Theatre Books: Online Versions & Excerpts

"In her study of key radio dramas broadcast from 1930 to 1943, Lauren Rea analyses the work of leading exponents of the genre against the wider backdrop of nation-building, intellectual movements and popular culture in Argentina. During the period that has come to be known as the infamous decade, radio serials drew on the Argentine literary canon, with writers such as Héctor Pedro Blomberg and José Andrés González Pulido contributing to the nation-building project as they reinterpreted nineteenth-century Argentina and repackaged it for a 1930s mass audience."

Stanislav Stratiev, or how the theater has produced a playwright / Irina Kanusheva -- On the other side / Stanislav Stratiev ; translated by Stanimir Stratiev -- "Anathema" and "Glory be" to Stefan Tsanev / Anelia Yaneva -- The other death of Joan of Arc / Stefan Tsanev ; translated by Rosa Hays and Valeri Chukov -- The other death of Joan of Arc by Stefan Tsanev: production history

"An exploration of early modern encounters between Christian Europe and the (Islamic) East from the perspective of performance studies and performativity theories, this collection focuses on the ways in which these cultural contacts were acted out on the real and metaphorical stages of theatre, literature, music, diplomacy and travel. The volume responds to the theatricalization of early modern politics, to contemporary anxieties about the tension between religious performance and belief, to the circulation of material objects in intercultural relations, and the eminent role of theatre and drama for the (re)imagination and negotiation of cultural difference."

"Covering Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain and Sweden, as well as Britain, the book offers an historical and descriptive overview of developments across national boundaries, enabling the reader to compare and contrast acting and directing styles, administrative strategies and the relationship between ideology and achievement. Chapters trace the evolution of theatre in all its aspects, including such elements as the end of censorship in many countries, the upsurge in political and personal awareness of the 1960s, shifting patterns of state artistic policy, and the effects on companies, directors, performers and audiences."

"In Exercises for Rebel Artists, Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Roberto Sifuentes use their extensive teaching and performance experience with La Pocha Nostra to help students and practitioners to create 'border art'. Designed to take readers right into the heart of radical performance, the authors use a series of crucial practical exercises, honed in workshops worldwide, to help create challenging theatre which transcends the boundaries of nation, gender, and racial identity."

another online version
Contents: 1 A very good place to start: The beginning, up to the eighteenth century; 2 Early musical theatre in America, 1735-1865; 3 First stirrings, 1866-1902; 4 The turn of the century, 1900-07: A new era of great American songwriters begins; 5 The Princess and the great revues, 1907-20; 6 The Jazz Age, 1920-29: A period of great songwriters; 7 A double whammy, 1929-39: The Great Depression and talking movies threaten the Broadway musical; 8 A bright golden haze, 1939-45: The American musical comes of age; 9 The Golden Age, 1945-64: An era of great musical dramatists; 10 The search for relevancy, 1964-70; 11 New directions, 1970-82; 12 Joint ventures and mega-musicals, 1982-93: British rule; 13 The corporate musical, 1993-2001; 14 The new millennium, 2001-14

another online version
1 Celebrating the rehearsal of revolution: a historical profile of Jana Sanskriti Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed; 2 Boal's theatre: the recognition of resource; 3 Boal's poetics as politics; 4 Theatre as rehearsal of future political action; 5 Beyond West Bengal: other Indian scenarios; 6 Beyond India: workshop diary; 7 The politics of collective thinking: scripting power; 8 Aesthetics and ethics: shaping collective practice; 9 Reflections and prospects

"Kinship and Performance in the Black and Green Atlantic advances an innovative and compelling approach to writing comparative studies of performance in transnational, intercultural relation to one another. Its chosen subject in this case is the cultural and political intersection of African and Irish diasporic peoples and movements. Gough approaches her subject via five key "flashpoints" in Black/Green relations, moving from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. In turn, each of these is related to mediums of performance that were prevalent at the time, such as abolitionist oratory and melodrama, photography and tableaux, architecture and folk drama, television and political demonstrations, and visual art and dramaturgy. By examining the unlikely kinship between social actors such as Ida B. Wells and Maud Gonne, Lady Augusta Gregory and Zora Neale Hurston, and Bernadette Devlin and Alice Childress, along with a host of old and new theatrical "characters," this book explores how a transmedial investigation of gender, community, and performance allows for a revision of historiography in Atlantic studies, while the study itself revises and reimagines key concepts central to performance studies."

"This is a book about the experience of being an actress from a professional and female perspective. Julia Varley has been a member of Odin Teatret for over thirty years, and Notes from an Odin Actress is a personal account of her work with Eugenio Barba and this world-renowned theatre company."

"Off Nevsky Prospekt is the first study to be published in English of the exceptionally rich and diverse theatre studio movement which has flourished in St Petersburg during the 1980s and '90s. Professor Markova charts the development of the theatre studios - from their beginnings as a reaction to the repressive atmosphere of the Soviet period and through the "theatre bacchanalia" of the Perestroika years. She then surveys today's vibrant scene, with analyses of key productions and interviews with many of the central figures, and describes how theatre studios have subverted the conventions of the past to create a new dialogue with the changing society from which their audience is drawn."

"Roberta Carreri is one of acclaimed theatre company Odin Teatret's longest-serving actors, and the last to be trained by Eugenio Barba himself. In this book, she relives the milestones of her professional journey, including: her first experiences of street theatre the discovery of Asian performance traditions pedagogical activities and character creation encounters with artists and spectators the inception of her solo performances, Judith and Salt Interwoven with rich photographic documentation and a wealth of biographical information, this inspiring handbook reveals the professional secrets of an Odin Teatret actor as well as the story of a life of work, research, and passion."

Performer Training is an examination of how actors are trained in different cultures. Beginning with studies of mainstream training in countries such as Poland, Australia, Germany, and the United States, subsequent studies survey: · Some of Asia's traditional training methods and recent experiments in performer training · Eugenio Barba's training methods · Jerzy Grotowski's most recent investigations · The Japanese American NOHO companies attempts at integrating Kyogen into the works of Samuel Beckett · Descriptions of the training methods developed by Tadashi Suzuki and Anne Bogart at their Saratoga International Theatre Institute · Recent efforts to re-examine the role and scope of training, like Britain's International Workshop Festival and the European League of Institutes of Arts masterclasses · The reformulation of the use of emotions in performer training known as Alba Emoting.

"The three playwrights presented together in this volume On the Road to Ourselves), Elena Gremina (Behind the Mirror) and Olga Mikhailova (Russian Dream). The selected plays contain many elements which will appeal to Western directors and audiences: well-drawn characters, engaging plots, lively wit. Central to the three plays selected in this volume is a complex interaction of Russian and Western value systems, a theme that becomes increasingly relevant for Russian audiences with each passing season and no less relevant for Europeans and Americans."

Introduction: mapping terror in the war of words -- Genet in Manila: 'September 11' in retrospect : I. Pre-terror ; II. Discourse ; III. Exit the theatre -- 'Muslims' in a time of terror: deceptions, demonization, and uncertainties of evidence : I. Phantoms of the Muslim as terrorist ; II. The terror of the real -- Countering terror? The search for justice in truth and reconciliation : I. Mapping the terrain ; II. Rwanda ; III. South Africa ; IV. Key motifs of truth and reconciliation -- Performing non-violence in the age of terror

1. Imagining the Singapore Theatre Field 2. The Arts in Singapore: Site of Ideologies, Fantasies, and Orthodoxies 3. The Singapore Theatre Field: "A different world…unique" but not completely so 4. Claiming Authenticity: Theatre-State Tensions 5. Cultural Intermediaries: The Media and The Arts Education Programme 6. "Because it’s in my blood": The Politics of Illusio 7. The Invisible State: Disciplining the Theatre Field 8. Resistance and Defiance: The Revenge of the Middle Class Artist 9. Conclusion

"This new paperback edition of the The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Europe covers theatre since World War II in forty-seven European nations, including the nations which re-emerged following the break-up of the former USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Each national article is divided into twelve sections - History, Structure of the National Theatre Community, Artistic profile, Music Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences, Puppet Theatre, Design, Theatre, Space and Architecture, Training, Criticism, Scholarship and Publishing and Further Reading - allowing the reader to use the book as a source for both area and subject studies."

"This new in paperback edition of World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre covers the Americas, from Canada to Argentina, including the United States. Entries on twenty six countries are preceded by specialist introductions on Theatre in Post-Colonial Latin America, Theatres of North America, Puppet Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences, Music Theatre and Dance Theatre."

"Now available in paperback for the first time this edition of the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre series examines theatrical developments in Africa since 1945. Entries on thirty-two African countries are featured in this volume, preceded by specialist introductory essays on Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, History and Culture, Cosmology, Music, Dance, Theatre for Young Audiences and Puppetry. There are also special introductory general essays on African theatre written by Nobel Prize Laureate Wole Soyinka and the outstanding Congolese playwright, Sony Labou Tansi, before his untimely death in 1995."

One of the first internationally published overviews of theatrical activity across the Arab World. Includes 160,000 words and over 125 photographs from 22 different Arab countries from Africa to the Middle East.

"This volume featrues over 250,000 words and more than 125 photographs identifying and defining theatre in more than 30 countries from India to Uzbekistan, from Thailand to New Zealand and featuring extensive documentation on contemporary Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Australian theatre."

An annotated world theatre bibliography documenting significant theatre materials published world wide since 1945, plus an index to key names throughout the six volumes of the series.