Robert Wilson is an American–European director who is also a performer, installation artist, writer, designer of light and much more besides – a crossover polymath who dissolves both generic and geographical boundaries and is a precursor of globalisation in the arts. This second edition of Robert Wilson combines:
- an analysis of his main productions, situated in their American and European socio-cultural and political contexts
- a focused, detailed study of Wilson’s pathbreaking Einstein on the Beach
- a study of Pushkin's Fairy Tales as the foremost example of his folk-rock music theatre in the twenty-first century
- an exploration of his ‘visual book’, workshop and rehearsal methods, and collaborative procedures
- a study of his aesthetic principles and the elements of composition that distinguish his directorial approach
- a series of practical exercises for students and practitioners highlighting Wilson’s technique.
As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today’s student.
List of figures
Acknowledgements
- A WORKING LIFE
- METHOD, ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES
- EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH
Becoming Robert Wilson
Dance plays, silent operas and words
Art and politics: the 1960s and after
Wilson after Einstein
A workshop method
Elements and principles
Itinerary and reception
Einstein on the Beach: a landmark
Structure and form
Breakdown of the work
Summing up
4. POST SCRIPTUM OF 2017: PUSHKIN’S FAIRY TALES
Style and 'camp'
Display and cultural evocation
5. PRACTICAL EXERCISES
Movement
Body imaging
Make-up
Composing a silent play
Sound and music
Working with texts
Light
A short glossary of terms
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Maria Shevtsova is Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her books include Dodin and the Maly Drama Theatre: Process to Performance (2004), Fifty Key Theatre Directors (2005), Sociology of Theatre and Performance (2009), Directors/Directing: Conversations on Theatre (co-authored, 2009) and The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Directing (co-authored, 2013). All her books have been translated into multiple languages, and she is co-editor of New Theatre Quarterly.
