Feminist thinking constitutes a lively, oppositional and energizing force at the centre of the theatre academy. Although a relatively new field of study, its dynamic impact is changing the way in which theatre is taught and practised. An Introduction to Feminism and Theatre is an accessible and intelligent overview of feminist theory, plays, practitioners and practice, all of which are changing the perception of theatre as a whole.
"Imperialism" is a trans-national and trans-historical phenomenon; it occurs neither in limited areas nor at one specific moment. In cultures from across the world theatrical performance has long been a site both for the representation and support of imperialism and resistance and rebellion against it. Imperialism and Theatre is a groundbreaking collection which explores the questions of why and how theater was selected within imperial cultures for the representation of the concerns of both the colonizers and the colonized.
Emphasizing the political nature of Greek tragedy, as theatre of, by and for the polis, Rush Rehm Characterizes Athens as a performance culture, one in which the theatre stood alongside other public forums as a place to confront matters of import and moment. In treating the various social, religious and practical aspects of tragic production, he shows how these elements promoted a vision of the theatre as integral to the life of the city--a theatre whose focus was on the audience.
Is the fundamental relationship between an actor and an audience an equal and active one, or is it a situation that encourages passivity and division? This is the question at the heart of Augusto Boal's revolutionary Theatre of the Oppressed, originally published in 1979. Boal, a Brazilian artist and activist, has written a work that challenges the very premise of Western theater, starting with Aristotle and the first dramatists, and explores what social constructs lie behind the traditional theater form.
The book aims to air ideas about Western modern theatre, to explain, to illustrate, to stimulate. Its basic premise is that theatre and drama offer a unique combination of thinking and doing, and that anybody who tries to practise it, at however simple a level,will gain by it. This book tries to suggest the links between theory and practice (which explains why some chapters move from the very theoretical suddenly into the absolutely hands-on practical).
