Theatre Histories: An Introduction

This thoroughly revised and updated third edition of the innovative and widely acclaimed Theatre Histories: An Introduction offers a critical overview of global theatre and drama, spanning a broad wealth of world cultures and periods. Bringing together a group of scholars from a diverse range of backgrounds to add fresh perspectives on the history of global theatre, the book illustrates historiographical theories with case studies demonstrating various methods and interpretive approaches. Subtly restructured sections place the chapters within new thematic contexts to offer a clear overview of each period, while a revised chapter structure offers accessibility for students and instructors. Further new features and key updates to this third edition include: A dedicated chapter on historiography New, up to date, case studies Enhanced and reworked historical, cultural and political timelines, helping students to place each chapter within the historical context of the section Pronunciation guidance, both in the text and as an online audio guide, to aid the reader in accessing and internalizing unfamiliar terminology A new and updated companion website with further insights, activities and resources to enable students to further their knowledge and understanding of the theatre.

Table of Contents:
General Introduction. Part I: Performance in Oral and Manuscript Cultures. Introduction: Speech, Writing, and Performance 1. From Oral to Literate Performance 2. Pleasure, Power, and Aesthetics: Theatre in Early Literate Societies, 500 BCE–1450 CE 3. Commemorative Drama and Carnival. Part II: Theatre and Performance in Early Print Cultures. Introduction: Performance, Printing, and Political Centralization 4. Secular and Early Professional Theatre, 1250–1650 5. Theatre and the Print Revolution, 1550–1650 6. Theatres of Absolutism, 1600–1770. Part III: Theatre and Performance in Periodical Print Cultures. Introduction: Theatre for Bourgeois Civil Society 7. Theatre and Sentiment: Newspapers, Private Lives, and the Bourgeois Public Sphere, 1700–1785 8. Nationalism in the Theatre, 1760–1880 9. Performing "Progress": From Imperial Display to the Triumph of Realism and Naturalism, 1790–1914 10. New Media Divide the Theatres of Print Culture, 1870–1930. Part IV: Theatre and Performance in Electric and Electronic Communication Culture. Introduction: Theatre and the Unceasing Communications Revolutions 11. New Theatres for Revolutionary Times, 1910–1950 12. The Aftermath of World War II: Realism and its Discontents in an Increasingly Shrinking World, 1940–1970 13. Art, Politics or Business?: Theatre in Search of Identity, 1968–2000 14. Theatres of Local Roots and Global Reach (1970–Present) 15. Theatre in Networked Culture, 1990–Present. Glossary