Theatricality (Theatre and Performance Theory)

New
Illustrated
2004
$38.20

This collection of specially-commissioned, accessible, essays explores that element of performance theory known as theatricality. Six case studies, each written by a specialist in the field, use historically specific circumstances to illustrate how and why the concept of theatricality was and is used. Topics discussed include early use of the term; employment of 'theatricality' by a number of other disciplines to describe events; non-Western interpretation of theatricality; and its use when discussing and analyzing political and cultural events and philosophies. The book provides a first-step guide for those discovering the complex yet rewarding world of performance theory.

Synopsis

This collection of specially-commissioned, accessible, essays explores that element of performance theory known as theatricality. Six case studies, each written by a specialist in the field, use historically specific circumstances to illustrate how and why the concept of theatricality was and is used. Topics discussed include early use of the term; employment of 'theatricality' by a number of other disciplines to describe events; non-Western interpretation of theatricality; and its use when discussing and analyzing political and cultural events and philosophies. The book provides a first-step guide for those discovering the complex yet rewarding world of performance theory.

$38.20

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 256
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 19 Feb 2004
ISBN 10: 0521012074
ISBN 13: 9780521012072
Book Overview: This collection of specially-commissioned, accessible, essays explores that element of performance theory known as theatricality.

Media Reviews

'... 'unified' yet multidimensional perspective on an ever-expanding subject ...'. Journal of Theatre Research International
'This new collection of essays, part of the Theatre and Performance Theory series, is a stimulating, erudite, and important volume in the emerging field of theatricality. ... This collection is smart, timely, and, thanks to the sophistication of the contributions, will inform wider debates about historiography, theory, and performance practice as well as setting out important questions and agendas in the field of theatricality.' New Theatre Quarterly
What is special about the selection of these essays is how well they are ordered and flow from one topic to the next[...] All of the essays are of the highest quality. However, the strongest reason that this book is important is the Introduction, which should be required reading for all drama and theatre scholars and those in the field of performance studies. The concept of theatricality is now solidified as an important concept both inside and outside of performance and theatre studies. -Michael Y. Bennett, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, American and English Studies

Author Bio

Tracy C. Davis is Barber Professor of the Performing Arts at Northwestern University. She is author of Actresses as Working Women: Their Social Identity in Victorian Culture, George Bernard Shaw and the Socialist Theatre, and The Economics of the British Stage, 1800-1914 and general editor of the Cambridge series Theatre and Performance Theory. Thomas Postlewait is Professor of theatre history at Ohio State University. He contributed to the Cambridge History of American Theatre, vol. two, and is the editor of the book series Studies in Theatre History and Culture with University of Iowa Press.