Books in the Theatre and Performance Practices series

Investigating a range of influential movement training practices, this ambitious book considers the significance of professional training to performers and their bodies.

This core text offers insight into theatre-making that takes place in communities across the world. Offering an overview of the theory that underpins practice in applied drama, this thought-provoking text outlines practices in the context of contemporary political and theoretical concerns. It considers the role of artists who work in challenging settings, including prisons, schools, hostels for the homeless, care homes for the elderly and on the street. In so doing, the book poses critical questions about the aesthetics and ethics of applied theatre. It also invites debate about the environments in which applied theatre takes place. Written by an experienced academic in the field, this lively text is the ideal introductory text for students on Applied Theatre degree programmes and those taking Applied Theatre modules on Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies programmes. It is also essential reading for practitioners of applied theatre looking for a comprehensive insight into theatre-making and its impact in an increasingly globalized world.

Outlining different perspectives, this classic and field-defining text introduces 'dramaturgy' as a critical concept and a practical process in an accessible and engaging style. The revised edition includes a new introduction and afterword which provides insight into contemporary developments and future directions of scholarship.

Chris Baugh explores how developments and changes in technology have been reflected in scenography throughout history. Taking into account the latest research, his new edition examines moving light technologies, the internet as a platform of performance, urban scenography and how scenography has developed as a collaborative practice.

Examining the work of key practitioners, Heddon argues that autobiographical performancesact as sites of resistance and intervention and uncovers the political potentials and limits that accompany the use of the personal in performance

The use of film and video is widespread in contemporary theatre. Staging the Screen explores a variety of productions, ranging from Piscator to Forced Entertainment, charting the impact of developing technologies on practices in dramaturgy and performance. Giesekam addresses critical issues raised by multi-media work and inter-media work

What is the relationship between 'body' and 'mind', 'inner' and 'outer' in any approach to acting? How have different modes of actor training shaped actors' experiences of acting and how they understand their work? Phillip B. Zarrilli, Jerri Daboo and Rebecca Loukes offer insight into such questions, analysing acting as a psychophysical phenomenon and process across cultures and disciplines, and providing in-depth accounts of culturally and historically specific approaches to acting. Individual chapters explore: * psychophysical acting and the legacy of Stanislavsky* European psychophysical practices of dance and theatre* traditional and contemporary psychophysical approaches to performance in India and Japan* insights from the new sciences on the 'situated bodymind' of the actor* intercultural perspectives on actingThis lively study is ideal for students and practitioners alike.

What is the history of devised theatre? Why have theatre-makers, since the 1950s, chosen to devise performances? What different sorts of devising practices are there? What are the myths attached to devising, and what are the realities?First published in 2005, Devising Performance remains the only book to offer the reader a history of devising practice. Charting the development of collaboratively created performances from the 1950s to the early twenty-first century, it presents a range of case studies drawn from Britain, America and Australia. Companies discussed include The Living Theatre, Open Theatre, Australian Performing Group, People Show, Teatro Campesino, Theatre de Complicite, Legs on the Wall, Forced Entertainment, Goat Island and Graeae. Providing a history of devising practice, Deirdre Heddon and Jane Milling encourage us to look more carefully at the different modes of devising and to consider the implications of our use of these practices in the twenty-first century.