Theatre History Books

New and Published Books

1. The Path Of The Actor

   By Michael Chekhov

   Edited by Andrei A. Kirillov, Bella Merlin

   This is the first English translation of Michael Chekhov’s two-volume autobiography, combining The Path of the Actor (1927) and extensive extracts from his later volume Life and Encounters. Full of illuminating anecdotes and insightful observations involving prominent characters from the MAT and...

   Published March 21st 2013 by Routledge
2. Theatre Translation in Performance

   Edited by Silvia Bigliazzi, Paola Ambrosi, Peter Kofler

   Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

   This volume focuses on the highly debated topic of theatrical translation, one brought on by a renewed interest in the idea of performance and translation as a cooperative effort on the part of the translator, the director, and the actors. Exploring the role and function of the translator as...

   Published March 19th 2013 by Routledge
3. Programming Theater History

   The Actor's Workshop of San Francisco

   By Herbert Blau

   ‘One of the great stories of the American theater..., the Workshop not only built an international reputation with its daring choice of plays and nontraditional productions, it also helped launch a movement of regional, or resident, companies that would change forever how Americans thought about...

   Published March 12th 2013 by Routledge
4. The Pleasures of the Imagination

   English Culture in the Eighteenth Century

   By John Brewer

   The Pleasures of the Imagination examines the birth and development of English "high culture" in the eighteenth century. It charts the growth of a literary and artistic world fostered by publishers, theatrical and musical impresarios, picture dealers and auctioneers, and presented to th public in...

   Published March 11th 2013 by Routledge
5. The Theatre and the State in Singapore

   Orthodoxy and Resistance

   By Terence Chong

   Series: Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series

   This book provides a comprehensive examination of the contemporary English-language theatre field in Singapore. It describes Singapore theatre as a politically dynamic field that is often a site for struggle and resistance against state orthodoxy, and how the cultural policies of the ruling People’...

   Published March 4th 2013 by Routledge
6. Dramas of the Past on the Twentieth-Century Stage

   In History’s Wings

   By Alexander Feldman

   Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

   This book defines and exemplifies a major genre of modern dramatic writing, termed historiographic metatheatre, in which self-reflexive engagements with the traditions and forms of dramatic art illuminate historical themes and aid in the representation of historical events and, in doing so,...

   Published December 18th 2012 by Routledge
7. Comedy and the Public Sphere

   The Rebirth of Theatre as Comedy and the Genealogy of the Modern Public Arena

   By Arpad Szakolczai

   Series: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

   The book aims at reframing the discussion on the "public sphere," usually understood as the place where the public opinion is formed, through rational discussion. The aim of this book is to give an account of this rationality, and its serious shortcomings, examining the role of the media and the...

   Published November 25th 2012 by Routledge
8. The Unwritten Grotowski

   Theory and Practice of the Encounter

   By Kris Salata

   Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

   This book gives a new view on the legacy of Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), one of the central, and yet misunderstood, figures who shaped 20th-century theatre, focusing on his least known last phase of work on ancient songs and the craft of the performer. Salata posits Grotowski’s work as...

   Published November 1st 2012 by Routledge
9. A Companion to Post-War British Theatre (Routledge Revivals)

   By Philip Barnes

   Series: Routledge Revivals

   First published in 1986, this compilation offers a guide to the major aspects of contemporary British theatre. In the period covered, Britain was among the world leaders in theatre as the post-war years saw a remarkable surge in theatrical creativity, associated with the experimental, innovatory...

   Published August 31st 2012 by Focal Press
10. Adapting Chekhov

    The Text and its Mutations

    Edited by J. Douglas Clayton, Yana Meerzon

    Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

    This book considers the hundred years of re-writes of Anton Chekhov’s work, presenting a wide geographical landscape of Chekhovian influences in drama. The volume examines the elusive quality of Chekhov’s dramatic universe as an intricate mechanism, an engine in which his enigmatic characters exist...

    Published August 16th 2012 by Routledge