History of Performance Books

New and Published Books

1. Live Art in LA

   Performance in Southern California, 1970 - 1983

   Edited by Peggy Phelan

   Live Art in LA: Performance Art in Southern California , 1970-1983 documents and critically examines one of the most fecund periods in the history of live art. The book forms part of the Getty Institute’s Pacific Standard Time initiative – a series of exhibitions, performance re-enactments and...

   Published May 20th 2012 by Routledge
2. The Theatre of the Bauhaus

   The Modern and Postmodern Stage of Oskar Schlemmer

   By Melissa Trimingham

   Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

   Focusing on the work of painter, choreographer and scenic designer Oskar Schlemmer, the "Master Magician" and leader of the Theatre Workshop, this book explains this "theatre of high modernism" and its historical role in design and performance studies; further, it connects the Bauhaus exploration...

   Published April 19th 2012 by Routledge
3. The Piscator Notebook

   By Judith Malina

   "Piscator is the greatest theatre man of our time." Bertolt Brecht Judith Malina and The Living Theatre have been icons of political theatre for over six decades. What few realise is that she originally studied under one of the giants of twentieth century culture, Erwin Piscator, in his Dramatic...

   Published April 10th 2012 by Routledge
4. Religion, Theatre, and Performance

   Acts of Faith

   Edited by Lance Gharavi

   Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

   The intersections of religion, politics, and performance form the loci of many of the most serious issues facing the world today, sites where some of the world’s most pressing and momentous events are contested and played out. That this circumstance warrants continued, thoughtful, and imaginative...

   Published December 20th 2011 by Routledge
5. The Routledge Companion to Actors' Shakespeare

   Edited by John Russell Brown

   The Routledge Companion to Actors’ Shakespeare is a window onto how today’s actors contribute to the continuing life and relevance of Shakespeare’s plays. The process of acting is notoriously hard to document, but this volume reaches behind famous performances to examine the actors’ craft, their...

   Published June 29th 2011 by Routledge
6. Shakespeare, Trauma and Contemporary Performance

   By Catherine Silverstone

   Series: Routledge Studies in Shakespeare

   Shakespeare, Trauma and Contemporary Performance examines how contemporary performances of Shakespeare’s texts on stage and screen engage with violent events and histories. The book attempts to account for – but not to rationalize – the ongoing and pernicious effects of various forms of violence as...

   Published June 6th 2011 by Routledge
7. Social Works

   Performing Art, Supporting Publics

   By Shannon Jackson

   ‘a game-changer, a must-read for scholars, students and artists alike’ – Tom Finkelpearl At a time when art world critics and curators heavily debate the social, and when community organizers and civic activists are reconsidering the role of aesthetics in social reform, this book makes explicit...

   Published February 20th 2011 by Routledge
8. Global Ibsen

   Performing Multiple Modernities

   Edited by Erika Fischer-Lichte, Barbara Gronau, Christel Weiler

   Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

   Ibsen’s plays rank among those most frequently performed world-wide, rivaled only by Brecht, Chekhov, Shakespeare, and the Greek tragedies. By the time Ibsen died in 1906, his plays had already conquered the theaters of the Western world. Inviting rapturous praise as well as fierce controversy,...

   Published November 21st 2010 by Routledge
9. Performance Theatre and the Poetics of Failure

   By Sara Jane Bailes

   What does it mean to "fail" in performance? How might staging failure reveal theatre’s potential to expand our understanding of social, political and everyday reality? What can we learn from performances that expose and then celebrate their ability to fail? In Performance Theatre and the Poetics...

   Published August 24th 2010 by Routledge
10. Zygmunt Molik's Voice and Body Work

    The Legacy of Jerzy Grotowski

    By Giuliano Campo, Zygmunt Molik

    One of the original members of Jerzy Grotowski’s acting company, Zygmunt Molik’s Voice and Body Work explores the unique development of voice and body exercises throughout his career in actor training. This book, constructed from conversations between Molik and author Giuliano Campo, provides a...

    Published May 26th 2010 by Routledge