatre and the body. Concise and clear, this book explores the revealing tensions between the body, bodies, language, representation and movement in the theatre. Foreword by Marina Abramovic.

What is the significance of theatre and performance within Irish culture and history? How do we understand the impact and political potential of Irish theatre? This innovative survey of theatre in Ireland covers a range of drama and performance, from the 17th century to the present. Expanding the field of Irish theatre to include mumming, wake games, prison protests and theatre riots, the book argues that Ireland's longstanding association with performance illuminates key aspects of its cultural history and politics.Foreword by Fiona Shaw.

How are hybrid and diasporic identities performed in increasingly diverse societies? How can we begin to think differently about theatrical flow across cultures?Interculturalism is an increasingly urgent topic in the 21st century. As human traffic between nations increases, it becomes imperative to critically re-examine the way cultural exchange is performed. Theatre & Interculturalism surveys established approaches and asks what it would mean to reconsider intercultural performance, not from the points of view of the colonizing cultures, but 'from below'- from the viewpoints of the historically colonized and marginalized.

Bennett explores the relationship between theatre and museums, looking particularly at the collaborative processes that intertwine these two cultural practices. She argues that discourses of performance studies can open up new avenues of inquiry about the production and reception of the museum experience and its place in contemporary culture.