Theatre and Consciousness – serie

Theatre, Time and Temporality is the first book-length exploration of the subject of temporality within theatre and performance. David Ian Rabey brings in sources ranging from medieval and Renaissance theatre to contemporary performances – in addition to recent writings from physics, philosophy and psychology – to analyse ways that time can be presented, communicated and transformed in the theatre. How do we experience time in theatre, and how can that experience be altered or manipulated? Rabey’s analysis and exploration will spark discussion among students and scholars of drama, as well as among practicing performers and dramatic writers.

For the last ten to fifteen years, many disciplines of scholarship have been involved in the study of consciousness, often on an interdisciplinary basis. They include philosophy, neurosciences, psychology, physics and biology, and approaches focusing on human experience. The Centre for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson spearheaded this development with its bi-annual conferences since 1994, and a wide range of associations, journals and book publications bear witness to its importance. Over the same number of years, scholarly interest in the relationship of consciousness to theatre has equally grown. The book discusses a range of questions relevant to understanding the phenomenon of theatre against a consciousness studies background. ‘By placing theatre at the centre of human experience, a vital contributor to our mental, emotional and spiritual health rather than mere mindless entertainment, Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe does a vital service to the artform.', – Total Theatre Magazine,