Critical Perspectives on Applied Theatre

Description

As the twenty-first century moves towards its third decade, applied theatre is being shaped by contemporary economic and environmental concerns and is contributing to new conceptual paradigms that influence the ways in which socially engaged art is produced and understood. This collection offers fresh perspectives on the aesthetics, politics and histories of applied theatre. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, the book illuminates theatre in a diverse range of global contexts and regions. Divided into three sections - histories and cultural memories; place, community and environment; and poetics and participation - the chapters interweave cutting-edge theoretical insights with examples of innovative creative practice that traverse different places, spaces and times. Essential reading for researchers and artists working within applied theatre, this collection will also be of interest to those in theatre and performance studies, education, cultural policy, social history and cultural geography.

Jenny Hughes is Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Manchester. Her publications include a monograph, Performance in a Time of Terror (2011), which was joint winner of the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) New Career Research Prize, and a co-authored book with James Thompson and Michael Balfour, Performance in Place of War (2009). Helen Nicholson is Professor of Theatre and Performance at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she is also Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Helen has been the co-editor of RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance since 2004, and the author of several books in the field, including Applied Drama (2005, 2nd edition 2014), Theatre and Education (2009) and Theatre, Education and Performance (2011), for which she was awarded the Distinguished Book Award by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education in 2012.