Surviving Theatre

Written soon before and in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, when theatre ground to a halt and spectatorship was suspended, this book takes stock of spectatorship as theatre’s living archive and affirms its value in the midst of the present crisis. Drawing from a manifold affective archive of performances and installations (by Marina Abramović, Ron Athey, Forced Entertainment, Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Blast Theory, LIGNA, Doris Salcedo, Graeme Miller, Lenz Rifrazioni, Cristina Rizzo, etc.), and expanding on the work of many theorists and scholars, such as Roland Barthes and Jacques Rancière, Giorgio Agamben and Alain Badiou, Nicholas Ridout and Alan Read, among others, the book focuses on the spectator as the subject, rather than the object, of investigation. This is the right time to remember their secret power and theorise their collective time in the theatre. This book is an archive of their adventure and a manifesto rooted in their potentiality. It boldly posits the spectator as the inaugurator of theatre, the surplus that survives it. The book will be of great interest to spectators all and sundry, to scholars and students of theatre and performance studies, of spectatorship and politics.

I am writing this book for all of you postgraduate students and new nurses thinking of a career in the operating theatre. The aim of this book is to allow you get a glimpse of what you will see upon entering the operating theatres, as there is no other place like it. I love working in theatres, but I am under no delusion thinking it’s easy because I know how difficult some new graduates/students find it when they first commence. This book is written to help you gain insight and learn skills that will assist you to continue in and obtain a fulfilling career in theatres. Working in theatres is definitely not for the fainthearted, so these skills are essential for survival.

Providing a clear journey through centuries of European, North and South American, African and Asian forms of theatre and performance, this introduction helps the reader think critically about this exciting field through fascinating yet plain-speaking essays and case studies.

Between 1977 and 1992, the lectures and fragments collected in Ritual to Realism were prepared and delivered in a variety of theatre history courses to supplement assigned readings in dramatic literature. The lectures (and fragments thereof) have been collated into sixteen units that, presented chronologically, offer an easily-assimilated survey of Western theatre history—from the ceremonies of the ancient Greeks to the rituals proposed by members of the twentieth-century avant-garde. Designed for a general audience as well as theatre students, actors, directors, and designers, Ritual to Realism does not pretend to be exhaustive. Instead, it provides an entertaining, lively, fact-based consideration of major theatrical movements, theatre practice, playwrights, and dramatic works—virtually, something for everyone with an interest in theatre. From the introduction, “Search through Ritual to Realism however you like, line by line, back and forth through the chapters that interest you, or strictly as you need to through the index. No matter how you do it, every page, every paragraph will give you pieces of information and ideas that remain as fresh, subversive and radical today as they were in Ancient Greece or Restoration England. Plays, like all artistic creations, have never really changed, holding steadfast in opposition to conventional ideas and commonplaces, striking against the grain, so to speak, as untouchable, blinding entities that have mesmerized the minds of people for millennia. It is easy to find such a notion as historical context to be too abstract, not personal enough to do a student any good in the theater right now. It is through the evolving process by which one develops as an artisan throughout life that one inevitably feels tied ever closer to the historical long-view of the theater. . . . This book is designed to fill your arsenal with tools. Let it be a step that will influence the way you create dramatic art for the rest of your career.”

This Handbook offers a multiform sweep of theoretical, historical, practical and personal glimpses into a landscape roughly characterised as contemporary Irish theatre and performance. Bringing together a spectrum of voices and sensibilities in each of its four sections — Histories, Close-ups, Interfaces, and Reflections — it casts its gaze back across the past sixty years or so to recall, analyse, and assess the recent legacy of theatre and performance on this island. While offering information, overviews and reflections of current thought across its chapters, this book will serve most handily as food for thought and a springboard for curiosity. Offering something different in its mix of themes and perspectives, so that previously unexamined surfaces might come to light individually and in conjunction with other essays, it is a wide-ranging and indispensable resource in Irish theatre studies.

Theatre and Ghosts brings theatre and performance history into dialogue with the flourishing field of spectrality studies. Essays examine the histories and economies of the material operations of theatre, and the spectrality of performance and performer.

Most introductory theatre textbooks are written for theatre majors and assume the student already has a considerable amount of knowledge on the subject. However, such textbooks may be counterproductive, because they reference several works that may be unfamiliar to students with limited exposure to theatre. Theatre as Human Action: An Introduction to Theatre Arts, Second Edition is designed for the college student who may be unacquainted with many plays and has seen a limited number of theatre productions. Focusing primarily on four plays, this textbook aims to inform the student about theatre arts, stimulate interest in the art form, lead to critical thinking about theatre, and prepare the student to be a more informed and critical theatregoer. In addition to looking at both the theoretical and practical aspects of theatre arts—from the nature of theatre and drama to how it reflects society—the author also explains the processes that playwrights, actors, designers, directors, producers, and critics go through. The four plays central to this book are the tragedy Macbeth, the landmark African American drama A Raisin in the Sun, the contemporary rock musical Rent, and—new to this edition—the American comedy classic You Can’t Take It with You. At the beginning of the text, each play is described with plot synopses (and suggested video versions), and then these four representative works are referred to throughout the book. This second edition also features revised chapters throughout, including expanded and updated material on the technical aspects of theatre, the role of the audience and critic,and the diversity of theatre today. Structured into nine chapters, each looking at a major area or artist—and concluding with the audience and the students themselves—the unique approach of Theatre as Human Action thoroughly addresses all of the major topics to be found in an introduction to theatre text.

Dallas was the show business capital of Texas and much of the South throughout the 20th century. More than 100 theatres served the city’s neighborhoods, and Elm Street once boasted more than 15 vaudeville and movie theatres—second in number to Broadway. The quality of the show houses in Dallas were surpassed by few cities and all major, and most minor, Hollywood studios maintained Dallas offices. Notable names figuring in this history include Margo Jones, “Blind” Lemon Jefferson, Karl Hoblitzelle, Baruch Lumet, Bob Hope, Greer Garson, Linda Darnell, Howard Hughes, Clyde Barrow, Gene Autry, Oliver Stone, Pappy Dolson, Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald, Nicola Rescigno, Don Henley, and Frank Lloyd Wright.