Theatricality
Published on 9. February 2004
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-521-81269-6 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
'... '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 QuarterlyMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
2 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
497 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-81269-6 (9780521812696)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
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.
Content
Acknowledgements; Notes on contributors; List of illustrations; 1. Theatricality: an introduction Thomas Postlewait and Tracy C. Davis; 2. Performing miracles: the mysterious mimesis of Valenciennes (1547) Jody Enders; 3. Theatricality in classical Chinese drama Haiping Yan; 4. Theatricality and antitheatricality in Renaissance London Thomas Postlewait; 5. Theatricality and civil society Tracy C. Davis; 6. Defining political performance with Foucault and Habermas: strategic and communicative action Jon Erickson; 7. Theatricality's proper objects: genealogies of performance and gender theory Shannon Jackson; Works cited; Index.