The Theatre of Robert Wilson (Directors in Perspective) - Hardcover

Holmberg, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521364922 ISBN 13: 9780521364928

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Robert Wilson, the leading American avant-garde theatre director, revolutionised the stage by making visual communication more important than words. His productions cut across the boundaries that traditionally have defined theatre, dance, opera and the visual arts to create a total work of art. This book, the first comprehensive study of Wilson, traces the evolution of the director's astonishing career as well as his complex relationship to language and his visual rhetoric. It explains how he renovated the stage and describes in detail major productions such as: Deafman Glance, Einstein on the Beach, and the Civil Wars. Arthur Holmberg's numerous personal interviews and first-hand observations of Wilson's creative process, provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes view of one of our most original directors. Photographs and sketches from Wilson's private collection are included, along with a chronology of his work.

About this title

Review:

Robert Wilson's insane, brilliant 14-hour avant-garde theatre experiments in the 1970s often were punishments even to the brave audiences willing to go along with him. But they were packed with theatre ideas and experiments that have been appropriated and digested by a generation and a half of more conventional directors. Here, for the first time on this scale, Wilson's body of work is treated as a whole, and its innovations labeled and catalogued for the ages. Extremely useful both for those who are seeking entry to Wilson's oeuvre, and for Wilson veterans longing for a better understanding of what exactly it was they saw in Einstein on the Beach, CIVIL WarS, and other projects.

Book Description:

Robert Wilson, the leading American avant-garde theatre director, revolutionised the stage by making visual communication more important than words. His productions cut across the boundaries that traditionally have defined theatre, dance, opera and the visual arts to create a total work of art. This book, the first comprehensive study of Wilson, traces the evolution of the director's astonishing career. It explains how Wilson renovated the stage and describes in detail major productions such as Deafman Glance, Einstein on the Beach and Civil Wars.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0521364922
• ISBN 13: 9780521364928
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 249