Theatre Criticism, Theory & History

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See also: Canadian Theatre Studies and National Theatre Studies.

The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies
Edited by Tracy C. Davis
Presenting a clear overview of the diverse approaches to Performance Studies, this Companion provides a complete guide for students and scholars seeking a perspective on current trends. Bridging live art practices with technological media, and social sciences with humanities, it reflects the hybrid and experimental nature of this vibrant discipline. Softcover, 192 pp. $33.95.

Broadway's Bravest Woman: Selected Writings of Sophie Treadwell
Jerry Dickey & Miriam Lopez-Rodriguez
This collection of plays, fiction, and journalistic essays by Sophie Treadwell provides an engaging portrait of one of America's most innovative yet neglected feminists. Editors Jerry Dickey and Miriam Lopez-Rodriguez place Treadwell within the context of the early twentieth century and outline four themes that infused her feminist ideology: the social position of women, ethnic identity in the United States, tensions between modern progressivism and conservatism, and the individual's role in social justice. Hardcover, 271 pp. $73.50.

The Cambridge Introduction to Early English Theatre
Janette Dillon
Covering early English theatre from the earliest recorded vernacular texts in the late medieval period to the closing of the theatres in 1642, this introduction gives an accessible overview of the historical development of theatre. The five chapters focus on: Place of performance, Actors and audiences, Writers and the place of the theatre, Genre and tradition, and Instruction and spectacle. Softcover, 296 pp. $28.95.

The One-Act Play Companion
Rex Dolly & Colin Walford
The one-act play stands apart as a popular art form; yet sourcing a good one-act play to perform can be time consuming. This companion is the first definitive guide to the genre, offering a rich survey of some of the finest plays and writers, as well as advice on staging and performances. Softcover, 212 pp. $35.95.

Twentieth Century Theatre:
A Sourcebook
Richard Drain, ed.
A uniquely wide-ranging selection of original writings on theater by some of its most creative practitioners. The key texts span the 20th century and provide direct access to the thinking behind much of the most stimulating theater the century has to offer. $38.99.

Samuel Beckett
Gerry Dukes
Dispensing with traditional concepts of plot, scene, and character, concentrating instead on the experience of the drama itself, Beckett was one of the great innovators of 20th century theatre. This concise and highly readable book offers a lucid introduction to his life and work. Softcover, 161 pp. $19.50.

Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic
Terry Eagleton
In this dazzling book, Terry Eagleson provides a comprehensive study of tragedy, all the way from Aeschylus to Edward Albee, dealing with both theory and practice, and moving between ideas of tragedy and analyses of particular works and authors. Sweet Violence takes serious issue with the idea of 'the death of tragedy', and gives a comprehensive survey of definitions of tragedy itself, arguing a radical and controversial case. Softcover, 328 pp. $41.95.

The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America
Lawrence J. Epstein
The Mark Brothers, Jack Benny, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Brooks, Alan King, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, and Jerry Seinfeld are just a few of the Jewish-Americans who have entered the canon of great comedians. Bringing together biographical sketches and sample routines from the very best Jewish-American comedians, author Lawrence J. Epstein offers us a deep and subtle understanding of how Jewish culture and American openness gave birth to a new style of entertainment. Softcover, 356 pp., $23.00.

The Theatre of the Absurd
Martin Esslin
Originally published in 1961, The Theatre of the Absurd was the first book-length study of the avant-garde theatre practices of Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter, and others. The powerful questions these dramatists raised about the struggle for meaning in a purposeless have not diluted over time, and this classic text remains vital reading for anyone with an interest in the theatre. Softcover, 480 pp. $23.00.

Talking Theatre: Interviews with Theatre People
Richard Eyre
This must-read volume brings together forty candid and insightful conversations between Richard Eyre and a stunning group of the most extraordinary theatre artists of the second half of the twentieth century. John Gielgud, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, Peter Brook, Tom Stoppard, Judi Dench, Robert Lepage, Tony Kushner, and Peter Hall are but a few of the artists profiled here. What emerges from these interviews is an unrivalled, behind-the-scenes account of the most important productions and performances in the theatre in recent times. Hardcover, 331 pp. $44.95.

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The Comic Mask in the Comedia dell'Arte
Antonio Fava
The mask--as object, symbol, character, theatrical practice, even spectacle--is the central metaphor around which Antonio Fava builds his discussion of structure, themes, characters, and methods. His book combines historical fact, personal experience, philosophical speculation, and passionate opinion. Including period drawings, prints, and color photographs of leather masks made by Fava himself, The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell'Arte is a work of singular insight into one of the world's most venerable forms of theater. Softcover, 182 pp. $50.95.

The Theater of Tony Kushner: Living Past Hope
James Fisher
Angels in America established Kushner as one of America's most important contemporary playwrights. This book examines his life and work, and is an essential introduction to Kushner's oeuvre for anyone with an interest in contemporary theatre. For his many fans, it is also a trove of scintillating insights and anecdotes. Softcover, $29.95.

Tom Stoppard's Arcadia
John Fleming
This guide provides a comprehensive critical introduction to Stoppard's Arcadia, giving students a much-needed overview of the play's background and context, including Stoppard's source material as well as full discussion of the text and its performance history to date. Softcover, 122 pp. $20.95.

How Theatre Began: An Introduction to the History of Drama
Nancy Forderer
The theatre of today -- TV, movies, and stage -- where and how did it all begin? What role did theatre play in the cultural history of the West? Why has theatre evolved to what it is today? Beginning with Greek drama and continuing through Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, French, Spanish, English and American forms, this DVD gives an overview of how modern theatre came to be. The great playwrights, trends and artistic styles are briefly described to give the student a general understanding of both the history and cultural importance of theatre. A very adaptable reference item for library and classroom use. DVD, $37.95.

Theory/ Theatre: An Introduction (Second Edition)
Mark Fortier
Theory / Theatre provides a unique and engaging introduction to literary theory as it relates to theatre and performance. Fortier examines current theoretical approaches, from semiotics and post-structuralism, through cultural materialism, post-colonial studies and feminist theory. Theory / Theatre is still the only study of its kind and is invaluable reading for students and scholars of performance theory. Softcover, $29.95.

Eyes on Stalks
John Fox
Beautifully illustrated throughout with photographs and original drawings from the artist's sketchbook, this vivid account brings to life the working practices of one of Britain's leading arts companies, Welfare State International. Written by the company's artistic director, John Fox, this wonderous and inspirational book is ideal for anyone interested in contemporary performance, art, and theatre. Softcover 272 pp. $39.95.

Stage Directions: Writing on Theatre 1970-2008
Michael Frayn
Whatever form the theatre takes, whether it concerns the exploration of the atomic nucleus or the mechanics of farce, Michael Frayn sees it as involving the creation of an alternative world existing in its own right. Collected here for the first time, the essays of Michael Frayn has written about his own plays over the years form an essential commentary on his life and work. Hardcover, 268 pp. $39.00.

Dramatis Personae: The Rise of Medieval and Renaissance Theatre
Phillip Freund
Dramatis Personae, the third volume in the Stage by Stage series, traces the return of religious theatre and ritual, with Passion Plays, Mysteries and Moralities taking over classical works, producing whimsical new dramatic forms, as well as exalted musical innovations. Dramatis Personae is a valuable resource for teachers, students, stagecraft professionals and all those who love the theatre. Hardcover, 930 pp. $121.50.

The Actors Studio
Shelly Frome
The long history of the Actors Studio -- from the introduction of Stanislavsky's art to the United States right up to its current status in the 21st century -- is comprehensively recounted in this detailed volume. Hardcover, 216 pp. $57.95. 

The Cambridge Companion to The Actress
Maggie B. Gale & John Stokes
This is a collection of original essays on the cultural role of performing women on stage and on screen, throughout history and across continents - from Nell Gwyn to Lily Langtry, from Bernhardt to Peggy Ashcroft, from Joyce Grenfell to Vanessa Redgrave, from Ellen Terry to Halle Berry. Topics covered include cross-dressing, solo performance, racial constraints, recent Shakespeare, and the actress in early photography and on film. Softcover, 348 pp. $34.95.

Women, Theatre and Performance: New Histories, New Historiographies
Maggie B. Gale & Viv Gardner, editors
The first volume in an annual series investigating women's theatre history and a number of hitherto 'hidden' women performers. The essays in this volume range over the history of the last 300 years, touching on writing, performing and the notion of gender and theatrical space. Softcover, 243 pp, $32.95.

The Making of Guys and Dolls
Keith Garebian
In the fifth volume in The Making of the Great Broadway Musicals series, Keith Garebian chronicles the making of the 1950s classic Guys and Dolls. Softcover, 153 pp. $20.00.

Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret
James Gavin
James Gavin traces an era when Manhattan nightlife was a cabaret, and New York City was the land of discovery. This period is brought to vivid life in Intimate Nights, first published in 1991 and now extensively revised and updated. Softcover, 470 pp. $24.95.

Act Two: A Report on the Second American Congress of Theater
Jeremy Gerard
This report was designed to discuss the creation of partnerships and agendas for the future of the American Theater. Softcover, 89 pp. $23.95.

Theatre/Theory/Theatre: The Major Critical Texts
Daniel Gerould
From Aristotle's Poetics to Vaclav Havel, the debate about the nature and function of theatre has been marked by controversy. This landmark work collects history's most influencial Eastern and Western dramatic theorists -- poets, playwrights, directors, and philosophers -- whose ideas about theatre continue to shape its future. Softcover, 492 pp. $29.95.

Staging the Screen: The use of film and video in theatre
Greg Giesekam
Greg Giesekam raises critical and theoretical questions about the use of multimedia and intermedia, examining how the aesthetic strategies of key practitioners and changing approaches to cultural production have radically challenged dominant theatre practice. Extensively illustrated, this clear and accessible text provides detailed and evocative case studies of individual productions from a wide range of contemporary theatre companies. An invaluable resource for students wishing to navigate their way through an expanding and exciting area of theatre practice. Softcover, 280 pp. $27.95.

Chekhov's Plays:
An Opening into Eternity
Richard Gilman
In this eloquent and insightful book, Chekhov's full length plays are examined, showing how they relate to each other, to Chekhov's short stories, and to his life. The plays are placed in the context of Russian and European drama and the larger culture of the period and the reasons behind the enduring power of these works is explored. $29.95.

Tempest in the Caribbean
Jonathan Goldberg
Shakespeare's Tempest has long been claimed by colonials and postcolonial thinkers alike as the dramatic work that best enables them to confront their entangled history. Tempest in the Caribbean reads some of the "classic" anticolonial texts through the lens of feminist and queer analysis. Softcover, 192 pp. $28.95.

Performance: Live Art Since the 60s
RoseLee Goldberg
In the post-modern era, "performance art" is an umbrella term that has come to refer to everything from interpretive dance, guerilla theatre, and rock 'n roll, to public interventions, body art, and musical minimalism. This abundantly illustrated history takes a pluralistic approach to the study of the form, by examining all of its incarnations since 1960. Softcover, 240 pp. $53.00.

Ethno-Techno: Writings on Performance, Activism, and Pedagogy
Guillermo Gomez-Pena
Guillermo Gomez-Pena has spent many years developing his unique style of performance activism. In Ethno-Techno he pushes the boundaries still further, exploring what's left for artists to do in a post-9/11 repressive culture of what he calls "the mainstream bizarre". Extensive photos document his artistic experiments. The text not only explores and confronts his political and philosophical parameters, it offers an insight into one of the most daring and innovative performance artists of our age. Softcover, 304 pp. $51.95.

The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance
Lizbeth Goodman, ed.
This book presents some of the most influential and widely known work on gender and performing arts, together with exciting and provocative new writing in the field. This uniquely comprehensive volume spans the entire range of historical and theoretical approaches to the subject of gender and theatre. $35.00.

The Cambridge Companion to Chekhov
Vera Gottlieb and Paul Allain, eds.
A volume of specially commissioned essays which explores the theatrical world of Anton Chekhov, including the creation, performance and interpretation of his works. Also included are esays on Chekhov's Russia, filmed versins of his plays and acting and directing the plays. Eighteen essays with a chronology. SC $36.95.

Theatre of Catastrophe: New Essays on Howard Barker
Karoline Gritzner & David Ian Rabey
This collection of essays is the first to consider the full range of Barker's theatrical objectives and achievements, and reflects his international status as an artistic thinker and practitioner. Contributors from around the world consider key events and themes in Barker's plays such as death, sexuality, performance, blindness, politics, eroticism and cruelty. Overviews of Barker's career explore his rejection of standard dramatic and theatrical techniques and his pursuit of a new tragic form. Softcover, 240 pp. $37.95.

Theatre and Autobiography: Writing and Performing Lives in Theory and Practice
Sherrill Grace & Jerry Wasserman
Of late, both autobiography and biography have started to receive recognition, in academic circles, as genuine artistic forms. In particular, auto/biography performances have become hugely popular in Europe and North America. This collection of essays brings theatre practioners together with scholars from three continents in a groundbreaking exploration of the interdisciplinary realm of Theatre and Autobiography. Softcover, 352 pp. $29.95.

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Broadway Babylon: Glamour, Glitz, and Gossip on the Great White Way
Boze Hadleigh
Discerning fact from fiction, quoting hundreds of players, and revealing the stories behind over a century of major headlines, this hilarious and poignant volume raises the curtain on a legacy of top-of-the-line talent, outsized and clashing personalities, unprecedented greed, embarrassing disasters, and barely masked discrimination. Written with affection and audacity its subject demands, Broadway Babylon celebrates life on the Great White Way--warts and all. Hardcover, 342 pp. $31.00.

Exposed By The Mask: Form and Language in Drama
Peter Hall
In January of 2000, Sir Peter Hall, one of the greatest theatre,film and opera directors of our time, gave a four-part lecture series for Trinity College, Cambridge, on one of the paradoxes of theatre: form and structured language give freedom to power of thought and feeling. He likens this to the experience of using masks in Greek Drama to express extreme emotion -- by imposing limits, one can find greater freedom within the emotional language of the stage. This small book distills the wisdom of a lifetime spent in classical theatre, Shakespeare, opera and modern drama. $20.25.

Staging Femininities: Performance and Performativity
Geraldien Harris
This book focuses on the borders between theory and practice, exploring the interconnections and the differences between feminism and postmodernism, theatrical performance and performativity, in order to analyse some of the most contemporary thought on the politics of identity. $28.95.

Black Theatre
Paul Carter Harrison, Victor Leo Walker II and Gus Edwards
Divided into four parts -- African Roots, Mythology and Metaphysics, Dramaturgical Practice, and Performance -- this stunning anthology of essays reflects on the past and looks towards the future of Black Theatre. Insighful, wide-ranging, and global in scope, this volume should be compulsory reading for every student of contemporary theatre scholarship. Softcover, 418 pp. $46.95.

Acting Out: Feminist Performances
Lynda Hart & Peggy Phelan
These original essays cover a variety of subjects including alternative theatre, the diversity of feminist aesthetic strategies, stand-up comedy and the politics of gender, lesbian sexuality, and the antifeminist, anti-abortion demonstrations of Operation Rescue. $36.95.

American Sideshow
Marc Hartzman
This is a fascinating look into the history of the American sideshow and its performers; it shows you what's real, what's fake, and what's downright bizarre. American Sideshow chronicles the lives of some truly amazing individuals, examining these brave and extraordinary curiosities not just as sideshow attractions but also as people, delving into the lives they led and the way they triumphed over -- and capitalized on -- their abnormalities Hardcover, 289 pp. $40.00.

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Peter L. Hays and Kent Nicholson
Death of a Salesman is a classic, a staple of school anthologies of American literature and of acting companies' repertoires. It has received world-wide productions, whether as a study of parent-child relationships, or as a critique of Western capitalism. This guide provides students with a comprehensive critical introduction to the play. A detailed production analysis written by a professional director and practical exercises for actors and directors make it a uniquely practical resource for anyone studying the play. Softcover, 111 pp. $20.95.

Live: Art and Performance
Adrian Heathfield
Live art (or "performance art") is one of the most controversial and hotly discussed areas of art practice to emerge in the second half of the twentieth century. In this beautifully illustrated volume, leading artists and thinkers assess the relevance of Live art now and its impact within the visual arts and the larger cultural sphere. Softcover, 256 pp. $50.00.

Empire of Illusion
Chris Hedges
In Empire of Illusion author Chris Hedges travels to the ringside of professional wrestling, through Los Vegas's porn industry, and to academic conferences held by positive psychologists -- who claim to be able to engineer happiness -- to chronicle our terrifying flight as a culture into a state of illusion. By attacking the absurd idea that we can always draws on inner resources and strengths to have everything we desire, Hedges exposes the mechanisms used to divert us from confronting the economic, political, and moral collapse around us. Hardcover, $29.95.

Stars on Stage: Eileen Darby & Broadway's Golden Age - Photographs 1940-1964
Mary C. Henderson
Photographer Eileen Darby came onto the theatre scene in 1939 and eschewed the stiff portraits and fixed tableaux that were in vogue. Her style of photographing not only showed us what was happening onstage but backstage and during rehearsals as well. Stars on Stage is the culmination of Darby's work during the theatre's golden age and includes dozens of previously unseen pictures of stars such as Lucille Ball, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, and Gregory Peck, as well as the people who created the shows, including Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Abbott, Irving Berlin, and Anita Loos. Hardcover, 208 pp. $54.00.

A History of African American Theatre
Errol G. Hill & James V. Hatch
From African ritual born out of slavery to European forms, from amateur to professional, this is the first definitive history of African American theatre. The text covers nearly two and a half centuries of black performance and production with issues of gender, class, and race, in forms such as minstrel, vaudville, cabaret, musicals, and opera. The breadth and vitality of black theatre history, from the individual performance to large-scale company productions, from political nationalism to integration, are conveyed in this brilliant volume. Softcover, 608 pp. $44.95.

The Front Page: From Theatre to Reality
George W. Hilton
Highly detailed, historically correct annotations by George W. Hilton accompany the original text of The Front Page. Character and text analyses, historical and production photos, a chronology of the play's productions, and an extensive index are also included. This book will provide students, directors, producers, theaterphiles, and historians an unprecedented understanding of this landmark American Classic. Softcover, 217 pp. $19.95.

Hirschfeld's British Aisles
Al Hirschfeld
That Al Hirschfeld drew New York and Hollywood is hardly news to his fans. However it will come as a revelation that in the Hirschfeld archive more than five hundred works are dedicated to his British subjects. In this volume are the fabled luminaries of the West End -- Gielgud, Richardson, Olivier, Coward, Guinness, Scofield -- dramatized on the page as only Hirshfeld can, captured in their moments of stage glory by the only recording device allowed in the theatre: Al Hirschfeld's pencil. Softcover, 221 pp. $52.00.

Art Works Perform
Jens Hoffman & Joan Jonas
The artists profiled in Art Works Perform use their work to figure out the complicated ways in which performance plays a part in our daily experiences. Arranged into themed chapters, the book reflects a wide variety of artistic attitudes and practices. Readers will be provoked, challenged, and inspired by this stimulating book. Softcover, 208 pp. $45.00.

Environmental and Site-Specific Theatre
Edited by Andrew Houston
"In every site-specific or environmental theatre project, the artist must spend a lot of time walking around experiencing the site; trying to gain some insight into its inhabitants, its workings, its reality, but also trying to imagine how it might possess a life not yet realized."- from the introduction by Andrew Houston. Softcover, 196 pp. $25.00.

The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn
Derek Hughes & Janet Todd
Traditionally known as the first professional woman writer in English, Aphra Behn has now emerged as one of the major figures of the Restoration. During the 1670s and 1680s, she provided more plays for the stage than any other author, and greatly influenced the development of the novel. With its full bibliography, detailed chronology, and a description of the known facts of her life, this Companion will be an essential tool for the study of this increasingly important writer and thinker. Softcover, 248 pp. $44.95.

About Stoppard: The Playwright & the Work
Jim Hunter
In About Stoppard, Jim Hunter charts the work of one of Britain's leading playwrights. His survey includes a brief biography, a chapter locating Tom Stoppard in his context, and interviews both with Stoppard himself and with some who helped put his work on stage, including Peter Wood, Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre, Felicity Kendal, Simon Russell Beale and John Wood. This is an indispensible guide for anyone interested in this unique dramatist. Softcover, 277 pp. $20.00.

The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader
Michael Huxley and Noel Witts
Extracts from fifty practioners, critics and theorists from the fields of dance, drama, music, theatre and live art make up this essential sourcebook for students, researchers and practitioners. Each piece is fully supplemented by a contextual summary, detailed cross-references and suggestions for further reading. The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader is the key introductory text to all types of performance. Softcover, 465 pp. $44.95.

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Last modified December 28, 2009.
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.