1st Edition
The Routledge Companion to Performance Practitioners
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.