Theatre Histories: An Introduction

'A work that more than any other currently available suggests the range and richness of theatre and performance history study today.' – Marvin Carlson, City University of New York, USA

'This book will significantly change theatre education.' – Janelle Reinelt, University of California, Irvine, USA

'Globally ambitious in its scope, innovative in design, and open-ended in its challenge to the received histories, this new grand narrative will engage scholars and students at every level, whatever their particular interests in past performance.' – Jacky Bratton, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

'Finally we have a book that conceives theatre history in world terms and breaks down the Euro-American boundaries that have marginalised the theatres of other cultures for so long.' – Brian Singleton, The University of Dublin, Trinity College

This new edition of the innovative and widely acclaimed Theatre Histories: An Introduction offers overviews of theatre and drama in many world cultures and periods together with case studies demonstrating the methods and interpretive approaches used by today's theatre historians.

Completely revised and renewed in colour, enhancements and new material include: 

• a full-colour text design with added timelines to each opening section
• a wealth of new colour illustrations to help convey the vitality of performances described
• new case studies on African, Asian and Western subjects
• a new chapter on modernism, and updated and expanded chapters and part introductions
• fuller definitions of terms and concepts throughout in a new glossary
• a re-designed support website offering links to new audio-visual resources, expanded bibliographies, approaches to teaching theatre and performance history, discussion questions relating to case studies and an online glossary

 

Phillip B. Zarrilli is Professor of Performance Practice in the Department of Drama at the University of Exeter.

Bruce McConachie is Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Gary Jay Williams is Professor Emeritus, Department of Drama, The Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C., where he taught in theatre history, theory, and Shakespeare in performance for 29 years.

Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei is Professor of Theater at UCLA.