1. Introduction: Failure and Representation 2. World(s) after a Different Image: Marxism, Slapstick, Punk 3. Profane Illumination: Theatre and Forced Entertainment 4. News from Nowhere: Goat Island Performance Group 5. Dislocations of Practice: Elevator Repair Service 6. Afterword
Biography
Sara Jane Bailes is a theatre-maker and Senior Lecturer in Performance Studies at the University of Sussex. She teaches experimental theatre and the conversation between art practice and ideology.
'Performance Theatre and the Poetics of Failure illuminates a vital arena of contemporary art practice with a rare combination of rigor, respect, and insight.' - Una Chaudhuri, New York University
'A crucial intervention into the politics of contemporary performance. It combines theoretical sophistication with a richly detailed engagmement with the experience of performance.' - Nicholas Ridout, Queen Mary, University of London
‘Performance Theatre and the Poetics of Failure represents a compelling and stimulating addition to current debates surrounding the turn against virtuosity and the appropriation of signs of amateurism in contemporary western experimental theatre and Live Art. This is the first monograph dedicated to the subject of failure in contemporary experimental performance, and its investigation is detailed and nuanced. This book will provide an invaluable resource for theatre-makers, scholars, and critics as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students studying experimental performance and Live Art.’ – Sarah Gorman, Contemporary Theatre Review
