Wittgenstein and Performance

Reviews / Votes

There are few people with the nerve to reacquaint Wittgenstein and performance, but Mischa Twitchin is one. Having recognised the curious elision of the Analytic tradition from almost all interdisciplinary pairings of thought and theatre, this critically incisive and often playful collection sets about recovering the potential for a practiced poetics of philosophical rigour. -- Alan Read, professor of theatre and director of Performance Foundation, King's College London This inventive collection shows that Wittgenstein's impact on the arts, from poetry to performance, continues to evolve in new directions. By mixing artists and scholars, the volume allows readers to explore surprising lines of influence, and to make their own connections across different forms of writing and thinking. An intellectual treat. -- Martin Puchner, Harvard University Taken together, the essays here profoundly honor Wittgenstein's mode of thinking, which is so playful and creative that it was bound to inspire the crossings between thinking and performing to which this book testifies. A much-needed book, in Wittgenstein's spirit. -- Mieke Bal, co-founder of the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA) A seriously playful approach to the philosophical poetry of one of the 20th century's most influential thinkers. Twitchin has assembled a veritable treasure trove of performative responses, dialogues, and essays. The eclectic range of practices discussed hang together in a way that Wittgenstein would surely have appreciated, as family resemblance. A wonderful contribution to ongoing debates in Performance Philosophy! -- Tony Fisher, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama This is a groundbreaking and very exciting collection of academic and creative responses to Ludwig Wittgenstein's thinking and the ways it has impacted our understanding of being spectators in and of the world, as 'everything that is the case'. The essays reflect variously on what enables us to perform in the world, even when silence would be most appropriate. -- Freddie Rokem, author of <i>Philosophers and Thespians: Thinking Performance</i>