Performing Remains

Description

Performing Remains explores the role of the fake, the false and the faux in contemporary performance. One of Performance Studies' leading scholars, Rebecca Schneider questions the view that performance is ‘ephemeral’ and instead argues that rather than being about what disappears, performance is defined by what remains.

Across seven essays, Schneider examines both contemporary and historical performance with a wide scope, drawing on a variety of elucidating sources including the ‘America’ plays of Linda Mussmann and Susan Lori-Parks, performances of Marina Abramovic and Allison Smith, and the continued popular appeal of Civil War re-enactments. Performing Remains questions the importance of representation throughout history and today, whilst reassessing the ritual value of failure to recapture the past and recreate the ‘original’.

Contents

1. Forward, By Other Directions 2. Reenactment and Relative Pain 3. Finding Faux Fathers 4. In the Meantime: Performance Remains 5. Poor, Poor Theatre 6. Still Living 7. Protest Now

Author Bio

Rebecca Schneider is Chair of the Department of the Theatre, Speech and Dance at Brown University. She is the author of The Explicit Body in Performance (Routledge, 1997) and co-editor of Re:direction: A Theoretical and Practical Guide (Routledge, 2001)

Related Subject

1. Performance Theory