Short History of Western Performance Space

Title: Short History of Western Performance Space
Author: Wiles, David
Price: $48.95

This innovative book provides a historical account of performance space within the theatrical traditions of western Europe.

David Wiles takes a broad-based view of theatrical activity as something that occurs in churches, streets, pubs and galleries as much as in buildings explicitly designed to be 'theatres'. He traces a diverse set of continuities from Greece and Rome to the present, including many areas that do not figure in standard accounts of theatre history. Drawing on the cultural geography of Henri Lefebvre, the book identifies theatrical performances as spatial practices characteristic of particular social structures. It is not a history of contexts for dramatic literature, but the history of an activity rooted in bodies and environments. Wiles uses this historical material to address a pressing concern of the present: is theatre better performed in modern architect-designed, apparently neutral empty spaces, or characterful 'found' spaces?


REVIEW
'... the range of his study promises that most readers will discover surprising connections and contrasts between the theatre of their period and others ... an inspiring read for the theatre practitioner as well as a crucial reference for the scholar of theatre or cultural anthropology ... Theatres and Encyclopedias is well worth reading, whether one is a scholar of print and theatre history, early modern drama and literature, or the general etiology of western culture.' Rebecca Nesvet, University of Gloucestershire, , English


CONTENTS
Acknowledgements;
List of illustrations;

1. Introduction;
2. Sacred space;
3. Processional space;
4. Public space;
5. Sympotic space;
6. The cosmic circle;
7. The cave;
8. The empty space;

Select bibliography;
Index.


AUTHOR
David Wiles is Professor of Theatre at Royal Holloway University of London. His previous publications have mainly been in the field of Elizabethan and Greek theatre, including Shakespeare's Clown: Actor and Text in the Elizabethan Playhouse (Cambridge, 1987) and Greek Theatre Performance (Cambridge, 2000). This is his seventh book.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 02/10/2003
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780521012744
Publishing status: AU POD in BN