|
|
|
Artaud on Theatre Antonin Artaud Methuen, 2006 $35.00pb
Artaud's cherished dream was to found a new kind of theatre in France that would not be an artistic spectacle, but a communion between spectators and actors. This volume contains all of Artaud's key writings on theatre and cinema from 1921 to his death in 1948, together with a definitive commentary on the key texts of this 20th-century theatre visionary. Although his potent theories were never successfully realised during his own tortured lifetime, his revolutionary ideas have inspired the work of Genet, Arrabal, The Living Theatre, Grotowski, Brook and most experimental drama and performance work of the last decades. ''Artaud was one of the most influential figures in European theatre, one of the great, daring mapmakers of the consciousness in extremis.'' (Susan Sontag) ''For Artaud, the actor is the victim at the stake desperately signalling through the flames''. Peter Brook' 288 pages |
|
|
|
Belonging: Australian Playwriting in the 20th Century John McCallum Currency Press, 2009 $49.95pb
John McCallum’s new history explores the relationship between 20th century Australian drama and a developing concept of nation. The book focuses on the creative tension sparked by duelling impulses between nationalism and cosmopolitanism; and between artistic seriousness and larrikin populism. 384 pages |
|
|
|
Brecht on Theatre: the development of an aesthetic John Willett (ed & trans) Methuen, reprinted 2008 $35.00pb
This key selection of Bertolt Brecht's critical writing charts the development of his thinking on theatre and aesthetics over four decades. The volume demonstrates how the theories of Epic Theatre and Alienation evolved, and contains notes and essays on the staging of The Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny, Mother Courage, Puntila, Galileo and many others of his plays. Also included is A Short Organum for the Theatre, Brecht's most complete statement of his revolutionary philosophy of the theatre.With over 32 pages of photographs of Brecht's productions and workshops, this is a key volume for Literature and Theatre Studies alike. 294 pages |
|
|
|
The Cambridge Companion to the Musical William A. Everett & Paul R. Laird Cambridge University Press, 2008 $49.95pb
Tracing the development of the musical on both Broadway and in London's West End, this updated Companion continues to provide a broad and thorough overview of one of the liveliest and most popular forms of musical performance. Ordered chronologically, essays cover from the American musical of the nineteenth century through to the most recent productions, and the book also includes key information on singers, audience, critical reception, and traditions. All of the chapters from the first edition remain - several in substantially updated forms - and five completely new chapters have been added, covering: ethnic musicals in the United States; the European musical; Broadway musicals in revival and on television; the most recent shows; and a case study of the creation of the popular show Wicked based on interviews with its creators. The Companion also includes an extensive bibliography and photographs from key productions. 432 pages |
|
|
|
The Cambridge Companion to Greek & Roman Theatre Marianne McDonald & Michael Walton Cambridge University Press, 2007 $58.95pb
This series of essays by prominent academics and practitioners investigates in detail the history of performance in the classical Greek and Roman world. Beginning with the earliest examples of 'dramatic' presentation in the epic cycles and reaching through to the latter days of the Roman Empire and beyond, the Companion covers many aspects of these broad presentational societies. Dramatic performances that are text-based form only one part of cultures where presentation is a major element of all social and political life. Individual chapters range across a two thousand year timescale, and include specific chapters on acting traditions, masks, properties, playing places, festivals, religion and drama, comedy and society, and commodity, concluding with the dramatic legacy of myth and the modern media. The book addresses the needs of students of drama and classics, as well as anyone with an interest in the theatre's history and practice. 384 pages |
|
|
|
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film Russell Jackson (ed) Cambridge University Press, 2007 $49.95pb
Film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays are increasingly popular and now figure prominently in the study of his work and its reception. This Companion is a lively collection of critical and historical essays on the films adapted from, and inspired by, Shakespeare's plays. Chapters have been revised and updated from the first edition to include the most recent films and scholarship. An international team of leading scholars discuss Shakespearean films from a variety of perspectives: as works of art in their own right; as products of the international movie industry; and as the work of particular directors from Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles to Franco Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh. 364 pages |
|
|
|
The Creative Spirit: an introduction to theatre Stephanie Arnold McGraw-Hill, 5th ed., 2010 $149.95pb
Focusing on the collaborative and creative processes that go into productions, The Creative Spirit: An Introduction to Theatre introduces students to the theatre through the plays themselves and people who write them, create them, and act in them. The book provides a rich context for each play with a discussion of the playwright's other works, sources for the play, timelines that present historical and cultural background, and a section on a particular production of the play to give students a sense of the theatre industry at close hand. The Creative Spirit includes complete scripts of five plays: August Wilson's and Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Wakako Yamauchi's And the Soul Shall Dance, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Milcha Sanchez-Scott's Dog Lady, and Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics. 544 pages |
|
|
|
The Empty Space Peter Brook Penguin Modern Classics, 2008 $24.95pb
In The Empty Space, groundbreaking director Peter Brook draws on a life in love with the stage to explore the issues facing any theatrical performance. Here he describes important developments in theatre from the last century, as well as smaller scale events, from productions by Stanislavsky to the rise of Method Acting, from Brecht's revolutionary alienation technique to the free form Happenings of the 1960s, and from the different styles of such great Shakespearean actors as John Gielgud and Paul Scofield to a joyous impromptu performance in the burnt-out shell of the Hamburg Opera just after the war. Passionate, unconventional and fascinating, his book shows how theatre defies rules, builds and shatters illusions and creates lasting memories for its audiences. 160 pages |
|
|
|
History of the Theatre Brockett & Hildy Allyn & Bacon, 10th ed., 2007 $133.95hb
Known as the "bible" of theatre history, Brockett and Hildy’s History of the Theatre is the most comprehensive and widely used survey of theatre history in the market. This new edition retains all of the traditional features that have made History of the Theatre the most successful text of its kind including worldwide coverage, more than 530 photos and illustrations, useful maps, and the expertise of Oscar G. Brockett and Franklin J. Hildy, two of the most widely respected theatre historians in the field. This 10th edition provides the most thorough and accurate assessment of theatre history available and includes contemporary milestones in theatre history. New to this edition - * Updates throughout the text to reflect the most current state of knowledge * Features new material on African and Asian theatre * Expands the coverage of theatre history in Latin America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand *Incorporates a thoroughly revised chapter on Contemporary Theatre, which includes the most recent updates to this area of study. 704 pages |
|
|
|
Key Concepts in Drama and Performance Kenneth Pickering Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd ed., 2010 $42.00pb
An invaluable companion that enables the reader to acquire and understand a vocabulary for discussion and critical thinking on all aspects of the subject. The clear explanations of the concepts support students in their practical and theoretical explorations of the subjects and offer insights for research and reflective writing. 288 pages |
|
|
|
The Lee Strasberg Notes Lola Cohen (ed) Routledge, 2010 $45.00pb
What
can Lee Strasberg teach the modern actor? The
Lee Strasberg Notes reproduces the original teachings of a unique voice
in actor training for the very first time, presenting an enlightening
approach to today’s practitioners. |
|
|
|
Making Contemporary Theatre: International Rehearsal Processes Jen Harvie (ed) Manchester University Press, 2010 $41.95pb
The book opens with an introductory chapter which contextualizes recent trends in approaches to theatre-making. In the ensuing eleven chapters, eleven different writer-observers describe, contextualize and analyze the theatre-making practices of eleven different companies and directors, including Japan’s Gekidan Kaitaisha and the Québécois director Robert Lepage. Each chapter is enriched with extensive illustrations as well as boxed-off "asides," giving the reader different perspectives on the work. Chapters usually focus on a single production, such as Complicite’s 2003-04 The Elephant Vanishes, allowing detailed investigations of complex practices to emerge. The book concludes with a brief manifesto for making contemporary theatre by the editors, plus a bibliography suggesting further reading. |
|
|
|
Meyerhold: a Revolution in Theatre Edward Braun A&C Black, 2006 $45.00pb
Edward Braun's acclaimed work on Meyerhold available for the first time in paperback. Vsevolod Meyerhold began his career in theatre as an actor with the Moscow Art Theatre, and after a spell in the remote provinces, he returned to Moscow at Stanislavski's invitation and founded a new, experimental studio for the Art Theatre. This book takes us through Meyerhold's extraordinary life of experiment and discovery, describing his rehearsal techniques and exercises and provides an acute assessment of his continuing influence on contemporary theatre. 256 pages |
|
|
|
Meyerhold on Theatre Vsevolod Meyerhold/ Edward Braun (ed) Methuen, 2006 $35.00pb
A major reissue of a book which is used by students of Meyerhold across the world. This was the first collection of Meyerhold's writings and utterances to appear in English and covers his entire career as a director from 1902 to 1939. These are supplemented by a critical commentary, relating Meyerhold to his period and containing descriptions, based on eye-witness accounts, of all his major productions. 368 pages |
|
|
|
Musical Theatre: a history John Kenrick Continuum, 2010 $48.00pb
This is a comprehensive history of stage musicals ranging from Ancient Greece and Rome to Paris during the 1840s all the way up to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Broadway as it we know it today. Like every art form, musical theatre has been changing and evolving since its inception more than 2000 years ago. Kenrick presents a comprehensive history of stage musicals from the earliest accounts of the ancient Greeks and Romans, for whom songs were common elements in staging, to Jacques Offenbach in Paris during the 1840s, to Gilbert and Sullivan in the UK, to the rise of music halls and vaudeville traditions in America, and eventually to 'Broadway's Golden Age' with George and Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein, Leondard Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The 21st century has also brought a popular new wave of musicals to the Broadway stage, from 'The Producers' to 'Spamalot'. Musical Theatre covers it all, from the opening number to the curtain call, offering readers the most up-to-date history of the art form. 424 pages |
|
|
|
The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Margreta De Grazia & Stanley Wells (eds) Cambridge University Press, 2010 $49.95pb
Written by a team of leading international scholars, this Companion is designed to illuminate Shakespeare's works through discussion of the key topics of Shakespeare studies. Twenty-one brand new essays provide lively and authoritative approaches to recent scholarship and criticism for readers keen to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Shakespeare. The book contains stimulating chapters on traditional topics such as Shakespeare's biography and the transmission of his texts. Individual readings of the plays are given in the context of genre as well as through the cultural and historical perspectives of race, sexuality and gender, and politics and religion. Essays on performance survey the latest digital media as well as stage and film. Throughout the volume, contributors discuss Shakespeare in a global as well as a national context, a dramatist with a long and constantly mutating history of reception and performance. 380 pages |
|
|
|
A Practical Guide to Working in Theatre Gill Foreman A&C Black, 2009 $35.00pb
Live theatre is an
exciting, challenging profession - but how is professional theatre actually
made? What are the roles and what does each person do? Which pathways lead
into the profession? Written by the Acting Head of the Young People's
Programme at the Royal Shakespeare Co. and former Director of Education at
the Bristol Old Vic, this is a book for new entrants in the theatre industry
needing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how theatre is made. 256 pages |
|
|
|
The Rough Guide to Shakespeare Andrew Dickson Rough Guides, 2009 $39.95pb
The Rough Guide to Shakespeare is the ultimate guide to the life and work of the world's greatest playwright; William Shakespeare. With full coverage of the 38 Shakespearian plays, including a synopsis, full character list, stage history and a critical essay for each, this comprehensive guide is both a quick reference and in-depth background guide for theatergoers, students, film buffs and lovers of literature alike. 600 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & the City Jen Harvie Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
These short books, all written by leading theatre academics, do much to reintroduce some of the brightest names in theatre academia to the general reader. Plus, the matrix of references to bigger books soon builds quite a comprehensive catch-up reading list. 96 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & the Body Colette Conroy Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 $15.95pb
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. 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Politics Joe Kelleher Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
Keheller explores the relationship between theatre and politics, challenging some of the assumptions that often arise when they are brought together. The book engages with both a broad range of key theoretical material from Plato to Rancière, and theatrical examples from Shakespeare and his adaptors through Peter Handke to Debbie Tucker Green. 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Education Helen Nicholson Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
'This is a wide-ranging but precise account of the movement for creating theatre for young audiences. It records its history and examines its various, often conflicting, philosophies.' – Edward Bond 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Ethics Nicholas Ridout Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
'The accomplishment of Theatre & Ethics is to develop a theory of ethics in performance that can be applied to such a broad range of plays, performances, and cultures. While there are a number of remarkable insights in Nicholas Ridout's book, the most significant is simply to have brought together these two terms - 'theatre' and 'ethics' - in an approachable, compelling volume.' - D.J.Hopkins, Head of Theatre Studies, San Diego State University. 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Human Rights Paul Rae Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
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. 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Audience Helen Freshwater Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
'This book is about us. It documents our presence, articulates our position and questions our experience as casual on-lookers, silent witnesses, engaged spectators, willing participants, in this glorious activity called audience. See for yourself.' - Lois Weaver 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Globalization Dan Rebellato Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 $15.95pb
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. 80 pages |
|
|
|
Theatre & Feeling Erin Hurley Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 $12.95pb
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, bringing the issue of theatrical feeling into focus as both a research object and a method in Theatre Studies. |
|
|
|
Theatre & Interculturalism Ric Knowles Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 $12.95pb
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. |
|
|
|
Theatre & Ireland Lionel Pilkington Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 $12.95pb
Often regarded as innately performative, Ireland has been the location for the 'drama' of rebellion and anti-colonial insurgency. This book argues that theatre in Ireland is a cultural phenomenon that is not restricted to professional, urban theatre, but is rooted in alternative and competing traditions of popular drama and performance. |
|
|
|
Theatre & Nation Nadine Holdsworth Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 $12.95pb
Theatre & Nation explores how theatre institutions,
playwrights, theatre-makers and performance artists engage with the nation,
nationalism and national identity in their work. |
|
|
|
Theatre, Performance and the Historical Avant-Garde Gunter Bergaus Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 $65.00pb
This comprehensive study traces the origins of European modernism in nineteenth-century Paris, then branches out to examine four major movements of the theatrical avant-garde that sprung from this epicenter in the early twentieth-century: Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Constructivism. 400 pages |
|
|
|
Towards a Poor Theatre Jerzy Grotowski (intro by Peter Brook) Methuen, 2006 $35.00pb
Jerzy
Grotowski created the Theatre Laboratory in Opole, South-West Poland, in
1959. His work since then, with a small permanent company, became one of the
most potent sources of information for modern actors and directors. This is a
record of the ideas that motivated the work of the Theatre Laboratory, and of
the company's methods and discoveries. 224 pages |
