1st Edition

The Routledge Companion to Performance Practitioners

    1042 Pages
    by Routledge

    1042 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Routledge Companion to Performance Practitioners collects the outstanding biographical and production overviews of key theatre practitioners first featured in the popular Routledge Performance Practitioners series of guidebooks.

    Each of the chapters is written by an expert on a particular figure, from Stanislavsky and Brecht to Laban and Decroux, and places their work in its social and historical context. Summaries and analyses of their key productions indicate each practitioner's theoretical approaches to performance and the performer were manifested in practice.

    With all 22 practitioners from the original series represented, this is the definitive first step for students, scholars and practitioners hoping to acquaint themselves with the leading names in performance, or deepen their knowledge of these seminal figures.

    VOLUME ONE

    Acknowledgements

    Notes on Contributors

    Introduction

    1. STANISLAVSKI 1863-1938 – Bella Merlin

    1.1 BIOGRAPHY IN SOCIAL AND ARTISTIC CONTEXT

    1.2 DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE SEAGULL

    2. MEYERHOLD 1874-1940 – Jonathan Pitches

    2.1 A LIFE OF CONTRADICTIONS

    2.2 MEYERHOLD’S KEY PRODUCTION: THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR

    3. COPEAU 1879-1949 – Mark Evans

    3.1 THE LIFE OF JACQUES COPEAU ¿

    3.2 COPEAU’S IDEAS IN PRODUCTION: LES FOURBERIES ¿DE SCAPIN

    4. LABAN 1879-1958 – Karen K. Bradley

    4.1 LABAN’S CORE: BIOGRAPHY

    4.2 THE TANZTHEATER AND ANALYSIS OF A WORK: DIE GRÜNEN CLOWNS

    5. WIGMAN 1886 -1973 -- Mary Anne Santos Newhall

    5.1 MARY WIGMAN: A LIFE IN DANCE

    5.2 MARY WIGMAN AS CHOREOGRAPHER: CHOOSING THE FOCUS

    6. CHEKHOV 1891 -1955 – Franc Chamberlain

    6.1 BIOGRAPHY AND CONTEXT

    6.2 CHEKHOV AS DIRECTOR

    7. BRECHT 1898 -1956 – Meg Mumford

    7.1 A LIFE IN FLUX

    7.2 THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE: A PRODUCTION MODEL

    8. DECROUX 1898- 1991 – Thomas Leabhart

    8.1 A PROMETHEAN LIFE

    8.2 DECROUX AS DIRECTOR/CREATOR: HOW DID DECROUX MAKE A PERFORMANCE?

    9. OHNO 1906-2010 and HIJIKATA 1928-1986 -- Sondra Fraleigh and Tamah Nakamura

    9.1 BUTOH SHAPESHIFTERS

    9.2 DANCES OF DEATH, SACRIFICE, AND SPIRIT

    10. LITTLEWOOD 1914 -2002 – Nadine Holdsworth

    10.1 BIOGRAPHY IN POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ARTISTIC CONTEXT

    10.2 DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF OH WHAT A¿ LOVELY WAR

    Index

    VOLUME TWO

    Acknowledgements

    Notes on Contributors

    Introduction

    11. KANTOR 1915-1990 – Noel Witts

    11.1 BIOGRAPHY AND CONTEXT

    11.2 KEY PERFORMANCES

    12. HALPRIN 1920- -- Libby Worth and Helen Poynor

    12.1 LIFE AND WORK

    12.2 THE MOUNTAIN PERFORMANCES, CIRCLE THE EARTH AND THE PLANETARY DANCE

    13. LECOQ 1921-1999 -- Simon Murray

    13.1 THE LIFE OF JACQUES LECOQ

    13.2 TRACES OF JACQUES LECOQ: THÉÂTRE DE COMPLICITÉ’S STREET OF CROCODILES AND THE WORK OF MUMMENSCHANZ

    14. BOAL 1931-2009 -- Frances Babbage

    14.1 BIOGRAPHY AND CONTEXT

    14.2 FORUM THEATRE IN PRODUCTION

    15. GROTOWSKI 1933-1999 James Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta

    15.1 BIOGRAPHY AND CONTEXT

    15.2 GROTOWSKI AS DIRECTOR

    16. BARBA 1936- -- Jane Turner

    16.1 BUILDING A ‘SMALL TRADITION’

    16.2 A SPECTATOR’S VIEW OF EGO FAUST

    17. MNOUCHKINE 1939- -- Judith G. Miller

    17.1 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHY: NOMAD OF THE IMAGINATION

    17.2 FOUR KEY PRODUCTIONS: MNOUCHKINE’S "FANATICALLY THEATRICAL"

    18. BAUSCH 1940-2009 -- Royd Climenhaga

    18.1 AN ARTISTIC AND CONTEXTUAL HISTORY

    18.2 KONTAKTHOF IN CONTEXT

    19. WILSON 1941- -- Maria Shevtsova

    19.1 A WORKING LIFE

    19.2 EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH AND PUSHKIN’S FAIRYTALES

    20. ABRAMOVIC 1946- --Mary Richards

    20.1 BIOGRAPHY AND CONTEXT

    20.2 KEY WORKS

    21. LEPAGE 1957- Aleksandar Saša Dundjerovic

    21.1 CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHY: ROBERT LEPAGE IN-BETWEEN WORLDS

    21.2 PERFORMANCE TEXT: THE DRAGONS’ TRILOGY

    Index

    Biography

    Franc Chamberlain is Professor of Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Huddersfield UK and the series editor for Routledge Performance Practitioners.

    Bernadette Sweeney is Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Theatre & Dance at the University of Montana, USA and co-editor with Franc Chamberlain of the expanded Routledge Performance Practitioners Series.