Theory for Theatre Studies: Space

Description

Space: it's everywhere, all around, a given. It's abstract and yet not abstract at all, because it governs all human relations, shapes the way we understand our place on the planet, and orients us toward others (for better and for worse). How do theatre scholars understand space and place in performance? What tools do they use to theorize the political work space does on - and beyond - the stage? How can students use these tools to unpack the workings of space and place in the performances they see, the plays they study, and the experiences they have outside their classrooms? Theory for Theatre Studies: Space provides a comprehensive introduction to the 'spatial turn' in modern theatre and performance theory, exploring topics as diverse as embodied space, environmental performance politics and urban performance studies. The book is written in accessible prose and features in-depth case studies of Platform's audio walk And While London Burns, Katie Mitchell's Fraulein Julie, Young Jean Lee's The Shipment, and Evalyn Parry and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory's Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools. TfTS: Space begins with fresh readings of historical dramatic theory, discusses twentieth-century theoretical trends at length, and ends by asking what it will take (and what work is already underway) to decolonize the Western, settler-colonial stage. Online resources to accompany this book are available at: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/theory-for-theatre-studies-space-9781350006072/

Kim Solga is Professor of Theatre Studies and English and Writing Studies at Western University, Canada. Her books include A Cultural History of Theatre in The Modern Age (Methuen Drama, 2017), Theatre & Feminism (2015), Performance and the City (2009) and Performance and the Global City (2013), which together won the 2016 ATHE prize for Excellence in Editing, and Violence Against Women in Early Modern Performance (2009). She writes the teaching blog The Activist Classroom, available from Wordpress.

Theory for Theatre Studies investigates a wide range of methodologies to corroborate longstanding discourse surrounding space, place, and performance. Solga uses this volume to examine how new understandings of theatrical and performance events can evolve from varying approaches to and in theatrical spaces. A self-proclaimed modern feminist, Solga is also author of Theatre and Feminism (2016) and Violence against Women in Early Modern Performance: Invisible Acts (2009). From speculative queries to in-depth case studies, the present title offers insight into historical dramatic theories and unpacks 20th-century theater trends. Summing Up: Recommended. * CHOICE * Lucid and compelling ... [Provides] an engaging and accessible synthesis of spatial theories that will make this book an essential addition to undergraduate curricula ... A valuable and timely contribution to research on performance space. * New Theatre Quarterly * Kim Solga's Theory for Theatre Studies: Space offers new considerations of foundational twentieth-century cultural materialism and boldly takes on vital new discourses. In so doing, Solga reinserts the stakes and dynamizes the discussion of spatiality in twenty-first-century theatre and performance studies. -- Scott Magelssen, University of Washington School of Drama, USA Solga's engaging synthesis of key spatial theories opens up provocative possibilities for better understanding space in and of the theatre. Vivid examples anchor her well-contextualised ideas on texts, venues, scenic design and politics. -- Professor Joanne Tompkins, The University of Queensland, Australia A fluid and rigorous field-guide to an important and stimulating area of study: this book covers a great deal of territory, offers a lively and accessible account of a complex theme, and synthesises theory, theatre and analysis with wit, confidence and clarity. -- Sophie Nield, Royal Holloway, University of London